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Most Successful Artist?


DixonHur

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3 minutes ago, slorch said:

So Sammy Hagar?

I think being there at the start is a key differentiating factor, also.- with regard to this discussion.

Yeah, I think being a founder is an important factor.

We could also include bands that sprang out of other bands, like Joy Division to New Order, and Bauhaus to Love and Rockets.

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3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't want to start a thread about supergroups, so riddle me this:  Is Traveling Wilburys the biggest supergroup of all time?  I mean, what band could possibly top it?  Dylan, a Beatle, Orbison and Petty?  Yowza.  I didn't even like them all that much.

And Jeff Lynne. You're right.

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8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't want to start a thread about supergroups, so riddle me this:  Is Traveling Wilburys the biggest supergroup of all time?  I mean, what band could possibly top it?  Dylan, a Beatle, Orbison and Petty?  Yowza.  I didn't even like them all that much.

The Highwaymen would be a contender too

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I could argue Bob Dylan, simply as he has created and fronted so many bands it's literally mind blowing.  But since he was always the front man except for Traveling Wilburys, you guys may not think it counts.  Yet I could point at his move from a folks band to an electric guitar band as perhaps the single seminal moment of change in the history of modern music.  

But I understand if you completely disagree with my premise. 😉

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On 12/22/2023 at 8:48 PM, Celery Man said:

if the game is "dudes who have been in lots of successful bands" than we shouldn't be this far in without at least a mention of Grohl

 

obviously Nirvana, Foo Fighters. Tenacious D. Them Crooked Vultures. I think he was in Queens of the Stone Age?

Yeah, Grohl absolutely has to be in this conversation.  He was in Queens.  Played all the drums on their biggest album.

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On 12/22/2023 at 8:17 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Zappa?  I mean, he sure dragged a long litany of "randos" (geniuses) into the spotlight.

I was trying to figure Steely Dan (which included Skunk Baxter who founded Doobie Brothers), Eagles, Poco, the list goes on, but it's hard to get past "2".  Once you're famous, your next new group is probably a supergroup.

Along the lines of Zappa would be Robert Fripp.  King Crimson has been about 12 different bands over 50 years.

those prog rock groups of the 70s were always very incestuous.  Greg Lake was on KC first album and there for Emerson, Lake & Palmer (which probably falls into the supergroup category). Bill Bruford drummed for Yes, KC, Genesis and had a solo career, etc….

Edited by Goredho
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On 12/22/2023 at 7:11 PM, DixonHur said:

I was listening to Yazoo (or Yaz for us Americans) today and it got me thinking about people who have had the most successful careers in music.  Not total records sold, but most successful bands started by one person.

Vince Clarke was a founding member of Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure.  

I can think of several artists who have been founding members of 2 successful bands, but who else has had Platinum records as a founding member of 3 or more bands?

 

Damon Albarn - Blur (platinum), Gorillaz (platinum), The Good, The Bad and the Queen (Gold), solo + tons of collaborations. Close enough to your criteria I hope. Who doesn't want to collaborate with Damon? 

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Actually maybe that backing band is just a funny flip to this  -

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover_(band)

 

Clover was an American country rock band formed in Mill Valley, California and active from 1967 to 1978.[1] Clover are best known as the backing band for Elvis Costello's 1977 debut album My Aim Is True (recorded in the UK), and for its members going on to greater success with Huey Lewis and the News, the Doobie Brothers, and Lucinda Williams.

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One other adjacent topic thought is that George Harrison has to be the greatest non-primary songwriter in a band that is the primary thing all of its members are famous for. By a big margin, right?

 

also, Lou Barlow - Dinosaur Jr, Folk Implosion, Sebadoh

Edited by Celery Man
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31 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

One other adjacent topic thought is that George Harrison has to be the greatest non-primary songwriter in a band that is the primary thing all of its members are famous for. By a big margin, right?

 

George Harrison was my first thought.   And the Beatles might not have recorded many of his songs, but IMO, I like his solo stuff a lot more than any other Beatle and Beatle material was generally by favorite songs. 

Beatles songs:  Here Comes The Son, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, 

Solo career on these three alone: Beware of Darkness, What Is Life,  Give Me Love

And yep.   Wilburys for greatest supergroup.   They wrote all new songs among themselves.  And on that first record, not a bump in the road.   

Highway Men did older songs of their solo career and covers.  

 

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