5 Sets of Legendary Rockers Who Went to High School Together

Here are five times rock musicians found themselves attending the same high school before finding success later in life.

Some instantly clicked and formed a band, while others didn’t link up again until they found themselves both nominated at awards shows after achieving greatness.

From taking each other to their first Judas Priest concert to ditching class to hang out at 7-Eleven, these five rock duos first met in high school.

Adam Jones (Tool) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)

High School: Libertyville High School

City: Libertyville, Illinois

What they said about high school: Tom Morello once called Adam Jones the “sole talented musician in our high school band.”

He also credits Jones for helping make him the guitar player he is today. “He showed me chords, ‘pinch’ harmonics, drove us to see Judas Priest at Alpine Valley (Music Theater) in his pick-up truck for inspiration and was ceaselessly encouraging me when I was a beginning guitarist,” Morello said in a 2024 Facebook post.

The two would later become roommates when Morello moved to Los Angeles.

Slash (Guns N’ Roses) and Lenny Kravitz

High School: Beverly Hills High School

City: Beverly Hills, California

What they said about high school: Lenny Kravitz was pretty sure the guy with long hair and a top hat sitting in front of him at the 1990 American Music Awards was someone from his high school. The two hadn’t seen each other since their time at Beverly Hills High School.

“He and I just kept looking at each other like, ‘I know you… Not ‘I know that you’re Lenny Kravitz and you’re Slash – but, like, I know you,'” Kravitz told Music Radar. “Then we realized we knew each other from high school. So we started talking and were excited to meet each other again, especially the fact we were both making music.”

Flea and Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

High School: Fairfax High School

City: Los Angeles

What they said about high school: Anthony Kiedis only had one friend when he transferred to Fairfax High School in the 10th grade and it wasn’t Flea.

Kiedis said he was hanging with his buddy outside of school when another kid named Mike (Flea) came up to the pair and put Kiedis’s friend in a headlock. The future Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer wasn’t having it. “He told me in no uncertain terms, ‘Lay off him,'” Flea said in an interview with Fuse.

Turns out, Flea was also friends with the other kid and was just joking. “I was scared of (Kiedis). He had a crew cut that nobody had in our 10th grade. Every kid had a bush in his back pocket and hair feathered back.”

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Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee (Rush)

High School: Newtonbrook Secondary School

City: Toronto

What they said about high school:  The friendship between Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee started when the two found themselves sitting at the back of the class in junior high. “He was really funny,” Lee told AXS TV. “We sort of connected, and he played guitar.”

That was enough for the two to get together for jam sessions.

Lifeson was already in a band called Rush at the time, with Lee joining at a later date when the original bass player couldn’t make a gig. “I didn’t know at the time that I would be spending the rest of my life with this crazy Serbian guy.”

Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)

High School: Pinole Valley High School

City: Pinole, California

What they said about high school: Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day met while attending Pinole Valley High School. They also spent a lot of time together NOT attending Pinole Valley High School, opting to ditch class instead.

When the band was presented with the key to Pinole in 2024 during a ceremony at a 7-Eleven across from the high school, Dirnt said the two would skip school “always in the search for something creative and finding our people, our tribe.”

Those friends proved to be integral to Dirnt and Armstrong continuing to play music together. “Almost everyone but our friends ignored us,” Dirnt said in an Instagram post where he shared a photo of the two playing on stage in high school. “But playing for friends was the best, and always will be!”