Rumors that have been following Rock / Metal musicians for years are often completely unsubstantial.
One of those who have been following it for decades is the one that claims that musicians of this scene are uneducated and drop out of school!
Of course, this is not the truth but the exact opposite.
The proof that many Rock / Metal musicians did not drop out of school, are not “lost” and have an academic education, comes from their degrees!
For example…
Milo Aukerman
Milo Aukerman of The Descendents received his Ph.D. in biology in 1992 from the University of California.
He also participated in postdoctoral research at various institutes, and worked as a plant researcher at DuPont, but also as an assistant professor at the University of Delaware.
Dexter Holland
Dexter Holland of the Offspring holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, among other academic achievements.
One of his most important achievements is a search for microRNA sequences in HIV genomes.
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo of the Weezer, although late, earned a degree in English Philology.
In fact, Cuomo held a prominent position in the United States’ oldest honor society, Phi Beta Kappa.
Greg Graffin
Greg Graffin of the Bad Religion graduated from UCLA with a master’s degree before earning a doctorate in zoology from Cornell University.
He has been a professor of biosciences, while he has written books on human evolution.
He has also been awarded by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists and the Harvard Cultural Humanism Committee.
Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground had a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature!
Don Anderson
Former Agalloch guitarist Don Anderson has a Ph.D. in literature.
He is also a professor at SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York.
Brian May
Brian May of the Queen, apart from being a famous musician, is also famous in astrophysics circles!
His Ph.D. was obtained from Imperial College London, and we must not forget that he was Chancellor of the University of Liverpool John Moores (2008 – 2013).
Recently, he even collaborated with NASA on the New Horizons Pluto mission, and his name was given to an asteroid!
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So, if someone repeats to you, as the year 2021 is coming, about how “lost” the rockers/metalheads are, just ignore them.
Personally, I consider it unthinkable even today to judge (criticize) a person by the music he listens to and/or represents!
Surely you will tell me that the benighted will always have an opinion on everything and especially on what they do NOT know!
But that’s not our problem!