# Successful albums, but the success was primarily due to someone other than the artist or band **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 11, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778 "2025-11-11T16:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/21 "2025-11-18T01:10:12Z")
_Don’t You (Forget About Me)_ was made popular from _The Breakfast Club,_ and many other songs only became hits due to their luck in being selected by a popular film, but are we limiting this to whole albums? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/22 "2025-11-18T14:30:03Z")
Good point. But didn’t Bowie produce the whole album? I know that doesn’t necessarily indicate how involved he really was, but I got the impression he was pretty heavily involved in the arrangement, mixing, etc. Although after reading a bit more it sounds like Mick Ronson did a lot of the heavy lifting as well. I think it’s probably fair to say that without Bowie, that album would not have been a success. Which I think is what the OP is going for. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/23 "2025-11-18T14:56:25Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Alan Parsons built his solo career on the success of _Dark Side of the Moon_. Nope. No one bought I, Robot, Eve, and especially Turn of a Friendly Card (#13 US Billboard 1981, 2M copies sold worldwide), because “hey that’s the dude that engineered DSoTM.” We bought them because they are cracking good albums. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/24 "2025-11-18T14:58:19Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Alan Parsons built his solo career on the success of _Dark Side of the Moon_. Alan Parsons Project was a band, not a solo thing. And by namd I mean duo, kin the same vein as Steely Dan. Eric Woolfson had as abig a hand in their output as Parsons. And you might as well claim that AP built his fame on Anney Road, as he worked on that, too. I bought _Tales and Mystery…_ when it was released. Nowhere was it marketed as “By the guy who engineered DSotM.” In fact, that kind of martketing didn’t really exist backk then. So, in a word: no. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > U2 would’ve ended up as filler on a “Forgotten Deep Cuts of the 80’s” compilation if Brian Eno hadn’t produced _The Unforgettable Fire_ and _The Joshua Tree_. You’re forgetting Daniel Lanois. And you may think of this from a U.S. perspective, [but U2 were already huge in Europe and had been gaining attraction in the U.S. for a while:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2) > [In 1983, i.e. before The Unforgettable Fire] The band played several dates at large European and American music festivals,] including a performance at the US Festival on Memorial Day weekend for an audience of 125,000 people. What really cemented them as Rock Gods was Live Aid, not who produced what. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/25 "2025-11-18T15:35:48Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > And you may think of this from a U.S. perspective, [but U2 were already huge in Europe and had been gaining attraction in the U.S. for a while:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2) Agree that Lanois was also important here, and acknowledge that U2 was already big in Europe, but I will continue to insist that their sound was becoming played out and would’ve fallen by the wayside by the end of the 80’s had Eno & Lanois not helped them develop what we now recognize as U2. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/26 "2025-11-18T15:42:44Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Alan Parsons built his solo career on the success of _Dark Side of the Moon_. I would argue that Pink Floyd owes a debt to Alan Parsons every bit as much as Alan Parsons is in debt to Pink Floyd. Thanks to Parsons, _Dark Side of the Moon_ was a significant departure from Floyd’s earlier work, and that style became a linchpin of Floyd’s sound after all of Roger Waters’ weird shit had played out. Not to minimize the huge impact of _The Wall_, but that kind of thing isn’t what kept Floyd going for the next three decades. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/27 "2025-11-18T18:45:07Z")
“The Sound of Silence” was released in an acoustic version on Simon and Garfunkel’s first album in 1966. The album sold 2,000 copies, and Simon and Garfunkel split up. Tom Wilson at Columbia remixed it with a rock band backing, and it became a big hit. So I think “The Sound of Silence” album’s success could be attributed to him. And also to Bob Johnson who finished it. Wilson and Johnson were both producers for the early Dylan. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/28 "2025-11-19T09:05:43Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Agree that Lanois was also important here, and acknowledge that U2 was already big in Europe, but I will continue to insist that their sound was becoming played out and would’ve fallen by the wayside by the end of the 80’s had Eno & Lanois not helped them develop what we now recognize as U2. Yes, absolutely. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Thanks to Parsons, _Dark Side of the Moon_ was a significant departure from Floyd’s earlier work, and that style became a linchpin of Floyd’s sound after all of Roger Waters’ weird shit had played out. And this, too. Even though I love _Meddle_ and see it as a rough prequel/blueprint/sketch of what was about to come, it’s certainly not DSotM. Parsons had a huge part in polishing the sound and getting a coherent album out, which Meddle is not. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/29 "2025-11-19T13:35:47Z")
I suppose one could argue that Klaatu only enjoyed whatever success they achieved because of the widespread rumor that they were really the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778/30 "2025-11-19T13:40:39Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The album sold 2,000 copies, and Simon and Garfunkel split up. Tom Wilson at Columbia remixed it with a rock band backing, and it became a big hit. So I think “The Sound of Silence” album’s success could be attributed to him Didn’t they even record and release the new version of it while Paul Simon was out of the country, and without the Simon and Garfunkel’s knowledge? I think Paul in particular hated the new version. So yeah, that’s a great one. You could argue that not only did Tom Wilson create the success of Sound of Silence, but probably also the continued existence of Simon and Garfunkel as a duo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-albums-but-the-success-was-primarily-due-to-someone-other-than-the-artist-or-band/1024778.md?page=1)