Bands with reputations lessened by subsequent solo careers

[Auntie Beryl]

I'm fairly sure Eurythmics would be more highly thought of today had Annie Lennox not been, well... Annie Lennox. Their 1991 Greatest Hits spent ten weeks at number one in the album chart, with Lennox's first solo album coming out in 1992. (Not saying that didn't sell, but for a band that were that big, Eurythmics don't seem to get the same sort of love from 80s nostalgists as, say, Spandau Ballet.)

For me, at least, the very thought of OTF hero Sting makes me look less kindly upon the works of The Police. To be fair, that probably applies to Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland as well.

Any more?

[WOM]

Hmmm. Is that the case with Eurythmics? I'm not sure if their stock has moved up or down much at all. Neither has set the world on fire with their solo / subsequent efforts, although both seem to earn fair critical praise and (one assumes a loyal fan base, too).

The Police get a pass from me. Sting's not a racist or anything; just insufferable. Morrissey certainly tarnishes The Smith's image to a degree, but their music still holds up.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Neither has set the world on fire with their solo / subsequent efforts, although both seem to earn fair critical praise and (one assumes a loyal fan base, too).

Are you not forgetting Annie Lennox shifting shedloads of solo records? As for Dave Stewart, I'd agree, although he's kept himself busy.

[Jah Womble]

I'd have pitched Phil Collins, but Genesis had been diluted from the moment that Peter Gabriel departed anyway, so perhaps not them. (I was never much of a fan either way, tbh.)

[WOM]

Are you not forgetting Annie Lennox shifting shedloads of solo records?

Oh, for sure. She did quite well. But it wasn't like a huge 'gone solo' thing like George Michael, throwing off the shackles and blasting into the stratosphere. Like, I dunno, Beyonce or something. And then she just sort of stopped. Total of 4 original albums in nearly 30 years.

[elguapo4]

They weren't very big to start with but Preston's solo run on Big Brother didn't do himself or the Ordinary Boys much good.

[Jah Womble]

To be fair to them, they somehow scored four Top Ten hits on the back of that Celebrity Big Brother appearance.

[Greenlander]

Fucking hell, The Ordinary Boys. Saw them play a gig in a cafe in Bretonside bus station, which is about as salubrious as a venue in a bus station sounds. They'd pushed all the tables with fixed palstic seats to the side and it reeked of days old chip fat. Didn't have ringing in my ears the next morning but still smelt of frying. It became a decent hardcore punk venue later and got some decent extractor fans in.

On topic, Alison Moyet and Yazoo maybe? Which would be way unfair on Vince Clarke.

[Hot Pepsi]

A lot of people - well, I've met at least two - revere Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics are usually among the bands played and cited in various 80's nostalgia things. In the US, at least.

Like they were in the end-credits of an episode of Deutschland 83. They're definitely the kind of 80's band that people my age tend to remember fondly from the early 80s and golden age of MTV even though that kind of electronic/new-wave stuff was only a part of what was actually played on the radio and MTV in those days. Overall, we seem intent on remembering that time as much more dominated by non-American acts and newer acts, especially the electronic-oriented ones and/or the ones that were actually only popular on college radio. All the hair metal, Rod Stewart (he represented like a quarter of the videos MTV had when they started), pre-Mellencamp John Cougar and similar stuff, 70's-leftovers, not-very-funky dance stuff, and dull "urban contemporary" (a term for, as far as I can tell, kinda-shit R&B) that was actually prominent in those days never seems to make the end-credits of shows like that or get remembered at all.

[Bored Of Education]

The Police are absolutely the best example of this. They were a great band - if always a bit bogus with their 'new wave' image and cod-reggae. What was pleasing about the schism between how great they were and Sting's solo stuff and generally being a twat was that Copeland obviously hated them and Summers didn't seem a great defender of him.

Mention of Rod Stewart makes me wonder if Faces fans felt his later solo career (I never realised he had a contemporaneous one until now) besmirched his work with them. I wasn't enough of a fan of them nor disliked his solo stuff to know really.

Then we get into big singers who had more obscure bands beforehand - Paul Young/Q-Tips, Robert Palmer and Elkie Brooks/Vinegar Joe.

Were there Joy Division fans who hated New Order? Somehow I doubt it but I suppose there may have been some.

Not exactly a solo career as such but there is an argument that the Sex Pistols output was lessened by "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle"

[Lang Spoon]

The Robert Palmer song in a recent Chart Music is fucking fantastic

[Amor de Cosmos]

Mention of Rod Stewart makes me wonder if Faces fans felt his later solo career (I never realised he had a contemporaneous one until now) besmirched his work with them. I wasn't enough of a fan of them nor disliked his solo stuff to know really.

Both Rod and The (Small) Faces had extensive careers before their collaboration, so I don't think it had any impact afterwards at all.

[Haddock]

. Morrissey certainly tarnishes The Smith's image to a degree, but their music still holds up.

From what I see, the default position of many (most?), younger indie-inclined music fans is to dismiss The Smiths out of hand because of Morrissey's now clearly-apparent, horrible Little England shit, whereas those of us who were fans of the group at the time have what is perhaps more nuance in our attitude, or on the other hand is maybe just special pleading.
What I reproach myself for is the clues were there from quite early on; "reggae is vile", Bengali in Platforms on his first solo LP, etc., but because he meant so much to people, he went pretty much unchallenged. He should have been properly called out. But despite that, I can't help loving The Smiths' music and thinking fondly of what they meant to me in the 80s Their reputation is increasingly tarnished because of Morrissey, though, for sure

[Sporting]

I didn't hate New Order: I just thought that their music wasn't as nuanced or as impressive as that of Joy Division. As for Morrissey, I hesitate to say it, but even before his Little England rants started coming, I really wasn't turned on by his music. It's all subjective in so many ways, though.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Vinegar Joe were on a recent BBC4 Whistle Test compilation and I astonished my guests by pointing out Elkie Brooks all back-combed and leather-clad.

The Faces being spoiled/less cool by Rod’s success is moot, as I found a non-identified ‘Mark of Quality’ bootleg LP in a box of cheap records. The catalogue no. before it is Dylan, the one after is Stones... but I will now try to sell a Faces one so I’ll let you know.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Oh, for sure. She did quite well. But it wasn't like a huge 'gone solo' thing like George Michael, throwing off the shackles and blasting into the stratosphere. Like, I dunno, Beyonce or something. And then she just sort of stopped. Total of 4 original albums in nearly 30 years.

Well, she took time off to have kids.

[johnr]

I'd have pitched Phil Collins, but Genesis had been diluted from the moment that Peter Gabriel departed anyway, so perhaps not them. (I was never much of a fan either way, tbh.)

Bah. Genesis were great for a few years after Gabriel left, till about 1981. They were mainly shit after that, which coincided with the rise in Collins' solo career, which was also shit after his first album. However, even that shitness paled into insignificance compared to the shitness of Mike Rutherford's Mechanics. When occasionally I look - ok, more than occasionally - at old videos of Genesis at their peak, Rutherford is the one that I least fathom.

[Jah Womble]

On topic, Alison Moyet and Yazoo maybe? Which would be way unfair on Vince Clarke.

I'd say it was mightily unfair on Alison Moyet.

[Sits]

The Undertones and Feargal Sharkey maybe? In fairness the Undertones are fairly unimpeachable but A Good Heart was playing in a shop I went into recently and I was staggered as I was reminded that he produced something so godawful. His song with Vince Clarke as The Assembly was also among the worst of Clarke's efforts. IMHO, as they say.

[Jah Womble]

(I must say that I never expected Vince Clarke to feature so prominently on this thread.)

[Stumpy Pepys]

There was that time in the late 70s when KISS had the bright idea of each member of the band releasing a solo album on the same day, All being mostly terrible.

[Patrick Thistle]

None of the solo Beatles output has made me think "Oh I really need to listen to more of the Beatles".

[George]

There was that time in the late 70s when KISS had the bright idea of each member of the band releasing a solo album on the same day, All being mostly terrible.

For many years they were to the US thrift store what No Parlez is to our humble chazza. Probably still are seeing Casablanca supposedly pressed 4-5 million copies.

[George]

Eurythmics are a strange case of being one of the few major acts from the 80's that haven't undergone any significant kind of re-evaluation over the last two decades - at least in the UK. I sense this is partially down to the terminal unfashionability of both Lennox and Stewart with sections of the music press, and was probably set in stone long before they embarked on their solo careers, which for Lennox was highly successful at first with Diva and the singles from that period. To be honest there are numerous bands with storied reputations who never recorded a single as good as Love Is a Stranger, and at the very least they were a perfectly good singles act.

[WOM]

There was that time in the late 70s when KISS had the bright idea of each member of the band releasing a solo album on the same day, All being mostly terrible.

Gene apparently still touts his being the highest seller, regardless of Ace's having outsold it by something like 4:1, all audited and documented.

I worked with a total KISS nut at my first agency, and I gave him all my old KISS vinyl in a basement purge. He almost started crying. The next day he gave me a gift card and had burned their entire collection to a data disc for me so I'd have it whenever I needed it.