Tomorrow is the last chance to submit something for said main competition in Week 11: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/898794.html
and right now is my first chance to mention that a band I really like is changing their name.
The band is Andrew Jackson Jihad. Or, more to the point, they *were* Andrew Jackson Jihad.
Sometime yesterday, they released a new song from their upcoming album - and their name change.
(Part of their statement, the rest was about their album and tour)
"Hi Gang! Big news today.
We are officially changing our name from Andrew Jackson Jihad to the simple, familiar abbreviation that most of you already call us: AJJ.
The two biggest reasons for this are:
1.) We are not Muslims, and as such, it is disrespectful and irresponsible for us to use the word jihad in our band's name.
2.) We no longer wish to be a living reminder of president Andrew Jackson. Interesting historical figure as he was, he was an odious person and our fascination with him has grown stale.
We are very sorry to any people the name has offended. We would like to thank those who have reached out over the years to let us know that the name is problematic, especially those who reached out with kindness. Had we known in 2004 that we would still be making music together 12 years later, we most certainly would have chosen a more thoughtful name from the start."
It got me thinking of Two Cow Garage, who I'm pretty sure *are not* offending anyone with their name - but they really don't like it. They opted to keep it though, because they've been recording/touring and don't really want to have to build back up the audience they've established with name recognition.
I'm also thinking of Ian Graham's "Cheap Girls". I love their music - but the name tends to make me uncomfortable.
Granted, with AJJ - that tended to be what fans called them anyway. So they have an advantage those other two bands didn't.
Of course - the reaction has been divided between those who like the name change and those who don't, with quite a bit of name-calling back and forth between those groups. Because, you know: internet.
It got me thinking though about name-changing your brand. If you had an user name that you really liked for years, but it was pointed out "that's problematic", would you consider changing it? How long and hard would you have to think about that?
(Granted, usernames may not be the *best* example - since very few people are making money on LJ user names - but taking that into Youtube and other social media outlets, that's definitely the case where they do!)
Now that I think of it, "Problematic" would be a good band name - I'm sure someone has already claimed it long ago though!