It happens every time some new technology threatens to put people out of work: a public campaign to save jobs. One example was in the 1920s and ’30s, when synchronized sound was added to movies, which meant that theaters no longer had to pay live musicians to accompany the films. The Music Defense League sprang into action, with a $500,000 advertising budget to rally the public against soundtracks recorded by just “300 musicians in Hollywood.” Read about the battle against canned music in theaters at Paleofuture. Link

(YouTube Link)

New York is the kind of place where anything can happen at any moment, and although that comes with plenty of bad, this video shows that there are also many instances of spontaneous goodness going down, even on public transit.

These strangers on a train, who both happen to have their instruments with them, break out in a soulful song,  much to the delight of their fellow riders.

Whether this chance meeting was truly by chance or not ceases to be an issue once you watch them play, and feel that energy that seems to be in the air that New Yorkers breathe.

–via AnimalNY

(YouTube Link)

This collection of rock star appearances in animation is fun to watch, and may turn you on to some sweet cartoons you’ve never heard of, like this clip from Rock & Rule featuring Lou Reed performing “My Name Is Mok”.

Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Tom Petty, Marilyn Manson and Donnie Osmond all make guest appearances in this collection, and I know that Donnie Osmond isn’t who most people think of when the term “rock star” is used, but he’ll be the first to let you know that he’s a “little bit rock n roll”, so I guess that’s good enough for me.

–via Flavorwire

Rock stars aren’t generally known for their amazing acting skills, but that doesn’t stop television executives from working them into different cameo roles whenever possible. Mental Floss has a great article with some of the greatest (and most terrible) musician cameos ever made. My personal favorite was Michael Stipe in The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Any of you remember these episodes?

Link

Maya Angelou

Education has been an important part of Angelou’s life ever since a teacher helped her recover from becoming voluntarily mute. When Maya was eight, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, who was beaten to death shortly after by some of her relatives. Because she believed her confession of the act was responsible for his murder, she felt that her voice was directly to blame for his death. It wasn’t until she was 13 that she learned to speak again with the help of a dedicated teacher and family friend who introduced her to classic authors such as Shakespeare, Poe and Dickens as well as black female artists like Frances Harper and Anne Spencer.

Naturally, it was only fitting that Angelou repay her gratitude by working to educate others. While writing has remained her main passion, she has also taught at a number of colleges, including the University of Kansas, Wichita State University and California State University of Sacramento. For over 20 years though, she’s remained a professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Gene Simmons

You might know him best for his epic tongue-flicking rock concerts and terrible reality shows, but long before he was the legendary make-up sporting rocker, he was Mr. Simmons, a sixth-grade teacher in Harlem. While most celebrities who used to be teachers quit to follow their dreams, Gene was fired before Kiss started taking off. As it turns out, school administrators don’t particularly like it when a teacher decides to teach Spiderman comics in place of Shakespearean plays. In Gene’s defense, he’s right that the students were probably more likely to read the comic books than the plays, but I doubt they’d get as much out of them as they would the bard’s classic works.

Image via Lokomotive74 [Wikipedia]

Sir William Golding

If you thought Lord of the Flies did an excellent job depicting the attitudes and mannerisms of preteen boys, there’s a good reason for that –Sir William Golding served as a teacher before and after his stint in WWII. He often allowed the boy’s free reign of the classroom during debate sessions, which provided him with ample inspiration for the very novel that allowed him the financial freedom to leave the teaching profession.

Sting

Before joining The Police, Sting worked as a teacher during the week, heading out to the jazz clubs during the weekends. In his own words, he claimed to be a terrible teacher, only bothering to teach the students about subjects he enjoyed. This meant they pretty much only learned poetry and soccer from the future rock star.

Image via David Shankbone [Wikipedia]

Greg Graffin

While the name might not be immediately familiar to you, punk music fans will be familiar with his band Bad Religion. But Greg isn’t your typical punk rocker, he holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and geology, a master’s degree in geology, and a Ph.D. in zoology. He’s also published two books. Although he started in Bad Religion when he was only 15 and has hardly needed a second job since the band struck it big, Graffin has also spent much of his adult life as a professor, teaching Life Sciences at UCLA. He even shot a pilot for a reality show called “Punk Professor,” but nothing seemed to come of it.

Image via Ricapar [Wikipedia]

Art Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel went on hiatus in 1970 and during that time, Art Garfunkel took advantage of his math skills by heading into the teaching field and taking a position at Litchfield Private School. Of course, a few years later, the group released their Greatest Hits album, and he retired from his teaching position after only a two years.

Andy Griffith

The man best known as Matlock wasn’t ever actually a lawyer, but he was a teacher. One of Andy’s first jobs after graduating from the University of North Carolina was as a music teacher at Goldsboro High School. He only taught for about three years before he decided to venture into entertainment, starting out doing comedy monologues at night clubs.

Stephen King

After graduating from The University of Maine with a Bachelor’s degree in English, Stephen earned a teaching certificate and immediately started seeking a job in the teaching field. Fortunately for his writing career, he couldn’t find a job right away, so he had to work at an industrial laundry facility and started writing short stories to supplement his income. Eventually in 1971, he did find a position at the Hampden Academy in Maine. He continued to write short stories in the evening during this point in his career and started developing ideas for his novels. In 1973, Carrie was accepted by Doubleday Publishing and he was able to retire from teaching and focus on his writing career.

Image via Pinguino [Flickr]

Leonard Maltin

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to take a film class from one of the world’s most respected film historians/critics, then you’d probably enjoy enrolling in some film classes at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Leonard Maltin previously taught at the New School for Social Research in New York for almost 10 years, but since he has become a resident of Los Angeles long ago, it’s only fitting that his teaching career follow suit.

Image via Alan Light [Flickr]

Madeleine Albright

She might be better known for her role as the first female Secretary of State, serving under Bill Clinton‘s second term, but students at Georgetown University now know her as a professor of international relations at the college’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. With her job record, along with her Ph.D from Columbia University in public law and government, I’d say she’s pretty well qualified for the job.

Bonus: Tony Danza

To be fair, Tony only taught school for the sake of an A&E reality television show called, “Teach,” so he might not really count as an authentic teacher since he didn’t go through any effort to get the position and since everyone knew it would only be a one year stint. Surprisingly, the administrators and students of the school he taught at were actually quite impressed with his performance. In fact, one of the assistant principals noted that he wished all of the new teachers on staff would grow as much as Mr. Danza did.

Have any of you ever had a teacher that was famous for something else? I had a math teacher who was on The Gong Show back in the 70’s and one of my journalism professors co-founded Guitar Player Magazine, but that’s about as big as any of my teachers ever seemed to make it.

Sources: Mental Floss, Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, East Buchanan School District, The Times, Contactmusic, Yahoo Movies, AZ Central

We always get a kick out of announcing the winner of the British contest Shed of the Year, but this year, the winning shed is quite interesting in its own right. Jon Earl of Clevedon, Somerset won £1000 and a “shedload” of the sponsor’s products. His shed is more than just a place to store things -it’s also a place for musicians to film videos!

Originally a First World War billet hut, music fan and regular festival goer Jon decided in 2009 to turn his ramshackle shed into a venue to video acoustic music sessions. He began inviting musicians from all over the world into the 12ft by 10ft shed to video the sessions. The humble looking shed has hosted sessions for musicians ranging from the Fairport Convention to Steve Harley and has even been the setting for a video for US band the Water Tower Bucket Boys.

You can see those videos on the website Songs from the Shed. Earl plans to use the prize money to fix up his shed. Link -via Breakfast Links

(Video Link)

If you like Neil Gaiman, then you’ll probably like hearing him sing his lovely tale of Joan of Arc.

Via The Mary Sue

Django Reinhardt

Jazz fans and gypsy music lovers adore Reinhardt, although the name isn’t familiar to many other music fans. Even so, he was a wildly inspirational musician who pioneered his own style of jazz that blended gypsy roots with jazz guitar. His music has since been featured on about a dozen movies, including The Matrix, L.A. Story, Chocolat and more.

Reinhardt started learning to play music as a boy, starting with the violin and then moving to the banjo and the guitar. When he was 18 though, tragedy struck. Django and his wife were living in a caravan where they sold imitation flowers made from celluloid and paper to supplement their meager income. When Reinhardt accidentally knocked down a candle on his way to bed, the caravan burst into flames, destroying all of his property and leaving him with first- and second-degree burns over the entire left side of his body.

As a result of the accident, his right leg and the 3^rd and 4^th fingers on his left hand were completely paralyzed. Doctors said he would have to get his leg amputated and that he would never play a string instrument again. But Reinhardt refused to get the surgery and within a year, he was able to walk with the use of a cane. While his fingers never recovered, the doctors were wrong about his music career as well.

As it happens, learning to play guitar again may have saved his life. Reinhardt ended up getting stuck in France during WWII and it was said that and handful of jazz-loving Nazis ensured his safety despite the fact that thousands of Gypsies were murdered under Nazi-occupied territories. To help protect himself further, he also developed a distinctively non-jazz sound to please the Nazis who, like the majority of their party, were adamantly against jazz.

Source

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath

Interestingly, Django wasn’t just influential when it came to jazz musicians, he also played a major role in the creation of heavy metal. You might be asking yourself how in the world a gypsy jazz musician helped create one of the darkest genres around, but the answer isn’t in his sound, it’s in his story.

You see, guitarist Tony Iommi was talented, but he came from a poor, working-class family so he was forced to work at a sheet metal factory as a youngster, rather than chase his dreams of rock n’ roll stardom. Unfortunately, industrial factories aren’t the safest place for the hands of budding musicians. On his last day of work, Iommi severed the tips of the middle and ring fingers on his right hand. As a leftie, this meant his fretting hand was destroyed. Unsurprisingly, the teen was heart-broken and convinced this would be the end of his musical aspirations. However, his boss from the factory inspired Iommi to stick with his craft by bringing him a Django Reinhardt album and telling him about the jazz musician’s injury.

The inspiration worked like a charm and soon enough, Iommi was trying to remaster the guitar. At first he tried learning to play right-handed, but when that didn’t work, Iommi instead developed a few prosthetic fingertips using plastic covered in leather. Because his prosthetic fingers weren’t as tough as the real thing, Iommi started using lighter strings and detuning the strings so the tension would be lowered. To match Iommi’s sound, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler did the same, and suddenly, the dark, deep sound of heavy metal was born solely as a technique to work around an injury.

Iommi’s technique was certainly successful. Aside from shaping the sound of a whole new music genre, he also went down in the history books as one of the most talented guitarists of all time, ranked 86^th on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” and number one in Guitar World’s “100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time.”

Sources: Wikipedia and Mental Floss

Image via Adam Bielawski [Wikipedia]

Jerry Garcia

While Reinhardt and Iommi had to relearn their craft after losing a finger, Garcia started playing the guitar long after he lost a finger during a wood chopping incident that occurred when he was only four. Even so, he was inspired by Django to learn the banjo when he was in third grade. At 15, he got his first guitar and by 1960, Garcia was ready to start rocking the world with the Grateful Dead.

It wasn’t until 1986 that Jerry would face his greatest musical challenge yet. After suffering from drug use, a poor diet and a weight problem, Garcia collapsed into a diabetic coma that lasted for five full days. The coma had a dramatic effect on him, forcing him to relearn some of his most basic motor skills, which meant he had to completely relearn to play guitar. Fortunately, Jerry was dedicated to his own recovery and was able to play again after only a few months. He was even able to tour with the Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band later that year.

Source

Image via Carl Lender [Wikipedia]

Chet Baker

Even if you aren’t familiar with jazz, you’ve probably at least heard of legendary trumpeter Chet Baker. Baker was a talented musician and quickly garnered a strong following in the jazz community. But, unfortunately, like many jazz musicians, he eventually became addicted to heroin. His addiction almost ended up destroying his career, too, when he was savagely beaten in 1966 trying to get some drugs after a gig in San Francisco. When I say “savagely beaten,” I don’t just mean a black eye and a few sore ribs, I mean they essentially destroyed his livelihood by knocking out all of his front teeth.

For the next few years, Baker was stuck having to take odd jobs like pumping gas. All the while he worked to relearn to play the trumpet with his new dentures. If you’ve never played a woodwind or brass instrument, this might not seem all that difficult, but the reality is that these instruments require a precise use of the lips, teeth and facial muscles to be able to create a distinctive sound. With all new dentures and a whole new set of scars on his lips and cheeks, it took eight years for Baker to relearn to play the trumpet. In the meanwhile, he was able to play the flugelhorn in a West Coast Jazz style, but that certainly wasn’t his strong point and most jazz fans tend to overlook this point in his career.

Source

Image via Michiel Hendryckx [Wikipedia]

Rick Allen of Def Leppard

Rick Allen joined Def Leppard at exactly the right time. As soon as he joined the band, he was immediately opening for AC/DC and within a few months, he helped them record and release their first album, On Through the Night. Unfortunately, only a few years into his new musical career, he was involved in a serious auto accident on his way to a New Year’s Eve party. Allen’s Corvette flipped and while his girlfriend came out of the accident without any major injuries, Allen wasn’t so lucky. Because he wasn’t wearing his seat belt properly, Allen thrown from the vehicle and his left arm was severed.

The first person at the scene was a nurse who knew just what to do and the couple was quickly rushed to a hospital. Because the response was so quick, Allen’s arm was able to be reattached. It had to be removed later. though. due to a serious infection. Allen thought this was the end of his career and he began to suffer from major depression.

After seeing the pain of his friend and band mate, Def Leppard’s lead singer, Joe Elliot, was inspired to help Allen work around his loss. The pair soon met with a few engineers and designed a drum set that could be operated with only one arm and both feet. Pretty soon Allen was back on the road again and recording with the band.

Source

Image via Weatherman90 [Wikipedia]

In the end, these stories are great sources of inspiration, not only in showing what we are capable of overcoming in the face of adversity, but also in illustrating just how powerful friendship can be when it comes to recovering from an injury. Without help from his brother, Django Reinhardt never would have learned to play again. If Iommi’s boss had not introducing him to Reinhardt’s music, he may never have been inspired to play again. Without Joe Elliot, Allen may not have bothered trying to come up with a drum system that could be operated by pedals. Essentially, if you don’t have good friends and family, you’d better have some darn good disability insurance, because you might never be inspired to recover after a serious accident.

Some music groups are formed by a common bond that forges four to five like-minded individuals together in the pursuit of musical greatness. They go forth touring the world, making millions of dollars and selling millions of albums rocking into eternity, staying together and never breaking up like that sweet old couple with their picture in the newspaper on their fiftieth wedding anniversary (such as Aerosmith; even though they fight, they’re still together!).

Some bands, however, are more like the starting lineup for the San Francisco 49ers; ever changing from game to game with whomever is able to make it out to the gridiron that day. With all the personnel changes some would argue that at a certain point it ceases to be the same group if enough of the parts are replaced; just like my old car that has had the muffler, windshield, engine, breaks and seat cushions replaced. Ironically the band named The Replacements only had two replacement members during its career. To celebrate these groups with ever increasing rosters of musicians here is a roundup of bands with the most replacement musicians.

Asia

Steve Howe, John Wetton, Carl Palmer, and Geoff Downes

(Image credit: Flickr user zioWoody)

The classic rock band Asia, which formed from members of groups such as Yes and King Crimson is famous for arena rock hit songs like “Heat of the Moment.” Over the years, Asia has faced many lineup changes including multiple guitarists, vocalists, bass players and drummers. Having formed in 1981, by the early 1990’s the only original member of the group was keyboardist Geoff Downes.  In 1991 vocalist and bass player John Payne joined the group and was lead singer until 2006. Here’s where it gets awesome: “Asia” now consist of TWO separate groups of musicians touring and recording under the name Asia. Basically the replacement members of the group formed their own “Asia” Featuring  John Payne (named “ASIA Featuring John Payne”) when the original lineup (with Geoff Downes) decided to reunite and tour together. A replacement musician mutiny if you will. Imagine if Sammy Hagar formed his own “Van Halen” with Wolfgang Van Halen, the group’s replacement bass player (also Eddie’s teenage son).

(Image credit: ASIA Featuring John Payne, TheAsiaBand.com)

There have been 23 members of the band “Asia” including “ASIA Featuring John Payne.” This leaves a lot of questions; are there people who are fans of both groups? They just can’t get enough Asia music? Could ASIA Featuring John Payne open for “the original” Asia? What if Mitch Perry the new replacement guitarist for ASIA Featuring John Payne starts his own Asia group? Would it be called “ASIA Featuring John Payne Featuring Mitch Perry?”

(Updated 3/17/11, Thanks to Erik Nielsen for corrections.)

Megadeth

(Image credit: Wikipedia member Ingo Hoffmann)

These thrash metal titans have had 18 official members over the past twenty six years in part due to drug abuse and volatile personalities. For a good part of the band’s career, drummers would be culled from whoever was backstage at live shows… OK, perhaps not that bad, but according to Megadeth founder and front man Dave Mustaine’s autobiography, during one tour the then-official drummer Gar Samuelson was often so intoxicated and/or high on heroin he was unable to perform, his own drum tech (roadie) Chuck Behler would fill in for him. Thus Samuelson was kicked out of the band and the more reliable Behler took his spot, only to have the same thing happen to him two years later when HIS drum tech Nick Menza took his place! Seems like Megadeth was populated by a bunch of Charlie Sheens (to be fair, the band did have a solid ten year “classic lineup” period with no member swapping).

Guns ‘N Roses

(Image credit: Flickr user dave1968)

Guns ‘N Roses is known for vocalist Axl Rose’s eccentric behavior and his numerous feuds with his band mates, most notably guitar hero Slash. After a string of enormous hit albums in the late 1980’s and early 90’s GNR went on an extended hiatus while Axl delayed the bands next studio album Chinese Democracy, and Slash and other members quit the group to pursue other projects like the super group Velvet Revolver. Finally releasing Chinese Democracy in 2008 after a seventeen year wait, Axl Rose is now the only original member of Guns ‘N Roses. During the recording of Chinese Democracy, which reportedly cost thirteen million dollars to make, Axl went through a gaggle of musicians, most of whom contributed to the patchwork of a rock album, including a guitarist named Bumblefoot who replaced a guy named Buckethead (who incidentally wore an upside-down KFC bucket on his head which sort of looked like a faux Slash hat). In all twenty-two people have been official members of GNR since 1985.

The Village People

The Village People in 1978

(Image credit: Wikipedia user Cod)

The Village People rose to fame for their disco anthems “Macho Man” and “YMCA” in the late 1970’s. They are controversial in that some feel they were never really a “band” but more of a stage show. Over the years have had twenty different members.  This band is unique as, unlike the other replacement musicians who take on the position of playing guitar or drums, in the Village People members have to take on personas including the Police Officer, Construction Worker, Native American, Cowboy, G.I., and Biker.

The Village People in 2008

The holy grail of bands with lots of replacement members is finding a mainstream band that continues to perform with NO original members in the band. Asia with John Payne doesn’t fit this bill as they acknowledge they are not the original band by adding the “with John Payne” part to their name. At one point The Village People featured no original members on tour, however this was only temporary and David Hodo (the Construction Worker) and Alex Briley (the G.I.) are two original members currently in the lineup.

Black Sabbath

Tommy Iommi and Ozzy Osborne in 1973

(image credit: Wikipedia user Padgett22)

Heavy metal fans sometimes fall into two camps when it comes to Black Sabbath: those who love the original Ozzy Osborne-led version of the group and those who embraced his replacement singer, the late great Ronnie James Dio. What some may not realize is that replacements didn’t end after Dio left the group in 1982. The heavy metal icons faced a rotating lineup of musicians, except for the original guitarist Tony Iommi who remained the linchpin of the ever-changing group. Singers after Dio included Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, and Tony Martin. Drummers would join the band only to be replaced by former replacement drummers. Sometimes the original members would drop in for a tour or two and then quit again. In all twenty-two musicians were official members of the schizophrenic Black Sabbath until the original group reunited in 1997. In the years just before his death, the Dio-led version of the group reunited, however, the lineup was renamed as “Heaven and Hell” since the original Black Sabbath was technically still together. My question is, is there anyone who hates Ozzy and Dio and only listens to Ray Gillen-led Black Sabbath?

Ozzy Osborne in 2010

(Image credit: Flickr user dido)

To read a complete, insanely OCD detailed history of Black Sabbath and its many band members check out this timeline.  Who are these people?

Lynyrd Skynyrd

(Image credit: Flickr user Andrew King)

During the first twelve years of their existence the southern classic rock band Lynyrd Synyrd had a pretty stable lineup leading to hit songs such as “Sweet Home Alabama.” In 1977 the band’s plane made a crash landing, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines. The band disbanded after the tragedy, then reunited ten years later with Ronnie Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny Van Zant on vocals and haven’t stopped touring or recording since. Lynyrd Skynryd keeps going to this day even though a couple of people in the replacement lineup have since died (of old age, natural causes, etc) or quit. Skynyrd is now down to one original member, guitarist Garry Rossington. Twenty five musicians have been in Lynyrd Skynyrd.

What are some of your favorite bands with lots of replacement musicians? Which ones did I miss? At what point is a band no longer “the same” band?

In 1999, Garth Brooks, the largest superstar country music has ever seen, did a little crazy experiment that left his fans scratching their collective cowboy hats. Here's what happened:

In 1999, Brooks was involved in the development of The Lamb, a movie in which he would star as a brooding alt-rock star struggling to live a private life in the public eye. To promote the album and better explore the rock elements of his music, Brooks began recording an album as the film’s character Chris Gaines. The album, Garth Brooks in… The Life of Chris Gaines, would ultimately serve as the film’s official soundtrack. As the album’s release date drew closer, Gaines began making public appearances and performing on talk shows as well as Saturday Night Live (during an episode in which Brooks himself hosted). How could this possibly go wrong?

The album was released prior to the movie even being filmed. Sadly, the reception wasn’t quite what had been hoped for: music critics gave it a pass while Garth Brooks fans had no idea what to make of it, believing that buying the album would promote Brooks to adopt the character permanently and forever kill America’s favorite cowboy. Poor sales and the bewildering ignorance of his own fans canceled the movie all together and Gaines never again saw the light of day.

Read more strange stories of alter egos of famous musicians over at WeirdWorm: Link

Brian May: Queen

Brian May of Queen isn’t your average rock and roll supernova. He was named the 39th Greatest Guitarist of All Time by Rolling Stone, but he’s also great at something else – astrophysics. May graduated from the Imperial College of London with an honors degree in physics and Mathematics. He then went on to obtain a doctorate in both departments, when Queen exploded into rock and roll stardom. While he gave up his schooling for the band, he did not stop working with physics and published a few academic papers while in the group.

More recently, he printed a book entitled Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe in 2006. In October of 2007, he completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics. His thesis was titled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud. The month after, he was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

Source

Greg Graffin: Bad Religion

Greg Graffin was an anthropology and geology double-major from UCLA. He went on to obtain a master’s degree in geology from the school and then earned a Ph.D. in zoology from Cornell University. Throughout this entire time, he was singing and touring with Bad Religion, a band he helped form when he was only 15.

Although he’s still playing with Bad Religion, Graffin also teaches Life Sciences at UCLA. He has also written two books, one a series of correspondences between himself and historian Preston Jones titled Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant? A Professor and Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity, the other is being released in 2010 and is titled Anarchy Evolution. According to a recent Twitter post, he is also be involved with an upcoming television series, called “Punk Professor.”

Source Image Via The Toad [Flickr]

Milo Aukerman: Descendents

Anyone familiar with the punk band The Descendents knows of the nerdy caricature that has come to serve as the band’s logo. That drawing is based on the band’s lead singer, Milo Aukerman. Fans may also recognize the name of the group’s first album, ‘Milo Goes to College.’ The album was named because Milo was actually going to college at UCSD at the time.

His affection for learning caused the band to go on a number of temporary hiatuses while he returned to school. Eventually, Aukerman earned a Ph.D in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Even after graduation, the band continued the cycle of reuniting and separating as Milo kept returning to the band and then his career in biochemistry. The group is currently dormant, but with their history, most fans still hold out hope that Milo will come back soon.

Sources #1, #2

Tom Scholz: Boston

Tom Scholz is the founder and guitarist for a little band called Boston. But before he ever even started the group, he received a master’s degree at MIT in the field of mechanical engineering. He was working as a senior product design engineer for Polaroid when he decided to try his hand at rock.

After Boston took off, Tom created his own music technology company, Scholz Research & Development in 1980. In 1995, he sold the company to Dunlop Manufacturing, who continued to produce the company’s most famous product, the Rockman guitar amp. The amp was designed by Sholz himself and still is manufactured with his signature on each unit.

Source

Dexter Holland & James Lilja: The Offspring

The lead singer and co-founder of the Offspring, Dexter Holland graduated as valedictorian of his high school before he moved on to college. He then moved on to USC where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in biology and Master’s degree in molecular biology. When the Offspring took off, he actually left his doctoral program in Molecular Biology at USC in order to focus on the band. Unrelated, but also interesting, Holland is also a licensed pilot and hot sauce entrepreneur. His hot sauce, Gringo Bandito, has even been picked up by Albertsons.

Dexter isn’t the only smart guy who’s played in the band though. James Lilja played drums with the band for a few years before returning to his medical calling – in gynecology. If you thought it was strange to have a punk rock professor in LA, just imagine visiting a rock star gynecologist in San Jose.

Sources #1, #2, Image of Dexter Via Jack Shepler, Rock Music Review [Flickr]

Philip Taylor Kramer: Iron Butterfly

After leaving Iron Butterfly, bassist Philip Taylor Kramer obtained a degree in aerospace engineering. He then began working on the MX missile guidance system for a US Department of Defense contractor. After that, he began working on facial recognition systems, advanced communications and fractal compression systems for CDs. In 1990, he opened a business, Total Multimedia, with Micheal Jackson’s brother, Randy, where they specialized on data compression techniques for CDs. Kramer also worked on a project started by his father that would discredit Einstein’s theories. Part of his research involved a transmission project that could result in communications that went faster than the speed of light.

His disappearance in 1995 sent conspiracy theorists aflutter and remained a complete mystery for four years. It started when he drove to the LA airport to pick up an investor who never showed up. Kramer then made a number of phone calls from his cell phone, including one to the police where he said, “I’m going to kill myself. And I want everyone to know O.J. Simpson is innocent. They did it.” He was never heard from after this and the mystery ended up appearing on Oprah, America’s Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries and a Skeptic magazine article depicted the number of conspiracy theories surrounding his disappearance.

His body was finally uncovered in 1999, when photographers looking to shoot old car wrecks at the bottom of Decker Canyon in Malibu discovered his minivan with his remains inside. The death was officially ruled a suicide based on his phone calls made that day, but conspiracy theories still rage on.

Source

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter: Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers

The guitarist for such classic bands as Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers is also a self-taught expert on weaponry systems. After a lengthy studying period at home, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter decided to demonstrate his knowledge on the subject by writing a five-page paper that proposed the ship-based anti-aircraft Aegis missile be converted into a missile defense system. After he gave the paper to California congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Baxter’s career as a defense consultant began.

In 1995, he was elected chairman of the Civilian Advisory Board for Ballistic Missile Defense, a position he still holds. Through work with that project, he was awarded consulting contracts with the Missile Defense Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, Science Applications International Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. He has also joined the NASA Exploration Systems Advisory Committee.

Baxter believes his unique way of looking at terrorism is what has allowed him to do so well in the industry, “We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles. My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at.” Next time you’re wondering if the country is doing everything it can to keep you safe, remember that someone nicknamed “Skunk” is on top of it. It may not help comfort you, but at least you might giggle about it.

Source Image Via NASA (yes, that NASA)

A few other educated musicians of note:

-Lionel Richie has a degree in economics from Tuskegee.

-Art Garfunkel has a Masters from Columbia in both history and math.

-Tracy Chapman has degrees in anthropology and African studies from Tufts University, where she was also awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts.

-Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave has a degree in social studies from Harvard. After leaving the music world, he settled down and began teaching history.

Source #1, #2

Rapleaf, a company that specializes in analyzing trends in social media, has an interesting study on the popularity of four artists, namely The Beatles, Elvis, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, across major social networks. They randomly sampled 1.1 million fans, and found some surprising results (the study was done 2 weeks before Michael Jackson’s death, which explains some things):

* The Beatles’ dominating popularity online — The Beatles’ online celebrity may be bolstered by both their music’s enduring appeal and the success of their recent compilation album 1 released in 2000, which has become one of the best-selling albums of this decade with over 31 million in worldwide sales. While all the artists in this study are period icons, The Beatles’ prominence on social media may suggest their ability to better transcend generations, which is in part evidenced by them having the second-youngest fans.

* Michael Jackson’s lack of internet prominence — This is particularly bewildering given Michael Jackson’s younger – and presumably more tech- and social media-savvy – fans and his status as one of the most influential entertainers and musicians to ever take center stage. His 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time with over 100 million sales worldwide (more than twice the second best-selling album).

Link – Thanks Michael Hsu!

Following a friend’s suggestion, Jonathan Ryan made a Pandora station with artists and bands with foods in their names. Here’s the result: Food Radio – via JonathanRyan