Name Game 2

It's been a long established and accepted practice, musicians adopting stage names. I don't know why they do it. Anomimity? Shock value? Additional street creds? I dunno.

But every now and then, somebody in popular music would break out carrying a name he wasn't really born with. There's nothing wrong with that I guess. I mean, they are, after all, still part of the whole tradition of showbiz.

The stage names that musical artists have come out with in modern music have been witty, tough-sounding, apt, not-so-apt. Whatever it is, most of them have all been interesting and memorable.

Let's take a look at some examples.


1. Johnny Rotten

Okay, since I'm extremely partial to old school punk, let's start with one of my anti-heroes. The Sex Pistols howler was born John Lydon. The "Rotten" appelation is said to have referred to his precarious dentures.

2. Sid Vicious

Another Sex Pistol alumnus, the Pistols' main image guy's real name was John Simon Ritchie. "Sid" was said to be the name of his pet hamster (he had a fucking pet hamster?) and "Vicious" was an intentional misnomer as, to paraphrase his buddy Johnny Rotten, "Sid was the most non-vicious person I knew."

3. Ringo Starr

The drummer for the legendary (they deserve this tag, like it or not) rock n roll band was Richard Starkey in real life. "Ringo" was a nod to his predilection for rings while "Starr" was simply an abbreviation of his real surname.

4. Ritchie Valens

The pioneering rock n roll star was born Ricardo Valenzuela. To make him more acceptable to a then very caucasian-oriented music-buying public, his manager convinced him to shorten - and anglicize - his thoroughly hispanic name.

5. Freddie Mercury

Queen's flamboyant and inimitable lead singer was born Farrokh Bulsara. I guess his onstage alias does sound more bang in tune with his mission to make it to rock stardom.

6. Flea

Red Hot Chilli Peppers' bassman was born Michael Balzary. How he got this nickname is still something of a mystery to me.

7. Bono

The U2 frontman originally went by the name Bono Vox, which means "good voice" and which was taken from an advertisement for hearing aids, but later decided to shorten in to just "Bono". His real name is Paul Hewson.

8. The Edge

U2's resident anti-guitar hero guitar genious is David Howell Evans in real life. Why "The Edge"? Well, some say it's because of his particulary "edgy" guitar style. Others say it's because he often preferred to just "stand by the edge" while things happen. You decide.

9. Billy Idol

Prior to adopting the name with which he would gain fame, the Generation X lead singer and one-time member of Sex Pistol fan gang Bromley Contingent was known as William Michael Albert Broad.


10. The Ramones

We know the original line-up of these guys as Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, and Tommy Ramone. Their non-Ramone names are Jeffrey Hyman (Joey), John Cummings (Johnny), Douglas Glenn Colvin (Dee Dee), and Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy).

The other Ramones who subsequently became part of the legend were Marc Bell (Marky Ramone), Richard Reinhardt (Richie Ramone), Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone), and Christopher John Ward (CJ Ramone).


There are still a lot of other musicians out there with intruiging, interesting, or cringeworthy stage names. And there will still be a lot more of them who will choose to present themselves under an alias. But what the hell, it's still rock n roll to me.