Paratroopers for Jesus – 4,936 Band Name Suggestions from the ’90s Internet
Paratroopers for Jesus – 4,936 Band Name Suggestions from the ’90s Internet / a 74-page spiral-bound book from Birchwood Palace Industries, 5.5 x 8.5 inches / 2nd edition from 2024 (which contains “additional listings, illustrations, corrections, links, and updates from some of the original list-makers”)
[Have fun spotting real band names still lurking in the mix, like Drunks with Guns]
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In 1996, Yahoo catalogued more than a dozen “band naming” websites, many of which were on college servers or GeoCities sites, with names like “Official List of Stupid Band Names.” Birchwood Palace Industries collected nearly 5,000 of these band name suggestions, from As You Read This So Shall You Be Damned to Zero Golf, from 1-900-BOTULISM to 90 Day Warranty.
This book is sourced primarily from a PDF discovered on the back end of a music school’s website, collecting thousands of these suggestions from ’90s-era websites. Carefully edited to omit real-life band names and duplicates, the book includes an introductory essay on media archaeology, Web 1.0, link rot, the joys of language, the indestructibility of the PDF format, and the low-stakes ’90s band rehearsal culture from which these names emerged.
