Offensive Band Names and What I Think About Their Music, Part 1: The "Political" Edition

If you'd like to listen along as you read, here are the Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube playlists for the music discussed in this article (where available). Now, without further ado...

The John Wilkes Kissing Booth

Although short-lived and under-appreciated, this band raised the bar for indie/alternative music with a discography totaling just one self-released demo, one self-released EP, and one LP. Despite hailing from Long Beach, California, their sound was reminiscent of early '00s Midwest emo with similarities to Washington-based bands Sunny Day Real Estate and Unwound. (That said, the vocal work sounds like if Anthony Kiedis was musically talented, so I suppose there is some cosmic connection to California in their music... perhaps one could say, a "Parallel Universe." I'll see myself out.)

Overall, their full-length LP A Threat In the Broadcast is a fantastic listen. I would have appreciated if they had omitted the self-indulgent filler tracks, but nevertheless, there are plenty of highlights on the record. Almost literally, you could throw a dart at this album and find a great song.

Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Talk about ups and downs. Short story—their first two records are worth the listens, but don't bother with the third record nor their compilation record. Long story...

Their first record—Bait and Switch—is a well-paced, tastefully lo-fi album, equipped with many fun moments from the catchy riff on "Is She Shy" to the Pete Shelley-esque vocals on "Cyclotron" to the angular sound on "You Can't Kill Stupid."

The lyrics are the strongest (or, at least, most amusing) on this record too. On "Quarrel With the World," we're faced with edgy Americana: "Where do people go when they give up / I'm sure I'm gonna find out soon enough / I still have a bone to pick tonight / My itchy middle finger's at full height." On "RNR Hall of Fame," we embrace a cry to bid riddance to the ceremony altogether: "I don't wanna see Eric Clapton's stuffed baby / I don't want to see the shotgun of Kurt Cobain... I don't want to see all the drugs I couldn't take... Blow it up before Steve Albini makes a speech..." Lastly, on "Cheater's Heaven," we hear the lyrics "Told my wife I was going out for a couple beers / Said I'll see her in a couple years" played to what would later become the melody for "All the Small Things" by Blink-182.

Next, they released a compilation record titled—You Lookin' for Treble?—, which is waayyyyyyy too lo-fi for my taste, and with 20 tracks totaling to an hour, it's far too long. If absurdly grainy audio doesn't bother you, check out "Spasm of Morality" for the guitar riff. If you're a fan of "Frankie Teardrop" by Suicide, check out "(I Can't Get No) Catharsis." (Bonus points to the band for ripping off the Stones' song title.)

Moving on, their second record—Straight to Video—is fun and consumable at 38 minutes long. There are a handful of decent tracks here but my favorite, by far, is "Whisper in Your Mouth." What a catchy tune! If you're a fan of The Birthday Party, check out "When the Entertainment Ends."

Lastly, their third (and final) album—No Old Guy Lo Fi Cry—doesn't have enough memorable moments to justify the 49-minute length. That said, I enjoyed "Flip a Switch" for the new wave bass line accompanied by guitar harmonics and "Treeline" because it reminded me of The Black Lips.

Adolf Satan

Simply put, the audio is too lo-fi for my taste, and the vocals sound like a dying cat. Guitarist Josh Martin was also involved with other bands like Upsidedown Cross and Anal Cunt, while lead singer Larry Coyle (a.k.a. Larry Lifeless) participated in the former act too. (Don't worry—I'll get to those bands in future parts of this "offensive band names" series.)

Adolf Satan only released one full-length LP, but practically all the songs sound the same. There are a few tracks with decent instrumental ideas, but the recording is too rough to appreciate it immediately. Perhaps they were one of those bands you just had to see live to "get it."

If you choose to embark on this listening journey, check out "Pillow Shot," "In The Rain With No Cocaine," "Polio Juice," and "Falling To The Ground."

Pol Potter

This name amalgamates Pol Pot—the Cambodian dictator responsible for targeting numerous groups including those who wore glasses or spoke foreign languages—and Harry Potter—a bespectacled boy who spoke Parseltongue.

From my investigation, Athens, Greece-based Mark David Lennon appears to be the man behind the project, considering the YouTube videos on @MarkDavidLennon and the descriptions on Pol Potter's Bandcamp and Discogs pages.

Although described as "Dark Ambient-Noise, Experimental" on Discogs, the music is also reminiscent of "installation art" drone-like synth which is sometimes accompanied by vocal monologues. As one can imagine, Pol Potter's work is politically-leaning, with release titles like microfascism II and Lev Chernyi as examples.

The most disturbing track I encountered was "baby 1" which contains a vocal recording of a man describing an abortion procedure superimposed on a transcendental synth track. He goes on to share how he later lost one of his daughters to a car accident and then got sick the next time he had to perform an abortion. Definitely a mood killer. That said, this track appeared to be the exception as all other tracks I listened to were either instrumental or not in English.

All in all, if you like Muslimgauze but want something more instrumentally boring and vocally prominent, give Pol Potter's music a go.

Abörted Hitler Cöck

We've hit the band name jackpot! Major bonus points for the umlauts.

No surprise here—this is as caricatural as it gets. Classified as "goregrind," their songs are really short (typically under 30 seconds), contain entirely incomprehensible vocals (i.e., low, guttural gargling noises), and have over-the-top titles. Don't believe me? Of the 37 tracks (yes... 37 tracks) that appear on their 2011 release, Erections At An Animal Autopsy, here are a few song titles:

• "Using Rapebabies As Riotshields"
• "Rectal Gonorrhea Milkshake"
• "AIDS Orphan Torture Camp"
• "Aroused By Childhood Obesity"
• "Injected With Puke"
• "S.T.D. Killing Spree"
• "How To Perform An Abortion"

It's mostly the same sound and structure throughout their discography, which is why—in a weird way—it reminded me of Wesley Willis. (McDonald's anyone?) There are, however, a few exceptions: "Molested by the Mentally Challenged" opens with a vocal snippet that ties to the song title, "A Crash Course In The Degradation Of Women" opens with a recording of a stand-up joke that ties to the song title, and "Untitled" is a one-hour-eleven-minute "hidden" track that (per Discogs's description) "consists mainly of sounds from a butchery and baby screams." I suppose that's all par for the course for a band founded by two guys nicknamed El Bukkake and El Fucko who self-proclaim as the "worst band in the world."

Overall, the music isn't consumable in any unironic way for the obvious reason that it's designed to be cartoonishly offensive. If it offends you, then it accomplishes exactly what it sought to do. That said, the song titles and overall concept is so intentionally grotesque that I find it comical, which—in a similar way—is also what I think it sought to do.

Anyway, if you want to offend someone or share it with a friend who has the same dark sense of humor, this artist is a goldmine. Otherwise, definitely skip over this one.