Six Bands Who Formed During College

College campuses have notoriously been popular places for bands to form. While one’s studies are usually the main reason for attendance, college is also a place where people develop life-long friendships and relationships with other like-minded people. And for those that are musically inclined and have that special kind of chemistry, a successful band may not be too far behind.

With colleges all over the world celebrating their commencement activities this month, Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at bands that made it big out of college. Here are six whose rock star dreams became a reality.

1.       Vampire Weekend: When Vampire Weekend burst out onto the indie rock scene in 2006, they became known as “that band that formed at Columbia University.” The quartet of Ezra Koenig, Chris Tomson, Chris Baio and Rostam Batmanglij met while studying at the Ivy League school and didn’t waste any time getting music out. Their debut album was written and recorded while they were still students on campus.

2.       Coldplay: The guys of Coldplay met early on in their university careers, way before they ever had a single class in fact. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland became friends in 1996 during orientation week at University College London. Less than a year later and with the additions of fellow classmate Guy Berryman, Martin’s friend Phil Harvey and Will Champion, the band started playing small clubs together.

3.       Queen: Brian May formed the band that would eventually become known as Queen while a student at Imperial College in London. He and high school friend Tim Staffell formed a band called Smile, recruiting drummer Roger Taylor through an ad in the college’s newspaper. Freddie Mercury, who was studying at Ealing Art College and was friends with Staffell, joined in 1970 following Staffell’s exit and that same year played their first show as Queen. That show happened to be at, where else, Imperial College.

4.       Pink Floyd: Before being known as Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright were all architecture students at London Polytechnic playing music together as Sigma 6. Many of their early shows were played in the school’s Regent Street basement. About three years after forming, the band, now featuring Syd Barrett, would change their name to Pink Floyd and history would be made.

5.       Interpol: According to a 2003 interview with Pitchfork, Interpol formed at NYU, though they were not originally friends. Said Dan Kessler, “I approached everyone at some point or another, and started loosely jamming with our first drummer [Greg Drudy], who lived in the same dormitory as me; he was just starting to play drums, so it was very loose-- and bad. I was just happy to have someone to play with, to tell you the truth. I had a very hard time finding musicians to play with-- musicians at all, really-- and I saw Carlos in some class and approached him.”

6.       R.E.M.: Though three out of the four members of R.E.M. studied at the University of Georgia, the band did not meet on campus. Instead, mutual friend Kathleen O’Brien introduced Michael Stipe to fellow students Mike Mills and Bill Berry in fall 1979. Along with Peter Buck (who Stipe met at a record shop) the new band started playing music together in 1980. The new band played their first show at a nearby church at a gig set up to celebrate O’Brien’s birthday.

College campuses have historically been popular places for bands to form. From like-minded friends making music together to those who actively sought to recruit fellow musicians from their school or other means, the university atmosphere has bred many a band, including some very popular ones like the ones above. With the next group of college graduates heading out to follow their dreams, it is only a matter of time before the next big college band finds their way to the public eye.

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