Bands who don't sound like their name

"Pacific Northwest Skronkscapes" is more like it.

am i posting to much?

Underworld is another -- their pre-Darren Emerson days were designed for a completely different dance floor. Sure, their first incarnation was in completely different era, but nontheless, their namesake didn't really fit until Dubnobasswithmyheadman.

I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't THAT.

YES. Back when I was a young'n, I'd always thought the dead were some evil metal band, what with that name and all the skeletons on their albums. Imagine my disappointment when I finally heard their middling country-ish jamz. Well, I did like "Touch of Grey"... it was just the farthest thing from evil I could imagine.

I was sure Mac DeMarco was a new white frat rapper

The Zombies

Kiss

Queen

Idk about Queen, plenty of their songs tend to be baroque and almost regal.

Eagles of Death Metal

Suicide. I assumed for a long time they were quite … heavy going, rather than being like Elvis synthpop.

I remember Steven Wells once dissed Folk Implosion in the middle of some tirade as something like "Little Lord Fauntleroy's excursion with acoustic guitars", presumably having only seen photos and their name in print

The Kinks

Daft Punk

What does "Little Lord Fauntleroy's excursion" sound like?

esp since i was listening to _axe victim_ today i'll add: Be-bop Deluxe

Cmd-F "grateful dead"

Lords of Acid

Suicide. I assumed for a long time they were quite … heavy going, rather than being like Elvis synthpop.

Have you heard "Frankie Teardrop"?

Suicide and solo Vega were both pretty heavy live. Vega seemed to be openly confrontational though not sure how much of taht was more performance art.
There are some pretty great live clips up on youtube. But I think his really confontationsl appearances may have been earlier, mid to late 70s where he would do things like swing bike chains around his head. He was also really into slamming the microphone into his face.
YOu can hear the intensity on a lot of the live sets from the late 70s and early 80s.
Not sure if you're being misled about the live band from the heightened use of melody on the 2nd lp the one with the blood in the plughole on the cover.
First lp is a lot rougher and lofi sounding. Still has a sense of rhythm verging on the funk and some reaslly good tracks worthy of pretty heavy covers on.

Heavy Metal

My Bloody Valentine

...except on Geek! and This Is Your Bloody Valentine where the name fits perfectly.

Fair enough, but I almost consider that stuff a different band that happens to share a name and some members

slaughter?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukmobha2krY vs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjb0j9l1sz4

Skullcrusher

"My Bloody Valentine" makes sense to me for sweet love songs that are buried in noise.

"Slaughter" is Mark Slaughter's actual last name, iirc? Agree that they don't sound like Slayer.

Violent Femmes
Pink Fairies
Hawkwind (should be a Ren Faire type folk act)

Spandau Ballet

All those bands like the Ozark Mountain Daredevils you think are going to be shitkickin' country rock n' roll but they turn out to be slick soft rock acts.

No Mercy

Urge Overkill sounds like they should be a metal band or a P-Funk tribute act.

Tesla
Rancid

Diarrhea Planet (tho tbh I don't know what they SHOULD sound like)

I have no idea what a Lynyrd Skynyrd is but to my ears it doesn't sound like that.

Derived from their high school gym teacher Leonard Skinner iirc?

Wikipedia sez:

Still known as The One Percent in 1969, Van Zant sought a new name after growing tired of taunts from audiences that the band had "1% talent". At Burns' suggestion, the group settled on Leonard Skinnerd, which was in part a reference to a character named "Leonard Skinner" in Allan Sherman's novelty song "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" and in part a mocking tribute to P.E. teacher Leonard Skinner at Robert E. Lee High School. Skinner was notorious for strictly enforcing the school's policy against boys having long hair. Rossington dropped out of school, tired of being hassled about his hair. The more distinctive spelling "Lynyrd Skynyrd" was being used at least as early as 1970. Despite their high school acrimony, the band developed a friendlier relationship with Skinner in later years, and invited him to introduce them at a concert in the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum. Skinner also allowed the band to use a photo of his Leonard Skinner Realty sign for the inside of their third album.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

The backstory does make it more Cratylic.

xp

Suicide and solo Vega were both pretty heavy live. Vega seemed to be openly confrontational though not sure how much of taht was more performance art.
There are some pretty great live clips up on youtube. But I think his really confontationsl appearances may have been earlier, mid to late 70s where he would do things like swing bike chains around his head. He was also really into slamming the microphone into his face.
YOu can hear the intensity on a lot of the live sets from the late 70s and early 80s.
Not sure if you're being misled about the live band from the heightened use of melody on the 2nd lp the one with the blood in the plughole on the cover.
First lp is a lot rougher and lofi sounding. Still has a sense of rhythm verging on the funk and some reaslly good tracks worthy of pretty heavy covers on.

Looking through what I've been listening to, it's from a mix of times, from tracks like Ghost Rider through to 2002's Misery Train, but yes, you're right it was maybe tracks from the second LP that most made me call it Elvis synthpop. I gues

Have you heard "Frankie Teardrop"?

I have now! I can see that it's intense, but the occasional shriek jump-scare aside I wouldn't call it heavy going. Maybe it's just the thinness of the sound – which to be clear, I like. Yeah, I can imagine some of it sounded very different live.