The Solo Artist is Shit Conundrum

 

For years I have maintained a line. The line is this.

No artist that was good in a band, will ever be as good in their solo career afterwards.

Evidence? I present Morrissey. I present Belinda Carlisle. I present Peter Hook. I present Rod Stewart.

Rock history is littered with shadowy solo artists, some commercially more successfully, but none artistically. Ever.

Ted Pepper challenged my theory. He claims to have solved my solo artist puzzle as he sits in the corner of my room chewing at industrial red leicester. "Rick Astley." Rick was less commercially successful and less artistically effective in his career as a frontman for a band, and far more influential as a solo artist.

I must confess, I had never seen Rick Astley from the years before he ran solo. I have now found a rare clip on YouTube and I must now acknowledge my defeat. Rick Astley was worse in a band.

However I can save my rule. It shall now be "No artist that was good in a band that was itself successful, will ever be as good in their solo career afterwards."