1992 Plight of Going Solo

[michelej1]

[Here's an old article, I'm just uploading]

New Jersey Record (NJ), August 2, 1992

Section: LIFESTYLE / ENTERTAINMENT

THAT SWEET SOLE MUSIC SINGLEMINDED STARS OFTEN FIND FLIP SIDE IS LONELY TEARDROPS


STEVE MORSE, Special from The Boston Globe

Going solo. It's a dream and a curse in pop music. You might leave a successful "brand-name" band for creative, financial, or mental health reasons, only to find new pressures and the scary feeling of starting over with less name recognition yet more to prove.

For every solo act that's made it - Bobby Brown after leaving New Edition, Robert Plant after Led Zeppelin - dozens have crashed and burned.

A quick quiz:

* Fleetwood Mac sold millions of records, but how many people know of Lindsey Buckingham, the spark behind their 21-million-selling "Rumours" album?

* C+C Music Factory won MTV's best new group award last year, but how many folks recognize lead rapper Freedom Williams?

* The Eagles sold 15 million copies of their "Hotel California" album in 1976, but how many know former singer Glenn Frey? They may know ex-Eagle Don Henley, but he's one of the lucky solo acts who have made the transition.

It's with a mixture of hope and chutzpah that these and other gone-solo acts, such as Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (both ex-Eurythmics), are again knocking at the marketplace door. Buckingham, Frey, and Lennox all have persuasive new albums, while rapper Williams, who just left C+C Music Factory because he felt financially cheated (he's filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the producers), has a new album next month on his aptly named label, Knock 'Em Out of the Box.

"You have to go where your heart is - and my heart was no longer with C+C Music Factory," says Williams, who starred on the group's Top 5 hits "Gonna Make You Sweat" and "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm."

"I couldn't make another album under the conditions I was in," he adds from New York. "It's like a marriage. If you have to be married to someone you don't want to be with anymore, it's only going to get worse."

"I think at a certain point we really had just had enough," echoes Lennox, the former Eurythmics singer whose soulful new album, "Diva," marks her departure from longtime partner (and former boyfriend) Stewart.

Ex-Fleetwood Mac brain trust Buckingham is similarly blunt about his exit. "Leaving Fleetwood Mac was a survival move, because I couldn't function in that situation anymore," he says from Los Angeles. "I think they understood that. It was a drag.

"There was a lot of craziness, so you had to often settle for what you could get, and that was not something that I felt comfortable with," Buckingham adds. "There's always compromise involved in a group. And that's fine, but at some point to me, it just wasn't buyable anymore. It wasn't a situation where I felt I could be very creative for myself or for anyone else."

Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac five years ago. The official reason was that he was "tired of the road." He's since been holed up in his home studio, finally emerging with the challenging "Out of the Cradle," a solo disc on which he plays most of the instruments. The album has the pop exuberance of his bigger hits with Fleetwood Mac (among them the Top 10 songs "Go Your Own Way" and "Big Love") but also the experimental edges of his favorite Mac album, "Tusk."

In fact, Buckingham now admits he started to withdraw from the band after "Tusk," the 1979 follow-up to the hot-selling "Rumours." The pressure to produce another "Rumours ' took its toll, while he also notes how bureaucratic the band had become, with lawyers and managers hanging on at every turn. Not to mention the tabloid sensationalism that climaxed in a book by Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood (entitled "Fleetwood") in which he suggests Buckingham once slapped co-singer (and former girlfriend) Stevie Nicks.

"I think everyone in the band was disappointed in Mick for coming out with something that trashy," says Buckingham. "The last time I saw Stevie, she came up to me apologizing for Mick writing that I'd slapped her, which never happened. Things like that were a product of Mick sitting around late at night with a writer for months, gabbing away about what he thought happened in situations and maybe not taking much responsibility for the editing of it. . . . It was not a class act."

A more experienced solo explorer is Frey, who's been on his own for a decade. He sang many of the Eagles' top hits ("Take It Easy," "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Lyin' Eyes," "Heartache Tonight") before the group called it quits.

"The Eagles taught me many things, but I was also without a life," Frey says from his home in Aspen. "I couldn't even take a vacation without asking three or four people if it was all right. . . . The Eagles had become a beast, a monster that had to be fed. I found myself making a lot of money, but the band had become a 24-hour-a-day job."

Because of that, Frey wasn't keen on a mega-bucks reunion tour proposed last year. "I'd get together with the guys to do one show if it was really important, but not nine months of touring," he says. "I have a wife and daughter now, and I'm involved in the community in Aspen."

Every few years, Frey resurfaces with a solo hit. There was "The Heat Is On" from the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack in 1985. And there's been "Smuggler's Blues," "You Belong to the City," and "True Love." But none of it has been easy.

"You start back at zero when you go solo," Frey says. "When I think about it, the failure rate of people coming out of successful bands is very high. I knew there would be certain risks. But the bonus was that I could go at my own pace. Sure, I'd like to sell multiplatinum albums again like I did with the Eagles, rather than the gold records I sell now, but I wouldn't trade it for the sanity I've gotten. I measure success a lot differently now than record sales."

Having left his Eagles base of Los Angeles, Frey lives year-round in Aspen, where he also bought the house next door (from singer Jimmy Buffett) and built a studio in Buffett's old office. There, Frey recorded his new album, "Strange Weather," the first socially conscious disc of his career. A solid effort that marks his finest work since the Eagles, it surprises with barbed songs about Ronald Reagan's legacy in "He Took Advantage" and "I've Got Mine."

"I'm an easygoing person, but like a lot of Americans, I've just been pushed too far," Frey says, admitting that some of his new consciousness was spurred by former Eagles partner Henley, who remains a friend.

"One thing I admire about Henley's work is that he takes on subject matter that's important to him, but he also makes entertaining music with good chord progressions. That's what I tried to do with the new album," says Frey.

"I'm really starting to enjoy my solo career. And I'm not going to stop. If this new album doesn't work out, I'm going right back in the studio to do another. Maybe experience breeds confidence after all."

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by michelej1

. . . In fact, Buckingham now admits he started to withdraw from the band after "Tusk," the 1979 follow-up to the hot-selling "Rumours." . . . .

I think this lends some support to my theory that a pattern emerged after Tusk of him wanting to go solo, but needing FM for the wave of popularity it gave him. Again, it's just a theory, but it is somewhat supported I think.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I think this lends some support to my theory that a pattern emerged after Tusk of him wanting to go solo, but needing FM for the wave of popularity it gave him. Again, it's just a theory, but it is somewhat supported I think.

Stevie said she thought Lindsey stayed for as long as he did because he didn't want to be the first one to say goodbye. I see no reason to think that he stayed because of the "wave of popularity it gave him" when he did absolutely nothing to capitalize on that popularity. If you're in it for the "wave of popularity," you don't leave on the verge of a blockbuster tour that would have reaped millions for you and given you national (or worldwide) exposure. Even Mick was shocked -- not that Lindsey left, but at the timing of Lindsey's exit, after he'd worked on Tango so long and hard. and the lucrative part of that work was just If he was in it for the fame and fortune, then he wouldn't have left that tour money on the table, when he had nothing going on in his solo career to take it's place.

I think he stayed as long as he did for emotional reasons, not knowing how to make the break.

Michele

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Stevie said she thought Lindsey stayed for as long as he did because he didn't want to be the first one to say goodbye. I see no reason to think that he stayed because of the "wave of popularity it gave him" when he did absolutely nothing to capitalize on that popularity . . . .

Thus my point that I think he never really got that you had to release the record within a year of the wave - bless his heart

But, I agree that that was one part of it. I think that he liked being with Stevie, esp. up to and including Mirage and despite anyone else in his life. I also think that he was the one who chased her all that time. I never really got that vibe from her, though I do think she cut her eyes more than once at him all those years As for the rest of FM, I think the sentiment was perhaps not as intense (how could it be) - but, clearly still there.

[michelej1]

So, by leaving before a tour that would have made him millions, he used FM to help the solo career that he didn't promote and didn't even have for most of the time that he was out of FM, but you explain the fact that he didn't promote it by saying that he didn't understand that he had to do so within a year or even within two or three years.

That's a very unique perspective and the good thing about it is that it works no matter what, because everything he does that is not opportunistic can be explained away by saying he just didn't know how to do them. Your arguments are foolproof.


Michele

[strandinthewind]

I think you are not reading what I have been saying, or, when you get down to it, what LB has been saying

But, whatever

[Sarah]

too many lawyers on this board.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Sarah

too many lawyers on this board.

Lord Child - I agree

[rubytuesday]

Originally Posted by michelej1

So, by leaving before a tour that would have made him millions, he used FM to help the solo career that he didn't promote and didn't even have for most of the time that he was out of FM, but you explain the fact that he didn't promote it by saying that he didn't understand that he had to do so within a year or even within two or three years.

That's a very unique perspective and the good thing about it is that it works no matter what, because everything he does that is not opportunistic can be explained away by saying he just didn't know how to do them. Your arguments are foolproof.


Michele

lol that's what I was thinking

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by rubytuesday

lol that's what I was thinking

You actually think

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Sarah

too many lawyers on this board.

But it's not legal logic at play. It's more like Alice Through the Looking Glass reverse reasoning. Michele

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by michelej1

But it's not legal logic at play. It's more like Alice Through the Looking Glass reverse reasoning. Michele

You mean that same logic you used in the other thread when you said "I don't think he needs the FM money at all to live, but I think he does use it to keep fueling his non-profitable solo work, which is why he could go on that extensive UTS tour, flying around on private jets. SYW gave him the ability to tour so long on UTS."

When I say he uses FM and the wave of popularity and money it provides him (one cannot exist without the other - they go hand in hand) to fuel his less popular and therefore less lucrative solo stuff, you argue that my logic is rubbish. When you say it though, it is okay. Do you not see a problem there

Maybe you are arguing that my speculation that historically he takes too long to fully take advantage of that wave of popularity is incorrect. But, I think the way GOS morphed in the SYW (five or so years after The Dance) and the solo record he morphed into TITN (five or so years after Mirage) supports my theory of a pattern. OOTC was also about five years after TITN, which though he left before the tour which would have made him millions, he still got the recognition with the singles and by quitting, which was all over the press at the time - putting him again in the spotlight, though I think he left for different reasons than to gain popularity. I think that if he had released OOTC in 1988 or 89 as opposed to 1992, it maybe would have done better because more people would have remembered him. So, I conclude that he historically has waited too long to fully take advantage of the success of FM. Where is the flaw in that assumption I think by the time UTS came out, he somewhat learned that perhaps expediting the process could benefit him as UTS came out about three years after the end of SYW, which was not that successful a record, but the tour mostly was and he still did huge press events for SYW, which placed him in the public eye again. I fully agree that he said UTS was a boutique record, but surely he still wanted it to sell fairly well (sadly it did not for IMO unrelated reasons) and he still wanted enough popularity to play on a large tour in style, which he did perhapsd because of FM. I still think though he realized early on that UTS likely would not be a success (hence his quotes on it) - he in some way wanted those mostly publicly inaccessible songs to be a hit on his own terms so he could in a way be vindicated, but that is just my opinion and really hope for him. But anyway, my point is perhaps if he had come out with UTS in 2009, his ability to tour so long and in such style would have been lessened

So, why is my logic totally "Alice Through the Looking Glass reverse reasoning."

[David]

By now, Lindsey ought to realize (if he doesn't already) that no matter how big & splashy a Fleetwood Mac tour is, it's not going to mean diddly to sales of his own albums. It's mistaken to believe otherwise, I say, based on the faulty premise that the millions who go see Fleetwood Mac are going to like Lindsey's solo albums. They're not -- they never have. Lindsey's fan base likes his solo work, but nobody else does. The situation isn't equivalent to that of Sting & the Police in the 1980s, when the Police fans bought Sting's first solo work.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

You mean that same logic you used in the other thread when you said "I don't think he needs the FM money at all to live, but I think he does use it to keep fueling his non-profitable solo work, which is why he could go on that extensive UTS tour, flying around on private jets. SYW gave him the ability to tour so long on UTS."

There's a difference between using the money you've made in FM to finance a solo career and going back to FM just to help that solo career. The time line doesn't suggest that he's ever gone back to do that, except at the end when GOS was shelved, when he told everyone that that is what he was doing.

Before that, from Law and Order to OOTC, he did not capitalize on any of the many opportunities he had to use his FM exposure to promote his solo career. He didn't time his solo records to capitalize on FM (explained away illogically by you, because he did not know how). He didn't tour on his solo records at the height of his FM fame. He didn't use FM to make money when the band wanted him to record and tour more after Mirage. And he left FM before he could have made the big money on Tango.

The evidence suggests that he wouldn't even have returned after Mirage, except they were contractually obligated to give Warners another album.
Did he have ulterior motives for being in FM? Yes, he wanted to get his experimental music out. When he couldn't he became alienated from the band, because it wasn't giving him what he needed anymore. But there's no evidence to suggest that before 1997 he ever used FM to milk his solo career, because whenever he was in FM, his solo career was on hold.

But for you, if he doesn't put out solo albums in conjunction with FM that proves your point. If he leaves FM just before he can make the big Tango money, that proves your point. And obviously, if the facts were reversed and he'd launched a solo album during an FM tour that would prove your point. If he'd changed the past and left FM directly after a successful Tango tour, that would prove your point too.

That's the beauty of your point. Michele

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by michelej1

There's a difference between using the money you've made in FM to finance a solo career and going back to FM just to help that solo career. The time line doesn't suggest that he's ever gone back to do that, except at the end when GOS was shelved, when he told everyone that that is what he was doing.

I agree and am unsure if I ever said differently, though I think he went back twice for GOS.

Originally Posted by michelej1

Before that, from Law and Order to OOTC, he did not capitalize on any of the many opportunities he had to use his FM exposure to promote his solo career

No. L&O and GI were released within a year or so of two highly popular FM records. So, he did "time his solo records to capitalize on FM" and your statement "explained away illogically by you, because he did not know how" is incorrect in regards to those two records.

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yes, he wanted to get his experimental music out. When he couldn't he became alienated from the band, because it wasn't giving him what he needed anymore.

This statement proves my point.

Originally Posted by michelej1

But for you, if he doesn't put out solo albums in conjunction with FM that proves your point. If he leaves FM just before he can make the big Tango money, that proves your point. And obviously, if the facts were reversed and he'd launched a solo album during an FM tour that would prove your point. If he'd changed the past and left FM directly after a successful Tango tour, that would prove your point too.

No, that is not what I am saying.

Originally Posted by michelej1

That's the beauty of your point

All my points are beautiful