Pseudonyms

[sufi]

They come in all shapes and sizes, some are opaque others transparent, some artists stick with one, others adopt new ones willynilly, some are humorous or even punning, some are super-obscure. i have long thought that unpronounceableness is a key quality in a creating mystique (which surely is what it's all about - overcoming your prosaic real name?)
Having an iconic single word moniker is like claiming a space in the dictionary isnt it, i guess then you can derive your own adjectives, verbs etc, fantastic if you can add a definite article.

I suppose pseudonyms that are less exotic might be for another reason - like security issues? I know a guy who had to change his acting name because Equity already had an actor registered with their real name and there can be only one apparently, perhaps your sounds are so edgy (or shit) that you don't want to be identified, should a pseudonym be obviously a fake name?

Burial, Muslimguaze - hiding behind it
Prince, Madonna, the Dream, the Weeknd - revelling in mononymity
wu tang - do they coordinate aliases, are they really superheroes?

why is music so RIFE with them ??

 

[william_kent]

I'll have to register my disgust with the most annoying pseudonym of them all: "The Edge"

FFS - really? You called yourself "The Edge"?

Closely followed by: "Bono"

 

[Leo]

certain artists are playing a role, often a larger-than-life one where "Bruce Jones" (or whatever) just doesn't cut it, not dramatic enough. Whereas other artists are just so plain spoken, straightforward and normal that a pseudonym would be out of place. James Taylor only needs to be James Taylor, be silly otherwise.

 

[Leo]

also, don't forget: aside from @craner, we've all done it here too.

 

[sufi]

also, don't forget: aside from @craner, we've all done it here too.

yeah i had that in mind too - Woebot has had a few too, but i believe that Luka is actually using his own name,
we are quite expert in this field

pseudonyms that are not obviously pseudonyms may be quite cool i spose

why do musicians and not sports people (apart from wrasslers) use them i wonder

 

[WashYourHands]

Richard H Kirk had stacks


Agents With False Memories, Al Jabr, Anarchia, Biochemical Dread, Bit Crackle, Blacworld, Chemical Agent, Cold Warrior, Dark Magus, Destructive Impact, Digital Terrestrial, Dollars And Cents, DR Xavier, Electronic Eye, Extended Family (2), Frightgod, Future Cop Movies, Harold Sandoz, International Organisation, King Of Kings, Multiple Transmission, Nine Mile Dub, Nitrogen (2), Orchestra Terrestrial, Outland Assasin, Papadoctrine, Pat Riot (2), Port Au Prince, PSI Punky Dread Allstars, Reflexiv, Richard H Kirk And The Arpeggio 13, Robots + Humanoids, Sandoz, Signals Intelligence, The Revolutionary Army (Of The Infant Jesus), The Silent Age, The Third Man (3), Trafficante, Ubermenschlich, Ubu Rahmen, Vasco De Mento, Wicky Wacky

 

[Leo]

why do musicians and not sports people (apart from wrasslers) use them i wonder

i guess because artists create a fiction, they're storytellers. whereas athletes make realities, the wins and loses are real. wrestlers use pseudonyms because they are creating a fiction.

 

[Mellsman]

In music a pseudonym allows you to be one man band.

 

[WashYourHands]

yeah i had that in mind too - Woebot has had a few too, but i believe that Luka is actually using his own name,
we are quite expert in this field

pseudonyms that are not obviously pseudonyms may be quite cool i spose

why do musicians and not sports people (apart from wrasslers) use them i wonder

Football has had more than a few, usually single named

 

[Leo]

Football has had more than a few, usually single named

but those are just nicknames, right? not quite pseudonym level.

 

[WashYourHands]

It’s well known Messi played under a range of pseudonyms in the lower English divisions

 

[WashYourHands]

But yes you’re right

(just glad I didn’t get let lumped with Gus or Stan)

 

[Leo]

One of my favorite sports nicknames was Randy Johnson, a tall, gangly pitcher called "The Big Unit".

And "Mr. October" for slugger Reggie Jackson, for his clutch hitting in playoff and World Series games.

 

[Leo]

(just glad I didn’t get let lumped with Gus or Stan)

that was actually some next-level meta shit: we gave nicknames to their original nicknames.

 

[sufi]

One of my favorite sports nicknames was Randy Johnson, a tall, gangly pitcher called "The Big Unit".

And "Mr. October" for slugger Reggie Jackson, for his clutch hitting in playoff and World Series games.

sportspersons get their mononyms assigned by popular acclaim innit - pele, maradona, etc
i can't think of a musician that happened to - maybe, though?

 

[Leo]

yeah, Johnson didn't go around saying "hey, call me The Big Unit"!

 

[WashYourHands]

Like an ostrich with a mullet

 

[john eden]

The punk ones (Rat Scabies etc) were partly to allow people to sign on as well as getting paid for gigs.

Mainly in recent electronic music it seems to be a way of adding to the persona though - it's also a function of the fact that there are less bands and duos now, which would generally have "persona" names to avoid sounding like firms of solicitors.

Possibly also if you do dance stuff it is good branding to release ambient or noise things under a different name? Fuck knows.

There's then a tendency to use your own name when you have established yourself a bit and think you have outgrown the persona.

 

[john eden]

Often in reggae someone's pseudonym originated as a nickname given to them by an elder.

 

[Leo]

Some are a bit regrettable too: David Kennedy luckily ditched both Maurice Donovan (his Chi-house releases) and Ramadanman (early dubstep) in pre-cancel culture days for the less-problematic Pearson Sound.