POLLnight Blue: 80s Debut Singles from Lead Singers Who Went Solo

Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, Morrissey, George Michael and even the Sting are pretty good. Lack of "Oh Sherrie' in the original list is a massive oversight, though.

Solo Mick Jagger may be the all-around worst.

the "Just Another Night" video was made for gifs and freeze frames.

I'll normally rep for Roger Waters' solo career but "The Pros & Cons of Hitch-Hiking" is a horrible, horrible song.

Another addition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjqOsYRQI0o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwaj_kvA7sg

Ice Cube towers over everything else on the list.

Can't believe I forgot Perry, Wolf and Fagen /facepalm

A surprising number of these -- Jagger, Wolf, Gramm, Byrne, Henley, Frey -- are not on Spotify!

Belinda Carlisle - Mad About You

^ not her best, but a decent-sized hit

Did someone ask for some more cheese?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfmYCM4CS8o

Also, if Bob Mould counts then so does the superior:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G71dWFXJ0FY

not her best

Oh, but it is.

"Circle in the Sand" > "Mad About You" (not by much but still)

otm

Thomas Dolby synth solo vs Andy Taylor guitar solo

DLR v v narrowly over Cube (whose best was yet to come anyway)

altho I probably would've voted Careless Whispers if that was on here. GM's lone moment of total perfection.

by that logic, I would have voted for "Land of Confusion" if it was on here

"Careless Whisper" is a 1984 single by George Michael (credited to "Wham! featuring George Michael" in Japan, Canada and the US), released by Epic Records in the UK, Japan, and other countries; and by Columbia Records in North America. The song was George Michael's first solo single although he was still performing in Wham! at the time (the song is included on Wham!'s album Make It Big).

well that clears things up

so glad Andrew Ridgely didn't mar the track with his trademark... um... wait, what did Andrew Ridgely do again?

He helped write the song, apparently.

Thought Gregg Allman's 1987 "I'm No Angel" would qualify, but he had one solo single in the 1970s.

Peter Murphy?

Genesis (featuring Phil Collins)

This one will be Morrissey in a mudslide, I should think. But I have a soft spot for Robert Plant's synthy solo stuff.

Also, the joy of David Lee Roth's solo ep....

Also, if Bob Mould counts then so does the superior:

yeah, "2541" >>>>>>>>>> "see a little light." actually, "2541" >>>>>>>>> everything else either hart or mould has done since.

(though i much prefer the acoustic "2541," from hart's debut 12-inch, to the album version.)

and, yeah, petty definitely seems like a ringer here.

fcc otm. Never got into post-Huskers Mould. Way too slick and self-conscious.

And wasn't "2541" (the EP) released before Workbook?

This one will be Morrissey in a mudslide, I should think.

Maybe somewhere else on the internets, but not here.

you guys

YOU GUYS

midnight blue 4 eva!!!!

(xxp) yup, "2541" came first.

there are some ideas on workbook that i quite like, but as a full album it's trying.

Veg otm

I found a live version...sound is super-shitty so it sounds a little toothless but Lou kills it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjZcc34G4iI

missed the cutoff for the classic rock poll by a matter of weeks!

xp This one's not bad, either:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQbAizfsvrQ

debated several sensible choices, only to realize the list contains 'There's a monster in my pants!'.
Viva Fred!

Workbook got the deluxe treatment earlier this year; it held up splendidly, although, yeah, he grumbles rather portentously and pretentiously for too long.

I <3 midnight blue and there's a lot of worthy stuff itp but only one track that changed the sound of music and that's "in the air tonight" and I'll dither a lot out of affection for other things and then vote for it

it's weird how I feel like I outgrew Mould post-adolescence. whenever I revisit his stuff I really just can't relate to all the endless moaning about his horrible relationships.

xp

whole lotta love for "burning down one side" which sounds so happy to not be a Zep track and sounds so good doing it

on which Phil Collins drums!

I can take or leave most of Mould solo, but I adore Copper Blue.

this sounds picky but I don't count Sugar as solo.

it's weird how I feel like I outgrew Mould post-adolescence. whenever I revisit his stuff I really just can't relate to all the endless moaning about his horrible relationships.

xp

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, July 22, 2014 3:33 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm.

The 1989 promo cassette was packaged in a mock-up of a composition book:
http://eil.com/images/main/Bob+Mould+-+Workbook+-+CASSETTE+ALBUM-221652.jpg

Bob's liner notes for the promo reminded me of his worst late-HD lyrics, something like, "This album shows how we've all grown...how I've grown." Groan.

it's an album that shows how he groans

OMG, I kept thinking, Midnight Blue, wtf is that? So I click on the link and hear the first couple of notes - which of course are not the chorus - and then the chorus comes spilling back to me all at once, for the first time in decades! Awesome. it's like Lou Gramm doing "Man in the Mirror." Has it ever been used over the end credits of a film? Like "Mannequin 2" or something? "About Last Night?"

The verses might be even cooler than the chorus.

Mould solo has been pretty turgid and lame. I once saw him live and solo not too long ago, maybe a decade ago, before he went back to a power trio, and I overheard some guy at the merch booth just really politely telling the person that he's giving up as a fan. It was pretty much "look, I've bought everything Bob has done, every album, every band, and seen him live a dozen times, and good for him, but I'm sorry, I'm just not going to do it anymore." It was super harsh in its calm politeness. Granted, it was during his dance dalliance, but still, I've never seen or heard anything like that. Of course, Mould got better after that - his most recent two are solid - but reclaiming the quality and consistency of the first Sugar album (that and the EP are pretty much the apotheosis of his talents) was too little, too late.

The "Burning Down One Side" video is very gif-able and fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4-nhkqpf8s

For all you lot moaning about his groaning, See A Little Light is pretty light and airy, and if anything a little too much so afaic. The second single off Workbook - Wishing Well - is def one of the keepers for me though.

just listened to Midnight Blue for the first time

how do any of you people remember that you ever heard this

it helps that the cute older boys cover band performed it on my v first day of high school :D

someone edited the Suedehead video to fit the Sparks remix

i think midnight blue is quite memorable

mongrel fite!

sic u r so evolved, how do you cope with us mere mortals

I saw R.E.M. do this on this tour in '87. A friend of mine who was at the same show ended up working out next to Lou Gramm at a gym sometime the next year and told Lou that R.E.M. had done his song. Lou was apparently very excited to hear it.

http://youtu.be/SQbAizfsvrQ

I heard midnight blue for the first time today as far as I know and had exactly the same reaction as sic.

can't wait to find out what kind of ennui you guys deal w/ when you discover getting laid

balls will u marry me

jim you're thinking of Electric Blue, by Icehouse

now I am too, good times

if a boy had a chance...

can't wait to find out what kind of ennui you guys deal w/ when you discover getting laid

― balls, Wednesday, July 23, 2014 11:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

balls will u marry me

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl),

leave him alone he's mine

arg u greedy bitch you get all the good ones

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

just knowing about crazy train and homosapien means i must vote other, but i'm sure these scores more.

btw, "Spread a little happiness" doesn't count as he hadn't left the Police then.

Also, was in severe danger of voting that one, but for Morrissey.

That one being "Freefree set them free"

Briefly, we all thought "oh, solo Sting might not be so bad after all"

btw, "Spread a little happiness" doesn't count as he hadn't left the Police then.

well by that logic you'd also have to discount Phil Collins, David Byrne, Daryl Hall, Mick Jagger etc

Phil Collins over Ice Cube, because "In The Air Tonight" was his career high point.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

see now that's a top ten

lol who voted for Sting?

xposts well, I guess that would a slightly different poll, the "band split up, here's the songs I would rather do"

Any case up, that "Spread" sting song was a one-off whereas the ones on NickB's list were all 'as they wanted to be'

Only one other vote for David Byrne? Sad.

That was me.

You're obviously an astute and refined observer of the audio arts -- any insight on how Lou Gramm's plodding effort got so many votes?

no "Red Guitar" by David Sylvian.. that's the one for me.

any insight on how Lou Gramm's plodding effort got so many votes?

More people though it was the best song.

...that's very helpful...

you're a plodding effort

listen to that song 10 times in a row and give your take on it

it rules

the end

brb gonna plod through it