Think you know music trivia? Name these ’80s musicians based on their original day job
The worst thing you can yell at an artist in any discipline is, “Don’t quit your day job.” The statement tells the recipient that they’re bad singers, guitarists, drummers, what have you, and that the world would be better served if all they did was bag groceries for a living. Luckily for most of us, artists are not good listeners and can’t wait until they can give their very unsatisfying day job the middle finger salute it deserves. See if you can guess the musician by the day job they once held to keep the rent paid and the electricity buzzing.
1. Dunkin Donuts
This iconic pop star served donuts in New York City in 1978.
Answer: Madonna
Before becoming Madge and getting every teenage girl to wear crucifixes and lace, Madonna was another struggling artist who needed to pay the rent. She did it by serving coffee and donuts at the double D, a place we’re betting she has not missed for one second.
2. English teacher
This famous British singer taught elementary English from 1974 to 1976.
Answer: Sting
Before playing with the Police, Sting took a job as a schoolteacher. He sang about having a hard time resisting the siren call of 14-year-olds in the song “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” which has major ick factor if you read the lyrics and know what he’s talking about.
3. Slaughterhouse
This legendary heavy metal musician worked at a slaughterhouse in his teens.
Answer: Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne and gainful employment had a rocky relationship before he became a full-time musician, but one job he said he enjoyed was working at a slaughterhouse, because of course he did. He said it was a good job because when he was done with all the animals he was scheduled to kill that day, he could go home with no waiting around until 5:00 to punch out.
4. Baggage handler
This famous rock singer used to be a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport in 1969.
Answer: Freddie Mercury
Queen’s legendary frontman once handled passenger baggage at Heathrow Airport in England. If you’ve seen the 2018 biopic about Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” that’s one of two or three things they actually got right.
5. Waitress
Before she started her colorful career, this pop star worked as a waitress.
Answer: Cyndi Lauper
OK, maybe “waitress” is not much of a clue, but we’re not going to give it away by saying “Waitresses just want to have fun.” It’s true though – before hitting the big time, Lauper waited tables, which is not at all unusual for people trying to break into show business.
6. Filing clerk
Before fame, this Britpop singer worked at a tax office as a filing clerk.
Answer: Morrissey
Boy, some people get jobs that suit their demeanors perfectly. Morrissey of the Smiths was such an individual, working in the very unpleasant vocation known as “tax office employee.” He seemed no happier as a musician.
7. Respiratory therapist
This heavy metal icon funded his band as a respiratory therapist.
Answer: Tom Araya
Before he was singing, “Raining blood from a lacerated sky,” Slayer frontman Tom Araya worked as a respiratory therapist. It ended up being a good deal for the band, because they funded the recording of their first album, “Show No Mercy,” with Araya’s hard-earned money.
8. Errand runner
This rock star used to run errands at the Power Station recording studio.
Answer: Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi used to be nothing more than the cousin of Power Station recording studio owner Tony Bongiovi, and he made money by running errands for the facility. Legend has it that one day he was sweeping the studio floor when producer Meco was working on “Christmas in the Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album,” and had the future vocalist sing “R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, which became his first professional recording.
9. Street sweeper
Before the iconic heavy metal band’s breakthrough, the bassist worked as a street sweeper.
Answer: Steve Harris
His band Iron Maiden has been packing stadiums all over the world for decades, but before that, bassist Steve Harris had to sweep the streets to earn enough money for beans and toast. Forty-plus years later, he and his nimble fingers continue to bring the metal to the masses, even as most of the band members are pushing 70.
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10. Fry cook
This lead singer of an iconic ’80s band was a fry cook at a Long John Silver’s restaurant.
Answer: Wayne Coyne
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne was a fast food fry cook before becoming a professional musician. Unlike a lot of his colleagues who angrily rage-quit their fast food jobs to focus full-time on their artistic dreams, Coyne kept the job until 1991, which means he had the good sense to figure out that this whole music thing was not always going to net him a steady paycheck.
11. Production assistant
This famous guitarist worked as a production assistant during college.
Answer: Susanna Hoffs
Bangles singer and guitarist Susanna Hoffs worked as a production assistant during college, working for and starring in the 1978 movie “Stony Island.” Then one fateful day she saw the Sex Pistols at their final concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom followed by a Patti Smith concert, and she decided to become a full-time musician instead.
12. Waitress
This popular Scottish singer worked as a waitress, barmaid, and shop assistant.
Answer: Annie Lennox
The Eurhythmics’ Annie Lennox is a quite gifted musician as most people know, and her abilities landed her a place at London’s Royal Academy of Music, an institution that accepts no slouches. Sadly, she wasn’t always able to make a living at music despite her academic credentials, and she said so, telling the Academy, “I have had to work as a waitress, barmaid, and shop assistant to keep me when not in musical work.”
13. Model
This era-defining singer worked as a runway model.
Answer: Grace Jones
Grace Jones had so much success as a model, it’s hard to believe that was just her day job before she became a singer. She signed with Wilhelmina Models at 18 and immediately found work as a runway model, but by the mid-1970s she was already thinking about other things, and by the end of the decade she was fully focusing on her music career.
14. Journalist
This legendary singer worked as a journalist and assistant editor for the magazine Smash Hits.
Answer: Neil Tennant
Like Grace Jones, the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant had a pretty good day job before he moved on. Tennant was a journalist and assistant editor for the magazine Smash Hits, but history has vindicated him for moving on to music instead.
15. Mortuary attendant
This singer worked as a mortuary attendant.
Answer: Simon Le Bon
Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon had numerous day jobs with varying degrees of glamor. In addition to working as a tree surgeon, he also worked as a mortuary attendant, a job that’s sure to make a lot of people wish they were at sea on a yacht full of leggy music video models.
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