Rock musicians with musical education.

If Schubert don't like it, it's garbage, end of story. Better start throwing out my music collection.... 

A great many musicians and bands among all the various subgenres of prog (avant-prog, Zeuhl, prog-metal, etc) have conservatory musical training.

Rick Wakeman of YES was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, but left to go into rock.

Christian Vander, leader and drummer extraordinaire of French band, Magma, was a classically trained percussionist.

Jazz-fusion violinist, Jean Luc Ponty was classically trained. As is Herbie Hancock.

The original members of Dream Theater all met while students at Berklee School of Music.

Many Italian prog bands are loaded with classically trained musicians. The Nocenzi brothers on keys, from the band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, violinist from band PFM, violinist with band Deus Machina, leader and keyboardist from Il Balletto di Bronzo, Giani Leoni, just to name a very few.

I could go on. But out of all genres that loosely fall within rock, the avant-prog subgenre easily has the most classically trained musicians. The music in this subgenre tends to be so complex, that it really needs some extremely high level of musicianship in order to play.

The Belgian avant-prog band, Aranis, has 7 members, at least 5 of which are grads from top classical conservatories.

Same with the US band, Thinking Plague, Belgian band, Univers Zero, French band, Art Zoyd, Italian band, Yugen. All have several members with music training and degrees.

   Billy Joel was not one of my favorites back in the day, but then a friend of mine played a CD of piano music that BJ wrote. More impressed with that than anything that I ever heard him play before. I guess it would be in the classical genre. what a difference from what I heard on the radio.

@edesilva: It was actually Garth Hudson---The Band's organist---who was allowed by his parents to join under the cover story that he was providing the other members with musical education for $10/wk each. Garth was playing Classical music in a relative's funeral parlor (! ;-) while the other members were already playing in bars.

Band bassist Rick Danko said when Garth joined The Band he asked Rick if he knew his scales (he didn't). Rick says learning them was the best advice he was ever given. Garth was not a Rock 'n' Roller, but a listener and lover of Jazz and R & B, pianist Bill Evans and Ray Charles particular favorites. To call a superior Rock 'n' Roll band like The Band makers of "garbage" music is not only a display of extreme ignorance, but also of smug superiority, a constant with the utterer of that statement.  

simonmoon, thank you for your mention of “Aranis”. Excellent band new to me. Great musicianship in this very interesting brand of chamber/prog with nods to Piazzola and Glass and some humor for good measure. For anyone interested:

https://youtu.be/NSIFpi4fBQc

https://youtu.be/mJzrFbdthyg