Entertainment For Lively Minds
Rock Music Celebrities With Humorous Yet Affectionate Soubriquets (thread shorter than title)
Posted by Burt Kocain on 9 February 2012 - 11:42am.
Mention of The Dame hereunder made me think of similar nicks given to rock stars, and how using them isn't belittling as much as affectionate. Here's the ones I can think of:
The Dame: How Bowie got this, I don't know. Is it an NMEism? It's perfect, though, a whiff of the panto.
His Bobness: I'm guessing the NME again. Another mock aristo/regal title appropriately bestowed.
Percy Plant: I can't think what his real name is right now ... Roger? Robert? so ingrained has this become.
Madge: a homely (and slightly camp) nick that deflates the diva nicely.
Er ... that's it.
- More from Burt Kocain.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Elton John
Reg? Can't think why.
Portly
I thought it was normally prefixed with the word "Fat" ...and occassionally with the suffix "of Pinner"
Real Name
Reginald Dwight?
That's his real name, obviously
but Rod Stewart called him Sharon which was reciprocated by Elton calling him Phyllis.
Not forgetting
Rod "The Mod" Stewart
The Dame
along with Sir Thumbs Aloft (Paul McCartney) and Sir Frederick of Mercury are all Smash Hits-isms created by one Neil Tennant, aren't they?
*Thread Padding Advisory*
I met Mr. Tennant before he was a Pet Shop Boy, when he'd just finished editing The Dairy Book Of Home Management. If you ever find a copy, I'm sure you could get it signed (and the book as wellhahaha) backstage at the next Pets' gig.
EDIT: (haha) Oh, this is good - if you Google image search "the dairy book of home management" there's a thumbnail of the "credits" page from an ebay sale. Click the thumbnail and you can see "Neil" top right. The picture's gone from ebay, so I can't link to it. Hahahaha(etc.)
No the Dame is older than that
I was too young to buy it at the time (honest) but I found an old Melody Maker from Aladdin Sane days and they were calling him that in the chatty/gossipy columns
I think it's a reference
to his penchant for wearing what he referred to as "men's dresses".
Sir Frederick of Mercury
Wasn't it Sir Frederick of Lucan, or did that come later?
A few more
Marc Bolan was always "The Bopping Elf." Don't know where that originally came from, but Smash Hits was definitely behind Billy Idol becoming "Sir William Of Idol".
In the 70's, the NME always referred to Bryan Ferry as Byron Ferrari, but I never saw/heard it outside the paper.
I'm not sure how affectionate "Saint Bob" was intended for Mr. Geldof...
And Byron Ferrari
was sometimes known as Bruin Furry.
And apparently also...
...Biryani Ferret and Brown Fury.
It's remarkable how many pleasingly funny variations his name lends itself to...
Burn
Fiery
Bopping Elf...
...was a Peelism, IIRC.
Elvis
The pelvis
Not forgetting...
the Hillbilly Cat
AKA
The Memphis Flash, iirc
The King ...
... of Western Swing.
King Of Western Swing
That was Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Elvis didn't play Western Swing, he was a hillbilly hepcat.
More western swing
We shouldn't forget the musically excellent but otherwise reprehensible Spade Cooley.
Victoria Beckham ...
... is still referred to as "Posh" whenever there's a story about her in the tabloids. The Spice Girls' nicknames came early on from Top of the Pops magazine and stuck.
For a while afterwards there'd usually be a half-arsed attempt to give similar nicknames to every boy/girl band that came along – I think the Sun tried it with All Saints ("Sexy Saint", and so on) and it failed miserably.
Are the Spice Girls rock music celebrities? Possibly not. Ah well.
Lest we forget...
...before she was Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell was Sexy Spice.
Good god you're right
And Emma was "Nice"
We always referred to her as Old Spice.
Well. My dad liked her.
Burly Chassis
...is the name my dad uses for Shirley Bassey. I believe Terry Wogan may have coined it, and I have no idea if it's particularly common but has always made me smile.
maybe its my age
but I remember this from my childhood and in my head it was Berlei, manufacturer of stout ladies corsetry.
I have fond memories
of Berlei ads in my Mum's magazines. Sexy rather than stout, I think ... *wanders off*
"Gypsy
by Berlei"
Fraser?
Could we have a Fondly-Remembered Womens' Underwear Ads thread? Is the blog big enough to accommodate it?
That will go down well
in certain quarters................bring it on.
That Berlei Gypsy ad ...
I remember a raindrop-dappled cleavage thrusting from a blue bra by an open window, but I can't find it on Google - can I have imagined it? Lenny?
'Raindrops on cleavage...
...and whiskers on gussets...'
etc.
Raindrops on cleavage...
Raindrops on cleavage
And whiskers on gussets
Jersey potatoes,
King Edwards and russets
Ladies with boobies whose wet t-shirt clings
These are a few of my favorite things
Chapeau...
...have an up.
Don't forget the bridge...
When the dog bites
When I hear Sting
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
Its on You Tube
I'm getting some very strange looks from the lighting engineer sitting next to me having already Googled Berlei to check the spelling and now this.
I see what you're doing here ...
You're all egging me on, saying "go on Burt go on, start a women's underwear thread! We'll post loads of pics an' that, honest!" so I start a thread featuring an Aubade thong picture and nobody joins in and I look a right nutter an' Fraser "Mr." Lewry deletes the thread an' all ...
Aubade thong
Don't make me Google that too Burt
Aubade Thong...
...didn't they open for the Pet Shop Boys back in the day?
I'm sure you could've, Burt.
I have. Many times.
Shirley
the chassis nickname came from Morecambe and Wise. Whether one of them came up with it, or whether it was from Eddie Braben I've no idea.
Edit!
Carl beat me to it!
The Velvet Bulldozer
That was the poetic nickname given to Albert King.
He drove a ‘dozer in his younger days, you see.
Well
Laughing Len (Cohen)
Basher (Nick Lowe)
Basher
of course came from his practice of bashing out his protegés' songs in the recording studio and tarting them up later in production. His title Grandfather of Rock similarly came from the age difference between him and the bands, which of course seems an eternity when you're young. Jesus of Cool seems to be a self-assumed title.
Olivia Neutron-Bomb
Oh DLT, how we loved you.
Duetting with
John Revolting
Lest we forget...
... Bono - that mewling, midget, hairplugged, talent vacuum, fuckwad, arse badger, buggering-bastard c@nt.
In my house anyway.
Remove "hairplugged" and you have Sting.
You
must live in the same house as me!
There's some chap
who's better known as "The Boss"
and where did "His Bobness" come from?
His Bobness
I don't know about anyone else but this has always annoyed me, no end.
I think it was around the time of LiveAid
Maybe in the immediately succeeding years. In 'Q Speak' Geldof was always St Bob and I think Dylan probably got that nickname around then.
Two right herberts started Q in 86 - what on earth happened to them?
Eric Clapton
acquired the nickname "Slowhand" back in 1963/64 with The Yardbirds. For decades I assumed it was just an ironic name, based on the fact that he could, er, play rather fast.
Then I began to think it was perhaps a play on words: Slow Hand Clap-ton
But I've heard yet another explanation along the lines that he sometimes took ages changing strings onstage and the audience would start giving him the slow hand clap.
Now I'm more confused than ever.
The hand
I've always understood it to originate from the Yardbird days as an ironic comment.
Your other two sources have never impinged on my consciousnees.
What,
not even now? That's a little harsh.
Wikipedia says:
It was during this time period that Clapton's Yardbirds rhythm guitarist, Chris Dreja, recalled that whenever Clapton broke a guitar string during a concert, he would stay on stage and replace it. The English audiences would wait out the delay by doing what is called a "slow handclap". Clapton told his official biographer, Ray Coleman, that, "My nickname of 'Slowhand' came from Giorgio Gomelsky*. He coined it as a good pun. He kept saying I was a fast player, so he put together the slow handclap phrase into Slowhand as a play on words".
*Yardbirds manager
yet Frank Skinner
says Clapton told him it was a slow hand-clap pun.
Then of course
there was Clapton's 'other' nickname.
God.
The name
now adopted by our very own lenny Law, I believe.
Yeah ...
Where is Lenny when you need him?
(and please don't answer that question)
"The Godfather of Soul," "Mr Dynamite",
"Mr Please Please Please", "Soul Brother Number One" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business". All refer to ... erm ... I can't remember his name...
Kenny G.
.
He was also
'The New New Prime Minister of Super Super Heavy Funk' and 'The Original Disco man'
Who coined them?
I've always assumed that he, or someone from his entourage came up with these phrases as they were often used to announce his arrival on stage. Am I close?
Don't forget to boogie!
Canned Heat had a veritable embarrassment of nicknames
Bob "The Bear" Hite
Al "Blind Owl" Wilson
Henry "Sunflower" Vestine
Harvey "The Snake" Mandel
Larry "The Mole" Taylor
Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra
You've redeemed yourself
after your lamentable fall from grace with the McCartney post. Brilliant! A whole band with nicks!
Thank you
Permission to feel smug, sir?
Loose Windscreen.
Rock-star related, when recording Exile Keith and crew named Mrs. Jagger, ahem,: 'Bianca the W*nk*r.'
Wasn't Long John Baldry 'Ada' to his close friends?..
I think he was
"Long John" to his close friends ...
Who cut the cheese?
Could it have been former Steely Dan/Doobie Bros sideman/defence consultant Jeff “Skunk” Baxter?
Another cheese-cutter nick -
"Hurricane" Smith
Better out than in
I wouldn't have much fancied being stuck in the back of the Grateful Dead's Transit with Pigpen either.
Pop Svengali Larry Parnes
"Mr Parnes Shillings and Pence"
Larry Parnes Bummed My Uncle
It's true. Apparently.
Good Lord.
Are we to let this Word Exclusive pass with nary a raised eyebrow?
How can I put this
Larry Parnes batting for the other side might have been an exclusive in about 1956... and probably not then!
Some were less flattering than others
The Big Nosed Bastard From Barking, for example.
He also
described himself at a gig as "The Fellow With the Mellow Bellow"
Drummers
I shit 'em!
John "Bonzo" Bonham
Keith Moon "The Loon"
Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker
And who could forget
Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser?
In anticipation of the Spice Girls, apparently all of Blue Oyster Cult were supposed to have a nickname decided by their manager (presumably Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy...etc) but his was the only one that stuck. Who knows what drug addled hippy idea it is mean to represent?
Donald "Duck" Dunn
of Booker T and the MGs
Not forgetting
Steve "The Colonel" Cropper
Brothers in Blues
Willie "Too Big" Hall
Tom "Bones" Malone
"Blue" Lou Marini
Matt "Guitar" Murphy
Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin
Not forgetting
Tom "Triple Scale" Scott
Steve "Getdwa" Jordan
Paul "The Shiv" Shaffer
Sneezy, Dopey, etc..
Appropriate, given that they were all shortarses.
Eric Bloom still answers to the name "Manny" sometimes.
Oh, wait a minute ...
Zoot Horn Rollo
The Mascara Snake
Antennae Jimmy Semens, etc. etc. - although these are stage names, like Buck Dharma, rather than nicks ...
John Entwistle
"The Ox"
Van
He is indisputably 'the Man.'
... and I believe he was also
'The Belfast Cowboy'
Lederhosen
model's own.
Ronnie Hawkins
"The Hawk"
The late Danny Federici,
departed organist/accordeon player in the E Street Band, was "Phantom Dan - Now you see him, now you don't".
The Boss and his merry band of nick-named chums...
The Big Man, the Master of Disaster, etc. for the late, great Clarence Clemons.
"Professor" Roy Bittan
Mighty Max Weinberg, the King of Late-nite Tellyvision
"Miami" Steve Van Zandt, or "Little Steven"
Patti "'er indoors" Scialfa (not sure about this one)
and in earlier line-ups, Vinni "Mad Dog" |Lopez and Ernest "Boom" Carter.
Steve Van Zandt
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes knew him as Sugar Miami Steve.
Stackridge (of course)
Mutter Slater
Billy Sparkle, formerly Billy Bent
Crun
John McLaughlin's closest friends
called him "Mahavishnu"
Or... Kestra
.
Well there's
Thom "Grand Old Duke" Yorke
AKA
Thombola
The Thominator
T-Bot
T-Homme
Yorkeminster
Mr T
Yorkie Fruit & Nut Bar
Thomosexual
Dave "The Knees" Grohl
Matt "Honkytonk" Bellamy
Marilyn "Kwik Fit Fitter" Manson
and Richard "Cool Shades" Thompson
Well
B.B. King - the king of the blues
Freddie King - the king of the blues
Albert King - the..err...king of the blues.
Seems to have been a bit of a succession crisis in The Blues.
The BIG Man
Bruce had many nicknames for Clarence Clemons during his concert introductions over the years :
King of the World, Master of the Universe, the Superman of the Saxophone, the Sexiest Man Alive, the next king of England, you wanna be like him but you just can't and probably many more that I've forgotten
All of them deserved, too ...
A giant of a man. He'll be missed on tour.
He certainly will
I'm sure Jake Clemons will be received warmly but . . .it won't be the same
Just remembered...
Hank Wangford has had some blinding nicks in his band over the years - Manley Footwear, Brad Breath, Amos Avaczyk-Daley, Cissy Footwear, Irma Cetas, George Hamilton VI, Jett Atkins...
Not sure if this was what Burt was after, but hey ho...
Greg "The Voice" Lake
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
From the Beginning
Another drummer
"Mark Unpronounceablename from Big Country"
Yes!
Mark Brze, Brezw, Br, ....Brewzeck...erm, yes, him!
Can't remember why
but Roger Daltrey was known as the Duchess - sure I read that somewhere.
Weller has become the Modfather.
Diamond Dave Lee Roth
Another Bruce
Bruce "Air Raid Siren" Dickinson
The Glimmer Twins
Mick and Keef, ended up being used as a production credit.
Black Sabbath
Terry Butler - Geezer
John Osbourne - Ozzy
Someone else will know if this is actually true or a good story.
Journalists who wanted to be matey would address New Order's Bernard Sumner as "Barney" affectionately. It took them a while to realise he was given the nickname by Peter "Hooky" Hook because - as a short fat arse with a blond tuft - he looked like Barney Rubble from The Flintstones. And consequently it was a name he hated).
this one
All of the Mothers of Invention also The tubes
More Smash Hitsisms
Wendy Smith from Prefab Sprout was "The Trout from the 'sprout"
Tony "Foghorn" Hadley (or "Foggers")
Mark "Horrible Headband" Knopfler
Alan "Wild"er, presumably because he wasn't very wild at all.
Michael Jackson put some form of legal protection over "the King of Pop" but absolutely no-one refers to him as this, which I found quite sad.
...and some more from the Hits
Fab Macca Thumbsaloft
Kate "hello earth, hello trees, hello sky" Bush
Lord Lucan of Mercury
Stephen "Tea Towel" Duffy
Ben Vol Au Ven Parrot Face (from out of Curiosity Killed The Cat)
Terence Trout D'Arby
Depressing and inexplicable retention from those days..
Why can I recall the ineradicable soubriquet Steve "Superplonker" Norman (sax from Spandau Ballet)?
I thought it was
"Spiny"?
Groups I remember..
As called by DJs.
Mark and Lard had loads. Billy Ocean Colour Scene, etc.
Simon Mayo was responsible for a few. Sixpence Up Your Jumper and Arse Of Barse spring to mind.
Richard "Dicky Captain Comfy Cardigan" Allinson once referred to Atomic Kitten as Atomic Mutton. Which I found somewhat amusing.
Every time I hear
'Kiss Me' by SNTR I instantly mouth that it is by 'Sixpence None The Wiser'. Cos' I never am when I hear it. This is called a Pavlovian response, is it not? I should really be contacting Dave Gorman.
I always liked
Mel Torme - The Velvet Fog
Johnny Adams - The Tan Canary
Little Richard - The Georgia Peach
Jerry Lee Lewis - The Killer
Bryan Adams
The Groover From Vancouver
Duane 'Skydog' Allman
Barry 'Byrd' Burton of the Amazing Rhythm Aces
James "Blood" Ulmer
Robert "Bumps" Blackwell
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Brian 'Liquorice' Locking (Shadows)
Antoine 'Fats' Domino
"Iggy" Pop
From his time with the Iguanas, of course. But does anyone call him Jimmy these days?
Apparently...
... he always introduces himself as "Jim" when meeting people for the first time.
Bowie
always called/calls him 'Jim'. Also makes sure to call Scott Walker by his real name, Engel. Strange how no-one calls the Dame 'Jonesy'...
Fairport Convention founder
Ashley "Tyger" Hutchings.
Massivers, there hasn't been enough reggae
in this thread.
So let's have Aston 'Family Man' Barrett.
Have an upsie!
Lee "Scratch" Perry, too. Carve their nicks with pride.
The Edge
... don't know if he's been mentioned yet, but I always reckoned the man had to have something fundamentally wrong with him to go along with that one. Try saying "I'm The Edge ..." without laughing. Do his mates call him Edgy? The Edgester? Ed? "The"?
Did he come up with it himself? Just say to his mates "oh - don't call me Malc (whatever) any more, okay? I'm The Edge, me. Capital T, capital E." What kind of mates did he have? None?
Did Bonio bestow the unfeasible soubriquet himself? Was it like a PR thing, enabling him to say snappy things like "We got The Edge, see ..."?
Anyway, it's not like I give a fuck very much.
Close friends get to call him TE
Providing it's with dignity
A "Various Artists" album full of them
The Emotional Toothpaste
The Imposter
Howard Coward
Napoleon Dynamite
Little Hands of Concrete
aka Elvis Costello (or DP MacManus)
I'm sure Bruce Thomas had a few more names for him...
The Pope Of Pop
was another Costello moniker used by the inkies.
Prince
"His Royal Badness". Usually accompanied by some mention of 'pint-size' and 'purple reign'.
Gary Glitter?
Err, on second thoughts....
Nigel Blackwell
is known to HMHB cognoscenti as NB57.
Haven't time to post the reason but someone else may explain...
Stanley Clarke...
...I can recall seeing the back of an LP cover (one of Stan's I think, though maybe one he guests on) where he's referred to by a litany of absurd names including (the one I can remember) 'The Lord Of The Low Frequencies' - not only ludicrous, but inaccurate, given Stan's tendency to play a piccolo bass and fiddle around at the high frets...
We've got this far
And nobody's mentioned James Blunt?
The C Word
But surely nobody still calls him Captain!
Ol' Blue Eyes
No mention of him so far. How queer.
Ronnie Lane
I know I'm not the only Massiver who's a big fan of ...
... Plonk
OK, it's more of a stage name, but...
...John "Rabbit" Bundrick, the well-travelled ivory tickler from Texas, sounds like he belongs here.
And in a nice piece of cross-thread synergy ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson
(I wonder why he was called that?)
Madge
Apparently Madonna took great umbrage at being called this but calmed down when told it was short for Her Majesty. Or pompous diva, as she's probably called behind her back.
Er ...
.
Well...
I thought it was humorous, if not affectionate...
*gets coat*
I think it's both.
(hint: scroll up!)
Sorry Burt
*books self in at opticians*
Johnnie Ray
"Mr. Emotion",
"The Nabob of Sob"
"The Prince of Wails"
our own Dickie Pride
'The Sheik Of Shake'. 5 mins 50 secs but just enjoy all of it.
'The Nabob Of Sob' is a fabulous one, isn't it?
...it MUST be the spiritual godfather of all those OTT/absurd Smash Hits monikers: the sort of nicknames that ONLY print media use, as opposed to anyone actually calling the individual concerned by it to their face...
Certainly, its DNA seems to link it directly to Mozza (an actual nickname fans use) being known in witty print media circles as The Pope Of Mope. Which is, let's be frank, nonetheless quite brilliant and exquisitely appropriate...
The Pope Of Mope!!!!!
HAHAHA(*kaffkaffkaff*)HAHAHAHA!!!! Hadn't heard that one before. Trying to think of a title which rhymes with "sulk" ...
The Sulk Sheiker?
.
A
Hulk of burning Sulk?
*attempts to redeem himself*
The Peter Pan of Pop, or, as Rick on The Young Ones calls him, The Complete and Utter King of Rock and Roll.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Mr "Legs" Larry Smith
I'm giving it up for him right here.
*Rotarian speech applause*
Not so fast
It ain't over yet.
What about:
Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba, lead singer of New York band The Dictators.
Handsome Dick: His Motto Is:
"For me, quantity *is* quality."
A very great man.
Justin..
Trousersnake.
(No idea where it came from, I suspect I read it in Q)
Solomon Burke
How about the self-styled "King of Rock and Soul"?
Saw him live in a basement club a few years ago.
Damn! That guy was HUGE.
'The Maharaja of the Keyboard'
Dr Winston O'Boogie
I hope I passed the audition...
Percy
Robert 'Percy' Plant. If already mentioned I apologise but I'm new here. Edit: Ooops; it was at the beginning. It's so obvious. I won't call him that; I call him Robert. See the song Mighty Rearranger where he also calls himself Robert.
Sometimes Mark Knopfler gets called 'the Sultan Of Swing' by lazy journalists.
Did I miss something?
Or has no one mentioned Mick Jagger's "other" name, Brenda?
Mick
Brenda? Nah, never 'eard of it...
Here's two goodies
Hope they've not been listed before.
Lee Ritenour - Captain Fingers (I think it was even an album title)
Steven Tyler - The Demon of Screamin' (I hadn't heard this until yesterday. It's in his Twitter profile - doesn't even rhyme)