From Animals to Crystals: The Latest Trend in Band Names

Videos

Crystal Antlers at The Yard

see larger video

sourced by Jarrett Martineau

• 

  Created by Jarrett Martineau | add comment

• 

  Created by Jarrett Martineau | add comment

• 

  Created by Jarrett Martineau | add comment

• 

  Created by Jarrett Martineau | add comment

A couple of years back, bands were all about animal names: Animal Collective, Frog Eyes, Grizzly Bear, Arctic Monkeys, Deerhoof, Deerhunter.

Then there were all of those canis lupus-inspired names: Wolf Parade, We Are Wolves, Wolfmother, Wolf Eyes, Wolf & Cub, and AIDS Wolf.

Now, in late '08, it seems crystal is all the rage.

Crystal, you ask? Yeah, I don't get it either.

And yet here they all are: Crystal Castles, Crystal Pistol, Crystal Skulls, Crystal Antlers, Crystal Abyss, Crystal Stilts, Crystal Arcade, Crystal Eyes, Crystal Fighters. And on and on and on...

So, just how does this happen? Does a self-appointed artist collective of uber-hipsters and aspiring Pitchfork writers meet up at a loft in Williamsburg to coin the band name meme du jour? Or is there, perhaps, some deeper pseudo-psychical kinship between all things Swarovski and the zeitgeist of 2008?

Either way, I ain't feelin' it. Next!