I trained an AI model on thousands of band names, expecting the model to generate some new ones for me. The results weren’t at all what I expected.
Using this dataset of Billboard Hot 100 songs from the last 60+ years, I trained the model on artist names alone, using this GPT-2 notebook. What I didn’t expect was that an incredibly high number of popular songs in the dataset (beginning from the late 80’s and early 90’s) were collaborations among two or more musicians. This phenomenon essentially taught my model that an artist name consists of at least two entities, and that new band names should follow this pattern.
Rather than completely new creations, the vast majority of results were a bizarre mashup of real bands, real bands + other famous non-musicians, or real bands + not-real bands. Here are my favorites:
Perry Como, Katy Perry & Big Sean
Hara (Featuring Lisa Kudrow)
Barry Manilow with The Wailers
Jason Mraz & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Billie Eilish & Bryan Adams
Coldplay Featuring Olivia Newton-John
Rage Against The Machine Featuring Nicki Minaj
Crazy Elephant Featuring Sonia Sotomayor
Kendrick Lamar Featuring Vince Gill
The Art Of Noise Featuring Sylvia Plath
Rich Homie Quan Featuring Sheryl Crow
Frank Ocean Featuring Pitbull
Pete Seeger And The Other Famous Outlaws & Congolians
Wyclef Jean Featuring Yung Joc, Kevin Gates & Keith Urban
P!nk Featuring Mick Jagger
The Simpsons Featuring Bart & Barthe
Elvis Costello And The Not-So-Secret Society
Ne-Yo Featuring Lil Durk & Denzel Washington
Kenny Rogers With Orchestra And Chorus
Mase Featuring Ed Sheeran
Miley Cyrus Featuring Miley Cyrus
Counting Crows Featuring Lil Wayne
LL Cool J Featuring 10 Inch Nails
Gladys Knight & The Group
The Dave Clark/Donna Summer Band
Bryan Cranston Featuring Eric B. & The GreenBorders
Lil PSA Featuring Cardi B
The model did sometimes create completely new band names. While not as many as I’d hoped, there were some good ones:
Karl Marx And The New Left
The Hues That Make Up The Night
1–800–989–2812
The Coroners
Dicky Gervais
KARDASH!
Georgia Washington
Adam And The before-and-then-unused Hermits
Ron Stewart
Obama
C.F.O. Of The Ricohoods