band names

Strong Bad Email #16

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The first appearance of the totally awesome Limozeen

Dan asks Strong Bad for advice on a name for his new band.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad

Places: Computer Room

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Monday, March 4, 2002

Running Time: 1:13

Page Title: Tandy 400!!!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One, Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD

SBEmail Menu Description: Strong Bad gives advice on choosing a band name.

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing to the tune of The Cheat Theme Song} Who's that giving Strong Bad a hand? Email... Email... {stops singing}

hey strong bad,
help us come up with a name for our band. i was
thinking about 'invisible robot fish' or 'for good or
for awesome.' hurry up please, we have our first
show tomorrow.
you rule
- dan

STRONG BAD: {clears screen, typing} Well, Dan, the easiest way is to, you know, {actually types "to ,you know,"} just have a really cool last name and use that. You know like Van Halen, or Dokken, or to a lesser extent,... Z'Nuff. {clears screen} And then the other way is to take a really cool word but then spell it all wrong. You know like... {stops typing} "LAZOR",—

{An index card with "LAZOR" written on it with red, jagged text appears onscreen. The L's bottom line goes beneath the other letters and connects to the R. All the other letters are connected as well. There's a red light flash after the word. High-pitched music plays.}

STRONG BAD: —or "BIGG NIFE",—

{The previous image disappears and another logo comes up. It uses blue text and has "BIGG" written on top in an metallic font, and then has "NIFE" written below it in a rounded font and an upward pointing knife replacing the letter I. A guitar strums.}

SINGER: {offscreen} Well, all right!

STRONG BAD: —or something like "TARANCHULA"—

{"BIGG NIFE" disappears and "TARANCHULA" comes up with red text. All the letters except for the C, U and L have long fangs hanging downward, and the first A, the N, and the last A are dripping something. Spooky-ish music plays.}

STRONG BAD: —or maybe like "LIMOZEEN".

{"TARANCHULA" disappears and the Limozeen logo comes up with the diamond-style blue text for everything but the red lightning-shaped "Z" in the middle. Gentle guitar music plays.}

STRONG BAD: You know, {starts typing} these are all—

{The index card crinkles up and disappears.}

STRONG BAD: —great names. {stops typing} And you know, {resumes typing} go ahead and take them. I'm not going to charge you or nothing. Just, uh, put me on the guest list plus one for that show huh? I'll probably take Pom Pom. {stops typing} You know, {resumes typing} He's been pretty cool lately. {stops typing} Okay, so tune in next week, when my guests will be Lemmy from Motörhead and the guys from Krokus!

{The Paper comes down.}

Fun Facts

Trivia

• This is the first email in which Strong Bad's original Hispanic accent is gone completely. It had gradually been growing weaker since halloweener.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad gives advice on choosing a band name."

Remarks

• "For Good or for Awesome", one of the potential band names Dan puts forth, was from some kinda robot.

Goofs

• Strong Bad accidentally puts a space before a comma with no space following when he types: "the easiest way is to ,you know"

• You can click the knobs though the index card Strong Bad is holding up to show you the names of the bands.

Inside References

• Bigg Nife is a reference to the recurring Big Knives, which first appeared in i love you.
• The coffee cup ring on the index card is from the recipe card in the Homestar Quiz when all of the questions are answered correctly.

Real-World References

• The three "really cool last names" Strong Bad mentions refer to bands who derived their names from founding members:
  • Van Halen, named for brothers Alex and Eddie Van Halen
  • Dokken, named for Don Dokken
  • Enuff Z'Nuff, named for Chip Z'Nuff
• Strong Bad's "take a really cool word, but then spell it all wrong" method of band-name generation refers to bands whose names contain stylistic, intentional misspellings, such as Led Zeppelin or The Beatles.
• Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and the band Krokus are mentioned in the closing.

Fast Forward

• Limozeen, Taranchula, Lazor, and Bigg Nife have become actual bands in the Homestar Runner universe.
• When Strong Bad says the name of each made up band, music is heard in the background. Bigg Nife was what ended up sounding like Limozeen, as mentioned in the DVD commentary below.
• The music that plays when the Taranchula card is shown is later heard in death metal.
• During the course of the Baddest of the Bands, Strong Bad gets another email about good band names.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Matt Chapman, Mike Chapman)

MATT: That's, of course, The Cheat Party—I mean The Skate Party theme song for The Cheat. {pause} Uh, this was, I remember thinking this was the heyday of, like, when we were making these.

MIKE: This was a fun one to make 'cause I remember you were still working and we did it, um, we finished it up at the end, I think, the morning before you went to work {inaudible}

MATT: Yeah, I was going into work around 11 or 12.

MIKE: I remember recording the guitar parts at, like, 8 or 9 in the morning.

MATT: Yeah. Uh, and making the, uh, coming up with the note cards and stuff. {makes guitar noises} That was pretty good. I like that uh, stain. What—what is that? Is that coffee? It looks more like Kool-Aid, though. It's a little red.

MIKE: More like what?

MATT: Kool-Aid? Fruit punch?

MIKE: Well, it's supposed to be coffee.

MATT: Well, you did a bad job.

MIKE: Thanks.

MATT: Poor... representation.

MIKE: I like—I just hit a harmonic note there.

MATT: Yeah, and that—it's—funny, though, because, like—

MIKE: Limozeen sounds nothing like that.

MATT: —Bigg Nife, yeah, Bigg Nife was what really ended up sounding like the Limozeen we've made today whereas this Limozeen just sounds like... Richie Kotzen... like, Deliverance.

MIKE: Extreme. Yeah.

MATT: That's a good song. You guys should check that out. Richie Kotzen.

MIKE: A lot of people listening to this aren't going to know about Richie Kotzen.

Fun Facts

• Richie Kotzen is a virtuosic guitarist who has been a member of Poison and Mr. Big, and has released several solo albums.

External Links

• watch "band names"
• watch "band names" on YouTube
• watch "band names" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "band names"