Picking a band name is hard, there’s no doubt about that. Sure, it gives you the creativity to present yourself and your music the way you want, but if you don’t follow more ‘mainstream’ naming conventions, you might just end up on lists we’ve written before – such as the most offensive band names, band names that you just can’t Google, or even some of the most hilarious band names going around triple j Unearthed.
Sometimes, though, a word will come along that you have an affinity for, and what better way to name your band than to repeat that word? Well, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the bands in the world who have decided they were just so nice, they had to name themselves twice.
Sadly, some bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wet Wet Wet, !!!, and Thrice had the gall to push the limit to name themselves three times, so we’ve had to exclude them in our search for some of the best bands whose names have us seeing double.
Holy Holy
Holy Holy saw Brisbane’s Timothy Carroll and Melbourne’s Oscar Dawson (formerly of Dukes Of Windsor) come together to make some beautifully intricate indie music.
Taking influence from groups such as Midlake, and Band Of Horses, the group have dedicated themselves to making music they love, and with appearances in the ARIA albums charts, it looks like the public agree with them, too.
Check out ‘You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog’ by Holy Holy:
Everything Everything
Quite possibly the most all-encompassing band name since Weddings, Parties, Anything, Manchester’s Everything Everything broke onto the indie-rock scene a decade ago and have been scoring aces across the board ever since.
Their frantic, yet laidback sound, mixed with effect-laden vocals have gained themselves fans all over the world, with Aussies getting on board with the group thanks to their track ‘Cough Cough’, showing that they don’t only name their band twice, but their songs as well.
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Check out ‘Cough Cough’ by Everything Everything:
Django Django
England’s Django Django burst onto the music scene following the release of their debut, self-titled album back in 2012, a solid seven months before Django Unchained was released into cinemas, inadvertently increasing the group’s exposure exponentially.
Bolstered by the success of their track ‘Default’, the group managed to receive a Mercury Prize nomination, and even have their songs featured in video games such as FIFA 13 and Grand Theft Auto 5.
Check out ‘Default’ by Django Django:
Alaska Alaska
Keeping with the theme of things happening twice here, there are actually at least two different bands named Alaska Alaska, with one from Belgium, and one from Wales. We’re going to focus mainly on the melodic pop-punk group from Wales for this one.
Formed in 2013, these frenetic Welshmen named themselves after the largest, but most-overlooked, US state. With a penchant for music reminiscent of early ’00s hardcore, mixed with ’90s emo, these guys are truly living in the past, but thinking about the future.
Check out Never Thought We’d Get This Far by Alaska Alaska:
Duran Duran
Arguably one of the biggest new-wave bands of the ’80s, Duran Duran took their name from the villain Durand Durand in the delightfully devilish Jane Fonda film Barbarella. Thanks to tracks like ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’, ‘Girls On Film’, and ‘Rio’, the group have enjoyed success for the best part of almost 40 years.
Special mention does have to go to the US producer Ed Flis, who goes by the name Duran Duran Duran for his releases, clearly thinking that if Duran Duran works, a 50% increase could only be better.
Check out ‘Planet Earth’ by Duran Duran:
The The
Let’s be fair, if you were ever going to try and make a band name impossible to Google, The The is the most perfect name possible. Do you have any idea how often the word ‘the’ is used in the English language? Enough to make a band like The The unsearchable, that’s how many.
Formed in London in 1979, The The have released numerous albums over their lengthy career, but it was their track ‘Uncertain Smile’ that has had the biggest impact, with the track reaching #3, #4, and #13 in the first three Hottest 100 of All Time countdowns.
Check out ‘Uncertain Smile’ by The The:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir1PBrUQYCw
The Go-Go’s
One of the most iconic new-wave bands of all time, The Go-Go’s were one of the most successful all-female groups, with their debut album, The Beauty And The Beat, being considered one of the most successful debut albums ever, selling in excess of 2 million copies.
With tracks like ‘We Got The Beat’, and ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’, the group’s success was long-lasting with reunions in the ’90s and throughout the ’00s introducing them to a vast array of new, young fans.
Check out ‘We Got The Beat’ by The Go-Go’s:
Talk Talk
Okay, at this point we’re starting to think that the prerequisite for starting a new-wave band in the 1980s is to have a name in which you repeat a word. Such is the case of Talk Talk, who formed in 1981, and lasted a whole eleven years before breaking up.
While the group only received moderate success in England, they were relatively popular around the world, thanks to tracks such as ‘Life’s What You Make It’ and ‘It’s My Life’. Their legacy has resonated to this day, with groups like Placebo, Weezer, and No Doubt all covering the group’s songs over the years.
Check out ‘It’s My Life’ by Talk Talk:
Frou Frou
Frou Frou was the product of singer Imogen Heep and famed producer and songwriter Guy Sigsworth. The group lasted for two years and released their sole album, Details, in 2002. The group managed to fuse together an experimental mix of electronica, ambient, and trip-hop music to compose some of the most exhilarating and intriguing music in a long time.
While Imogen Heep has gone on to have a successful career has a solo artist, the group are best known for their track ‘Let Go’ which, in addition to being covered by Aussie punk legends Blueline Medic, was featured on the award-winning soundtrack to Zach Braff’s film Garden State.
Check out ‘Let Go’ by Frou Frou:
Sub Sub
While we’ve discovered that new-wave acts are a treasure trove of acts who are twice named, let’s not forget that this trend also extends to the world of throwaway pop music. Sub Sub are just one of these bands, and despite a promising beginning, were destined to only become a footnote in musical history.
Originally meeting in the mid-’80s, it’s members were a regular fixture at the infamous nightclub The Haçienda, known for its connections to New Order and Factory Records, but ultimately resulted in releasing just one album in its lifetime, and one posthumous album.
Their biggest hit, ‘Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)’, saw great success in charts around the world, though Sub Sub’s members probably gained their greatest success once they broke up, ditched their dance music styles and reformed as Doves in 1998.
Check out ‘Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)’ by Sub Sub:
Xiu Xiu
Originally a solo project of Jamie Stewart, Xiu Xiu was formed in the wake of the demise of Stewart’s previous band, Ten In The Swear Jar.
Incredibly experimental, with enigmatic vocals, dissonant guitars, and odd, unsettling sounds and rhythms throughout their music, Xiu Xiu has now fleshed out into a proper band who push the boundaries of experimental music.
While Xiu Xiu haven’t seen a large amount of mainstream success at all, their music, which has seen them go from cover albums, to soundtrack albums, has often gained high praise from publications such as Pitchfork.
Check out ‘I Luv The Valley Oh!’ by Xiu Xiu:
The Ting Tings
When The Ting Tings burst onto the scene in 2008 with their debut record We Started Nothing, they were considered to be the saviours of indie dance music.
With a bright and exuberant sound, the duo were taking over the world, playing festivals all over the stage, including stages that could hardly handle their massive fame when they visited Australia for the Big Day Out.
Sadly, when their sophomore album, Sounds From Nowheresville, dropped in 2012, the group’s fame had waned and they had started to sound like every other band who were doing the rounds. With a third album, Super Critical, coming out in 2014, the group are yet to regain the same level of fame that they had achieved over a decade ago.
Check out ‘Shut Up And Let Me Go’ by The Ting Tings:
The Fuck Fucks
Undoubtedly, one of the most famous aspects of Melbourne’s music scene, and in fact a rite of passage for many Victorian musicians, is to witness a performance by one of the many bands that Fred Negro plays in.
Having performed in numerous bands since the late ’70s, including I Spit On Your Gravy, The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance, or more recently, The Peptides, Fred Negro is a staple of the St Kilda music scene, with his artwork and musical styles becoming synonymous with Melbourne music.
In the late ’90s though, Fred formed a new band, The Fuck Fucks. Lasting only for a couple of albums, the group took on Fred’s infamous pub-rock stylings and parodied The Monkees in what would become their most famous track, ‘Hey Hey, We’re The Fuck Fucks’.
Check out ‘Hey Hey, We’re The Fuck Fucks’ by The Fuck Fucks:
Attack! Attack!
We have no idea what it is with Wales and their ability to produce bands who manage to share names with other bands, but we digress.
Here, we’re discussing Attack! Attack!, not to be confused with the infamous Attack Attack!, an American group who have the half as many exclamation points in their name, and twice as much derision directed towards them.
The Welsh group spent a good seven years making a name for themselves as purveyors of some fine alternative rock before breaking up, but not before releasing an album which contained brilliant tracks such as ‘Cut To The Chase’, and ‘Long Road.’
Check out ‘Cut To The Chase’ by Attack! Attack!:
Mr. Mister
Apparently being named after an inside-joke in regards to The Weather Report’s ninth album Mr. Gone, Mr. Mister were a breifly popular pop-rock group from the ’80s.
With the group’s singer Richard Page being offered vocal duties in groups of the caliber of Toto and Chicago, the band clearly had ability, but never managed to achieve the same success as those groups.
With the majority of their success coming from their sophomore album Welcome To The Real World in 1985, the group managed to reach the top of charts around the world thanks to songs such as ‘Kyrie’ and ‘Broken Wings’.
Sadly the group only lasted for another two, relatively forgettable, albums, and since then, have showed no concrete signs of reuniting.
Check out ‘Broken Wings’ by Mr. Mister:
Slowly Slowly
Slowly Slowly are undoubtedly one of Australia’s best rising talents. Despite describing themselves as a mixture of pop, punk, and rock, the group’s emotional depth transcends all of these genres and mixes with their intensely passionate live performances to deliver music that can either make you party, or make you feel.
Check out ‘Deathproof’ by Slowly Slowly:
Special Mention: Twice
Let’s be fair, we can’t write about a bunch of bands who named themselves twice without mentioning a group who literally named themselves Twice. A South Korean girl group formed as part of a reality show, Twice have been around for only a few years and have managed to release and few EPs and albums in that time.
While South Korean pop music might not be your thing, you definitely have to hand it to these ladies for managing to have three #1 songs in their home country, which isn’t an easy feat no matter who you are.
Check out ‘Knock Knock’ by Twice:
