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

wow great idea!

One of these:

Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" (1981)
Robert Plant, "Burning Down One Side" (1982)
Ric Ocasek, "Something to Grab For" (1983)
Daryl Hall, "Dreamtime" (1986)
Lou Gramm, "Midnight Blue" (1987)
Morrissey, "Suedehead" (1988)
Bob Mould, "See A Little Light

I'm leaning towards "Midnight Blue," in large part because unlike most of these other songs it was a "Whoa! How'd THIS guy come up with this?"

Debut Sting single was actually "Spread a Little Happiness" from Brimstone & Treacle (1982)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFxGtIqqwT4

xxp Yeah I didn't count that because oh god was that movie bad.

xp Whoops!

From the choices, "In the Air Tonight".

But I'd like to throw in a write-in vote for Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.", one of my all-time favorite songs

Petty seems like a bit of a ringer, but his song isn't what I'd vote for anyway. Clearly "Midnight Blue," but I'll make a special plea for "Johnny Can't Read" -- the only one of these I owned on 45 (picture sleeve!).

Also, I like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztnn_hSGtg0

good calls on Fagen and Wolf

A Britishes list might also have these:

Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself
Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart
Midge Ure - No Regrets
John Foxx - Underpass
Adam Ant - Goody Two-Shoes
Alison Moyet - Love Resurrection
Holly Johnson - Love Train
Nick Heywood - Whistle Down the Wind

'lights out' and 'oh sherrie' are great but i had to go with the god george michael

although TECHNICALLY isn't 'a different corner' or 'careless whisper' his first solo track? i remember being super confused by the mtv chyrons re: these songs

oh yes

They probably should be, yeah, but I went with the singles from albums credited to the singer; both of those appeared on albums credit to Wham!, right?

I'm trying to imagine "Wings (Featuring Paul McCartney)"

I Won't Back Down.

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.

I remember being excited about Sugar at the time, but ended up walking out four songs into their first Chicago show (I mainly went to see openers Scrawl, anyway). The songs just...sat there. They didn't jump or flail, which is an unfair criticism that made me realize (not that I didn't have some idea prior) that Hart was the other half (or more) of what made Hüsker Dü great.

(but I heard "Helpless" recently and thought it was pretty good)

xxp

hey "See A Little Light is on my short list

I was really into Workbook when it came out and thought See a Little Light was a great, super-catchy single. I listened to it again recently and jeeezus is it repetitive, it had lost its luster.

the thing about Midnight Blue is that the lyrics are aaallmost nonsensical, maybe even kinda dumb in someone else's hands, but Lou sells the shit out of them. It feels so full of ~meaning~ just by virtue of his delivery

also tamborine intro is super classic

dad says son life is simple it's either cherry red or midnight blue

...

cool thx dad (wtf)

but when lou sings it it's like YES OMG MIDNIGHT BLUE OF COURSE

you know guys

Prince could cover "Midnight Blue"

ooh totally

The worst elements of Workbook (overly maudlin) come into focus when considered out of context, but at the time, I'd say it was certainly a risk for Mould to put out a primarily acoustic album, so I'll give him credit for that. Love Heartbreak A Stranger. Mould solo live on the other hand has been practically the same setlist since 1989.

and "Dreaming I Am."

Lou Gramm, "Midnight Blue" (1987)
George Michael, "I Want Your Sex" (1987)
Morrissey, "Suedehead" (1988)
Bob Mould, "See A Little Light" (1989)

one of these

It seems like these albums should be in this conversation too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Bella_Donna_%28album%29.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/LindseyBuckinghamLawandOrderAlbumcover.jpg

Granted, Stevie's first solo single was actually a duet.

ohhhh man if "trouble" was on here i so would vote for it

i was gonna be all WHERE'S EASY LOVER but apparently, despite the BEHOLD A NEW ERA grandiosity of the video, it was actually the first single from philip bailey's second album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk9-NzavCPg

sadly doesn't qualify because she made a solo album named Manhole in the early '70s

(not sad grace slick made an album called manhole in the early '70s, tho)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPG15_P3D8

marty balin's '81 debut single was a top 10 hit

btw video gets Not Safe For Life about 2:45 in

this is a good one:

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

i loved workbook at the time and maybe love it even still, but I'm not giving mould extra credit for a solid album in a singles poll

woah, just recalled a big one no one's mentioned yet

CRAZY TRAIN

for posterity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tRmBD1UnrA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shO8vAqPtKQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqUvNOex8EE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwmO_GZfzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUITyhP-C3s

lol

Looking Back with Love is Mike Love's only solo album. It was released in 1981 under Boardwalk Records. The track "Be My Baby" was produced by Brian Wilson, who also sings background vocals on the cut.

Strangely, some copies came with stickers promoting the album as "the first solo album by a Beach Boys member", despite the release of Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue four years earlier, Carl Wilson's self-titled album earlier in 1981, and Bruce Johnston recording solo albums before he even joined the band, in addition to his 1977 album Going Public.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpjtHkPXE2I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=332SqqV-buk

was just about to post homosapien, great song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e72sMIsKdg

unless you want to count "endless love"

Marc Almond - "The Boy Who Came Back" and Ian McCulloch - "Proud to Fall" are nice too.
My vote goes to George Michael.

If it weren't for Midnight Blue, I'd be voting for The Knife Feels Like Justice, some Grade A roots rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0w8YcyLPmE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GgvoOKH4t8

post-king crimson & UK, pre-Asia

For a second I totally blanked on what "Midnight Blue" sounds like, again, but then just as quickly I remembered it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNAy15RB2vs

dammit apparently paul rodgers played EVERY INSTRUMENT on his '83 solo album but the single aint on youtube

Does Gary Numan's "Cars" count in this?

Wait, that was '79.

Springsteen and "Atlantic City?"

xp Tubeway Army were still Numan backing band for a number of years. They just stopped using the name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3X6KtQ7nxQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3c79ZxZ38

YEAHHH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgwmLq1acIo

Springsteen and "Atlantic City?"

great single, but nix. even less legit than tom petty, who at least included "& the heartbreakers" on all his previous album covers. and i'd nix petty too if i had the supreme authority.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fRZpxGHwDM

i want to thank croup for breaking my browser several times.

sorry

all future obscurities will be linked not embedded

Tommy Shaw - Girls with Guns.

What about Robbie Robertson?

He wasn't the lead singer but he was considered the leader of The Band. Showdown at Big Sky was his debut single, a vintage piece of late 80s Daniel Lanois production.

WHAT ABOUT MIDNIGHT BLUE

killfiling bastards I knew it I knew it

voted Midnight Blue

I hadn't heard it for about 20 years and then it came in a supermarket and I wondered, "Who is this?" and then I thought "Why am I not listening to music that sounds like this all the time?"

It's no Midnight Blue, but we should pay our respects to the great Ray Parker Jr, whom upon leaving Raydio began a doozy of a solo career with his epic The Other Woman.

Nobody understands modern romance like Ray Parker Jr.

Also, what about Daryl Hall, Dreamtime?

had to vote 'midnight blue' over 'in the air tonight', both huge classics, but man o man did 'desert moon' tempt me. there's enough suggestions not in the poll here to do a followup poll imo.

Pete Townshend's (who sang lead a bunch, but obviously wasn't The Lead Singer) first solo album came out in 1972, but his first solo single, "Let My Love Open The Door," was released in 1980 (and was as big a hit as the Who ever had, hitting #9).

I adore "Dreamtime" despite being about a minute too long and boasting too much unhinged David Stewart; it's still a better production than "Don't Come Around Here No More" as far as luxuriant mid eighties paisley psychedelic rock goes. It's cool though that Hall's first solo single is as discrete a sonic entity as, say, "Out of Touch."

Suedehead

haha i just listened to 'dreamtime' (not nearly as fond of it as you are) and was somewhat mystified by the production, trying to figure out hall's vision and thinking 'this is what you might imagine an eric carmen record from around this time might sound like if you didn't know all too well what an eric carmen record from around this time actually sounds like', just a weird mess of bad mid 80s production ideas and hamfisted "60s" touches. how i didn't immediately think 'dave stewart' i don't know.

Many of these "solo" options offer a significantly different sound than if they would have done the same song with their original band. The George Michael singles are a huge leap from the WHAM! material, but could anybody really call WHAM! a "band"; seriously, they were an act. Singles like Midnight Blue Lights Outand Oh Sherrie could have just have easily been Foreigner, J Geils and Journey singles; so they should not get as much credit as something In the Air Tonight where Collins made a whole new sound that turned out be a bigger influence on the Genesis sound than the other way round.

Top marks go to what Byrne did with Eno on Regiment. In fact, of all the singles listed, I submit that none of them are on an album that established a new direction in a more satisfying way than My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. If Rei Momo would've had a single he could have slipped another one before the end of the decade -- and again, a fresh new direction.

So, with a premium placed on defining styles that expand or diverge from the band from which they came...

David Byrne, by a mile.

also rans include;
Phil Collins
Sting
David Lee Roth (really?)

i like the mick and the sting up there far more than i should

haha i just listened to 'dreamtime' (not nearly as fond of it as you are) and was somewhat mystified by the production

I like how what is in essence a guitar song bolsters one of Hall's most assholic performances ("I saw you standin' and I FELT your rage") where the synths and harmonic patterns on the H&O stuff mitigated the nastiness. It only works once. I actually own this album. Man, does it sound expensive.

Thought about Robbie rob when I went in my binge but dude wasn't a "lead singer" in the band by any measure

rather; Many of these "solo" options don't offer...

write-in votes for lindsey buckingham's 'trouble' and stevie nicks 'leather and lace' (though not quite solo)

All this talk about "Dreamtime" made me wonder if there weren't any singles released off of Daryl Hall's first solo album Sacred Songs.

"Something In 4/4 Time" was!

apparently 'stop draggin' my heart around' was the first single from bella donna, 'leather and lace' was the followup. pretty canny of her to have her first two solo singles not be flying solo. can you imagine holding 'edge of seventeen' in reserve?

and "Stop Draggin'" remains Tom Petty's biggest chart hit too.

discogs lied to me about the order of those, but the catalogue numbers tell the truth

it just seemed a little weird to me that 'leather and lace' would be her first single, though it makes sense - eagles plus fleetwood mac! - there's no fucking way that record's not a hit.

Well, yeah.

Hahaha, turns out I've never heard Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue" before and assumed we were talking about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxk4bD6LoKM

Gramm's is pretty Seger/Mellencampy.

Oh man, I love Midnight Blue SO much, I can't possibly vote for anything else.

I kind of wonder why Sting is held in such low regard and disdain. I mean I get it, but he doesn't strike me as any more full of himself than say Bono or Paul Simon. anyone?

That's it: he's just as full of himself but with few solo songs commensurate with his self-regard.

http://youtu.be/E9x-Mu5xyXE

bah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9x-Mu5xyXE

lindsey buckingham's 'trouble'

ooh that's a bad miss. Would be strongly impelled to vote for this.

Don't think I've heard "I Found Somebody", but Frey's second solo single "The One You Love" still gets tons of airplay in my area and I've developed a certain appreciation for it, such a sweet saxophone groove

DON: Well, yeah.

is it just pavlovian at this point

It is interesting, on their first solo records, how closely Frey hewed to the Eagles sound while Henley was like "LOL time to make a new wave record!"

yeah i'll ride for the one u love. It has a v unfreylike grace.

still can't not love dirty laundry even though the scoldy judgy lyrics are abonimable. I just love the arrangement and production so much.

all she wants to do is dance can GTFO though

i have my limits

FM is a tough one. They have less of a lead singer than they do three singers who sing lead.

Not gonna lie, I stopped reading and voted after I saw the first choice.

I'm the one voting for Ice Cube, though I don't know if he would qualify as a "singer," per se.

Never even heard this album but i've been thinking about the ritchie/commodores lately:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/Lionel_Richie_(self-titled_album_-_cover_art).jpg

Ian Anderson - Fly By Night

i'm going to be a good boy and not embed this clip of Ian twirling his flute around alone with a keyboard player on the leo sayer show, but it's fucking hilarious

Boy George Everything I Own

croup that reminds me, that top 40 tumblr you do is fantastic

yeah I listened to the early eighties top 20 playlist the other morning

oh Boy George's 'Everything I Own' -- that was a favorite song when it came out, I haven't heard it in so long

thanks croup

you're welcome, y'all!

croup that reminds me, that top 40 tumblr you do is fantastic

― balls, Wednesday, July 23, 2014 5:19 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whats it called this tumblr

http://50yearsoftop40.tumblr.com/

o i meant his other one - http://my40plusplusfetish.tumblr.com

jk. DO NOT CLICK THAT. DO NOT DO NOT CLICK THAT.

Tags: 69, Fistplay, It Sharted In The...

haha

nothing wrong with some hot ladies. Gives me something to grab for. My vote.

I wash hoping someone would talk about that first Ric Ocasek solo, supposedly more synth-heavy than his Cars stuff.

That particular song is more guitar heavy than The Cars at that moment. It might as well have been a Cars album. I like the single. Have the 45 with the picture sleeve.

DON: Well, yeah.

never not funny

literally just learnt that AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was a single. If I'd known that all along, I might vote for it, but that whole album just feels like a piece to me. I Want Your Sex would be a contender, if it had been Yog's debut. If DLR was listed as the Crazy From The Heat EP, not just California Girls, hands-down winner. So that leaves me with .... voting for Suedehead?

:( you guys

Suedehead popped up on my giant spotify playlist this evening. It's still fantastic.

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