# Singers who were great in a group, but suck solo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139 "2004-10-25T23:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 26, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/21 "2004-10-26T02:12:49Z")
Paul Simon could still write good music, but without Art there was no one to sing it. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/22 "2004-10-26T02:15:24Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Paul Simon could still write good music, but without Art there was no one to sing it. Paul Simon is one of my favorite singers. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/23 "2004-10-26T02:16:49Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Paul Simon could still write good music, but without Art there was no one to sing it. For example: “Bridge Over Troubled Water” I heard Paul sing it live once. Sad, really. Art owns that song. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/24 "2004-10-26T02:29:31Z")
John Lennon. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/25 "2004-10-26T02:35:19Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Paul Simon. Simon & Garfunkle were great, Simon _sans_ Garfunkle… eh at best. Dear God man, that is an example of the opposite phenomenon. With Garfunkel the music was pretty to listen to, but limp and lyrically sometimes banal. Simon’s first solo album is one of the greatest ever recorded. On that album alone he had Me and Julio, Duncan, and Mother and Child Reunion. Every album since then has been at worst interesting and at best brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/26 "2004-10-26T03:01:51Z")
Peter Cetera! Phil Collins! ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/27 "2004-10-26T03:09:08Z")
Beyonce. Shoulda stuck to Destiny’s Child… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/28 "2004-10-26T03:16:31Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Peter Cetera! I have to question this. Not on the basis of it sucking (it does), but, rather, the fact that I can’t tell the difference between a Peter Cetera solo song and a song sung by Peter Cetera during the last 5 or 6 years he was with Chicago. My pick: Paul McCartney, hands down. ---
**Author:** ![cstamets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@cstamets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cstamets)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/29 "2004-10-26T03:22:02Z")
No one’s mentioned Michael McDonald, yet? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/30 "2004-10-26T03:31:13Z")
I’ll second Paul McCartney. Heck, while I’m at it I’ll third and fourth him as well! How about Henry Rollins, or as I like to call him, “that guy that followed Dez”? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/31 "2004-10-26T04:45:14Z")
Didn’t Keith Moon of The Who release a solo Album…which went no-where? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/32 "2004-10-26T04:52:30Z")
> [@pesch](#): > > I liked “Gigolo” and thought Roth was cool, until I heard the older Louis Prima version and realized that he stole … every … last … inflection in the song from him. Y’know, I heard that vsn. the first time while learning how to do the Foxtrot for my wedding dance. You’re exactly right, of course. Even the “bozie-bozie-BOP diddy-bop”. However, that was one funny video, you gotta admit; probably the only video I ever saw that made me like a song more. But yeah, when DLR couldn’t ape somebody else, boy did he ever suck. I dunno what happened to him post Van-Halen. He was a pompous, preening, oversexed ass, but he didn’t just plain _suck_. Then it’s like, he leaves VH, and all his solo stuff is complete, utter shite. He puts together a kick-ass band (Billy Sheehan and Steve Vai? I mean, holy crap!), and they…SUCK! Hard! Guess Diamond Dave finally blew a fuse too many. Maybe he thought with the little head a little too often and the big one atrophied beyond recovery. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/33 "2004-10-26T04:59:33Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Peter Cetera! > > Phil Collins! Without a doubt, the 2 biggest wussies in rock and roll. Both began their decent into wussyhood while still in the bands that made them famous enough to suck on an international level. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/34 "2004-10-26T05:06:54Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Without a doubt, the 2 biggest wussies in rock and roll. Uhh, you ever hear of Chris De Burgh? Or Kenny Loggins? I suppose I could nominate Loggins, but he sucked just as hard in Loggins & Messina as out, so I guess I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/35 "2004-10-26T07:02:49Z")
Richard Ashcroft, singer/songwriter of Verve before they split for good. I love Verve, but his solo stuff is dreck. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/36 "2004-10-26T07:14:00Z")
> [@fruitbat](#): > > My ultimate dissapointment is Paul Westerberg formerly of the Replacements. They were among the greatest bands of all time, and though they lost some edge as they aged they made up for it with more mature song writing. > > They break up and Westerberg turns into, well, Sting. Unless you are a lite rock afficionado that is clearly a bad thing. That might have been true up through “Suicaine Gratifaction,” but his migration over the last few years into a raw, recorded-on-the-cheap-in-the-basement sound has un-Stingified him quite a bit. Sting would hardly stand for it if the tape ran out before he was finished playing the song, while Westerberg just shrugs and slaps the track on the album as-is. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/37 "2004-10-26T12:13:54Z")
Agnetha & Frida, the women from ABBA. How many people even know they recorded anything after the group broke up? Bjorn & Benny’s musicals, Chess & Kristina, though brillant, haven’t received the recognition they deserve. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/38 "2004-10-26T12:23:26Z")
> [@fruitbat](#): > > My ultimate dissapointment is Paul Westerberg formerly of the Replacements. They were among the greatest bands of all time, and though they lost some edge as they aged they made up for it with more mature song writing. > > They break up and Westerberg turns into, well, Sting. Unless you are a lite rock afficionado that is clearly a bad thing. Shenanigans! I went to see Westerberg live last Tuesday, and he rocked. I like his solo stuff. It’s not quite the Replacements i’ll grant you, but it certainly nowhere like the full atmosphere to beneath the Earths crust dive into suckiness that Sting’s done. I’m surprised at a lot of the suggestions here. Rollins? Ozzy? Frusciante off the Chilli Peppers solo stuff bites, if he counts. ---
**Author:** ![Iris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@Iris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iris)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/39 "2004-10-26T12:45:39Z")
I’m going to nominate Johnette Napolitano - the lead singer from the band Concrete Blonde. I used to listen to them in college, but they broke up sometime in the late 90’s so she could pursue a solo singing career. I don’t think it went anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139/40 "2004-10-26T12:54:30Z")
I would also like to add I really like Belinda Carlisle, both solo and the GoGos stuff. Now thats a confession. Dave Gahan off Depeche Modes solo stuff isn’t much cop too. Depending on if you thought Depeche Mode were any good in the first place (I did). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-who-were-great-in-a-group-but-suck-solo/271139.md?page=3)