The jobs rockers had BEFORE getting a guitar and starting to be famous

...and he was on TV!

 

Bill Ward was a Ballet instructor.
Geezer Butler was a Butler.

Sensible worked at The Fairfield Halls cleaning toilets but he understood some day he'd be back in his own right giving concerts in his own peculiar way.

 

But again, see, we didn't start posting that clip over and over, until he picked up a guitar and got famous. In fact, I would venture a guess that prior to him picking up a guitar and getting famous...NOBODY posted that YouTube clip! Why, if you hadn't been watching the Steve Allen Show that night, you might never know he was on, who he was, or why a drummer was playing a bicycle instead of drums in the first place! You might be led to the conclusion that indeed the poor soul who appeared on television for one lone appearance, was famously not famous! Imagine the shame of walking down the street the very next day, and have people walk right up to him and say, "why, I don't recognise you from ANYwhere!"

Heck - the man might as well have been a bassist.

 

Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) and Stephin Merritt (the Magnetic Fields) too.

edit: oops, @Dudley Morris mentioned Neil on the first page, sorry!

 

Joe Cocker was a plumber

 

As did Richard Lloyd of Television. They worked the same area.

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth sold Chipwich Ice Cream sandwiches outdoors in the very early days.

 

The Troggs Reg Prestley was a bricklayer,Happy Mondays Shaun Ryder worked for the Royal Mail.