Don't know why, but I started thinking about how frighteningly often bands split up to pursue "solo careers," and I wondered, how often do solo careers actually improve on the original band (artistically - obviously they do all the time in terms of popularity). Here's what I got:
Joan Jett
Justin Timberlake
Paul Simon
Michael Jackson
Van Morrison
And that's all I could come up with. I'm sure you can come up with others (feel free to comment) - but think about it: I could list hundreds of solo artists but only 5 or so that are actually better than their band. Sad.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hmmm, even of those 5 I'm iffy on a couple. I think maybe if Simon and Garfunkel had continued as a band they wouldn't be as good as Paul Simon solo became (so, correct decision to leave). But nothing - not even Simon solo - beats "The Boxer" when I am sad/angry at the world or "Cecilia" when I want to happily sing along.
ReplyDeleteElliott Smith?
ReplyDeletePeter Gabriel, perhaps. Arguable, but certainly worth debate. Tina Turner, maybe. Charlie Parker, sort of. Beyonce. Talib Kweli and Mos Def. Dr. Dre and maybe Ice Cube. With a little research, I might be able to name a couple more.
ReplyDelete