solo careers - search and destroy

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OK, in honour of the fact that I've just booked my first solo show ever (Ignore that comment if you hate me)...

Generally I think of solo careers as unrelenting duds, last gasps of fading musicians, vanity projects, navel-gazing fit only for obsessive fans.

So please find me some cases of careers and visions that skyrocketed after the artist in question left their band and went solo.

Case in point example: Bjork.

Find me some more... (Or point out the most heinous examples of baaaaad solo careers that should never have happened.)

― kate, Sunday, 5 January 2003 19:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

SEARCH: Robyn Hitchcock (Soft Boys), Julian Cope (Teardrop Explodes), Andy Prieboy (Wall of Voodoo), Stan Ridgway (Wall of Voodoo)

DESTROY: Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Paul Westerberg (Replacement), Ian McCulloch (Bunnymen), Hugh Cornwell (Stranglers), Ian Brown (Stone Roses), Mick Jagger (Stones), Erik Sanko (Skeleton Key), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 January 2003 19:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

DESTROY: Miles Hunt (Wonder Stuff)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: Lou Reed (a lot of people are down on his solo albums, but I find a good majority to be fabulous), Paul Westerburg (his latest 2 rocked my world)

Destroy: Sting

― David Allen, Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

SEARCH: Curtis Mayfield (the Impressions); Busta Rhymes (Leaders of the New School)
DESTROY: Iggy Pop (post-'77); Eric Clapton

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

S: Wilson Pickett (Falcons), Sam Cooke (Soul Stirrers).
D: Diana Ross (Supremes), except the stuff with Chic.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

SEARCH: ALL solo Westerberg material (effin' haters!)

― paul cox (paul cox), Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

D: Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Mcartney, John Lennon, Phil Collins, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Stephen Malkmus, Ian Gillan, Adrian Smith, Dave Grohl (the first foo album was all him)...

S: Mike Patton (his post FVM bamds sorta count as solo), Bob Marley (does he count as post Wailers in some way?), Jim Martin, Ian Gillan, Jarboe, Mary Timony, Frank Zappa (okay, it was him all along)...

― mei (mei), Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ironically, Bruce Dickinsons solo material was a hell of a lot better than the Maiden stuff with Blaze.

― Siegbran (eofor), Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: Robert Wyatt (post-Soft Machine), Chris Watson (post-Cabaret Voltaire), Jenny Toomey... note that I am only looking at my T-Z shelf right now.

In general, I tend to like collaborative pop music better than leader-and-backup.

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

Tatooed Millionaire was arguably betetr than Fear of the Dark too.

― mei (mei), Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: David Sylvian (Japan), John Cale (Velvet Underground)

― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

is Joan Jeanrenaud's post-Kronos Quartet solo venture still too brief to cast a vote?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search (commercially): Ryan Adams.
Destroy (artistically): Ryan Adams.

― dwh (dwh), Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

OK, in an ideal thread, you would provide examples of *why* they were better, free-er, more realised, more creative, more accessible/popular, more bizarre, or whatever ... what exactly it is that makes you think the solo work better than group efforts...

I'm trying to think of an example I can expand on, but the only one I can think of is Spiritualized being more sucessful than Spacemen 3, but I don't necessarily like Spz better.

― kate, Sunday, 5 January 2003 22:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nate, as a gentleman I must hereby challenge you to a DUEL whereby we may settle the question of your Iggy post-'77 haytin'. Both Party and Zombie Birdhouse are excellent albums. Why? In the case of Party, you hear Iggy nailing the pop-new-wave thing squarely, doing a kind of once-off single-focus thing that most band dynamics don't allow. In the case of Zombie Birdhouse, well, it's got "Run Like a Villain," which is much more fun than anything the Stooges could ever have done.

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Just for that, I'm not going to buy your album. (j/k)

Come to think of it the Iggy thing was a bit shortsighted since he also did "Repo Man", which is like the punk rock answer to "Theme From Shaft" or something. He also did a great cover of "We Have All the Time in the World", too. D'oh.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

If I win the duel will you buy multiple copies of the album though? Bcuz I have developed quite a drinking habit and supplies are runnin way low

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search:
Nick Cave; not really better than the Birthday Party, but certainly more diverse and intelligent (though I'm sure it's been argued that the Birthday Party were doing what they did [hellacious noise] as an intellectual pursuit, but I'm more apt to label it post-pubescent tantrum throwing)
Neil Young; amazingly good all around. Again, not that Buffalo Springfield were bad, but Neil Young solo is way better. Also, I've never really been a CSNY fan.
Matt Brinkman; the stuff he's done under the Mr. Brinkman and Mystery Brinkman names is much more enjoyable than most of the Forcefield stuff I've heard; the forthcoming FF LP on Bulb is supposed to be different/better, though.

Destroy:
Grant Hart; his solo album on SST is absolutely terrible. Trite, generic pop songs. None of the energy that Husker Du had. (Haven't heard Nova Mob.)
Greg Ginn; unbearably unlistenable.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

I like Ryan Adams and Steve Malkmus' solo stuff, to be honest. Destroy Richard Ashcroft and Bernard Butler, though.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Malkmus solo, on the basis of the debut album, is considerably better than Pavement I think

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Sunday, 5 January 2003 23:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pavement = lots of good melodies. not much else.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 6 January 2003 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: Jonathan Richman
Destroy: John Squire (Seahorses)

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 6 January 2003 00:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Destroy: John Fogerty,Sting, and Alan Wilder as Recoil even though it's more of a collaboration with various artists I 'll include this in the list because he's mainly responsible for the songwriting.

Search: Barry Adamson

― Micheline Gros-Jean (Micheline), Monday, 6 January 2003 00:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

S: Ron (not Ronnie) Hawkins, Tina Turner (at least in terms of physical well-being), Ron Wood, Marcellus Hall
D: Clarence Clemons, Destiny's Childseses, Bryan Adams

― Horace Mann, Monday, 6 January 2003 00:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: El-P

Destroy: Richard Ashcroft

― Mil, Monday, 6 January 2003 01:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Bryan Adams?

I'm wondering about people like Morissey where it's more like a slow denouement than an abrupt departure.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 6 January 2003 01:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

MoRrissey I mean...

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 6 January 2003 01:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

S: Ed Kuepper (Saints), Gene Clark, Gram Parsons (Byrds), Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny (Fairport)

― Jeff Wright, Monday, 6 January 2003 04:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I'm wondering about people like Morissey where it's more like a slow denouement than an abrupt departure."

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 6 January 2003 04:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

morrissey's solo career is that biggest argument i've heard yet to stay with my band...

― kate, Monday, 6 January 2003 04:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

S: Shannon Wright (Crowsdell)
D: Liz Fraser (as much as I love her...)

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 6 January 2003 07:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

D: neil halstead

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 6 January 2003 10:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

All solo careers are rubbish unless it's the drummer.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 6 January 2003 10:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: Scott Walker

― Robin Goad (rgoad), Monday, 6 January 2003 12:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search - Mark Hollis
Destroy - Ian Brown

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 6 January 2003 12:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

All solo careers are rubbish unless it's the drummer.

Ahem - Phil Collins?

― mei (mei), Monday, 6 January 2003 12:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

"All solo careers are rubbish unless it's the drummer."

Ah yes....witness those stellar, unforgettable albums by.....Pete Criss? Tommy Lee? Don Henley? Phil Collins? Roger Taylor?

Hmmmm....as somewhat dubious diagnosis, Doctor.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 6 January 2003 14:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: Brian Eno. The first 2 Roxy albums are great but surely he's a good example of someone whose career could never be contained in a band format.

― James Ball (James Ball), Monday, 6 January 2003 15:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Alex in NYC: I agree with all of what you say on this thread except DESTROY: Ian McCullough solo. I love both singles from Candleland "Proud to Fall" and "Faith and Healing".

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 11:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nobody's mentioned Nick Lowe? Or does everyone think Brinsley Schwarz was better?

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Fair enough, Mark H. CANDLELAND was indeed great (if understated), but the one after that (featuring the Cohen cover, "Lover Lover Lover") was pretty dire, no?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Avoiding commercial success as a benchmark, there were good solo outings by (in no particular order)... John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Marc Almond, either of the Finn brothers (ex-Crowded House), Phil Collins (before he went all mumsy), Diana Ross (esp. the Nile Rogers stuff), Frida, Eddi Reader, Alison Moyet, Beth Gibbons, Michael McDonald, Michael Jackson. As brilliant as she was with Blondie, I can't add Debbie/Deborah Harry to the list because none of her albums lives up to what ever good single came off it... Oh, and somebody mentioned Don Henly - he had a few good tunes too (never actually bought an album though).

― Tony (TK-Irl), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

"either of the Finn brothers (ex-Crowded House)"

Wha? No Split Enz mention then?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 13:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

Robbie Robertson (The Band)
Jeff Beck (Yardbirds)
Aimee Mann (?) (Til Tuesday)
David Sylvian (?) (Japan)

Wes Montgomery (The Montgomery Brothers)
Louis Armstrong (King Oliver)
---Actually, the Jazz artists one could list are endless.

― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 14:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

fifteen years pass...

Songs to loathe..

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 June 2018 03:00 (five years ago) link

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