I spent more than 10 hours watching live music the weekend before last, and I had a significant realization: Some musicians have really weird pasts. Here’s a rundown of some musicians I saw (and some I didn’t) who have histories you may not know about.

Gabe Saporta (Cobra Starship)

Saporta, the Uruguayan, hip swaying lead singer for dance-pop quintet Cobra Starship, was not always writing shallow tunes about making “Good Girls Go Bad” and other such trivial talents. Instead, Saporta was once the introspective frontman of dark pop-punk band Midtown (which also featured a guitarist who went on to join the post-hardcore band Senses Fail). One of Midtown’s hit songs, “Give It Up,” seems pretty distant from anything on Cobra Starship’s albums, and the difference is made most apparent when one takes a closer look at the lyrics: “And when you’ve become / all you’ve lost / wandering the streets and searching for a place to die.” In fact, as a member of Midtown, Saporta, who studied philosophy at Rutgers University, wrote extremely dark and contemplative lyrics that even carried over into some of his early songs for Cobra Starship. Though I’m almost six years out of my Fueled By Ramen phase, I still maintain that the band’s first effort, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, is a worthy listen because it blends off-kilter and downright eerie lyricism with funky dance beats.

Sonny Moore (Skrillex)

The path that Sonny Moore, better known as Skrillex, took to get from being the skinny little scene-haired frontman of emo rock group From First to Last to where he is now — behind the mixing board at his densely populated dubstep concerts — is almost beyond my comprehension. In 2005, Moore was singing about how much he missed his girlfriend over frantic double bass to emo kids across the country (“Note to self: I miss you terribly / this is what we call a tragedy / come back to me, come back to me, to me”). Two years later, he quit the band to pursue a solo career, which led him to the 2008 Alternative Press tour featuring Forever the Sickest Kids and All Time Low, among others. Not long afterward, Moore began creating his own electronic music and playing it at clubs. Five EPs and three Grammys later, we have the Sonny Moore seen today.

Nate Ruess (fun.)

By now everyone’s heard fun.’s summer hit “We Are Young.” And then again. And again. But I bet not as many people have heard their very first single, “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be) .” I bet even fewer have heard of The Format, fun. lead singer Nate Ruess’s former band. What many people who listen to “We are Young” and “Some Nights” don’t realize is, fun. actually had some pretty, well, fun beginnings. Their first release, Aim and Ignite, was similar to the music that The Format was releasing before their 2008 split – upbeat pop-rock, completely devoid of the auto-tune that’s present on several songs from fun.’s sophomore release, Some Nights. Lyrically, the songs aren’t too different – even over the happy-sounding music on Aim and Ignite, Ruess was belting out some pretty heavy stuff (“So I left, that’s it/ That’s my life, nothing is sacred/ I don’t keep friends, I keep acquainted / I’m not a prophet, but I’m here to profit.”) But otherwise, the band’s two albums sound radically different, in a way that some fun. fans love and some despise.

Aubrey Drake Graham (Drake)

When chart-topping rapper Drake came on the scene in 2009, the first thing I thought was, ‘He can walk?’ That’s because the Aubrey Graham I knew portrayed paralyzed former basketball player Jimmy Brooks on popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi. Drake played this character for eight seasons, starring in arguably one of the saddest episodes of the show, where he becomes paralyzed after being shot in a school shooting. Drake began making mixtapes on the side in 2006, and by 2009 was the up-and-coming favorite among many big names in rap, according to The Toronto Star. Though he’s no longer on Degrassi, which is currently on its seventeenth season, it’s almost impossible for me and many other longtime Degrassi fans to disassociate Drake with his character on the show.

Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)

If you don’t know at this point that Dave Grohl, lead singer of the (currently on an indefinite break) Foo Fighters, was once the ponytailed drummer for iconic ‘90s grunge band Nirvana, you should probably feel bad about it. It’s common knowledge. What’s more interesting about Grohl is his side project, Them Crooked Vultures. The supergroup, consisting of Grohl on drums, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age on guitar, and the legendary John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass, made its debut at a Chicago venue in August 2009. In 2011, touring member Alain Johannes told Antiquiet, a music blog, that a new album was “definitely” in the works. While not much has been said about it yet, it’s likely that Grohl may spend more time devoted to side projects like these now that The Foo Fighters are no longer touring.