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Most Successful Artist?

DixonHur

By DixonHur
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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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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?

 

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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 24,908

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Chris Cornell was pretty much backbone to Soundgarden and Audioslave (though in fairness the backstory is more that the Rage guys hit upon him after dicking around with other options) and if you are ok with throwing Temple of the Dog (which he started up) in there you got your three.  

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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9 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Chris Cornell was pretty much backbone to Soundgarden and Audioslave (though in fairness the backstory is more that the Rage guys hit upon him after dicking around with other options) and if you are ok with throwing Temple of the Dog (which he started up) in there you got your three.  

Yes, I loved Temple of the Dog.  Chris definitely makes the list.

 

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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1 minute ago, Rip76 said:

Paul McCartney

Beatles, McCartney, Wings

Tom Petty

TP and the HB’s, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys

Definitely McCartney...I love Tom, but as mentioned above I think super groups shouldn't count...but I'm open to the idea.  I mean I guess technically Temple of the Dog is a super group.

Just hard not to be successful when you combine legends into one group.  

Vince Clarke, Neil Young, etc, started new bands with, at the time, unknowns.

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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18,216

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6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Well, even if you don't count The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton formed Cream, Blind Faith and Derek & The Dominos, and obviously had a massive solo career.

Clapton was the second name that came to mind. But his best work was as a free agent with Mayall, followed by Cream and Yardbirds. Generally, the quality of Clapton’s output was inversely proportional to the amount of control he had over it. 

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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18,216

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2 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Never heard of them, did they sell over 1 million albums?  aka go platinum?

Either way, thanks, I'll check them out, because that's the point of this thread for me...discovery.

Fuck if I know, but they fucking rock and were massively influential in the stoner / desert rock scene.

 

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45,881

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1 minute ago, BrickHorn said:

Clapton was the second name that came to mind. But his best work was as a free agent with Mayall, followed by Cream and Yardbirds. Generally, the quality of Clapton’s output was inversely proportional to the amount of control he had over it. 

Doesn't matter.  The standard was "sales".  Frankly, he should get credit for founding The Yardbirds, given the fact that he joined about a day and a half after they were "formed".  Beyond that, I would think that rejecting "supergroups" is odd given that once someone runs in rare air they're not very likely to seek out rando dudes in the sticks over friends they know and respect.

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Doesn't matter.  The standard was "sales".  Frankly, he should get credit for founding The Yardbirds, given the fact that he joined about a day and a half after they were "formed".  Beyond that, I would think that rejecting "supergroups" is odd given that once someone runs in rare air they're not very likely to seek out rando dudes in the sticks over friends they know and respect.

Like I said, I'm open to including super groups, but I really respect folks like Vince Clarke who started 3 bands with unknowns and still managed to go platinum with each.

Even including super groups, being a founder of 3 major bands is pretty elite company to keep.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20,931

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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?

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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18,216

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2 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Doesn't matter.  The standard was "sales". 

Thats ambiguous. My point is Clapton was a guitarist-for-hire for the best parts of his career, and kind of just along for the ride. He certainly wasn’t remotely the leader of any of his first (and best) three bands. That’s why he kept quitting: if he had a disagreement, he lost and had to move on. 

So yeah, Clapton was in a bunch of successful bands. But most of them weren’t his band. 

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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2 minutes ago, 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

See this is where the super group thing complicates things. 

To me Grohl is just 2...Nirvana and Foo Fighters.  Them Crooked Vultures is cheating in my mind, but I'll probably be outvoted, which is cool.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45,881

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7 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

See this is where the super group thing complicates things. 

To me Grohl is just 2...Nirvana and Foo Fighters.  Them Crooked Vultures is cheating in my mind, but I'll probably be outvoted, which is cool.

He's not 2, he didn't found Nirvana.  (Am I mistaking your criteria?)

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20,931

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I just feel like, if you're a primary creative force it's unusual for you to go out and start a bunch of bands that aren't you and aren't supergroups.

Ok, so - Jeff Tweedy.

Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Jeff Tweedy

He started Uncle Tupelo with Jay Farrar and they butted heads until they hated each other and broke apart, he started Wilco which is his show (Jay Bennett out back should've told you) but he still needs to do solo stuff for things that are even more just his shit. And then there's some supergroup Golden Smog shit that's for funzies.

By the time you get super established I think it's super groups or the Your Name band. Both because it's hard to just... start a group with some dudes, and then it also requires a lot of unusual personality stuff and happenstance to get the right guys together to even make that happen? Tweedy is my example of what that would more typically look like.

It would be weird for Jason Isbell to pluck me off of soundcloud and we go start the next Drive By Truckers.

Answer to the thread title is Tay Tay.

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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18,216

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7 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Sure, but I took it as "founding member".  @Brickhorn is taking it further to "most important member".  (lulz)

I interpreted “started” to mean more than just “was recruited by others to join the band from the beginning.” Starting implies to me some creative spark: who had the idea to start the band and worked to make it happen. Clapton was not that guy when he was playing good music.

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19,449

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So the musician has to be in the original lineup from the start?  I haz confuse.  

Jimmy Page-The New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page solo, the Firm, Coverdale/Page, Page & Plant.

and I agree with several other nominations above.  There are so many delta bluesmen with their fingerprints all over so many bands and music over the years.  But they aren't considered "founding members" because of the trajectory of the business, so that's tough. 

I'll throw a curveball, best drummer across bands:

Bill Bruford:  Yes, King Crimson, Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe, Genesis and Earthworks 

Think about what the guys of the Grateful Dead did:

Jerry Garcia:  The Warlocks, The Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia Band, David Grisman Quarter, Old & In the Way, Dylan & the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Warren Zevon, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and Country Joe McDonald

Bob Weir:  The Warlocks, The Grateful Dead, Bob Weir (solo), Bob Weir & the Weirdos, Bob Weir & the Wolf Bros., Ratdog, The Other Ones, Furthur, the Dead, Dead & Co., Bobby & the Midnites, and Kingfish.  

the list goes on and on.  But for recorded music as we know it, my money is on Bobby "Blue" Bland.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45,881

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5 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

No, I guess I'm just dumb, I assumed he was a founding member of Nirvana.  Mea Culpa if wrong.

No big deal, I think he was like their 6th drummer or some such.  Only one other guy recorded with them, though (to the best of my knowledge), on their debut "Bleach".

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45,881

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2 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Yeah, I was worried the criteria would be too narrow, but I was trying to find new music from visionaries who were good enough to create multiple bad ass bands with total randos.

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.

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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9 minutes ago, 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.

I guess that was kind of my point in the beginning.  Vince Clarke really didn't gain individual recognition until his 3rd major band (Erasure)...yet he had 2 platinum albums with two other bands he started with unknows.  Hell, even with Erasure he found Andy Bell via paper an ad in Melody Maker...that's about as unknown as it gets.

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11,292

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2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Three is difficult (and rare). I can think of some good examples for two.

Ben Gibbard - Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service

Damon Albarn - Gorillaz, Blur 

 

Good point, 3 is too hard.  Let's drop it to 2, but no super groups and no solo careers.  Have to start at least two successful bands with "randos".

 

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9 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Let's take it to the absurd:  Prince (The Revolution, New Power Generation, solo).

I mean, he's a solo artist.

It's a really tough criteria to meet.

Saw a dude on the plane yesterday with 2 records in his hand, which in and of itself was unusual.  Whitney Houston and Prince.

I was like damn, I'd like to listen to one of those...

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