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!

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  25 Responses to “Second to The Beatles, What Band Spawned the Greatest Number of Successful Solo Careers?”

  1. Buffalo Springfield

  2. Mr. Moderator

    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.

  3. 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

  4. pudman13

    Fleetwood Mac

  5. the Wailers

  6. the Rising Sons

  7. alexmagic

    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.

  8. hrrundivbakshi

    Asia!

  9. hrrundivbakshi

    Damn Yankees!

  10. trolleyvox

    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

  11. 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.

  12. Mr. Moderator

    Wu Tang Clan probably beats The Beatles! The collective wisdom of The Orockle continues to astound me.

  13. It pains me to say it, but the Eagles, especially if you count Joe Walsh. And of course there’s the Mickey Mouse Club.

  14. 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…

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. Mr. Moderator

    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.

  18. 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.

  19. 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.

  20. Did the “solo” Kiss records sell enough to be considered “hits”??? If so then they may have won this

  21. 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.

  22. Mr. Moderator

    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!

  23. The Yardbirds

  24. dbuskirk

    The Mugwumps.

  25. Velvet Underground

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