Oct 022009
All four Beatles had hit singles as solo artists, more than one, in fact. Even Ringo. I don’t know that any band, even a band as compact as a trio, has ever spawned four successful solo artists. But I could be wrong. Regardless, what band might rival The Beatles or at least claim second place for having spawned the greatest number of successful solo artists? And please, wiseguys, refrain from suggesting Traveling Wilburys!
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds were the first bands that I could think of, those bands mostly spawned new bands and duos. Was anyone a solo success of any degree beside Neil Young and Graham Parsons? I know “Love the One You’re With” is technically a Stills solo song. Nevertheless, good start, cdm.
The Who spawned solo hits from Daltrey and Townshend. Entwistle made some decent solo records, but I can’t say that any of them were “hits.” I have yet to hear the Keith Moon solo record, but I understand that it is a turd of the highest order.
Most of the Beach Boys launched solo lives, too. I don’t know if any were/are hits. I have sealed copy of Looking Back With Love, but I can’t bring myself to actually listen. I like the Brian Wilson stuff. Ditto for Dennis. Carl’s stuff has some moments. Bruce Johnston did “write the songs.” I haven’t heard his record either.
The key, I suppose is “hits.” I think The Beatles have it.
TB
Fleetwood Mac
the Wailers
the Rising Sons
If we’re sticking within the confines of rock, Fleetwood Mac seems like a tough runner-up to beat.
If we can extend musical genres a bit, New Edition would surely be the gold standard.
Asia!
Damn Yankees!
I don’t have hard numbers, but I suspect one of these outfits:
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Prince and the Revolution
Public Enemy
Wu Tang Clan
yeah WU TANG
ya got:
Method Man
RZA
GZA
ODB
Ghostface &
Raekwon
All of these guys have been enormously successful on their own.
Genesis
Roxy Music
The Specials
Japan
Bauhaus
all had multiple successful acts come out of them, but none as successfull as the Beatles.
Wu Tang Clan probably beats The Beatles! The collective wisdom of The Orockle continues to astound me.
It pains me to say it, but the Eagles, especially if you count Joe Walsh. And of course there’s the Mickey Mouse Club.
this is a hard category.
to throw my hat into the ring of small-change hit artists..
how about the Runaways? Lita Ford, Joan Jett, Michael Steele…
and.. that Keith Moon LP is a huge turd.. in so much that the back cover has his bare arse sticking out of the window of a Rolls…
RE the Byrds. I don’t think that Gram Parsons solo career was all that successful to be honest. Artistically successful maybe (but no more than Gene Clark’s career imo.)
Michael Clarke excepted, all the original band members had major-label careers subsequent to the band either solo (Gene Clark, McGuinn, Crosby, Hillman) or as members of another group (CSNY, Flying Burrito Bros, Manassas, Desert Rose Band). Crosby and Hillman are much better known as members of bands obviously.
Talking Heads. Byrne, Tom Tom Club (Frantz & Weymouth), Harrison.
Again, not really commercial success. Tom Tom Club producing the only hit.
Not a big fan of his solo albums, but Harrison has always seemed a bit under-appreciated– I really like what he brought to the Heads and Modern Lovers.
Good points, butcher pete. The “success” of Gram Parsons that I referred to was strictly critical. For Talking Heads, although I don’t like the bands he’s produced, don’t forget the production work of Jerry Harrison.
Has anyone ever interviewed Harrison on his contributions to Talking Heads and his feelings on how things turned out? I’ve watched both Stop Making Sense and an excellent Italian tv concert from 1980 or so recently, and in both cases, as the auxilliary Heads moved Harrison further back, I wondered what was going on in his head.
after further thinking on the matter, I’ll bet Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Mike and the Mechanics moved more units than the combined solo works of the Beatles.
using the $$$ standard, Wu-Tang move pretty far down this particular ladder.
Because while having more members go off and have successful careers, there’s NO WAY we’re talking about the kind of mass appeal garnered by the likes of Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, etc.
These members of the Wu are cult figures at best, even within Hip Hop.
This is a tough one
The Jeff Beck Group comes to mind (Jeff, Rod and Ronnie)
And strangely Van Halen (Eddie on Beat It, Sammy and Mike in Chickenfoot, Dave’s Eat em and Smile / Skyscraper…oh yeah, Alex…has he EVER played on a record not by VH?
I think that record companies are not keen on multiple personalities within the same band, so that they would rather focus on a single singer/writer and a single solo artist to emerge.
Did the “solo” Kiss records sell enough to be considered “hits”??? If so then they may have won this
One More…
New Edition
Johnny Gil
Bell Bive Devoe
Bobby Brown
They all kept the level of the original band or exceeded it as solo artists.
Genesis may take the lead here, at least in terms of units moved. Good call, kilroy!
The New Edition cats, while not rock, surely merit consideration. Well played!
The Yardbirds
The Mugwumps.
Velvet Underground