# Singers from bands who DON'T suck solo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399 "2004-10-27T06:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/1 "2004-10-27T06:12:38Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5413796#post5413796). John Lydon. Love him or hate him, his stuff with PiL was way ahead of its time and was hugely influential. Mike Ness. Jello Biafra. Exene Cervenka and John Doe from X. Exene is still playing the punk rock while John Doe keeps it down home and rootsy, but their solo stuff is pretty good. Exene’s recent band the Original Sinners is almost as good as the best X stuff. Robyn Hitchcock. The Soft Boys are a hard act to beat, but he did pretty good on his own. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/2 "2004-10-27T06:55:14Z")
Nick Cave Iggy Pop Syd Barrett ---
**Author:** ![Nurobath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a88e57/32.png) [@Nurobath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nurobath)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/3 "2004-10-27T06:59:26Z")
Bob Mould Does Joe Walsh count? Or was he solo, Eagles, solo? Can’t remember. Maynard from Tool. I don’t know if A Perfect Circle counts as solo but it is a different band. Robert Plant made a couple of good solo albums. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/4 "2004-10-27T07:18:07Z")
Glen Phillips Peter Murphy Chris Bell Lisa Gerrard ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/5 "2004-10-27T07:42:30Z")
Graham Coxon And another vote for Syd Barret and Jello Biafra. And… I’ll probably be largely disagreed with, but he’s a huge guilty pleasure of mine: Morrissey. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/6 "2004-10-27T07:52:01Z")
Don Henley ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/7 "2004-10-27T08:26:47Z")
Danzig ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/8 "2004-10-27T09:14:34Z")
Stevie Nicks (I think she was in some band or other). **nitro** I like early solo Robyn, I lost touch when he seemed to be getting all sensible (the Yip song notwithstanding). Syd Barrett is an odd case because it’s sort of back to front. The surprise was that PF didn’t suck without him rather than the other way round. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/9 "2004-10-27T12:01:44Z")
I liked SOME of the early Genesis, but I think the split with Peter Gabriel was good for both the band AND the singer. On the whole, Gabriel has been better solo than he ever was with Genesis, and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/10 "2004-10-27T12:31:06Z")
Perry Farrell. He might have hit the drum & bass tin a little bit late, but ‘Song yet to be Sung’ is a cracking album. Ice Cube and Dr Dre haven’t done bad. Chuck Prophet from Green on Red Bjork Melissa Auf der Maur ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/11 "2004-10-27T12:39:21Z")
> [@Nurobath](#): > > Does Joe Walsh count? Or was he solo, Eagles, solo? Can’t remember. James Gang, Solo, Eagles, Solo. So he counts twice. Van Morrison after leaving Them. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Sayid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jack\_Sayid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Sayid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/12 "2004-10-27T13:36:02Z")
Danny Elfman Mark Mothersbaugh Ozzy Osbourne David Byrne ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/13 "2004-10-27T14:04:04Z")
Great mention of my favorite, Robyn Hitchcock. I loved the Softboys, but aside from Underwater Moonlight, much of their work was messy and just plain silly. As a solo artist, or with the Egyptians, which is really almost solo he was wonderful. His best works were Black Snake Diamond Role and Fegmania, just after leaving the Softboys. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/14 "2004-10-27T14:15:04Z")
Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden did pretty well when he went solo. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/15 "2004-10-27T14:47:59Z")
> [@nitroglycerine](#): > > Jello Biafra. I second that. 🙂 I’ll also add: Midge Ure (Ultravox/Visage) My husband introduced me to his solo work, and I’ve come to like it quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/16 "2004-10-27T14:54:17Z")
Steve Winwood ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/17 "2004-10-27T15:09:30Z")
Morrissey ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/18 "2004-10-27T16:04:00Z")
> [@Jack Sayid](#): > > Danny Elfman As much as I love and am devoted to the works of Mr Elfman, I would not really call him a solo artist. His scoring work and musicals are not really “solo artist” type music. His album So-Lo was actually most of the band Oingo Boingo and only recorded under his name to get out from under a recording contract restriction. The only vocal work he’s done is the recordings for The Nightmare Before Christmas and that was over 8 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/19 "2004-10-27T16:15:55Z")
Nick Cave Morrissey Mike Ness Henry Rollins Billy Idol - totally eclipsed his work with Generation X Bjork - much better than her work with the Sugarcubes (althouhg it was good it wasn’t nearly as original) Brian Setzer Eazy-E Iggy Pop Lou Reed Shane McGowan Bands that were as good if not better than the original member’s band: Butter08 - from Cibo Matto Foo Fighters - from Nirvana Circle Jerks - from Black Flag Cracker - from Camper Van Beethoven New Order - from Joy Division Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - NOFX, Swinging Udders, Lagwagon and others Revolting Cocks - Ministry, and others Shriekback - XTC, Gang of Four, man many more ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399/20 "2004-10-27T16:33:40Z")
Nick Lowe was quite successful as a solo act after Brinsley Schwartz broke up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-from-bands-who-dont-suck-solo/271399.md?page=2)