Top Ten # 2

[Jesse]

Top Ten Gone Solo

Top ten solo artists who began their career in a band situation and found as good or greater success with their own names on the marquee. While I think I have a pretty good list, unlike the Southern Rock one, I believe I could be wrong on a few counts and welcome any and all input here.



10-Emmylou Harris. Ok, not Rock, but who said I was only including Rock artists on my lists? She started out in Gram Parson's band playing rhythm acoustic guitar and singing harmony. Eventually Gram let her sing a few songs during his shows. When Gram died, she had little choice but to carry on as a solo artist and she managed to become as much of a legend as Parsons...maybe even moreso.

9-Ted Nugent. The Amboy Dukes were always more about Ted's guitar playing than much else. It made sense for him to start releasing albums under his own name in 1975.

8-Neil Young. Another guitar player gone solo. Hard to argue with his icon status since leaving Buffalo Springfield.


More to come!

[spacel0rd]

This was trickier than I thought it would be. And I realize that Dio and Danzig are names of BANDS, but for the most part, it’s solo work.


1. Neil Young
2. Dio
3. Danzig
4. Ozzy Osbourne
5. Stephen Stills
6. Eric Clapton
7. Stevie Nicks
8. Bruce Dickinson
9. Chris Cornell
10. Robert Plant

Honorable Mentions:
Peter Gabriel, Mike Ness, Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, Ace Frehley, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Don Henley ,Paul McCartney, John Lennon

[Pete]

Sammy Hagar after leaving Montrose

[Jesse]

Jun 23, 2011 10:49:27 GMT -5 spacel0rd said:

This was trickier than I thought it would be. And I realize that Dio and Danzig are names of BANDS, but for the most part, it’s solo work.


1. Neil Young
2. Dio
3. Danzig
4. Ozzy Osbourne
5. Stephen Stills
6. Eric Clapton
7. Stevie Nicks
8. Bruce Dickinson
9. Chris Cornell
10. Robert Plant

Honorable Mentions:
Peter Gabriel, Mike Ness, Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, Ace Frehley, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Don Henley ,Paul McCartney, John Lennon

This IS tricky! I started this thread thinking I had it all figured out.....then I thought of a few more that HAVE to be on this list. Plus, looking back, I think I set the bar pretty high with my #s 8,9, and 10.

[Jesse]

7-Phil Collins. I'm really not a fan at all of Genesis, but both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins went on to darned good solo careers. Who was better? I dunno, I really don;t care for either one's music, but Phil seems like a likable bloke, so I'll include him so my list seems objective.

6-Dio. Like Spacelord said, Dio is technically a band, but who are they fooling? The "band" always was about Ronnie James Dio. After successful gigs in both Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Dio cemented his image as a Metal God with his solo career....even if it was a bit spotty beyond album #3.

[kim]

I'm not sure if I can go 10...?

But here's a few...

John Forgerty.
As much as the guy was, and deemed a prick in the
music world...he's put forth some pretty good solo material.

Roger Hodgson. This guy, in my opinion was the true sound
of Supertramp. From his 1984 debut, he pretty much nailed it.
Sad to see that he and Rick are still at odds.

George Harrison, I'm ashamed to admit to being a fan of that otherwise terrible,and somewhat, obscure and disregarded group that he was with previously, but I have to say, his solo material wasn't too bad, even in the early years...

He seemed to do quite fine with that Travelling outfit as well. Maybe he learned a few things from the other 3, no talent
artists at the time...during the early days?

Hell...I'll even give a nod to that fella that was in Max Webster...Kim Mitchell...he had a couple of good tracks during the
later years...but of course..now that's me being a Canuck.

Thanks
Kim

[DrJJones]

Some Of these had some sort of success as a solo artist at one point or another (more than 10 but what the hell);

1. Bruce Dickinson
2. David Lee Roth
3. Izzy Stradlin
4. Ginger
5. Glenn Frey
6. Michael Monroe
7. Slash
8. Joe Perry
9. Joe Walsh
10. Vine Neil
11. Jimmy Page
12. David Coverdale
13. Chris Robinson
14. Rich Robinson
15.Francis Rossi
16. Rod Stewart
17. Jerry Cantrell

[Jesse]

5-Don Henley. While his solo career didn' quite measure up to the Eagles, he wound up with more than enough hits for a quality "Greatest Hits" album. When I saw the Eagles a few years ago, they played about 4 Henley solo songs because...well, the HAD to.


4-Micheal Jackson. SHOULD be #1, but I can't bring myself to do it. After going solo from the Jackson Five, he became the biggest selling solo artist in the world. According to Speedy's logic, that means he can't possibly be overrated . I put him on my list, because you really cannot NOT include him, but I think he sucks, so I refuse to put him any higher than #4.

[hojam]

I'll take a stab at it! Here's my list, in no particular order...

Rod Stewart
Sammy Hagar (x2)
Joan Jett
Don Henley
Ozzy
Clapton
Paul McCartney
Neil Young
Ted Nugent
Phil Collins

[Jesse]

3-Ozzy Osbourne. Like Dio, Ozzy didn't really cement his Metal God status until going solo, but he did so on a much bigger scale than Dio. Dio is a well known amongst Hard Rock/Metal fans, whereas Ozzy is a household name.


2-Eric Clapton. Begining in the Yardbirds, then hitting it big with Cream, plus Blind Faith and Derek And The dominos, Clapton still manages to over shadow those bands with his solo work.

[Jesse]

I never did # 1 did I? Well, #1 is actually a 4 way tie that will surprise many of you.

#1 Best Artist Gone Solo:

The Beatles! John, Paul, George and Ringo. All had a mountian to climb as solo artists and each had an outstanding career AFTER the Beatles. George had the first #1 hit of the four, then went on to create a border-line Hall of Fame career on his own. Ringo didn't do too bad either with a surprisingly long string of hits to his own credit. John became an even greater legend outside the Beatles shadow and Paul had an inarguable Hall Of Fame career after leaving the Beatles. One that still goes on today. Hey, I may not like the Beatles, but they were a no-brainer for this list. Actually, my dislike may have made them #1 as I really didn't want to use up 4 spaces of my top ten on them, so I combined them all to form #1.

[Equinox]

Jul 8, 2011 13:40:22 GMT -5 Jesse said:

I never did # 1 did I? Well, #1 is actually a 4 way tie that will surprise many of you.

#1 Best Artist Gone Solo:

The Beatles! John, Paul, George and Ringo. All had a mountian to climb as solo artists and each had an outstanding career AFTER the Beatles. George had the first #1 hit of the four, then went on to create a border-line Hall of Fame career on his own. Ringo didn't do too bad either with a surprisingly long string of hits to his own credit. John became an even greater legend outside the Beatles shadow and Paul had an inarguable Hall Of Fame career after leaving the Beatles. One that still goes on today. Hey, I may not like the Beatles, but they were a no-brainer for this list. Actually, my dislike may have made them #1 as I really didn't want to use up 4 spaces of my top ten on them, so I combined them all to form #1.

Don't you know that the Beatles and those four as soloists sucked? It's just a mass brainwashing of american youth over the past 50 years that make people THINK they were good.

[kim]

Jul 8, 2011 16:45:01 GMT -5 Equinox said:

Jul 8, 2011 13:40:22 GMT -5 Jesse said:

I never did # 1 did I? Well, #1 is actually a 4 way tie that will surprise many of you.

#1 Best Artist Gone Solo:

The Beatles! John, Paul, George and Ringo. All had a mountian to climb as solo artists and each had an outstanding career AFTER the Beatles. George had the first #1 hit of the four, then went on to create a border-line Hall of Fame career on his own. Ringo didn't do too bad either with a surprisingly long string of hits to his own credit. John became an even greater legend outside the Beatles shadow and Paul had an inarguable Hall Of Fame career after leaving the Beatles. One that still goes on today. Hey, I may not like the Beatles, but they were a no-brainer for this list. Actually, my dislike may have made them #1 as I really didn't want to use up 4 spaces of my top ten on them, so I combined them all to form #1.

Don't you know that the Beatles and those four as soloists sucked? It's just a mass brainwashing of american youth over the past 50 years that make people THINK they were good.

Thanks
Kim

[Jesse]

Before I put this list to rest, I should mention the "best of the rest". ;D


Stevie Nicks. Had a good solo career for much of the 1980's, but I started counting up the hits that I remember of hers and I couldn't get past one hand.

Robert Plant. I had him on my initial list, but then thought of others who were more worthy. Plant had a decent solo career, but ultimately, when you think of Plant, you think of him more for "Black Dog", "Whole Lotta Love", "Kasmir" and "Rock'n Roll" than for "29 Psalms", "Big Log" or "Tall Cool One". Ozzy and Dio are known as much for their solo works as for what they did in Black Sabbath, Plant will always be thought of as Led Zeppelin's singer.

Jackson Browne. Technically, I could've made him #1 on my list as he was an original member of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1966, but he left them before they made it out of the garage. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had ZERO success during Browne's tenure in the group, therefor, I eliminated him from contention.

Bruce Dickinson had some success as a solo artist, but hardly got out of Iron Maiden's shadow.

Rod Stewart, Sammy Hagar and Joan Jett are all good mentions. Probably 11, 12, and 13 for my list, but a case could be made for each of them to be in the top 10.

[DrJJones]

[quote author=jesse board=TALK thread=15726 post=107204 time=1310321152Bruce Dickinson had some success as a solo artist, but hardly got out of Iron Maiden's shadow.[/quote]

That is not accurate as Dickinson had more success than Iron Maiden did with Blaze Bayley. Dickinson did five solo albums which ALL outsold the two Blaze Bayley-fronted Iron Maiden albums.

Hardly in Maiden's shadow.

[Pete]

For Pete's sake Sammy Hagar is worth more than a mention.

[Jesse]

Jul 13, 2011 11:57:37 GMT -5 DrJJones said:

[quote author=jesse board=TALK thread=15726 post=107204 time=1310321152Bruce Dickinson had some success as a solo artist, but hardly got out of Iron Maiden's shadow.

That is not accurate as Dickinson had more success than Iron Maiden did with Blaze Bayley. Dickinson did five solo albums which ALL outsold the two Blaze Bayley-fronted Iron Maiden albums.

Hardly in Maiden's shadow.

[/quote]

That is apples and oranges. Sure, he did better without Maiden than Maiden did without him, but he never did better than when he was IN Iron Maiden. Otherwise, why did he return?

[Jesse]

Jul 13, 2011 12:24:33 GMT -5 Pete said:

For Pete's sake Sammy Hagar is worth more than a mention.

Well, have at it! This isn't the Jesse Blog, it's a discussion forum. Tell us about Hagar's great solo career. I only have a limited sphere of knowledge and I did mention that Hagar would be among my next 3 and that it could be argued that he belongs in the top ten. So, go ahead, make the argument.

[DrJJones]

Jul 14, 2011 11:31:02 GMT -5 Jesse said:

7That is apples and oranges. Sure, he did better without Maiden than Maiden did without him, but he never did better than when he was IN Iron Maiden. Otherwise, why did he return?

I thought this thread was about solo artists making it, not the band they fronted BEFORE they went solo? Of course he was bigger in Maiden but he was not overshadowed by them when he went solo.

Now Adrian Smith is a different story.

[Jesse]

Jul 15, 2011 18:44:55 GMT -5 DrJJones said:

Jul 14, 2011 11:31:02 GMT -5 Jesse said:

7That is apples and oranges. Sure, he did better without Maiden than Maiden did without him, but he never did better than when he was IN Iron Maiden. Otherwise, why did he return?

I thought this thread was about solo artists making it, not the band they fronted BEFORE they went solo? Of course he was bigger in Maiden but he was not overshadowed by them when he went solo.

Now Adrian Smith is a different story.

It IS about solo artists making it, but I only have room for 10. Your arguments for Dickinson are the same that can be used for Stevie Nicks. I had to draw the line somewhere.