Mostly abysmal solo careers that get a pass based almost entirely on past successes with respective bands and / or good will

ilxors otm, fucking Lou embodies this thread. You couldn't make a worse string of records on a dare.

Henry Rollins

Yeah, Cale was a bad example because it's not like his fans give him a pass because of VU, they just have shitty taste in music.

Rod Stewart and John Lennon are wrong answers

Lou Reed

Robert Fripp

Really? I found the first few solo Fripps (Exposure, Under Heavy Manners, League of Gentlemen) to be outstanding. Far more interesting to me than the Crims' pre-Larks' Tongue lps.

Also Rollins' stand-up routine has merit.

The Fripp/Eno projects were obviously great too.

Lou Reed did not get a "pass" in this poll fwiw

Don't know if he truly gets a pass, but Frank Black.

John Cale solo >>>> Lou Reed solo

john cale solo >>> lou reed solo, the velvet underground

Paul Westerberg

There. I said it.

David Lee Roth

I love some Paul solo stuff, but yeah.

Roger Daltrey

I do too, but mostly abysmal.

I dunno, dude wasn't exactly a solo hit machine (or critical darling).

xp

As much as I love Lou Reed I guess he's a good answer, depending on your definition of "mostly." Out of everything he's recorded post-VU, maybe 20% of it is classic and I guess it's surprising that his career continued so consistently for so many decades even after seemingly doing everything he could to fuck it up.

otoh LULU

I'd argue that Morrissey, Fripp and, err, David Lee Roth are the opposite of this - to me, their solo work is at least as good as that of their previous bands.

Westerberg otm, unfortunately

Mike Watt (including fIREHOSE)

steve shasta

i haven't listened to enough of his solo stuff to make an informed slam here, but whatever:

bryan ferry

Yeah solo westerberg sucks. I don't even like late Replacements if I'm honest.

In the realm of unpopular opinions: Bob Mould (including Sugar)

otm. I love Husker Du, but actively dislike all Mould solo/Sugar I've heard.

John Cale solo >>>> Lou Reed solo

john cale solo >>> lou reed solo, the velvet underground

― iatee, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:34 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

Does Bob Mould get a pass?

xp I guess not (but I do like Sugar)

In the realm of unpopular opinions: Bob Mould (including Sugar)

― EZ Snappin, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:52 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. I love Husker Du, but actively dislike all Mould solo/Sugar I've heard.

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:53 PM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

+1

Tarfumes, you're now my pal. I get the dirtiest looks when I say Sugar is Mould watered down into pap. Heck, I think it's Bob's favorite stuff.

Jon, we're already bronies.

I liked some solo Bob, but it's got that same super dull three-note quality of his late Du songs and Black Sheets of rain is so depressing that it's kind of funny (although I like a couple of songs on it, even still)

Sugar is fine, but not thrilling. At least not to me.

Westerberg really gets the stink eye for just giving people way too much of what he thought they wanted -- clever wordplay in particular.

in the UK I have the impression that Sugar were popular in a way that functioned at least somewhat independently of Husker Du. these days w/ Mould it's a different story, sure

Oh and if anyone says Grant Hart, instant stink eye.

Suicaine Gratifaction indeed.

xpost

that!! ^^^ that's what i'm talking about
that's fucking AWFUL

Iggy's great up through Party imo though Soldier is horrible

I played the Copper Blue reissue twice yesterday, it's great, you guys are nuts

in the UK I have the impression that Sugar were popular in a way that functioned at least somewhat independently of Husker Du. these days w/ Mould it's a different story, sure

― ima go (DJ Mencap), Monday, February 4, 2013 1:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think they were in the US too. I once played Zen Arcade for coworkers who were huge Sugar fans (this was 1993-94). They hadn't heard of Husker Du, and had to be convinced that it was in fact Mould singing. They also hated it.

Oh and if anyone says Grant Hart, instant stink eye.

― this customer is a jerk (La Lechera), Monday, February 4, 2013 1:59 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

On a similar note, I have my trigger finger over the FP button for the first savage who says Tom Verlaine

Copper Blew, now and then.

God, the post-Britpop landscape is littered with twats like this. Ian Brown, Richard Ashcroft, Noel Gallagher, Tim Burgess, endless Damon Albarn side-projects. Even when they're really bad they seldom get slated and get more attention that however many hundreds of more deserving acts.

I dunno, Copper Blue is kinda frozen in time for me. I like it, I guess. I challenge anyone to listen to Black Sheets of Rain twice in the same day.

ha. his voice on something like 'Never Talking To You Again' and x Sugar song from 8-10 years later doesn't seem *that* different to me xp to Tarfumes

God, the post-Britpop landscape is littered with twats like this. Ian Brown, Richard Ashcroft, Noel Gallagher, Tim Burgess, endless Damon Albarn side-projects.

in fairness, none of these dudes' main bands were any good either

xp Yeah, it wasn't until a few songs in that they realized it *could* be Mould. But "Something I Learned Today" and "Broken Home, Broken Heart," forget it.

With a couple exceptions (i.e. the Eno collabs), David Byrne.

Robert Plant

Steve Malkmus was the first name I thought off actually, I mean I don't think he's 'abysmal' fwiw but I can't think of a single person I know who actively reps for any of his solo music

Phil Collins

Ringo

Jarvis

xp Yeah, it wasn't until a few songs in that they realized it *could* be Mould. But "Something I Learned Today" and "Broken Home, Broken Heart," forget it.

that's sad.

I'll rep for Plant. His solo career has a surprisingly high ratio of hits to misses. But the covers of the albums? Exact opposite ratio.

maybe worth mentioning that I could not really tell Phil's Genesis hits apart from his solo ones, while the Police/Sting were totally different entities

as I said upthread, Collins may be one of the few artists whose solo career changed the band's sound.

^great thread idea

surely anagram, you'd mention Pete Hammill there?

nick cave is a goofy answer, sorry scott, unless this thread is "artists whose solo work isnt as good as their work in bands." he was a critical phenom, not just a dude who got a pass because of the birthday party.

Same with Clapton to a lesser degree, I think.

This is what I was getting at: I doubt the people who made "Tears in Heaven" #1 on the AC charts were all Yardbirds or Cream fans or even aware of early Yardbirds. Did the Yardbirds even score any big hits before Beck replaced Clapton?

Unless "get a pass" refers to critical acclaim, not to popular appeal.

for your love was a big hit!

I kind of agree on Nick Cave, tho, not so much as "he gets a free pass" as his badass history let him get away with a lot of balladeering

it was their biggest u.s. hit by far. and its kinda why clapton left the group. he didn't want to be a "pop" star.

I love the idea that Nick Cave is just "former Birthday Party frontman Nick Cave". That's like saying Neil Young is best known as an ex-member of Buffalo Springfield.

surely anagram, you'd mention Pete Hammill there?

mos def. the three post-reunion albums all sound like PH-plus-organ to me (or PH-plus-organ-and-sax in the case of Present) in a way that the 70s albums certainly don't.

I thought Jeff Beck played on "For Your Love", probably because it sounds more pop and less blues than most Clapton-era Yardbirds. My mistake, sorry.

also I'd say the 3 Hammill albums after Pawn Hearts seemed to hint at what was to come with Godbluff

I know he has his fans, but ... Bob Mould.

we've already been down the mould route up top.