!!! - “One Girl/One Boy - 2013 - Pronounced Chk Chk Chk of course. The band’s name comes from the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which the clicking sounds of the San people’s Jul’huon language were represented as “!”.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise - “Hide” - 2018 - Formed at Appalachian State, the band name was taken from a friend on a morphine drip, post-surgery.

Soul Coughing - “Circles” - 1998 - Soul Coughing has been on two of my past playlists as they are one of my favorite 90s bands (Feb 2023 and July 2023). The band name refers to a poem that is inspired by Neil Young barfing in the back of a tour bus.

Neutral Milk Hotel - “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” - 1998 - As far as I can tell, the band name meaning has never been divulged. The founder, Jeff Mangum, originally wanted to call the band, “Milk,” however the name was already taken.

Bowling Shoes - “Talk Soon” - 2021 - Sometimes band names don’t need to be deep, or have some meaning. This is one of those times. And weed.

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - “… and the Addled Abstraction of Being” - 2016 - According to band member and primary songwriter, Jack McEwan, PPC came from watching, “lots of Mighty Boosh, and a thirst for the absurd.”

The Flaming Lips - “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” - 2002 - According to lead singer, Wayne Coyne, the name came from, “When Mark and I were in, I think it was Junior Year in High School, there was a rumor about this girl who got herpes from this guy at a party. He went down on her with a cold sore. I don't think we knew the girl, and I'm not sure if she even existed, you know how kids just spread bullshit. But when we were thinking of band names one night over a pack of Schlitz and some left-handed cigarettes and remembered how we joked that they both had "Flaming Lips" and it just stuck.

Dananananaykroyd - “Black Wax” - 2009 - I mean, I think we know where the band name came from - a legendary actor name, and a lot of weed.

Post Sex Nachos - “Work Out” - 2024 - There wasn’t anything I could find on this band name… going with the weed theory again.

Ghost of Vroom - “Stalagmite” - 2023 - This is actually the second band led by Mike Doughty - the first being Soul Coughing. The dude can pick band names I guess. Ghost of Vroom is a reference to a once planned companion piece to the Soul Coughing album , Ruby Vroom.

Deep Banana Blackout - “Raspberry” - 1997 - I’ve been listening to DBB since high school, but I’ve never known where their name came from, and still don’t. Probably weed.

Hiatus Kaiyote (feat. Q-Tip) - “Nakamarra” - 2013 - This quote from founder Nai Palm sums it up. Weed. It’s weed. “Well basically, “Kaiyote” is not a word. It’s a made up word, but it kind of sounds like peyote and coyote – it’s a word that involved the listeners creativity as to how they perceive it. So it reminds you of things but it’s nothing specific. When I looked it up on online it was like a bird appreciation society around the world, so for me that was a great omen, because I’m a bird lady. A hiatus is essentially a pause, it’s a moment in time. So, to me, a hiatus is taking a pause in your life to take in your surroundings, have a full panoramic view of your experiences and absorbing, and “kaiyote” is expressing them in a way involves the listeners creativity. It’s a duality with out music, as well. We don’t like to spell it out because if you can vaguely portray something, then it’s more likely that a broader variety of people can relate to it because they can find their own way in.”

G. Love & Special Sauce - “Recipe” - 1997 - According to Mr, Love, himself, “My name’s Garrett, so that’s where the “G” comes from. As for the “Love,” I went to get cassettes for a few of my songs a while back and the guy asked me for a name to put. In the heat of the moment I decided on G. Love. I liked it because it kind of was blues/hip-hop sounding name.”

Seafood Sam & Huey Bris - “2 the N” - 2018 - I told you! Weed! - “It’s two stories that came together. It was originally Shifu Sam, shifu meaning “master,” like in Kung Fu Panda. My little brother, his name is Master. He passed away from a brain tumor when he was 8 and I was 12. So my name was Master Sam, Shifu Sam, because that was hisname. But I was thinking people might not get the whole shifu thing and I didn’t want to appropriate cultures or nothing, but the seafood part…I can’t even front. I was high as hell watching Edward Scissorhands with the homie and he said it and I thought it was funny. You know how it goes.”

The New Pornographers - “Challengers” - 2007 - Although it was widely reported that the New Pornographers got their name from a pamphlet put out by televangelist Jimmy Swaggart condemning rock ‘n’ roll as “the new pornography,” Carl Newman has stated that he came up with the name after watching Shohei Imamura's, The Pornographers. - From Last.fm

Slaughter Beach, Dog - “Surfin’ New Jersey” - 2023 - Sometimes you have to be quick and improvise. Slaughter Beach is the name of a town in Delaware, however a band in Europe had already appropriated the name. So naturally, founder, Jake Ewald, added a comma and the word Dog.

Alien Eyelid - “Where Elgin Bends” - 2023 - Don’t really know… but it’s weed.

The String Cheese Incident - “Black Clouds” - 1999 - Apparently an incident in a restaurant with cheese, beans, and salsa, going everywhere, combined with a tongue in cheek nod to their bluegrass roots.

Sunglasses for Jaws (feat. Elle Musa) - “Under a Rainbow” - 2023 - Really good, expensive weed, but still weed.

Orbiting Human Circus - “It’s So Peaceful in the Country” - 2023 - I actually didn’t know this prior to this playlist, but OHC is the latest project from Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel (above). No info on the band name though. Just weed.