Five Reasons Why Bird is the Word For Local Band Names
![]() |
Birds are entrenched in popular culture. Putting aside The Eagles, To Kill a Mockingbird, and "Blackbird" by The Beatles, consider more recent winged occurrences: Harry Potter lives for a time with the Order of the Phoenix, and his pet is Hedwig the owl. Morgan Freeman lent his voice to a flick about penguins.
San Francisco bands have proven especially susceptible to the avian obsession. Sure, there's your run-of-the-mill giraffe band (Giraffes? Giraffes!), and even tigers sprinkled here and there (Spandex Tiger).
But the king of this metropolitan jungle is the bird. Birds? Birds!
To name a few of the infiltrated:
Barn Owl
The Battlin' Bluebirds
Bird By Snow
Birdmonster
Birds & Batteries
Birds of America
Birds of Every Flavor
The Bye Bye Blackbirds
Golden Birds
Pigeon John
Red Leaf Black Bird
The Moanin Dove
Sorcery Bird
What could possibly trigger a musician to say, "By God, that's it!" as a grimy San Francisco pigeon solicits him for breadcrumbs? Here are 5 reasons why "bird" is the word:
1. Prettier than a hagfish.
2. Birds sing. Bands do, too.
3. At least one member of the band hates or is allergic to cats.
4. Birds don't clean up their shit, and neither do musicians.
5. Everyone's high.
... Or maybe everyone just has bird brains for creativity.
Follow us @SFAllShookDown































