Email from my old bandmate:

Honestly… a bullet in my head sounds like the best ‘future/opportunity’ for me. I’m weary; so tired of trying and everyone hating me. Funny how the kindness I try to give is taken as BS or shit.

That tells me I suck at it. So, probably no girl for me ever gain. How?

People who like my songs either want to fuck me or want to use me. No fans. So, what is the point? I don’t even like to touch my guitar; haven’t in years. Somehow I do, but it’s not pleasant. As soon as I do, I’ve a song that sucks. Another thing people won’t like and will never listen too. Is that why you quit?

My Response:

You don’t do art for anybody but yourself or it isn’t art IMHO.

What are your goals for your music? Mine were to write one timeless piece of music and maybe get some mutual respect from artists I admire. Even though I’m not actively performing or writing, I think something along those lines would be my goal when I start up again.

What brought me the most joy besides performing was sitting back and listening to a recording I did; especially years later. I get a lot of joy out of that even though I can nit-pick it to death and find a shit-ton of “mistakes” in the recording or performance.

Just the other day I spun my old 4-track album over some beers and kept smiling. I was blown away at my creativity and enjoyed the memories and personal allusions from that time in my life.

In the end, I think as long as you like what you create — or at least the way you are choosing to express yourself — then you are doing great. It’s not fair to yourself or others to expect a specific type of reception to your art. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself creating for others. That’s fine if you are writing jingles for an advertising agency, but not if you are a folk singer.

P.S. For the record, a lot of guys are happy if their song makes a girl want to fuck them. A lot of “Behind the Music” type documentaries have musicians stating “girls” as the reason they started playing.

Wall Street Journal article on band names.

The most common definition of the acronym R.E.M. is the medical term “Rapid Eye Movement” which describes a phase of sleep. For the band, it’s often been joked as “Rear Entry Men” (although that might only apply to the lead singer Michael Stipe).

Here are some of the better R.E.M. acronyms that our Acronym Generator made.

• Rare Egg Mansion
• Ruthless Enema Master
• Raw Erotic Monastery
• Radically Excessive Midgets
• Religious Entrance Marble
• Royal Empty Memory
• Reflex Eagle Morality

View More "R.E.M." Acronym Generations

Anyone know of any other commonly speculated acronyms for R.E.M.?

Initially, two musicians recorded a demo for a high school project. When one of the musicians was later sharing the demo with a drunk fraternity buddy in college, he asked who the band was. His reply was "me & a friend."

The confused guy replied, "I’ve never heard of them before. They’re really good."

The musician tried to clarify that it wasn’t the name of a band but the drunk man couldn’t understand. No matter how he tried to explain it, the guy continued to happily bob his head to the beat of a band he thought was named "me and a friend."

Eventually, the two musicians reunited and added a drummer and took on the name given to them by the drunk frat boy.

If you have a funny or interesting story of how your band got named, let us know. If it’s good, we’ll post it right here in the Band Name Blog!

Here are some examples:

• When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water (9 words, 49 characters)
• The Presidents of the United States of America (8 words, 46 characters)
• …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (10 words, 44 characters including ellipsis)
• I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness (7 words, 35 characters)
• I Can Lick Any SOB In The House (8 words, 31 characters)

While "The Presidents of the United States of America" can be nicknamed and referenced as "The Presidents,"
the rest of the names don’t have a lot of options unless you want to go the Excessively Long Acronym route.
Here are some reasons to avoid a long name for your band:

• Does not flow in conversation
• Can be difficult to remember
• Often does not sound like a band name
• Website domain name will need to be different than your name (unless you want to make the mistake of using the actual long version) Note: There is a 67-character limit on domain names

I’d like to add that the occasional song or album with a long name is okay, but Fiona Apple went too far with her "When the Pawn" album title that is 450+ characters in length!

What do you guys think? Any other long band names that are worth noting? Do you have a long-winded band name?

If you have any topics you think are worth discussing, please contact me.

In the meantime, keep rocking out with your band mates even if you don’t have a name!

-Band Name Master