The Curse of the Spin-Off Band

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Have there been any good spin-off bands? Most seem to be unworthy in the face of the mother-band...for example Arena and Power Station. In your opinion have any artists surpassed their previous body of work in a new band (not a solo career)? Favourite spin-off's?

― james e l, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Of course that should be Arcadia not Arena! *mental note: always consult Hits of the 80's before posting*

― james edmund L, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Spin-off like New Order spun off?

Tom Tom Club doesn't surpass anything, but they made a name. The New Pornographers have certainly overshadowed their mother-bands, and I'm sure Elephant 6 has as much to offer in the spin-off department as they have to offer period (though I can't think of what).

― Keiko, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"Surpassed their previous body of work" perhaps sets the bar too high; there have certainly been bands that came close...Dukes of Stratosphear perhaps? Neu! was a spinoff of early Kraftwerk, and they certainly made their mark on the hipsters.

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

GOOD SPIN-OFFS: Hater from Soundgarden, New Wet Kojak from Girls Against Boys, The Creatures from Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Professionals from the Sex Pistols,

BAD SPIN-OFFS: Damage Manual from Killing Joke, Sweet 75 from Nirvana, Cinerama from The Wedding Present, Butter O8 from Cibo Matto/Blues Explosion, the Passengers from U2 (if that counts)

― alex in nyc, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Pearl Jam was, in a way a spin-off from many bands.

― dog latin, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I think I can reasonably say that the success of Crowded House far surpassed that of Split Enz in the early 80's, despite the Enz having bona fide international hits in 'I Got You' and 'Six Months in a Leaky Boat'.

― Grim Kim, Monday, 23 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

This is before my time, but I have two: (Original Band:New Band) 1. The New Yardbirds:Led Zeppelin; 2. The Move:ELO.

― Pudge, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Here's some others (Old:New) 1. The English Beat:Fine Young Cannibals or General Public; 2. Squeeze:Mike + the Mechanics. That's all for now.

― Pudge, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Trip Shakespeare spawned Semisonic, if I'm not mistaken.

― Grim Kim, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

GORILLAZ=BAD

― Pete, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

immersion, colin newman (of wire)'s current ambient/minimalist electronic project (did some d&b too in their older days) has some damn fine stuff. "days under the sun" and "self-portrait (immersed diary)" from _low impact_ are just gorgeous. importantly, he's managed to maintain his relevance by not trying to replicate the style of wire but by doing something that is fresh in the present context.

― sundar subramanian, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

spin-off thingy Schlammpeitziger are far far better than Mouse on Mars, who i don't really 'get'

― gareth, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

and, although i guess Manix and 4 Hero are the same thing really, i think the Manix releases were far superior

― gareth, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Although I have not heard the Poster Children, I really enjoyed the Salaryman in concert.

Bad spin off band: Tortoise. Elevator muzak for academics.

― Stevie Nixed, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Schlammpeitziger is not a spin-off from Mouse on Mars. Different guy named Jo Zimmerman. Andi & Jan just remastered one of his early casette releases. Check out Holosud if you like Schlammpeitziger, which is Zimmerman w/ Felix from F.X. Randomiz. Just as poppy and upbeat but w/ more sophisticated technology.

Spin offs...hmm....I like that band Kraftwerk that spun off from Organisation.

― Mark, Tuesday, 24 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Sex Pistols / PiL (though they were prolly as good as each other) Specials / Fun Boy Three (specials were better but FB3 had more success)

― dog latin, Wednesday, 25 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

two years pass...

revive

― Lord Custos Ressurectotron (Lord Custos Epsilon), Monday, 12 May 2003 11:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

three years pass...

C.O.B. > ISB (maybe not really a spinoff, per se)
Parsons/Hillman-era FBB > McGuinn/White-era BYRDS
New Yardbirds > Yardbirds

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 3 November 2006 07:03 (seventeen years ago) link

The Knitters were better than X
but
Infectious Grooves were much, much worse than Suicidal tendencies

― Juan Milius (Roger Fidelity), Friday, 3 November 2006 07:06 (seventeen years ago) link

album leaf > > tristeza

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Friday, 3 November 2006 07:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Hall & Oates >>>> John Oates' Phunk Shui

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 3 November 2006 17:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Gorillaz>Blur (This will be contentious, I can appreiciate Blur were good but I personally like music with bleeps in)

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Friday, 3 November 2006 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe we should define our terms here? It's one thing for a band to split up and its members to start new projects a la the Mars Volta or Enon or Wilco or PiL; another for a band to carry on under a different name with a revamped lineup, as with New Order (and am I crazy or did the entirety of Subway Sect carry on sans Vic Godard as JoBoxers?); and yet another prospect entirely for members of a band that is still a going concern to do their side project thing, like MSTRKRFT and the Tom Tom Club and Arcadia (or do they postdate Duran Duran?). Because if your definition of "spin-off band" includes all of those situations then it is not hard at all to find a ton of great groups, while the latter two tend to have a lower hit-miss ratio.

― owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Friday, 3 November 2006 18:12 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah this whole "spin-off" concept is fucked. with few exceptions anyone who plays in bands for any number of years is going to end up in a lot of different ones, and whether any of the bands is considered a 'spin-off' or 'side project' usually has to do with whether a musician's most successful band was their first or their most recent.

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Friday, 3 November 2006 18:21 (seventeen years ago) link

wow: is three and a half years the longest it's taken the ILX community to follow thru on a member's demand to "revive" thread?

and for an actual contribution to the thread:

danny & dusty were a fantastic spin-off band.

freakwater, too, if they count as a spin-off band.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Saturday, 4 November 2006 00:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Recent posts have made me rethink an answer here, but these bands were my first thoughts.

Bad Company
ELO
Hot Tuna
Eurythmics
Flo & Eddie

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 4 November 2006 06:51 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost No, I'm pretty sure Cathy Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean were playing together,venturing from their parents' homes in Goshen (burb) to downtown Louisville, in/as the covers-only embryonic Freakwater, way before Janet went off to college, where Eleventh Dream Day started to form (and they were both in lots of short-lived lineups, seperately and together, before either Freakwater and EDD stablized, relatively speaking). Wasn't New Yardbirds really new Zep, billed as New Yardbirds while touring, I think I read (apparently Page was filling out his contract with Gomelsky or whoever). Hey that reminds me of Keith Relf Renaissance, later Renaissance, which I hope I spelled right.(No endorsement of anybody mentioned in this post, except N.Y.s) Also Robert Plant & Strange Sensation, Talk Show (was that Alice In Chains or STP? Anyway, with a diff singer than Staley or Wieland)(and of course Velvet Revolver, GnR with Weiland not Rose; Explorers, Manzera & Mackay with a faux Ferry; Nite City, Manzarek with faux Jimbo; Butts Band , with real Krieger and Densmore, and maybe a guy from the Rascals, right? Doors Of The 21rst Century, Manzarek, Krieger, with IanAstbury and Stewart Copeland, did anybody see that? I wouldn't have minded, to hear them play, anyway, dunno bout the vocals, but would've worked some of the time, comedywise)

― don (dow), Saturday, 4 November 2006 07:03 (seventeen years ago) link

2. Squeeze:Mike + the Mechanics

Um, not exactly. Unless Squeeze was a spin-off of Ace.

― Hideous Lump (Hideous Lump), Saturday, 4 November 2006 07:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Doo Rag was pretty good (spun-off from Mondo Guano)

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Saturday, 4 November 2006 07:42 (seventeen years ago) link

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