This one’s a spinoff of the “money grabbers” thread.
Who do you think is the rock musician with the highest IQ? There are a few obvious ones - Neil Peart, Brian May, and other people have nominated Todd Rundgren and Bill Bruford.
There’s also an alt-rock singer named Pardis Sabeti who is now better known for being a major figure in Ebola research in recent months than she is for her music.
Barely missed the cutoff! Here’s her band’s website.
I remember seeing Mark Mcgrath (Sugar Ray) on Rock n’ Roll Jeopardy, a show that was on VH1 for a short while, and he knew everything and completely dominated. Not a measure of intelligence surely but he was really impressive. You had to see it I guess.
And I’m not sure it would be that obvious with musicians. I’ve played with some guitarists I consider great, and the best were very eclectic, space-casey, but I’m not sure about IQ. The best was AGLD, academically-gifted, learning disabled.
I’ve never been a Metallica fan, and I know Lars Ulrich is a total dickhead, but he’s also one of the smartest musicians I’ve ever seen interviewed.
So, what’s this about IQ and drummers? 
Peter Buck of R.E.M. is IMNSHO that band’s brainiest one, which is saying a lot. 
Northern Irish band D:Ream had a brief moment of glory in the early 1990s including a UK number one with Things Can Only Get Better.
Mainly for live appearances, they had **Brian Cox **on keyboards. Now better known as Professor Brian Cox OBE he has worked at CERN, written books on physics and does a lot of TV presenting.
TCMF-2L
I don’t know his IQ but Tom Scholz of Boston (don’t know if “currently popular” is one of your criteria) has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from MIT.
Brian May, PhD Astrophysics
Milo Auckerman is another contender with a doctorate, though not necessarily champ.
Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman, New Race) is also a practicing surgeon & ER doctor in both Australia and Hawaii.
Aditya Nair, guitarist for India’s most brutal death metal band, Bhayanak Maut, is a practicing psychiatrist.
Jello Biafra is pretty fucking smart.
So is Henry Rollins.
Frank Zappa should prolly be somewhere near the top of the list, IMO.
Professor Greg Graffin (Bad Religion) got his doctorate from Cornell and now teaches at UCLA, so he’s no dummy.
As listed in the OP as an obvious choice.
Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring, is a doctoral student at the Laboratory of Viral Oncology and Proteomics Research at the Keck School of Medicine, where he’s co-authored papers on HIV genomes.
I would like to mention Mr. Weird Al Yankovic. He was the valedictorian of his high school class at age 16. I don’t know what his IQ is, but I would imagine it’s fairly high.
But I provided details.
Yeah, I missed it. :smack:
Beat me to it. WAY also graduated college with a degree in Architecture.
Speaking of Dr. May…while his bandmates may not have been in his league, they weren’t slouches, either.
Bassist John Deacon was an electronics engineer, and built the trademark “Deacy” amp which he and May used, from a circuit board he pulled out of a dumpster, and a speaker cabinet. He also handles the band’s finances to the present day.
Drummer Roger Taylor studied dentistry and biology in college, receiving his bachelor’s degree in biology.
Freddie Mercury received a degree in art and graphic design, and designed the band’s logo.
Is this before or after years of dissolute rock and roll lifestyle? I mean, at the rate some of those guys go through brain cells, they must have started at genius levels just to still be able to write their names.
He is in Mensa, or at least was at one time.
Kesha got a 1500 score out of a possible 1600 on the SAT, and I’ve seen her IQ listed at 140.
Aye, that’s her story.
Sorry to spoil people’s image of an internet meme, but rapper Froggy Fresh, aka Krispy Kreme, is probably not a stupid redneck but instead a northern high school valedictorian.
Sterling Morrison (the Velvet Underground) had a PhD in medieval literature.