School of Rock: 25 Rock Musicians With College Degrees
It's often assumed that a prerequisite of rock 'n' roll stardom is being a college dropout.
A typical rock musician is viewed as someone who flunked out of school and entered the adult world with no real qualifications or plans. That's not always the case, and, to be fair, there is some truth to that belief: Many artists have indeed skipped college or spent a semester or two in school only to realize they wanted to spend their lives making music.
Frank Zappa, who left university after one semester, reportedly once noted, "If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library." He even took his kids out of school as soon as they had passed a high-school equivalency test when they were 15. "We have made sure they have acquired all the basic skills - like being able to read and write, knowing how to do arithmetic and having some basic knowledge of science - and also some manners. After that, they're encouraged to make it up as they go along," Zappa said in his 1989 autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book. "I don't think any of them has the desire to go to college, nor would I urge them to go - but, if they ever decided to, I wouldn't stop them. So long as they wanted to pay for it."
On the other side of that are the artists who see the value in a formal education. In the below list of 25 Rock Musicians With College Degrees, you'll meet some who wanted to extend their basic educations, some who felt college was a good way to delay real life for a few more years and some who decided four years of university wasn't really enough.