10 Rock Musicians With Surprising Day Jobs
4. Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers) – National Defence Consultant
During the 1970s Jeff Baxter was a longhaired, moustache toting, hippie rocker. Listening to his original band Steely Dan, with their latino-infused brand of smooth jazz rock, it's hard to picture this guy giving the U.S. Government advice on defensive missile systems.
Given the laid back nature of Baxter's music, his nickname 'Skunk' and the name of his second band The Doobie Brothers, it's fair to assume this guy enjoyed a toke back in the day. There's probably not that many individuals with such a high level security clearance who have also partaken in the devils lettuce. Well Clinton maybe, but he didn't inhale remember...
During the 1980s Baxter's interest in music technology somehow transitioned into a deep fascination with hardware and software systems that had previously been developed by the military. It was only the start of his obsession and quickly he became something of an expert in missile defence systems.
By some weird twist of fate, someone at the government got hold of a paper the moustachioed hippie had written detailing his thoughts on national defence systems.
Since then he has advised a number of private and government funded bodies, including the Missile Defence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and General Dynamics.