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Stage Name Stories: Ol' Dirty Bastard

Born: Russell Tyrone Jones

What's in a Name: Wu-Tang Clan founding member nicknamed after a kung-fu film known as 'Ol' Dirty & the Bastard'; Jones's unique flow struck his bandmates as having "no father." And while a few people have one good alter ego, ODB rocked about 15 or so great ones, including Dirt McGirt, Peanut the Kidnapper, Freeloading Rusty and Big Baby Jesus.
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Posted by Spinner Staff
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, The Hit List

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  • Comments (29)

Reader Comments(1 of 2)

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Don Mackat 2-29-2008

Why doesn't AOL go into some of the better groups that have been around like Jethro Tull. Led by Ian Anderson, the name Jethro Tull was borrowed from an 18th-century farmer/inventor, most noted for inventing the seed drill.
When I see some of the garbage people AOL presents, I just think, where are these people's heads at? Like: "The Joe Garbage Band." It was a tape pulled out of the garbage that went on to sell over 7 CD's.

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Scottat 2-29-2008

I wanna band called " Tabasco Enema" before I die. If you sit around too long and don't dance, you get a Tabasco Enema!

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Lizzieeeat 2-29-2008

Why don't I see any of Avenged Sevenfold's members?
They all have amazing stage names.

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mitochondriaeve1at 11-19-2008

That's what I was thinking! I was just waiting for the guys to pop up but they didn't! It kinda disappointed me

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mooat 3-30-2009

I agree with you... Rock on A7X

vote downvote upReportHigh Ranked

Peter Trevinoat 3-01-2008

How about...
Alex Lifeson, guitarist for RUSH, was born Alexander Zivojinovich in Fernie, British Columbia to Serbian immigrants. His assumed stage name of "Lifeson" is a semi-literal translation of the name "Zivojinovich", meaning "son of life".
Now that's a great stage name!!!

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drew gat 3-01-2008

What about Morrissey, Salt n Pepa, RunDMC, Cher, Madonna, Ozzy, Ringo Starr, The Big Bopper, Boy George (maybe a bit too obvious), or even Chaka Khan? The list goes on and on......

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JJKroboat 3-01-2008

What about David Bowie?How did he get overlooked here? I mean he's alot more famous and important than some of these other people I never heard of, AND I'm a BABY BOOMER musician! LOL! Bowie, Born David Robert Jones,was using his name David Jones or Davy Jones and was setting out to conquer the American market,and I think it was his manager at the time, suggested to change his name,because Davy Jones of "The Monkees" was gaining vast popularity on American TV. So David, thought of the legend of 'Jim Bowie',an American hero that the Bowie Knife was named after. It was sharp and could 'cut' through anything like David wanted to do in the music industry. (and he did! God Bless him!) So there, thats what I think should have been included in this article.

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gslimat 3-10-2008

muddy waters

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goodenoughat 3-11-2008

Yeah this really does need a "part 2" and I love to see a section on origins of band names! How did the band Evanescence come up with that? Oh, and check this out,
http://guiltybydesign-snowwhitehaunted.blogspot.com/

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elephantmanat 4-02-2008

Shouldn't ODB be now be called DDB Dead Dirty Bastard?

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mysteekat 4-06-2008

Some of the name changes were for the better. I bet no one knows that Klyde Jones of Average White Band was born Vincent E. Jones

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Xrock&rollXat 4-10-2008

some of these r interesting but if u rele wanna b shocked....miley cyrus isn't actually miley--her real name was destiny hope cyrus....true story....

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Finkat 4-12-2008

What about Tre Cool?!?! How could he not be on here? Very dissappointing...I haven't heard of half those people, who the freak is ol dirty bastard?

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hannahat 4-21-2008

what about freaking Ringo Starr???
his original name is Richard Starkey

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ibleedsum41at 4-21-2008

The reason a lot of people are missing is probably because a lot of celebrities don't like their real name, and legally changed it to get away from it. If you really wanna know, Wikipedia them.

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ryanat 4-21-2008

where's axl rose??

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PNat 5-12-2008

Maybe some of these artists have very private families and don't want them exposed to the spotlight. That's probably why they went by their catchy stage names and not their real names. Some parents and relatives of these stars are surprisingly private. These stars are very protective of their families, so that's why they go by their stage names.

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chichiat 6-30-2008

what about Gene Simmons his real name is really like Chaim Wits

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Robat 7-23-2008

Sounds like the ones with really common, simple names try to get something more interesting sounding while the ones with the ethnic or hard to pronounce names go for something simple. who would guess that Przemyslaw Szczwojaskowski is Michael Jackson?

Reply
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