Daniel McClenaghan It should be okay to love Neutral Milk Hotel and still be able to discuss how much the band’s name sucks. 1. Neutral Milk HotelChoosing to call your band something as nonsensical as Neutral Milk Hotel is one thing, but telling the press you don’t want to explain why you chose such a lame name because “it’s private” is a total fucking copout. Even if it’s a reference to sperm. Especially if it’s a reference to sperm. The only reason more people don’t talk about how Neutral Milk Hotel is one of the stupidest band names in the history of band names is because a) Mangum and Co. are bloody brilliant and b) the band is broken up. No one dares sully the memory of such a brilliant and influential band — it’s like saying bad things about a dead person at the wake — but let’s not pretend that every decision Jeff Mangum made was a good one. The band broke up, didn’t it? Because that’s one thing we can all agree on: Neutral Milk Hotel is a sucky name, but even suckier than that is the knowledge that the band will probably never play a show again.