High School Dropouts: Who Surprises You Most?

Pretty interesting website.

I like the celebrity age difference section:

Jack Nicholson . . . Lara Flynn Boyle ......33 years



I didn't even know those two were going out?

 

Obviously, a lot of artists on the lists - musicians, artists, fashion designers, photographers, actors, etc. Not too surprising. School isn't a very nuturing place for creativity unless you go here:

 

I see the no talent ass clown is on this list.

 

Success amongst 'drop outs' doesn't surprise me. Especially since many of the 'drop outs' were a result of following opportunities.

Check the bankruptcy list, though. Some surprises there!

 

With a lot of entertainers, I'm more surprised when I hear they have college degrees, especially advanced degrees.

 

Abigail Adams!! Give me a friggin break. That's stretching it. Most of these people "dropped out" before formal education was ever the norm. We are looking to be living in a time of advanced education in this country and in this world. Websites like this do nothing to further that.

 

As an aside, has anybody seen the Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (Aerosmith) personal service announcement about staying in school?

One google search later ...

http://www.superseventies.com/sstylerperry.html

"Four rehabilitation centers for drug abuse later, I've been able to take a long, hard look at my behavior."

But I was just so selfish and one-sided. I would crawl into a little hole with whatever drug I was doing, and that's how I lived. It was OK to be drinking away my life. The manager would come backstage and say, "Fine. Drink all you want. Just go onstage." That was great for an alcoholic to hear. It was the perfect place to be. Liquor flowed backstage. Someone would say, "Give him what he wants from the bar."

I never thought this would be a career. I never thought I would make it past thirty. I look at some of those early Beatles interviews. Ringo wanted a hairdressing salon, if he could make enough money with the Beatles. That's really the attitude that prevailed. A lot of us were high-school dropouts. Suddenly we were making a lot of money. The thinking was, "Who knows how long this is going to last. In the meantime, have fun."

So we drank to keep the vibe we felt. It was like, if we feel good, maybe the audience will feel good. If we're getting off on the music we're playing, maybe they'll get off on it. Of course, if you listen to our records down through the years, it definitely gets diluted. We started to lose sight of it, we started to see how screwed up we could get before we walked onstage, just to see if we could get away with it. There were times when we were on our knees, literally, trying to find blow. There were times when we would drink just to see how much we could consume. Really ridiculous stuff. It did suffer in the end, that little picture, that little window to what we thought we were all about.

The whole time in the PSA I expected Perry/Tyler to say "Stay In School. And kick that herion habit while you are at it!!!".