Top 10 Musical Pseudonyms

5. Iggy Pop

iggy-pop Long before he sold out to €˜the man€™ and became a literal puppet for a car insurance company, Stooges€™ leader, Iggy Pop, was one of the most intense, unpredictable and unique front men of all time. His wild onstage antics varied from hurling his sweaty semi-naked body into an adoring crowd (inventing 'stage-diving€™ in the process) and cutting himself with glass to proudly exposing his manhood. As a member of The Stooges, he bridged the gap between the €˜60s counter-culture and the flowering punk scene, borrowing his enchanting stage craft from Jim Morrison but ramping up the sexuality and self-destructive propensities of the Doors€™ front man several notches and applying guttural vocals to raw, filth-ridden and ennui-laden lyrical subject matter. Baring the hardly-catchy or memorable birth name, James Osterberg, his more distinctive alter ego, Iggy Pop, was a marriage of two separate identities. Forever in and out of crude high school garage bands, Osterberg had a brief spell as the drummer for the Iguanas and eventually adopted a shortened version of the band€™s name as part of his new identity. The origin of 'Pop', however, is far less rock and roll. Inspired by a close friend, Jimmy Pop, who suddenly lost his hair and eyebrows; Iggy shaved his own as a mark of solidarity and subsequently took the surname to complete the persona. Pretty boring, huh? That sort of behaviour might seem outrageous on a lads€™ night out but it barely registers on the Iggy Scale of provocative and ludicrous behaviour. This is a man who regularly vomited in front of a live crowd and played on, for crying out loud!
Contributor
Contributor

A 22 year old English Literature graduate from Birmingham. I am passionate about music, literature and football, in particular, my beloved Aston Villa. Lover of words and consumer of art, music is the very air that I breathe.