Best Undercards?

Let’s get this out of the way: Diarrhea Planet is a hilarious name. It’s also entirely appropriate. It’s an effective litmus test: if you’re not comfortable digging a band named Diarrhea Planet, chances are you’re not going to like this band named Diarrhea Planet. It’s music for people who can find genuine humor in the absurd, who don’t take themselves (or their favorite bands) too seriously.



Which is why its so surprising that the booking agent of Fucked Up—another aptly named band—recommended the band change their name. In a recent interview with Noisey, co-founder and singer/guitarist Jordan Smith said an agent for Ground Control Touring declined the opportunity to work with the band due to their name. Smith concedes that their name has caused some issues in the past, but that things are getting better. And of course, he’s in on the joke: “You have to admit though, if we ever became huge it would be the ultimate prank,” he relays to Noisey. “Like for a kid to walk into Walmart and ask his mom to buy him a Diarrhea Planet CD.”



While it may not be Walmart, a Nashville grandparent recently voiced his disgust in the “Ticked Off” section of the Belle Meade News, after his 11-year-old grandson picked their latest, I Am Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, while shopping at local record institution Grimey’s. “If we have to live on a ‘diarrhea planet’ show me where to get off!” That’s press you can’t buy. I hope that quote will soon be a promo sticker on the record’s inevitable repressing.



A personal aside: My friend Neil told his mother that he was going to see a band named Diarrhea Planet, and she responded: “’Diary of a Planet’? That sounds nice.”