Solo Artists
 

Many a band member have gone off to solo careers after their original bands, some to more popularity and acclaim like Michael Jackson, Gwen and even Lou Reed. Others tend to not live up to the work of their previous band while still making worthwhile music. Bob Mould, Tom Verlaine and Q Tip come to mind. Then their are artists like J Mascis and Greg Ginn that completely go off the deep end with some utterly bad music. So my question to you is what makes such solo work successful and why do so many not live up to their previous bands greatness?

I`ve always thought that may be because they have a free reign over what they record.In a band situation there are other members to veto the music & tell someone when something isn`t up to scratch.Plus if it`s a side project they might not be bothered about sales or anything like that , so things can tend to get very self indulgent.

I love Graham Coxons work with Blur but his first 4 solo albums are f*cking awful give or take a couple of songs.It`s almost as if when he left the band he started making an real effort with his solo stuff. Because his last album was a huge improvement & more listenable than the others.