Worst failed solo careers?

Yes...in my local shop. It was still sealed. I played it over in the Listening On Vinyl thread recently.

 

Mo Tucker
Rodger Ruskin Spear
Viv Stanshall ?

 

Another one is Darren Costin from Wang Chung. Wang Chung just had a huge hit with "Dance Hall Days" when he blew out of there to form another synth pop band called Heroes. And while the Heroes album is really pretty good, it went absolutely nowhere. I wonder if he kicked himself at all after that.

 

Wasn't one of Viv's solo albums made into a television movie.



You can't say that about any of Paul McCartney's albums

 

And then there is Bud Cockrell, the original bass player from Pablo Cruise. They just had some big hits with "A Place In The Sun" and "Whatcha Gonna Do" when he up and left to start a solo career with his wife. Well, that album went nowhere while Pablo Cruise went on to do some of their biggest songs with "Love Will Find A Way", etc.

 

Well given that she came from an unconventional, uncommercial band in the first place, her solo records weren't exactly going to set the world on fire in terms of sales, eh? In saying that, I love her solo albums.

 

Oops - you're right! I missed that when I looked at Geri's discography!

 

That belongs in one of the "worst album cover" threads - gah, what an awful cover!

 

Pete Best and Jimmy Nicole.

 

he counts

 

I was going to mention Julian Casablancas, Evan Dando and Flavor Flav. I was surprised to find that all three enjoyed a little sales success, which is a lot more than I expected.

Dee Dee King is all-time the champ here. Hard to surpass the sheer WTF factor there, along with the well-deserved total lack of commercial success.

 

Clarence had a top 20 hit with "You're a Friend of Mine", and I think the "Hero" album sold respectable numbers.

That was at the peak of "Brucemania" - Clarence could've released 45 minutes of farts and it would've gone gold!

 

Ann Wilson of Heart?

 

How could anyone say David Knopfler? What dis you expect. He still occasionally appears at a club here locally. After over 35 years since leaving Dire Straits, and by his reasonable standard, that's an overwhelming success!

 

Somebody may have picked up on this later in the thread, but Ray's first two solo studio albums are wonderful, and the latest one is good. He did a wonderful "Storytellers" tour in 1990's, which I believe provided the template for the later "Storytellers' series, and toured fairly regularly until recently. I saw him about 10 years ago in a sold out 1000 seat club, and it was a fabulous show.

 

ironically, Sammy Hagar is now far wealthier than Eddie Van Halen, Alex, and David Lee Roth combined!

 

I view her the same as I classified Ray Davies earlier: "solo career that started too late to expect sales". Ann's first solo album didn't come out until 2007, a point at which there was a 0.01 chance she'd sell decent numbers.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it's fair to call solo careers "failed" when they happen so long after the artist in question has left behind real chart relevance...

 

Andy Shernoff, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Scott Kempner, Ross The Boss and Thunderbolt Patterson

 

I find it a little strange that the forum dismisses current charts, but delights in pointing out past failures to top the charts.

Surely artistic success is more relevant than commercial?

 

I don't know if the OP intended this thread to be about the David Knopflers of the world. I get the impression the thread is about artists who flopped though they were expected to sell solo.

I can't believe anyone ever thought David Knopfler would become a solo superstar.

This thread is for the Halls of the world, not the Oateses!

 

I remember Frehley's Comet also being pretty popular when it came out.

 

Robin Zander going country

Maureen McCormick going country

 

Oates

 

You are correct, of course, but I don't want to be fair. I hate Mike Love and take irrational delight in his failings.

Yes, I'm a jerk, but what else can I do?