Don't Quit Your Day Job - Musicians Before They Hit the Big Time

As some of you may know, I've recently graduated from a post-grad program in Public Relations. And, like most new graduates, I'm finding myself in that career limbo. I just completed a brief stint that allowed me to combine some of the skills I've learned in PR, some of the ones from HR, and ALL of the ones from my life as a restaurant brat. It wasn't exactly the PR job of my dreams, but managing a small restaurant was interesting, challenging, and frustrating. Plus, it allowed me to flex my culinary muscle. And it paid the bills.

I don't have that job anymore, but it got me thinking. Everyone has to start somewhere, and our favourite musicians are no different. Some jobs might have been a little more glamorous than others,sure. But from cooks to civil servants, strippers to upholsterers, hell even grave diggers, each of them paid their dues. So, in honour of starting somewhere, and in hopes of making it big someday, I bring you "Don't Quit Your Day Job - Musicians Before They Hit the Big Time".

1) Gene Simmons - Assistant to the Editor at Glamour and Vogue

Before his days of rock and rolling all night and partying every day, Gene Simmons worked at the top fashion magazines in the US. This may or may not come as a surprise; his hair and makeup are the stuff glam rock dreams are made of!

Love Gun
Detroit Rock City
I Was Made For Lovin' You

2) Debbie Harry - Playboy Bunny 

She really was dreaming during her 'pre-Blondie' years of the 70's at New York's Playboy Club. Harry admits that more often than not, she was half asleep thanks to experimenting with drugs. You'd probably need to be in order to handle the constant creepers.

Dreaming
Hanging on the Telephone
Atomic








3) Jack White - Upholsterer

Jack White was always somewhat of a musician, however his first paying gig was as an upholsterer in Detroit. After his apprenticeship, he opened up his own shop, Third Man Upholstery which boasted the slogan "your furniture's not dead." The business didn't do so well (some people didn't dig on the hand written poetry inside the furniture), and now thanks to Jack White and Third Man Records, "your turntable's not dead" either.

Love Interruption
Entitlement
Hotel Yorba







4) Rod Stewart - Grave Digger

On the morbid side of this list is everyone's favourite soft-rocker, Rod the Mod. Before joining the Dimensions, Rod Stewart worked at the Highgate Cemetery in north London. He maintains he did more plot marking and manual labour than physical grave digging, but it did lead him to a brief stint as a labourer at a funeral home in North Finchley.
Reason To Believe
Maggie May
Stay With Me

5) Courtney Love - Stripper

She's both loved and hated the world over, and she's probably the least surprising addition to this list. Grunge Princess Courtney Love did whatever she had to do to make it big. She began stripping at Jumbo's Clown Room in Hollywood in the early 90's to finance her band, Hole. Miss Love gained exposure, traveled, made the money she needed for her band, and picked up a heroin addiction to boot.
Doll Parts
Miss World
Malibu






6) Ian Curtis - Civil Servant

The late Ian Curtis worked as a civil servant in both Manchester and Macclesfield while trying to make it big with his band, Joy Division. The biopic Control tells the story of how Curtis met a girl in the dole office who also suffered from epilepsy. He was inspired to write the song Control after she had an episode in the office.
She's Lost Control
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Disorder

7) Morrissey - Inland Revenue worker

He was looking for a job and then he found a job as an Inland Revenue worker. Stephen Morrissey dealt in taxes before starting his early punk band the Nosebleeds. That didn't last long, however. After posing the question to NME "I work for the Inland Revenue - am I still allowed to be a punk?", he quit Inland to go on the dole and make music.
Everyday is Like Sunday
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Bigmouth Strikes Again

8) Tom Waits - Pizza Cook


It didn't take long for Tom Waits to be promoted from dishwasher to pizza cook after he was hired at Napoleone's Pizza House in San Diego. It was the 60's, he was playing with the R&B/Soul outfit The Systems at the time, and the experience inspired Waits to write songs for his albums Small Change and The Heart of Saturday Night.
The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at Napoleone's Pizza House)
The Piano Has Been Drinking
I Can't Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)

So, for all my readers out there who happen to be in the same boat that I am, remember that everyone on this list made it, and we will too. Use your situation as motivation to get to where you really want to be. Hold your heads high, keep the tunes cranked even higher, and keep on keepin' on. Jukebox Hero out!