# The Veterans Of Rock and Roll **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745 "2003-11-12T02:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/1 "2003-11-12T02:38:05Z")
Title taken a local Atlanta radio station’s theme weekend, featuring artists who are veterans of the United States armed forces. Which ones can you think of? I’ll start off with: Elvis Presley (drafted) M.C. Hammer What other musicians ave veterans? (British and European Veterans included) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/2 "2003-11-12T03:03:41Z")
Jimi Hendrix Normie Rowe ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/3 "2003-11-12T03:04:43Z")
**Paul Revere** of Raiders’ fame. He was in the army in the early 1960’s. **Archie “Tighten Up” Bell** was in the army.(late 1960’s I think). **Edwin Starr “War - what is it good for?”** was in the army in the early 1960’s. Jimi Hendrix was a paratrooper, again in the early 1960’s. The group “Essex” (“Easier Said Than Done”) were ALL members of the US Marine Corps. (The group included 2 women by the way). I don’t want to monopolize this so let’s here from some other SD Message Board folks. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/4 "2003-11-12T03:07:01Z")
John Fogerty Country Joe MacDonald ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/5 "2003-11-12T03:07:47Z")
Wow someone posted Jimi Hendrix before I did. Well, I forgot to highlight his name (no sense now) but at least I’ll show **the Essex (“Easier Said Than Done”)** one more time. (Got lazy and didn’t use the preview button.) :smack: ---
**Author:** ![waits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df788c/32.png) [@waits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waits)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/6 "2003-11-12T03:21:58Z")
Johnny Cash was in the Air Force and Jerry Garcia was in the army. Hey **wolf\_meister** , I remember reading that Paul Revere was granted conscientious objector status due to family religious beliefs and spent his time as a cook in a mental hospital. Don’t know if that counts as being a veteran. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/7 "2003-11-12T04:09:05Z")
**John Prine** was in the army, stationed in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/8 "2003-11-12T04:36:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AtomicDog \* > \*\* (British and European Veterans included) \*\* **Roy Harper** was in the RAF, and **John Mayall** was an army clerk in Korea, which makes him the British Radar O’Riley. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/9 "2003-11-12T05:03:29Z")
some _“brief stints”_ Mike Nesmith, The Monkees, Air Force. Willie Nelson, Army Kris Kristofferson (father was an Air Force General), Army (pilot) ---
**Author:** ![schplebordnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/10 "2003-11-12T05:11:36Z")
Link Wray is a Korean War vet. [http://www.rockabillyhall.com/LinkWray.html](http://www.rockabillyhall.com/LinkWray.html) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/11 "2003-11-12T06:03:59Z")
**Waits** I believe people who actually serve in the armed forces (including conscientious objectors) are considered veterans. I know Paul Revere has participated in the last couple of years in the “Ride to The Wall”. Here’s the link: [www.paulrevereraiders.com](http://www.paulrevereraiders.com) He’s more of a veteran than John Wayne ever was. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/12 "2003-11-12T15:45:32Z")
The greatest 60s band of all time, [**The Monks**](http://www.the-monks.com/intro.htm) came together when they were stationed in Germany. John Joseph of the Cro-Mags was AWOL from the navy for years when his bandmate Harley Flanagan turned him in so he could get control of the direction of the band. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/13 "2003-11-12T17:09:36Z")
Ice-T was in the Army - paratroopers I think. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/14 "2003-11-12T17:21:45Z")
Micky Hart of the Grateful Dead was in the Air Force. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/15 "2003-11-12T17:30:22Z")
Tough thread. Excepting Ice-T - who was in the Army from 1979 - 1981 - these are all draftees from like the 60’s. They weren’t married, with kids; not in college, not fortunate sons of Senators or Congressmen. Why is AWOL-Bush president? What about those 18 months in the Texas National Guard? Dick Cheney got his first deferment by getting married. When that deferment was dropped, and the only one left was a child - what do ya know - 9 months later his wife had a child. Why am I hijacking this thread? Well…I’m not: Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes, ooh, they send you down to war, Lord, And when you ask them, how much should we give, oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh, Quaff some root beers. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/16 "2003-11-12T17:44:28Z")
Quite all right Corbomite. I’ll take the blame for hijacking the thread too. (John Wayne reference). Anyway, I think I was the only person so far to find female veterans of rock. As I said in **the Essex** there were 2 women. One was **Anita Humes** but I forget the name of the other one. There must be other veterans of rock out there. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/17 "2003-11-12T22:20:39Z")
IIRC, Terrence Trent D’Arby was a U.S. Army deserter. Do deserters count as vets? ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/18 "2003-11-12T22:44:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > \*\*Ice-T was in the Army - paratroopers I think. \*\* I’m not sure if this is correct, but I heard he was a Ranger. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/19 "2003-11-13T03:01:32Z")
Well, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald of King Crimson and Foreigner served several years in the British Army, and actually played clarinet in one of the British Army’s leading marching bands. Hard to imagine that’s the same guy wailing on "21st Century Schizoid Man, eh? ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745/20 "2003-11-13T07:02:33Z")
Bob Mosley of Moby Grape joined the Marines in 1969. For someone from a hippie band from San Francisco to join the U.S.M.C. at the height of the Vietnam War is rather incredible. Other than a few examples such as Jimi Hendrix…I wonder whether the general dominance of British rock in the 1960’s was helped by the fact that the UK ended conscription back in the 1950’s, while the US had a draft until 1973. Imagine how rock history may have been different if at least some of the members of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and so on had their early careers interrupted by military service Just a random thought… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-veterans-of-rock-and-roll/212745.md?page=2)