Worst failed solo careers?

Mick Jones from Foreigner...one forgettable solo album that hit the cutout bins pretty much on its release!

 

It started off as a huge success - back to back No,. 1 songs and a No. 4 hit. I thought it would be a big blow to Chicago but they remained a strong concert draw in the 30 or so years post Cetera

 

wow-I saved this as a draft-had not decided to post...LOL. Yes..I thought of that too...

 

Has anyone mentioned David Lee Roth?

 

Stick with your original accessment. Schizophonic never actually cleared Gold in the states. Capitol dumped 500,00 in the stores during Geri's launch hype but it immediately sank like a rock - lasting only 7 weeks on the chart. It took 8 years to clear 181,000 copies according to Soundscan. My store sold two copies out a case of thirty. It would be splitting hairs to call Geri's American solo career a success.

 

I was in Toronto in summer of 2000 and went into "The World's Largest Bookstore", which was part of the Chapters chain. On the 2nd or 3rd floor they had a clearence area that had a small CD and cass. section. The section is dominated bt a table that is 20' by 6' or so, 3' high. Stacked in front of and on this table are "Schizophonic", the Chris Gaines Cd, George Michael "Songs From The Last Century", Luther Vandross "I Know" and Melanie C "Northern Star", multiple facings, stacked on the floor in front of and on either side of the table. As I walked around the back of this display, to see what kind of table this was, I saw there was no table! Just a huge 20' by 6' by 3' stack of abject failure. And at 2.99 CDN each.

 

A #4 and a #6 album in the US, a #3, #6, #12 and #16 single on the pop charts there as well. Bigger than some fairly well-known acts entire chart careers.

 

Yes, although wrongly-
2 multi- Platinum albums
a Platinum EP
and a Gold album
If Jason Becker hadn't developed ALS, it might've been even better.

 

One of rocks great tragedies imo. That and Kevin Gilbert offing himself before Tony Smith could get in touch with him.

 

Gene Simmons.

 

Solo "career" or Vanity project?

 

Was going to say Bill Wyman then I saw the Kelly Grocutt post

 

If not mentioned yet, I'd say Johnny Marr has been a significant let down as a solo artist. Great material when in a good band but otherwise I thought he would have done more.

 

I'd heard the Kevin Gilbert's end was an "unintended autoerotic asphyxia", which is still a horrible event.

 

He's hardly been unsuccessful as a solo act. He's had a total of 16 solo albums (i.e. records with only his name on them. He's also had 19 singles that have charted extremely well in the worldwide. His name absolutely does not belong in this thread.

Ed

 

Two Top 10 albums ain't too shabby so he doesn't qualify for this thread.

Ed

 

Hahaha. Too true.

 

It was more of a joke and wasn't meant to be posted, but somehow did. Be careful what you type...

 

Depends on how you view Mike & The Mechanics, but there's no denying about Gabriel and Collins.
Hackett and Phillips did really well in prog-circles.

 

That all lasted for about half a year, right before the Spice Girls hype died a cruel death and ended up in bargain bins all over the world. I think of those Sporty Spice sold the most. Anyway, it all goes to show that you can't survive on marketing alone.

 

Maybe you should take 10 minutes do a little research before posting......

 

I meant, the solo careers phase.
Okay, maybe a year, give or take, but it seemed a lot shorter.

 

Spice Girls didn't succeed based on "marketing" - they succeeded because they had pop songs a lot of people liked.

The fact their 2007-08 reunion tour was a massive success and the fact they still inspire fondness among many fans shows they weren't just some "marketing" product.

And Spice Girls were big in the US for about 2 years before the essentially imploded. They took too long between 2nd and 3rd albums - 3 years was an eternity in the pop realm back then - and then delivered an album that didn't suit their strengths at all. They turned into just another bland R&B--oriented vocal group on the "Forever" album - existing fans didn't like it, and the album attracted no new fans.

If they'd put out a better album circa 1998 or 1999, would they have maintained success? Maybe, maybe not, but the layoff between albums and the mediocre quality of "Forever" doomed them.

Though they were running on fumes by "Forever" anyway. It never felt like they had their hearts in that album. I think they were ready to move on - 3 of the 4 had already at least dabbled in solo work by "Forever" - and they just put out "Forever" to be done with the whole enterprise...

 

Geri Halliwell had no 1 singles in 1999/2000/2001 plus five more top 10 singles. She also had a top 5 album in 1999 and 2001.
I can think of many artists who would like a 'failed' solo career like Geri Halliwell's.

 

I don't think his Vanity project had anything to do with music, though.