When it comes down to it, celebrities are just like us: They'll pull insane, borderline criminal (and sometimes actually criminal) stunts to get out of doing things they don't want to do. Sometimes it's understandable -- actors and musicians frequently find themselves bound to viciously unfair contracts that amount to well-paid indentured servitude. Other times, they just lie about being sick so they can be in a Will Ferrell movie instead of a dumb old Broadway play.

6 Prince Changed His Name To A Symbol To Get Away From Warner Bros.

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There is a rich tradition of young musicians getting contractually screwed over, because recording companies routinely use new artists' lack of clout to demand rights that they don't deserve. These artists have often found very creative ways to show their unhappiness, but the most genius protest was predictably executed by intergalactic sex warlock Prince (rest in peace), who tried to erase his identity to spite Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Records

By looking at this album cover, you just had a baby.

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During the '90s, Prince was riding high after a string of amazing albums. However, it was his recording partner Warner Bros. that was benefiting the most from his musical genius. Per the terms of his typically unfair contract, all of his master tapes were the property of Warner Bros., meaning he would never actually own any of the music he wrote and recorded for them. Even worse, he still owed the company five albums before he would be allowed out of that deal. Prince was a prolific artist to say the least, and he had a ton of unused material burning a hole in his velvet pocket, so he figured he could just hand in five albums worth of songs and move on. Warner Bros. refused to accept the material, insisting that nothing in the contract obligated them to do so.

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So, Prince became another person.

In 1993, he announced he was no longer Prince and would henceforth be working only as an unpronounceable symbol. He told WB he would still provide them with his mandatory Prince albums, but that they had no right to claim the output of this new creature, whom baffled journalists referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince," presumably because you can't say "Coconut Fucking A Trumpet" in most news outlets.