Why it's ridiculous: In a word: "hootie." In four: "hootie," "and," "the" and "blowfish." We now know from scientific studies performed in 1998 at Cambridge that there isn't a single aspect of Hootie and the Blowfish's name that doesn't invite you, the listener, on a subconscious simian level, to punch each of them in the face until they agree to change it.
2. Archers of Loaf

The story: Because the band members apparently wanted to spend every single interview talking about their name, they came up with the stupidest one they could think of.
Why it's ridiculous: Because it's clearly just the result of opening the dictionary two times and using the first word one of the guys pointed to. Unfortunately, one of the words happens to be "loaf," as in "meat" or "pinching a." Also, here's a hint, fellas: If you go out of your way to give yourselves a dumb name, reporters aren't going to ignore it. They're going to ask you about it. And then you'll have to tell the story about how Mike put on a blindfold and pointed at the middle of page 67 in Webster's every day for the rest of your lives.
1. !!!

The story: aka Chk-Chk-Chk. In the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, the clicks in the Bushmen's native language were represented with exclamation marks in the subtitles. The band thought that was cool, apparently, and named themselves three clicks. (This also makes the second band that's completely unsearchable by Google.)
Why it's ridiculous: "Hey, Nic Offer, lead singer of the three-exclamation-mark band whose name I can't even begin to pronounce, even after I heard them masturbating all over you on NPR, why did you name your band three exclamation marks?"
"Have you seen the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy?"
"No."
"Oh. Well, then I really can't explain it."
(A Coke bottle descends from the sky and hits Offer on the head, sending him on an amazing journey of discovery.)
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Read more of Matt's ramblings and participate in discussions all about his band, Live Lobster Special, on The MW Blog.
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