What's in a band name? Rumpelstiltskin Grinder is now The Devil.

UPDATE: Turns out this all was a hoax. Either the band wanted some attention, or (more likely), someone just wanted to play a practical joke online. My post still stands, but like I said, as long as the band makes cool music, I will keep listening!

Call me judgmental, but there are plenty of times I have held off listening to bands with ridiculous names. I'm not sure what the deal is behind the excellent thrash outfit, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder's name change to The Devil, but I can see why the members would do it (although that name is kind of generic).

While the band's old name may be attention-grabbing to some, it also seems kind of lame. Think about calling a venue when setting up a tour, "I got this band called Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, and it would like to play a show at your venue." Of course there have been plenty of successful bands with ridiculous names to disprove this theory, but I imagine it's harder getting started right out of the gate.

The only weird thing about all this is that the band did have a comedic sort of vibe (the first live album is called Raped by Bears, so I don't even know if this was entirely the band's own decision - could have been lawsuits, other issues entirely).

Either way, if a band like Rumpelstiltskin Grinder wants to change its name to make them more commercially appealing early in its career, then more power to em'! As long as the members keep grinding out awesome thrash, I'll still keep listening.