Top 10 artists who should have not gone solo

So one night, I was parked on my couch watching the greatest music channel out there, The Fuse. They have a new show called The Fuse 20, hosted by Danielle Fishel, otherwise known as Topanga from Boy Meets World. It basically just counts down crazy music topics, like top 20 artists with Lil, Big, Old or Yung in their names. One of the countdowns was "Top 20 artists who went solo" and it was pretty good. After one of the commercial breaks, however, they just threw out some artists who should have NOT gone solo. One of them was Rob Thomas. I almost choked on my generic grape soda. How can anyone think that Rob Thomas has had an unsuccessful career away from Matchbox 20? Which got me thinking: who would I put on my list? Well here it is! Feel free to challenge any of these :)



10. Annie Lennox
Sure Ms. Lennox did fairly well with hits like "Walking On Broken Glass" and "No More I love You's" but nothing can compare to the success she had with the Eurythmics. After topping the charts with the Eurythmics with catchy songs like "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" and "Here Comes the Rain Again" she split from her long time lover Dave Stewart and decided to try her hand at a solo career. While she did manage to stay in the mainstream ("Walking on Broken Glass" debuted at 14 on the U.K. Billboard charts) she never quite managed to reach the same success she had with the Eurythmics on her own.

9. Nick Lachey
Now, I love me some boy band music, but on the boy band scale of popularity, 98 Degrees was 3 out of 4 (beating out that one band that no one can remember a single song from, LFO). Still, 98 Degrees took advantage of the musical climate at the time and churned out chart toppers such as "The Hardest Thing" and "Because of You". They had their run and secured their place in the ever dark musical landscape that was the late 90s. Like most boy banders, Nick was discontent letting the spotlight die and tried his hand at a solo career. His two singles "This I Swear" (made popular by the vomit inducing, waste-of-tv-airtime "Newlyweds" show he did with his then wife Jessica Simpson) and "Shut Up" underperformed. Since then he has relased one other album, but neither lived up to the success he had with 98 Degrees. Now he is just that guy that used to be married to jessica Simpson and used to date that sorta-hot MTV veejay. I would rather be a former boy-bander myself.



8. Sisqo
This former Dru Hill member certainly had a hit solo- just the one though. Coming off his debut solo album
"Unleash the Dragon" everyone and their auntie remembers "The Thong Song", a song that spoke the hearts of ass men everywhere. It definitely did a lot to that particular style of panty. I remember all of a sudden every store had tons of thongs with different prints and designs. Even Kmart started to stock up on them. But, the times have changed, and much like how the boy cut panties have replaced the thong, many other more talented artists have seem to outshine Mr. Sisqo. Even an attempt to reinvent himself in 2001 with his second solo album "Return of the Dragon" (very creative Mr. Sisqo!) failed to generate any real success. Maybe a Dru Hill reunion is needed?

7. Scott Weiland
For this particular choice, it was hard to tell at first if he is actually bad solo or if the drugs messed him up. Looking back at his career, he enjoyed emmense success with Stone Temple Pilots. After 3 successful albums with STP, Scott entered rehab for a cocaine addiction, at which time he recorded his first shakey solo record. After rehab, he recorded a fourth album with STP. But due to conflicts with band members, he mismantled STP and went into rehab again, this time joining former Guns and Roses members and renaming themselves Velvet Revolver. They were so successful they won a Grammy for the single "Slither". Once again, however, Scott went into rehab a few more times and had to cancel some tours, which led to the eventual demise of the band. He is currently working on a solo album; so maybe since he is drug, free this could be the star alignment Scott needs? Let's hope.

6. Scott Stapp
Scott Stapp was the soulful voice behind the rock band Creed. Towards the end of their career, Creed was blasted and parodied with songs like "Higher" (waaaay too easy to make fun of) and "With Arms Wide Open". Their first album, "My Own Prison" was loaded with a heavy rocking Seattle based sound. Hits like "One" and "Torn" cemented their place in late 90s alternative rock. However, Scott's personal life got in the way with the band. He shaved his trademark locks and parted ways with Creed. After overcoming an addiction to throat steroids and Percocet (hello drugs and the demise of a career), he recorded his first solo album "The Great Divide". It went gold after two years of being released. But that is chump change compared to the 30 million albums sold worldwide Creed.


5. Don Henley
Really, Don Henley had a pretty decent career after the Eagles broke up in 1982. Probably the most successful solo venture out of all of his former band mates. "All She Wants to do Is Dance" is catchy as all hell, and I would not be caught dead listening to an Eagles album. "The Boys of Summer" was even redone by The Ataris in 2003. But alas, Mr. Hanley is just another example of an artist unable to set outside his bands big shadow. The Eagles had 6 #1 albums and 5 #1 singles, and was voted by Rolling Stone Magazine as #75 on their list of 100 greatest artists of all time. It's like he is the little brother who can never outshine his much cooler older brother, no matter what he does!


4. Chris Cornell
This choice pains me to add on this list. I adore Chris Cornell's music. I have his first solo album, "Euphoria Morning", and even downloaded his single from Casino Royale. however, his solo success is missing something: Chris may have a soulful voice equivalent to Issac Hayes on the sexy factor, but that voice does not stand alone. He needs the razor sharp electric sounds of Soundgarden, or the smooth guitar riffs of Audioslave. Partnering with Timbaland and releasing a third unsuccessful album, it seems as though Chris can't catch a break on his own. Chris. your voice can only carry you so far! Stop relying on synthesizers and crazy beats! Find a group you share a musical bond with and make some music!






3. Steve Perry
Journey's leading front man Steve Perry sings in the highest register possible for a male, and thats about the only interesting thing I could find about him apart from his time with Journey. After Journey's massive success with hits like "Faithfully" and "Open Arms", Steve tried his hand at a solo stint. Many critics panned it, saying it sounded nearly identical to Journey. He did have one hit, a single titled "Oh Sherrie" (think about it, you'll get the tune in your head). But it never even held a candle to the tenor laced lyrics he sung in Journey. And, more recently, The HBO hit show The Sopranos featured Journey's most popular tune "Don't Stop Believin'" in their finale. This introduced a whole new generation to Journey. And since Journey essentially kicked Steve out for not touring, he might want to ix-nay the solo gig and try finding another group to lend his unique vocals to.


2. Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger is an amazingly talented artist who seemed to work magic when he was with The Rolling Stones. I was surprised to hear that he ever ventured solo. But I guess everyone wants to see if they are able to make it on their own talent. Alas, Mick could not. Off his first album, only one single even scraped into the top 40. He went back to The Rolling Stones and produced 2 massively successful albums with them. It seems as though every time he tried something on his own and failed, he went back to the Rolling Stones and became the fire under their asses that led to their increasing success. Love you Mick, but your 3 bombed albums tell me you should stick to what made you a household name.



1. David Lee Roth
Everybody knows the solo failure that is David Lee Roth. I am not going into the David Lee Roth vs Sammy Hagar debate (another blog entirely) but I will say that David Lee Roth left the band with a great musical career ahead of him and learned that it wasn't always easy flying solo. He was the often flamboyant and just plain obnoxious brainchild behind the catchy lyrics and crazy videos for songs like "Hot For Teacher", "Jump" and "I Ain't Got Nobody" (You know you have sang it in the shower! Don't deny!). His never ending well of energy, both physically and creatively, looked like it would take the band far. But after some "irreconcilable differences" he split from the band. He many meager attempts at a solo career or with other bands just seemed to me to be a waste of such talent. Van Halen, however, persevered without him. He was replaced with Sammy Hagar in 1986, and the band kept producing hits like "I can't Drive 55" and "Right Now" without him. After making such a big deal that he could do it on his own, he fell flat on his face and couldn't even go crawling back to the band. Now that is the ultimate solo attempt gone wrong.


Stay tuned tomorrow, for my next blog: Top 10 artists who did better solo" :) peace out!


*all pictures courtesy of google images, most info from my head or mtv.com or wikipedia.com*