Most of the famous musicians you know today didn’t start off in the band they’re most famous for. For example: Did you know that, before he was in Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl was actually the drummer for Nirvana? Shocking, right?!

But while there are some obvious ones, there are plenty of your favorite musicians who were in projects you likely have never heard about. Below are 10 of the biggest, including yet another pre-Foo project for Grohl, one that is just slightly more anonymous than Nirvana.

Dave Grohl – Scream

Grohl is without a doubt most known for Foo Fighters, and then for his work with Nirvana. His drumming with the Virginia hardcore punk band Scream, however, is usually overshadowed by those two other bands. Grohl joined Scream in the late ’80s and was part of their fourth studio album, No More Censorship, and a 1990 European tour. The group recorded their fifth studio album, Fumble, in 1990 and then called it quits later that year. Dave would go on to join Nirvana and the rest is history.

Jack White – The Upholsterers

Before Jack White was headlining festivals and winning Grammy Awards with The White Stripes, he was in another rock duo called The Upholsterers, in which he played guitar and “worm gear saw.” White and Brian Muldoon worked at Jack’s Third Man Upholstery together in Detroit, where they would dress furniture with different material and occasionally record music. The duo recorded one 7″ record on Sympathy for the Record Industry that they inserted into pieces they were upholstering. In 2014, Third Man Records announced that two of the original records had been found.

Skrillex – From First to Last

There was a time when Skrillex, real name Sonny Moore, wasn’t making music full of bleeps and bloops. From 2004 to 2007, Sonny was the lead singer of post-hardcore band From First to Last. Before changing his name to Skrillex, he recorded two albums with From First to Last and joined the Warped Tour and Alternative Press tour. He left the band in 2007 to focus on a solo career, and was prepared to release an album before he changed his name to Skrillex, got a weird haircut, and released the My Name Is Skrillex EP for free on his MySpace.

Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz – The Young and The Useless

There’s no doubt that early Beastie Boys songs were heavily influenced by hardcore punk bands like Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys. That’s partly because, before Ad-Rock was part of the Beastie Boys, he was playing guitar in the New York punk band The Young and The Useless. The group recorded one album and performed at the likes of legendary New York punk club CBGBs. The Young and The Useless were managed early on by Beastie Boys manager Nick Cooper, and would even play some shows with the Beastie Boys once that project developed. They supposedly recorded a second album, but good luck finding it anywhere.

Vampire Weekend – L’Homme Run

Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig formed the “serious” rap band L’Homme Run with his VW bandmate Chris Tomson and Andrew Kalaidjian. There’s not much info on the group, except that it was started while the members were attending Columbia. Their MySpace page consists of two songs: “Bitches” and “Interracial Dating,” but the real winner from the rap crew is “Pizza Party.”

Maroon 5 – Kara’s Flowers

All I can think about when I hear this song is the background music to a mid-’90s teen party movie. Kara’s Flowers formed around 1994 while the original members, except for guitarist James Valentine, were in high school. They quickly gained a following after releasing We Like Digging? and signed with Reprise Records to release The Fourth World. The record didn’t do well and they were dropped from the label, causing them to take some time off and change their sound under the name Maroon 5. After a couple listens, I’m a big fan of “Soap Disco.”

Zack de la Rocha – Inside Out

From 1988 to 1991, Zack de la Rocha fronted the Orange County punk band Inside Out. The group released one 7″ EP and the album No Spiritual Surrender. Inside Out had the same charge as Rage Against the Machine, touching on politics and religion. The group broke up in 1991 after guitarist Vic DiCara left to become a Hare Krishna monk. At the time, they were writing their second album, which was to be titled Rage Against the Machine.

Dr. Dre – World Class Wreckin’ Cru

Before he was a billionaire, before he had one of the best rap albums of all-time, and before N.W.A., Dr. Dre was part of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru with fellow N.W.A. member DJ Yella. The group released two albums and once opened up for New Edition. They also wore some pretty sweet suits. Eventually, Dre was arrested, and Eazy-E bailed him out in exchange for his production talents. This led to Dre having less time for the Wreckin’ Cru, and the eventual formation of N.W.A.

Rivers Cuomo – Avant Garde

While living in Connecticut, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo was in a progressive metal band called Avant Garde (they would go on to later be called Zoom!). The group formed around 1985 with Cuomo and friend Justin Fisher wanting to write heavier songs in the style of Metallica. A year later, the group added lead singer Kevin Ridel, who would go on to say that the band sucked and focused too much on technical prowess and not enough on songwriting craft.

Daft Punk/Phoenix – Darlin’

Darlin’ was formed in 1992 and consisted of Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, along with Phoenix’s Laurent Brancowitz, and was named after the Beach Boys song. Their songs were included on two compilations, and British music magazine Melody Maker described their sound as “a daft punky thrash.” The following year, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo went on to form Daft Punk, while Brancowitz joined his brother to form Phoenix. In the end, things worked out for all these guys.