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Comment by somewhereoutth | Hacker News Reader

"A country is a group of people," guitar player and vocalist John Gourley explains. "With Portugal, it just ended up being the first country that came to mind. The band's name is 'Portugal'. The period is stating that, and 'The Man' states that it's just one person" (any one of the band members).

I'm not expecting a lot from their song writing after this statement.

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> I'm not expecting a lot from their song writing after this statement.

They are actually quite a well-known band, so you shouldn’t be so cynical. People on HN love to judge things before they know anything about it. This band has won a Grammy award, but you were content to assume the worst for trivial reasons.

A band name is not trivial. It doesn't seem they spent any time or effort thinking up a good one (unless of course there is a marketing angle here, and the name (and band?) was entirely manufactured).

Let’s be real, the Beatles is one of the worst band names ever. People often name their band when they are young and they get stuck with it.

If Portugal the man is manufactured (entirely baseless claim) they did a pretty terrible job with it. They recorded and toured for ~15 years before getting any mainstream success.

Granted. But 'Portugal. The man' seems particularly cack-handed. Worse to me as I actually live in Portugal currently, it would have been nice to see some sort of connection.

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

Indeed I am!

I think you're thinking about this a little too hard. It's music. Listen, or don't.

Ah but words are important. I'm disappointed by their word smithing (in the explanation, if not the actual naming).

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