'70s High School Hits Written By Rockers Who Never Graduated

High school kids in the 1970s rocked out to a variety of acts, like Black Sabbath, Rod Stewart, AC/DC, Rush, and Led Zeppelin. And while the songwriters behind these acts all managed to make it to the top of the heap in the music industry, awash in fame, money, and success, many of them didn't graduate high school themselves. Some of these future mega-stars dropped out to pursue music or, in the case of Stewart, soccer, while others had undiagnosed learning disabilities, as was the case with Ozzy Osbourne, which led to leaving school early.

Many of the rock gods that dominated the popular music scene of the 1970s may not have finished school, but that didn't stop them from writing some killer tunes that had high schoolers bopping to their hits. From Rush's first major hit, "Closer to the Heart," to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog," which cracked the Top 20 in 1971, here are five '70s high school hits written by rock acts that were short on education but long on talent.

In the 1970s, Black Sabbath introduced the world to a revolutionary sound that would eventually be called heavy metal. With Tony Iommi's screaming guitar riffs, Bill Ward's thundering drums, Geezer Butler's fat bass lines, and Ozzy Osbourne's dramatic vocals, high schoolers were soon enthralled by this new sound. The band released the song "Iron Man," from its second album, "Paranoid," in October 1971. The song spent 10 weeks on the charts and in March 1972 peaked at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the band's highest charting single, and is credited equally to all four members.

These working-class boys from Birmingham, England, all left school early. For Osbourne, who had undiagnosed ADHD and dyslexia, school was especially hard and he ended up leaving at 15, before drifting through a variety of jobs, including working at a slaughterhouse and a factory. Likewise, Iommi worked in a metal sheet cutting factory after leaving school, where he lost the tips of two fingers in an industrial accident. Ward also left school early, as did Butler, who went on to apprentice as an accountant before being fired. Against the odds, the members of Black Sabbath became a legendary band that changed popular music forever.

Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" reached the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1971, where it stayed for five weeks, and had high schoolers dreaming about leaving school to either join a band or make a living off of playing pool. Co-written with Martin Quittenton, it was Stewart's first No. 1 hit, but he'd already had a stellar run with both the Jeff Beck Group and Faces before his third solo album, "Every Picture Tells a Story," made him a superstar. But Stewart hadn't had an easy start.

Stewart left school at 15 with vague ambitions of becoming a professional soccer player. "I was fifteen, the whole world lay before me, glittering with possibilities, and what I was going to do next was ... I hadn't got a clue," he recalled in "Rod: The Autobiography." When soccer didn't pan out, Stewart worked at various jobs, including at a funeral parlor and as a gravedigger, and he started busking on the street before his career took off.

In 1979, Australia's AC/DC released the single "Highway to Hell," the title track from the album of the same name and the first to be released in the U.S. from that LP, ushering in the start of the band's rise to international superstardom. It was a rock anthem perfect for blasting on a car stereo or transistor radio by high schoolers who wanted to shock their parents and teachers.

The song was composed by lead singer Bon Scott, rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, and his brother, lead guitarist Angus Young. With Angus' signature schoolboy uniform, one might assume he'd graduated from high school, but AC/DC's story for all three members begins with dropping out. Angus left school at 15 and later got his revenge by adopting his old school uniform (with his sister's encouragement) as his stage outfit. "Yes, I got a kick out of wearing it, and that's funny because as a kid I was never much of a fan of school. But now I say to get back at them a little," he told the New York Post in 2000. Malcolm also dropped out of school and found work as a mechanic, among other gigs. Scott also left school at 15 and held down various blue-collar jobs, including working as a farmhand, before joining the Young brothers to form the classic core of AC/DC.

By the time Rush released "Closer to the Heart" from its 1977 album "A Farewell to Kings," the band had already racked up a fan base for its progressive rock with the breakthrough album "2112" a year earlier. But with "Closer to the Heart," Rush reached a wider audience thanks to airplay on U.S. FM stations, which helped it break into the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1977. This was just a foretaste of what the band would later achieve a few years hence with hits like "Tom Sawyer."

Although high schoolers in the '70s may have been warbling along to the chorus of "Closer to the Heart," none of Rush's members — all of whom composed it — made it through high school themselves. Singer and bassist Geddy Lee dropped out of high school to pursue music full time. Guitarist Alex Lifeson also quit school early for the music business. Likewise, the band's drummer, Neil Peart, while known for his keen intelligence and lifelong pursuit of knowledge, quit high school at 17 and never finished. This legendary band went on to sell more than 40 million records worldwide, has received a slew of awards, and its members were even conferred honorary doctorates of music from the University of Nipissing.

In the early 1970s, it would have been hard to miss Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog," whether it was blaring at high school parties, from cars cruising around, or home hi-fis (and more than 50 years later, it's a classic rock song we'll be blasting until the day we die). With Robert Plant's a cappella vocal intro, Jimmy Page's raw, distortion-heavy buzzsaw blues licks, and the complex polyrhythms of drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones, "Black Dog" makes for one unforgettable tune that had the kids all a flutter when the band released it as a single in December 1971. The song, from Led Zeppelin IV and credited to Jones, Page, and Plant, reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stuck around for 12 weeks.

Like the other rockers with high school hits in the '70s, none of the members of Led Zeppelin graduated. Plant dropped out of school to pursue music, as did Page, who left at 15. Jones studied music for a time while in boarding school, but also left early to turn pro. Bonham left school at 16 to work with his father in the family construction business while also pursuing music. When these four finally came together as Led Zeppelin, they changed the course of rock history forever, no degrees needed.