SOUND WAVES

The Most Infamous Punctuation Uses Ever!
(Like that gratuitous exclamation point above)

Ah, music. The ever-downward-spiraling mass-market medium that we all know and love. In no other form of entertainment are there moments that make you say, "What?" than in music. Case in point: Punctuation. We've already explored the bizarre use of exclamation points in our Pop Culture Faceoff between Panic! At The Disco and 3Oh!3. But there are far more just plain weird uses of punctuation out there.

ARTISTS
P!NK
Originally implemented as a way to say, "Look, I stand out because of my pink hair/Look, I stand out because of my exclamation I," Pink (who is no longer pink) used the switch on album covers. It never caught on completely, though. iTunes lists her as P!nk, Wikipedia lists her as Pink, VH1.com lists her as P!nk, and even her own website can't commit, as one post lists her as Pink and the next as P!nk.

(hed) p.e.
So, the p.e. stands for Planet Earth, but we're not really sure as to why it's all lowercase, and what purpose the parentheses serve. But one thing we do know: Nobody listens to (hed) p.e.

!!!
How do you pronounce a name with no letters? Here's an official statement from the band (seriously): "!!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, etc." They were inspired by watching the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, wherein the Bushmen's clicking sounds were subtitled as !!!. Dance-punk bands can get away with the most ridiculous bullshit.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Ok, I'll be honest. Their music isn't that bad. The name's somewhat pretentious, and they're listed as an "art rock" band, but they can sort-of back it up with music that stands out amongst a sea of Shinedown.

N.E.R.D.
One of the most under-appreciated bands out there, N.E.R.D. consists of The Neptunes and Another Dude, and they've consistently made some of the most interesting hip-hop of any group in the musical scope. Don't believe me? Check out "Lap Dance", "Anti-Matter," and "Everybody Nose." DO IT.

*NSync/B*Witched
The late 90's attack of the asterisk was brilliantly spoofed at the MTV Movie Awards, where *NSYNC suited up as astronauts to stop the B*Witched mark from slamming into the Earth. A great premise in the logo world because *NSYNC was actually written with a star instead of an asterisk. But the only way to access a star in typing is through Wingdings, so *NSYNC it is. And for the record, N*SYNC is wrong. Oh, and did anyone ever even hear a B*Witched song?


ALBUM TITLES
Fiona Apple - When The Pawn...
Fiona Apple made a name for herself in the 90's as "that girl that's laying all over the floor in that video." She tried to stay in the conscious eye with her album that is often abbreviated When The Pawn.... Why on Earth would an album title be abbreviated? Because the full title is 90 words long. Here it is: When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king what he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight and he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring there's no body to batter when your mind is your might so when you go solo, you hold your own hand and remember that depth is the greatest of heights and if you know where you stand, then you know where to land and if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right.

Chumbawamba - The Boy Bands Have Won...
Oh? There's another abbreviated album title? Oh! And it's the longest title yet? Oh?! It's from Chumbawamba? "Tubthumping" Chumbwamba? The Boy Bands Have Won, and All The Copyists and The Tribute Bands and The TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture To Be Shaped By Mimicry, Whether From Lack Of Ideas Or From Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try To Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother’s Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don’t Just Regurgitate Creative History, Or Hold Art And Music And Literature As Fixed, Untouchable And Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try To ‘Guard’ Any Particular Form Of Music Are, Like The Copyists And Manufactured Bands, Doing It The Worst Disservice, Because The Only Thing That You Can Do To Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It’s Over, Then It’s Done, and The Boy Bands Have Won. Well, that was enlightening. Now shut the fuck up about boy bands and get back to thumping tubs.

Cobra Starship - ¡Viva La Cobra!
The 2nd album from the now-on-MTV Cobra Starship is their finest, encapsulating their sound and sass into amazing party-pop songs. The title, which was partially inspired by the Gym Class Heroes song "Viva La White Girl," is shades better than what they were originally going to go with (If The World Is Ending, We're Throwing The Party). You don't see the upside down exclamation mark in album titles that often.

Jason Mraz - Mr. A-Z/We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
Jason Mraz uses punctuation like it's nobody's business. Two of his three studio LP's have had punctuation in their titles. His wordplay-heavy 2nd album, Mr. A-Z, not only had two different marks, but three songs on the album included them as well (Did You Get My Message?, Mr. Curiosity, & O. Lover). He's obviously a fan of words and their system of use, but he uses marks sparingly so as to make tracks stand out, such as in O. Lover where it sounds like an exclamation ("Oh, lover!"), but does in fact stand for (spoiler) "Opportunistic Lover", which isn't revealed until the end of the song. (end spoiler)


SONGS
Panic! At The Disco - That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)
This is simply one entry in a very, very long list of songs that use parentheses to make it easier for people to connect a song to its title. This song in particular makes no mention of a green gentleman, but does use "Things have changed" to lead into the chorus. Parentheses let a musician be creative with the title (Seriously, who the hell is that green gentleman?), while still giving the song a title that makes sense.

Weezer - (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
In this case, Weezer took the opposite approach. There is really no need for the parenthetical section in the title of their newest single, but it does something different from other titles. The song is meant as a hearkening back to the early days of Weezer, and is supposed to be awkward. Adding the parentheses does nothing for the content of the song (as the Panic! song does), but does change the overall tone.

Outkast - Hey Ya!
Everyone (and literally, their mom) knew this song when it was released 5 years ago. It made Outkast a household name, and Andre3000 reportedly hates it now. The exclamation point on the end of the song does exactly what it should. Without it, it would have just been two words and two words only. Adding the point makes it exciting, which is exactly what Hey Ya! is. There are times when punctuation is perfectly appropriate. This is one of those times.