[PREV - PURPOSES_OF_MUSIC]    [TOP]

ACTIVE_NAMING

                               Written some time before: May 21, 2000


   "Names are arbitrary labels
   devoid of meaning.  Who cares 
   what name you use?" 

               *Bzzzt!*

The act of naming 	      In the case of 
is strangely                  music/subcultures/scenes
powerful.                     the name is                               
                                                                     
Choose the wrong name 		   the face you turn to the world    	  
on a whim, and you                 the mirror you face while you're working 
can, uh, doom yourself.            a handle to juggle the material   
		     		       	       			  
Changing names is actually 		       Behind the "names don't 
suprizingly difficult.			       matter" talk, I hear the 
					       conceit that your work  
      The first thought is to 		       is above genre, above history. 
      choose a name that's 		       			 
      descriptive, that reflects 	       It springs into existance
      the subject, that will 		       without connection to 
      lead people looking for it 	       culture, environment: 
      to the right place.   		       Total creativity. 	 
            		    		       	     		 	 
          Then you get bogged down in               There are few artists 
	  determining the true nature               around that can live 
	  of the subject.                           up to this.           
                                                                         
      Another approach:                             (Though what the     
      Work on positive connotations                 hell.  Better any    
      to help promote the project.                  pretension than none,
                                                    and this ain't the   
      	  Then you risk drowning in the             worse.)              
      	  sea of all the other marketing                                 
      	  hype.                                                          
                                                                         
      	  So, you can try counter-hype                                   
      	  instead, choose something that      "My new band is called     
      	  sounds negative on purpose.          Unlistenable Noise.
      	                                       Check it out!"
      	  And then you'll find that you've            
      	  confused the irony deaf masses.       
      						You can't call a newsgroup 
      						talk.politics.mindless-drivel
      Maybe one of the better 			and expect serious discussion 
      approaches: pick a neutral 		there. 
      name without previous 			       
      connotations.  Let the 
      subject find it's own                             Case in point: 
      nature.                   A danger to             the sad tale of the 
                                watch out for:          crackmonkey list:  
      But this is going         picking a name                           
      to be a difficult         that's already in            MONKEYS_BUTT
      battle if you're          use and has more                          
      not solely in             google juice than 
      charge of the             you.  
      name.  How will                 
      you sway people to              Consider the virtues 
      use a name that is              of misspelling.  
      admittedly lacking                            
      in any virtue                      Perl vs. Pearl 
      except lack of                     Google vs. googol 
      vice?                                         (Or goggle?           
                                                     But probably no Gogol.)


--------
[NEXT - MONKEYS_BUTT]