Music

9 musicians who failed to get into office

by Jeremy Mersereau

You might think being a successful musician would make for an easy transition into politics, and in many cases you’d be right: just look at Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett, who successfully parlayed his anthem about the dangers of inflammable mattresses into a lengthy political career in his native Australia, or the wild political ascendancy of Korn frontman Barack Obama.

Then again, they might just be outliers: the political highways are littered with the flamed-out hulks that are the campaigns of many a Wyclef or a David Rowntree. If you’re a superstar musician looking to make the leap into public life, learn from the stories of these 9 rockin’ electoral hopefuls that didn’t win hearts and minds off the stage.