welcome ladies and gentlemen to the
eighth one to the world these are the
most memorable monikers of music welcome
to watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
counting down our picks for the top 10
nicknames in music for this list we’ll
be looking at iconic and memorable
nicknames for musical artists who are
otherwise known by their real names
meaning slash and flee are on the bench
this time around so was David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust as that is a character
rather than a true nickname
additionally we are only looking at
individuals rather than bands meaning
the Fab Four are also sitting this one
out
sorry Ringo
number ten Slowhand and God Eric Clapton
there’s nothing that is wrong more than
you to stay here
in 1963 the Crawdaddy club needed to
replace their outgoing house band the
Richmond venue soon settled on
up-and-comers The Yardbirds a band whose
guitarist Eric Clapton had a propensity
to cause the audience into doing the
slow clap thanks to his string
replacements in between songs
given his already rapid yet smooth style
when he wasn’t breaking strings the
club’s owner combined the phenomenon and
the young easy skills to give him the
moniker slow head
either out of admiration sarcasm or both
of course only a few years later
Clapton’s remarkable guitar skills led
the public to grant him another nickname
God
people were writing graffiti clapping is
God when you saw that what do you think
I was disgusted and pleased at the same
time
number nine Queen of Soul Aretha
Franklin following in the footsteps of
Sam Cooke this young gospel singer from
Memphis took on the world of pop music
in the early 60s with the release of her
Columbia debut it was clear that Aretha
Franklin was the obvious Queen of Soul a
nickname is one thing but it’s quite
another to be actually crowned in public
which is exactly what happened in 1968
when DJ Purvis Spann conducted a stage
ceremony making the nickname official
we’ve seen plenty of divas that like to
remind us of their soul but Aretha has
never had to talk smack that’s real
power number eight the chairman of the
board Frank Sinatra fly me to the moon
let me play up there with those star by
1960 all blue eyes had long been a king
of cool but as the sensibilities of pop
culture began to change Frank Sinatra
earned himself a new nickname the
chairman of the board after all he was
in fact the man behind reprise records
and the undeniable leader of the Rat
Pack Sinatra is both the ultimate
crooner and an Academy Award winning
actor
so when a new school of cool emerged
with JFK mingling with Marilyn Monroe
they already had someone as their leader
of the pack and it was the chairman of
the board
me too
number seven the boss Bruce Springsteen
it’s no wonder he’s called
the boss now Bruce Springsteen has yet
another hit on his hand with the release
of his eighteenth studio album hi hoes
where as Frank Sinatra established his
vocal skills in his native Hoboken New
Jersey
another blue-collar entertainer with the
same route 30 years later along the
Jersey Shore
no it wasn’t a life motto of gym tan
laundry that led to the nickname but
rather Springsteen’s nighttime hustle as
he organized payments for his band and
spread the wealth you’re killing the
working man who’s stuck in the gun chris
Christie for Lee New Jersey trapping Jay
in other words he took the bull by the
horns which made him the boss okay
maybe Springsteen has never warmed up to
the nickname but hey it’s not a bad one
to have when everyone knows how the boss
gets down on stage
number six The Godfather of Soul and the
hardest-working man in show business
James Brown
by the late 60s and the early 70s the
man known as soul brother number one had
reached the pinnacle of success and even
provided the score for the 1973
blaxploitation film black Caesar whose
own control each people and given his
chaotic life and work schedule it was
obvious that James Brown was the
hardest-working man in show business
which he also became known as The
Godfather of Soul during this time
largely in part to the freewheeling 70s
and the life accomplishments of the
original gangster of funk the nickname
stuck and you know James Brown didn’t
mind the attention
so is called the man in black number
five the man in black Johnny Cash
well you wonder why I always dress in
black he was down and out in the late
60s due to heavy heavy drug use but this
man experienced a rebirth of sorts and
soon became friends with Bob Dylan
another music icon who was undergoing
his own type of transformation when the
night begins to fall then adult Palooza
bar and so it was in 1971 when Johnny
Cash wrote the man in black thus
confirming his iconic nickname however
the image represented more than just
rebellion it was for the people and all
those unfortunate souls who lived a
difficult life and weren’t quite
connected with the blossoming
counterculture movement
and of course the look that came with it
also looks so good on stage but maybe I
can carry off a little darkness on the
back those things are brighter I’m the
man and we can pump dead animals and
antelopes and it’s the reason that a man
and another man can elope but if you
feel like I feel like out the game
before Slim Shady Eminem the real shady
all you other slim Shady’s are just
imitating in 1999 Eminem released his
groundbreaking single my name is yet a
new MTV generation couldn’t quite figure
out what the hell he was calling himself
and while many now consider Eminem a
lyrical genius his nickname was
originally given to himself when he was
hard at work not in the studio but on
the toilet okay
thought about it still when a rapper
kick around the house get the daughter
may kidnap nobody question the name of
his alter ego when Eminem hit it big and
after all dr. Dre executive produced his
breakthrough album Slim Shady as a
nickname has stuck with him through all
these years it rolls off the tongue
rather easily and Eminem certainly
cashed in on his creation
swim number three
Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne as both
an icon of hard rock and reality
television Ozzy Osbourne has influenced
the world in a variety of mischievous
ways but let’s be clear he’s not the
first artist we labeled the Prince of
Darkness the great blues musician Miles
Davis was known as such and even the
Godfather cinematographer Gordon Willis
I thought it was Lennon been to you
probably double again the good gut
however its Ozzy that effectively
captured the essence of John Milton’s
famous phrase from Paradise Lost
in other words the embodiment of evil
and by innovating the heavy metal genre
boat in the studio and on stage Ozzy
Osbourne fit the bill like no other
number two King of Pop Michael Jackson
given the international fame of Michael
Jackson during the 1980s it only makes
sense that he would ultimately be called
the King of Pop well how about this it
was MJ himself who demanded that MTV VJs
refer to invite this title around the
time when black or white hit the
airwaves Michael Jackson came up with
the idea that he needed a nickname like
Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen and
thanks to his own efficient business
plan that’s exactly what he got
and in fairness there’s no other
musician as deserving so we’ll give MJ a
break he earned it
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
which is oh my daesil used to dribble
down there be a pedagogue and DiMaggio
you’re everything that I see I won’t
show I love an emulsion and number one
the king of rock and roll Elvis Presley
one threw a party in the county jail the
prison band was there they began to wear
it’s no secret that rock and roll was
influenced by the blues however no other
man embraced the crown for the genre
quite like Elvis Presley let’s take a
walk down the street
in the late 50s he paved the way for
rock as we know it and though he would
live a chaotic life
Elvis undoubtedly lived the life of a
king for better or for worse no one can
deny the influence of the Mississippi
native and over the course of more than
20 years the king lived up to his famous
title and even if he wasn’t always on
top of the music industry we can’t find
a pond to use a wooden gym so do you
agree with our list what is your
favorite nickname in music
for more mind-blowing top tens published
daily be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
eighth one to the world these are the
most memorable monikers of music welcome
to watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
counting down our picks for the top 10
nicknames in music for this list we’ll
be looking at iconic and memorable
nicknames for musical artists who are
otherwise known by their real names
meaning slash and flee are on the bench
this time around so was David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust as that is a character
rather than a true nickname
additionally we are only looking at
individuals rather than bands meaning
the Fab Four are also sitting this one
out
sorry Ringo
number ten Slowhand and God Eric Clapton
there’s nothing that is wrong more than
you to stay here
in 1963 the Crawdaddy club needed to
replace their outgoing house band the
Richmond venue soon settled on
up-and-comers The Yardbirds a band whose
guitarist Eric Clapton had a propensity
to cause the audience into doing the
slow clap thanks to his string
replacements in between songs
given his already rapid yet smooth style
when he wasn’t breaking strings the
club’s owner combined the phenomenon and
the young easy skills to give him the
moniker slow head
either out of admiration sarcasm or both
of course only a few years later
Clapton’s remarkable guitar skills led
the public to grant him another nickname
God
people were writing graffiti clapping is
God when you saw that what do you think
I was disgusted and pleased at the same
time
number nine Queen of Soul Aretha
Franklin following in the footsteps of
Sam Cooke this young gospel singer from
Memphis took on the world of pop music
in the early 60s with the release of her
Columbia debut it was clear that Aretha
Franklin was the obvious Queen of Soul a
nickname is one thing but it’s quite
another to be actually crowned in public
which is exactly what happened in 1968
when DJ Purvis Spann conducted a stage
ceremony making the nickname official
we’ve seen plenty of divas that like to
remind us of their soul but Aretha has
never had to talk smack that’s real
power number eight the chairman of the
board Frank Sinatra fly me to the moon
let me play up there with those star by
1960 all blue eyes had long been a king
of cool but as the sensibilities of pop
culture began to change Frank Sinatra
earned himself a new nickname the
chairman of the board after all he was
in fact the man behind reprise records
and the undeniable leader of the Rat
Pack Sinatra is both the ultimate
crooner and an Academy Award winning
actor
so when a new school of cool emerged
with JFK mingling with Marilyn Monroe
they already had someone as their leader
of the pack and it was the chairman of
the board
me too
number seven the boss Bruce Springsteen
it’s no wonder he’s called
the boss now Bruce Springsteen has yet
another hit on his hand with the release
of his eighteenth studio album hi hoes
where as Frank Sinatra established his
vocal skills in his native Hoboken New
Jersey
another blue-collar entertainer with the
same route 30 years later along the
Jersey Shore
no it wasn’t a life motto of gym tan
laundry that led to the nickname but
rather Springsteen’s nighttime hustle as
he organized payments for his band and
spread the wealth you’re killing the
working man who’s stuck in the gun chris
Christie for Lee New Jersey trapping Jay
in other words he took the bull by the
horns which made him the boss okay
maybe Springsteen has never warmed up to
the nickname but hey it’s not a bad one
to have when everyone knows how the boss
gets down on stage
number six The Godfather of Soul and the
hardest-working man in show business
James Brown
by the late 60s and the early 70s the
man known as soul brother number one had
reached the pinnacle of success and even
provided the score for the 1973
blaxploitation film black Caesar whose
own control each people and given his
chaotic life and work schedule it was
obvious that James Brown was the
hardest-working man in show business
which he also became known as The
Godfather of Soul during this time
largely in part to the freewheeling 70s
and the life accomplishments of the
original gangster of funk the nickname
stuck and you know James Brown didn’t
mind the attention
so is called the man in black number
five the man in black Johnny Cash
well you wonder why I always dress in
black he was down and out in the late
60s due to heavy heavy drug use but this
man experienced a rebirth of sorts and
soon became friends with Bob Dylan
another music icon who was undergoing
his own type of transformation when the
night begins to fall then adult Palooza
bar and so it was in 1971 when Johnny
Cash wrote the man in black thus
confirming his iconic nickname however
the image represented more than just
rebellion it was for the people and all
those unfortunate souls who lived a
difficult life and weren’t quite
connected with the blossoming
counterculture movement
and of course the look that came with it
also looks so good on stage but maybe I
can carry off a little darkness on the
back those things are brighter I’m the
man and we can pump dead animals and
antelopes and it’s the reason that a man
and another man can elope but if you
feel like I feel like out the game
before Slim Shady Eminem the real shady
all you other slim Shady’s are just
imitating in 1999 Eminem released his
groundbreaking single my name is yet a
new MTV generation couldn’t quite figure
out what the hell he was calling himself
and while many now consider Eminem a
lyrical genius his nickname was
originally given to himself when he was
hard at work not in the studio but on
the toilet okay
thought about it still when a rapper
kick around the house get the daughter
may kidnap nobody question the name of
his alter ego when Eminem hit it big and
after all dr. Dre executive produced his
breakthrough album Slim Shady as a
nickname has stuck with him through all
these years it rolls off the tongue
rather easily and Eminem certainly
cashed in on his creation
swim number three
Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne as both
an icon of hard rock and reality
television Ozzy Osbourne has influenced
the world in a variety of mischievous
ways but let’s be clear he’s not the
first artist we labeled the Prince of
Darkness the great blues musician Miles
Davis was known as such and even the
Godfather cinematographer Gordon Willis
I thought it was Lennon been to you
probably double again the good gut
however its Ozzy that effectively
captured the essence of John Milton’s
famous phrase from Paradise Lost
in other words the embodiment of evil
and by innovating the heavy metal genre
boat in the studio and on stage Ozzy
Osbourne fit the bill like no other
number two King of Pop Michael Jackson
given the international fame of Michael
Jackson during the 1980s it only makes
sense that he would ultimately be called
the King of Pop well how about this it
was MJ himself who demanded that MTV VJs
refer to invite this title around the
time when black or white hit the
airwaves Michael Jackson came up with
the idea that he needed a nickname like
Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen and
thanks to his own efficient business
plan that’s exactly what he got
and in fairness there’s no other
musician as deserving so we’ll give MJ a
break he earned it
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
which is oh my daesil used to dribble
down there be a pedagogue and DiMaggio
you’re everything that I see I won’t
show I love an emulsion and number one
the king of rock and roll Elvis Presley
one threw a party in the county jail the
prison band was there they began to wear
it’s no secret that rock and roll was
influenced by the blues however no other
man embraced the crown for the genre
quite like Elvis Presley let’s take a
walk down the street
in the late 50s he paved the way for
rock as we know it and though he would
live a chaotic life
Elvis undoubtedly lived the life of a
king for better or for worse no one can
deny the influence of the Mississippi
native and over the course of more than
20 years the king lived up to his famous
title and even if he wasn’t always on
top of the music industry we can’t find
a pond to use a wooden gym so do you
agree with our list what is your
favorite nickname in music
for more mind-blowing top tens published
daily be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
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