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Before launching into superstardom, many of your favorite musicians had regular day jobs just like you and me. Take a look at the famous rockers in times of lesser grandeur.
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1.- GENE SIMMONS, KISS bassist, was an elementary public school teacher in Harlem, New York. The musician said in an interview that he was fired for substituting Shakespeare with Spider-Man comics that kids were more interested in. Even more surprising, Simmons then got a gig as assitant editor of Vogue magazine!
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2.- SERJ TANKIAN de SYSTEM OF A DOWN owned an accounting software company. The SOAD frontman is a Marketing post-graduate from Cal State.
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3.- Before blowing up with the White Stripes and joining bands like The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, JACK WHITE used to upholster luxury furniture for a living. He trained for three years, learning how to upholster and perfect his craft then opened his own upholstery business, Third Man Upholstery. Jack loved the trade so much he called his first band The Upholsterers. Now the love and dedication he put into Third Man Upholstery he not only put into his music but that of others at his label Third Man Records.
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4.- JOHNNY CASH was a decoder for the millitary. Before he was The Man in Black he was The Man in Blue. Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany. He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin. He was later honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant in 1954.
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5.- TOM ARAYA de SLAYER was a respiratory therapist helping those with asthma and other respiratory ailments in the 80s. according to old co-workers the thrash metal legend was very compassionate with his patients, he wouldn't charge the financially needy for his services. Araya financed his first album with the money he did get and left that profession to make heads bang all over the world for decades in Slayer.
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6.- GREG GRAFFIN of BAD RELIGION. The punk frontman was a paleontologist before singing for one of the more irreverent bands of the California punk scene. Greg started playing in the band in 1979 but managed to turn his hobby into a doctorate in paleontology. He's not only written various books on the subject but taught it at UCLA.
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7.- SHERYL CROW. On top of being one of Michael Jackson's backup singers during his Bad World Tour, Crow was a piano teacher at Kellison Elementary School in Missouri, a school dedicated to special education. She went on to record jingles for commercials, sing for MJ and finally get signed by A&M records to release her debut in 1993.
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8.-NOEL GALLAGHER of OASIS was a stone mason with his father. When a large stone landed on him and he broke his foot he took advantage of his recovery to perfect his guitar skills. Bored with masonry, he became the guitar tech for local Manchester band Inspiral Carpets in 1988. While on tour with them, he learned that his brother Liam Gallagher had formed a band of his own, The Rain, which eventually took on the name Oasis. After Noel returned to England, he was invited by his brother to join Oasis as songwriter and guitarist and the rest is rock n roll history.
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9.- EDDIE VEDDER had a few odd jobs in San Diego before working his way up to super stardom as frontman Pearl Jam including security guard and gasoline station attendant.
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10.- OZZY OSBOURNE's day jobs included construction site labourer, trainee plumber, apprentice toolmaker, car factory horn-tuner before he changed metal in Black Sabbath. In fact, the car factory job left him almost deaf having to tune up almost 900 horns a day. Ozzy left the day a co-worker received a gold watch for his 30 years of working with the factory. He cashed his last check, bought the Beatles' second album, listened to it and everything changed for the rocker.Ozzy also did a stint in a slaughterhouse cutting off pigheads. So metal!
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Before launching into superstardom, many of your favorite musicians had regular day jobs just like you and me. Take a look at the famous rockers in times of lesser grandeur.
Photo: Getty Images
