PANDORA BY RAY ZELL
RAYZELL.COM
KERRANG! 11NIRVANA
The grunge legends had
not one, but two records
that could have been
called something else
entirely. Nevermind or In
Utero? Nah, how about
Sheep and I Hate Myself
And I Want To Die? The
former, according to Krist
Novoselic, was because
the band were “so
cynical”, while the latter
was a phrase that Kurt
Cobain had once written in
one of his many journals.
Courtney Love then
inspired the title In Utero.METALLICA
Could Metallica’s trajectory
have changed if the band- as they had wanted
to – called their debut
album Metal Up Your Ass?
Probably not, but that was
a real concern when the
metal heroes were first
starting out. “Our record
label told us that record
distributors in America
had strongly objected to
the title and the planned
sleeve,” explained Lars
Ulrich in 1984. Shame.
But Kill ’Em All is still one
hell of a title, right?
GREEN DAY
Surprisingly, for a band
with a full-length named
literally after poo, there
was once a title that the
Oakland titans thought
was “too gross” to
actually roll with. That
name? Liquid Dookie.
Because cutting off the
“liquid” part definitely
makes it much better.
Definitely. “We had a
faecal fascination in those
years,” Tré Cool later
told VH1 in the Ultimate
Albums documentary. No
shit. (Pun intended.)1 2 3 4 5 6
BLINK-
This isn’t necessarily even
a working title – it could
very well end up becoming
the actual album name.
Speaking to Zane Lowe
on Beats 1, the pop-
punk trio revealed that
BOJMIR is currently in the
lead for the follow-up to
2016’s California. Don’t
understand? Well... “We’re
trying to make it fancy,”
said Mark Hoppus. “It’s
rimjob spelled backwards
but it’s pronounced ‘boh-
mir’ – the ‘j’ is silent in this
iteration.” Right...
THE OFFSPRING
Okay, this was actually only
an April Fool’s joke, but
boy do we wish it were
true. While Guns N’ Roses’
long-awaited Chinese
Democracy record was
finally in the works, The
Offspring thought it would
be hilarious to get in there
first and name their then-
new LP Chinese Democracy
(You Snooze, You Lose).
“Axl ripped off my braids,
so I ripped off his album
title,” said frontman
Dexter Holland in a fake
statement. If only...RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
In 2011, RHCP revealed
that the working name
for their then-upcoming
10th album was the
snappily titled Dr. Johnny
Skinz’s Disproportionately
Rambunctious Polar
Express Machine-Head,
inspired by a friend who
had gone to their studio
and was “reminiscing
about one of his legendary
acid trips”, according
to Anthony Kiedis. They
eventually ended up opting
for I’m With You, which,
y’know... just isn’t as good.As BLINK-182 unveil
the working title for their
new record, we look at
the random album names
that almost were...
WORKING
WONDERS
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