I think Deep Purple got more critical acclaim, and Whitesnake more commercial success? Would that be fairl?
Friday OT - It's Murder By Numbers, One, Two, Three
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
I think Deep Purple got more critical acclaim, and Whitesnake more commercial success? Would that be fairl?
If you want another cross-over example to examine there is Dairus Rucker and Hootie and Blowfish. I'm not really invested in music to say which entity was is the bigger brand.
Hey, he also wrote a big, sexy hook for Lonely Island.
Hootie was HUGE when that first album came out. But the sophomore album didn't come close to measuring up to the first's success. Rucker, however, has shown longevity as a solo country act with multiple number one singles over the last decade or so. I can look up details for comparison later this morning (see post #33 below).
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I saw Darius/Hootie when he came to town last year. Phenomenal show, and he kept it a Hootie show. Although he did throw in Wagon Wheel.
I'm such a baby 'cause the Cyclones make me cry.....but there's nothing I can do...
Yeah, I've been known to sub those lyrics in as well.
Barenaked Ladies opened for them, and they were good as well. They busted out some Led Zeppelin and really did one of the better jobs I've heard of LZ covers.
Ok, so Hootie's Cracked Rear View album spent 8 total weeks at #1 (making five separate trips to the top spot) and 55 weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in 1995. It spun off five singles: "Hold My Hand" reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100; "Let Her Cry" #9; "Only Wanna Be With You" #6; "Time" #14; and Drowning, which did not chart on the Hot 100, but reached #21 on the US Rock songs chart. The album is currently certified 2x diamond for 21 million copies sold (diamond certification = 10,000,000 copies). It sold 10.5 million copies just in 1995.
Hootie's sophomore album, Fairweather Johnson, also made it to #1 in 1996 (I could not locate how many weeks it stayed there online). It was certified 3x platinum for sales in excess of 3,000,000 copies. Three singles came from this album: "Old Man & Me" which made it to #13 on the Hot 100; "Tucker's Town" #38; and "Sad Caper" which did not chart.
Hootie released just seven more singles over the course of their career (including one from their most recent release in 2019) that did not chart on the Hot 100, but six did make the US Adult Contemporary chart.
Darius Rucker released a country album, Back To Then, in 2002 that landed with a thud. It never charted country and peaked at #127 on the Billboard 200. Two singles were released, but did not chart. Cut to 2008 when Learn To Live is released and becomes the first in a streak of FOUR consecutive #1s on the Country Albums chart (his latest peaked at #2). He has accumulated eight #1 singles on the Country Airplay chart included with eleven total top tens. His song, "Wagon Wheel," was one of those #1s, also peaking at #15 on the Hot 100 and won a 2013 Grammy for Country Solo Performance.
So, I'd give the career longevity edge to Rucker's solo work. Hootie had the bigger immediate splash, with one of the biggest selling albums of all-time in the US, but fizzled with the follow-up. Rucker has been going strong at country radio for twelve years now. I don't think anyone would have guessed that he'd be such a country genre mainstay back in 1995.
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To slightly redeem myself after mentioning Harry Styles, I'll add that John Fogerty in an interesting inclusion to this discussion.
CCR was mainly his band, but they were only together for roughly 4 years. He will primarily be known for his success with CCR, but he has had a long solo career with some pretty decent success.
CCR was mainly his band, but they were only together for roughly 4 years. He will primarily be known for his success with CCR, but he has had a long solo career with some pretty decent success.
Another NWA member that had some solo success was Eazy-E. He died of AIDS when he was 31 so he didn't have a long career but he had some songs that charted although I still think some of his best work like Boyz-n-the-Hood and Eazy-Duz-It were at least in my mind 2 of his biggest hits even if they didn't do well on the charts. And can't forget the NSFW song Gimme That Nutt
Was thinking of country artists that had good solo careers and not many came to mind because seems like they all were better in their groups or duos. Ronnie Dunn has had some success but his best stuff is still Brooks & Dunn. Wynona Judd has had a good career outside of The Judds, Randy Owen did some solo stuff while Alabama was retired but his best stuff is still with Alabama. Richie McDonald left Lonestar for awhile to try a solo act that didn't have much success and now he is back with Lonestar again. This isn't exactly a left a band to go solo success but John Rich got kicked out of Lonestar (they say it was mutual but he was given the boot) and didn't have much success as a solo artist but he's had a lot more success after he partnered up to make Big & Rich.
"Gimme That Nutt" is probably my favorite Eazy-E solo song! Ice Cube has had a lot of success, too. Not quite Dre big, but he's had some pretty huge hits with "It Was A Good Day," "You Can Do It," and "Check Yo Self" - he's still quietly making music, too. (Some of your street cred likely goes out the window when you're also making ****** Disney movies, but he's doing it!)
I love Elliott Smith, but when I'm making a mix it'll include Plainclothes Man or Half Right from Heatmiser rather than his solo stuff. I know it's super douchey hipster but I love Plainclothes Man. I really hope this is a simulation and Elliott just leveled down or up and is still out there playing music somewhere. He was special and I just wonder how much beauty he could have brought to the world if he hung in there.
So Peter Gabriel for sure then, right?
Joan Jett & Lita Ford.
Glenn Danzig
Henry Rollins likely has had more material success not even singing than with Black Flag.
EDIT: fun fact, I bought Synchronicity on vinyl when it came out and Murder By Numbers isn't on the vinyl album. It had three (iirc) different jacket designs.
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