Does any music genre have a disproportionally high number of highly educated artists?
Was reading about The Offspring due to this post here: https://lemmy.ml/post/2628198
As I read their Wikipedia page I noticed that Dexter Holland (lead singer) has a PhD in Molecular Biology. Then I remembered that Greg Gaffin (lead singer) of Bad Religion has a PhD in Zoology.
Is this a trend in Punk Rock or am I noticing a freak coincidence? If not punk rock, is there any genre that stands out in its number of highly educated artists?
11 replies
Might be talking out of my ass here but prog metal artists tend to have high education, usually in music. In fact I saw a bachelor's degree programme for progressive metal in the university of Gothenburg!
Most professional classical performers have a Doctorate or at least a Masters
Yeah, this is probably the highest educated genre by necessity.
Hard to tell, I dont believe there is data about this. I was aware of the 2 you mentionned being a punk-rock fan. Original punk-rock values political activism and education so that would make sens. The only other PHD I can think of on top of m6 head, in popular music, is electronic musician Floating Point. Math PHD I believe. I also know some musicians like Flee from RHCP went back to university in their 50s, to study music theory. Now, if you look into contempory music, as well as jazz, it is far more common to get higher music education, in electroacoustic for example. I could name half a dozen composer with a doctorate in composition, only in my city, Montreal.
Not Punk, but Bryan May of Queen has a PhD in Astrophysics
Sir Brian May.
Also, Freddie Mercury had a diploma in arts and graphics design, John Deacon was BSc in electronics, and Roger Taylor was BSc in biology.
Doctor Sir Brian May
Dexter Holland has a PhD in Microbiology
He has another PhD?
Must have overread this, sorry
Metal band Insomnium is highly educated, for example their singer Ville Friman is a doctor in evilutionary biology