Worst failed solo careers?

Mentioned above four times previously.

Ed

 

To reiterate . . .

It's gotta be David Lee Roth.

 

Gilad Atzmon is the sax player. He's rather more restrained in the Blockheads than he is in his solo career!

 

Funny thing is as a huge ABBA fan, it wasn't until a few years later I even knew about those albums and only found out through a friend. I don't think the stores did much to promote them or I would have picked them up day one. Maybe that was the problem in the US as both debuts were very good records. By the way, they were just reissued on vinyl. Agnetha's sounds much better than the original, and Mike Chapman's awesome production really shines in comparison to the original.

 

To reiterate further, he's had hits so he doesn't count.

Ed

 

You're right, those big-selling albums and arena tours in the mid-late 80's were a sure sign of failure.

 

Hmm. His name keeps coming up but I had a record store then and in our area at least, he was selling.

 

I saw him at 3 shows in the UK (4, if you include the Monsters of Rock festival he played at, below KISS and Iron Maiden) and they were all sold out or close to selling out; one show in a theatre (Hammersmith Odeon, so one of the most iconic theatres in the world), two shows at Birmingham NEC (capacity c.15000), over a period of about 5 years.

If that's failing, I'll have some of that failure!

 

Boston - Barry Goudreau

 

Of course he was. He had three albums and an EP sell over 500,000 copies. Likely Hagar fanboys who wished DLR had failed when he absolutely didn't.

Ed

 

True, but he also wrote a lot on those multi platinum Van Halen albums, which is how he got the $ to start Cabo Wabo.

 

Wynne's solo career was a disaster. Oddly enough, his manager at the time was Alan Thicke and he told Wynne to leave the Spinners. Wynne's first solo album Starting All Over was pretty bad. He later signed to Sugar Hill Records, didn't really sell. As you mentioned Wynne had success w Funkadelic, especially "(Not Just) Knee Deep" but he needed the Spinners (and Thom Bell) more than he ever thought.

 

David Crosby and Graham Nash only have a single gold album each, but David really didn't venture out again solo until '89, which was way past his expiry date as a chart contender.

 

I'm not sure how hard he tried because he had loads of talent, but Steve Marriott never really made it as a solo artist.

 

Peter Noone didn't get beyond the lower echelon of the UK charts after leaving the Hermits. I do need to check out his cover of "Oh You Pretty Thing" though.

 

In Sammy's book he mentions he made way more money on business ventures like a sprinkler business with his brother in law and a mountain bike company, plus the tequila than he ever did in music.

 

Alan Thicke? Really?? I never knew that! I never knew Alan Thicke was a manager. After Wynne, my hope is he left that vocation behind. Wynne was a complete failure as a solo act.

Ed

 

I say this as a big Queen fan, but the solo works of the Queen members have to hold the statistical record for a negative correlation in quality compared to their work in Queen.

 

This is the guy I was going to mention.
Going from Uriah Heep to obscurity in short order.
Too bad..

 

(laughs) that album cover didn't help either!
I've never heard the album.

 

Star Fleet is kind of cool. "Bluesbreaker" ruins it almost entirely though.

 

Joe Perry of Aerosmith
Either with The Joe Perry Project or strictly solo, none of these 4 albums has done very well, considering Aerosmith is the most successful American band of all-time.

The first Joe Perry Project album sold about 250,000 copies, but only made it to #110, and I don't believe any of his albums have cracked The Billboard Top 100 Albums either...although, he may have shown up on a secondary list for Top Rock albums.

 

Yep! And I do think Alan left the managing business soon after. Wynne's solo career and that first album were catastrophes.


Here's a clip, this song was recorded in NY, with folks like Will Lee, Richard Tee, Steve Gadd--despite the names, total automatic pilot. And that production....

 

I'm not sure anyone has heard it except Mark Farner...the people on the record, and Mark Farner's parents.

He was obviously playing to the old Grand Funk fans on the cover, but that ship had already sailed.

 

Joey Molland left Badfinger and has released 4 albums I think, none of them close to being a chart success.