24 artists from popular bands whose solo careers flopped

Canada's quirk-pop kingpins Barenaked Ladies benefited from having a roster lined up with songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, even though most of the songs were sung by Ed Robertson and Steven Page. They were effectively the face of the group when they achieved international success following the release of singles like "One Week" and "Pinch Me." Yet following a break from major-label home Reprise Records and a string of albums with diminishing sales, Page announced in 2009 that he was leaving the group. Initial reasons were due to wanting to branch out creatively, but Page later claimed that Robertson was holding on to the royalties for their theme to the hit TV show "The Big Bang Theory." Page put out solo records aplenty, starting with his winkingly-titled "The Vanity Project," which played along the same goof-rock edges BNL had become known for. The records didn't chart, but Page was immersed in so much theatrical/soundtrack work he didn't seem to mind. He joined the gang on stage at the 2018 Juno Awards after they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, proving there wasn't any major bad blood between them.

Following the breakup of *NSYNC, it was no surprise that Justin Timberlake was able to pivot to solo success quickly. Yet J.C. Chasez, who was the other lead vocalist in the group, still had charm and talent all his own, and following his surprise Top 40 hit from the "Drumline" soundtrack called "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)", it seemed like it'd be a hop, skip, and a ball-change to solo stardom. Yet his only solo record, "Schizophrenic", failed to connect with audiences, as lead single "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" was dismissed as being boorish and creepy (it even landed on our list of the worst pop hits of the new millennium). What's shocking is that despite his album being a flop, there are some really strong tracks on there, from '80s synthpop goofs to a Basement Jaxx collaboration called "Shake It" that feels like it's just waiting to be rediscovered by the TikTok generation. Chasez trickled out a few more songs (including a track co-written with Timberlake), but his sophomore solo album was shelved by his label, leaving Chasez to pivot to television, where he judged seven seasons of the reality competition program "America's Best Dance Crew."

The cold hard truth about '90s country is that many great recording artists were rarely their own songwriters, as the "Nash Vegas" songwriting factory churned out an endless number of songs in search of some great vocalists. For The Chicks, the trio of Emily Strayer, Martie Maguire, and Natalie Maines found a way to interpret songs by the likes of Bonnie Raitt and J.D. Souther and make them relatable to a new generation of fans, but Strayer and Maguire only got to squeeze in a few originals on each record. Following Maines' comments about President George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq, the group became pariahs by conservative America, leading the group to address things directly on their 2006 album "Taking the Long Way", where Maines joined in as a full songwriter of the group. After that album's several major Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the group took a break, with Strayer and Maguire performing as Court Yard Hounds and Maines finally releasing a solo album in 2013 called "Mother." It featured a lot of cover songs about motherhood and relationships by the likes of Pink Floyd and Jeff Buckley, along with a few originals, but the album's "rock" bent limited its appeal to Maines's country-loving fanbase, which is why it was no surprise that it debuted on the U.S. charts at #17 and dropped off quickly. It's a record crafted with great care, but it was never going to be a commercial juggernaut. She rejoined The Chicks, and they dropped the Jack Antonoff-produced 2020 album "Gaslighter" to much acclaim.

It's easy to make fun of the self-serious alternative metal of Creed, but back in the late '90s, they sold records by the boatload, as their first three albums went at least six times Platinum (and with breakthrough "Human Clay", double that). The group acrimoniously split in 2004, and Stapp dropped his first solo album, "The Great Divide", the following year. To its credit, his first album did move a million units, but unfortunately, it just sounded exactly like what you'd expect a Scott Stapp solo album to sound like, leaving next to no impact on the ever-changing rock landscape. The remaining Creed members formed the band Alter Bridge and have built a genuine fanbase that has stuck with them throughout seven studio albums and countless tours. While Creed reunited briefly for 2009's largely-dismissed comeback record "Full Circle", the group again went their separate ways, with Stapp making constant headlines for boorish and at times troubling behavior. It took a toll on his fandom, but Stapp's 2019 solo record still debuted on the charts ... all the way down at #137.

The band Semisonic are best known for their song "Closing Time", but the record that song stems from, "Feeling Strangely Fine", has gone on to become a bit of an alt-pop classic, with songs like "Secret Smile" finding life well beyond the group's one-hit-wonder status. Frontman Dan Wilson soon found himself under the wing of uber-producer Rick Rubin, with Wilson going on to write on Rubin-produced projects like The Chicks' big comeback album "Taking the Long Way". That album won the Album of the Year Grammy, with Wilson collecting Song and Record of the Year honors for helping pen lead single "Not Ready to Make Nice". It would make sense to pivot to a solo album, and "Free Life" is unquestionably a record full of music. While Wilson has a knack for a great melody and some memorable lines, the self-produced "Free Life" occupies an uncanny midtempo valley where everything is both pleasant and forgettable simultaneously, hence why it failed to find a real audience. Don't worry about Dan Wilson, though: his work as a producer/co-writer soon led him to helm tracks by Taylor Swift and a rising performer named Adele, with whom they penned a song called "Someone Like You". You may have heard it.

Before the release of "Purple Rain", Prince was a known hitmaker but not the full global superstar most of us know him as. His childhood friend André Cymone played bass with Prince early on but quit the band in 1981 to branch out independently. He scored very small hits on his first two solo albums, but Prince decided to give his friend a hand for the release of Cymone's third album, "AC". The Purple One donated a song from the "Purple Rain" sessions called "The Dance Electric", with Cymone's rendition dropping the year after Prince's giant album and film made him a household name. This track ended up being the best-performing of Cymone's solo hits, reaching #10 on the R&B charts, but that's where much of his solo fame ended. While Cymone staged a small comeback as a conscious folk-rock type in the mid-2010s, he found greater success as a songwriter/producer, helming records for Evelyn "Champagne" King, Jermaine Stewart, and Jody Watley, the latter of whom he would marry and start a family with.

All of the Backstreet Boys have tried out solo careers at some point, with Brian Littrell releasing a moderately successful Christian-pop record, Nick Carter moving right into Adult Alternative radio, and Kevin Richardson seeing his attempted solo record shelved. For AJ McLean and Howie Dorogh, however, they managed to get some chart placements -- in Japan. For McLean, his solo debut "Have It All" even featured a lead single co-written and co-produced by *NSYNC's J.C. Chasez ("Teenage Wildlife"). Yet outside of hardcore BSB acolytes, the record went nowhere, and despite his pace of putting out a new original song every year and constantly teasing a sophomore album titled "Sex and Bodies", McLean can only "Have It All" when he's sticking with the rest of his Boys.

From 1976 to 1980, the great New Wave outfit Blondie put out a new full-length album every fall, and each one seemed to become more popular than the last. In this pop era, it wasn't unusual for acts to churn out records on a regular beat, but for Debbie Harry and co., some of these records were classics like "Parallel Lines" and "Eat to the Beat", all flanked by singles like "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", and "The Tide is High". A Debbie Harry solo album made perfect sense, but 1981's hard-edged "KooKoo" tried to do too many things simultaneously. Shiny Nile Rodgers-assisted production paired with the macabre sci-fi artwork of H. R. Giger (who also directed the video for lead single "Backfired")? It was a tonal mess but a fascinating footnote. Due to Blondie's hot chart streak, "KooKoo" managed to eke out a Gold certification, but it ended up still being Harry's best-selling solo effort, which isn't saying much.

Given Aerosmith's success over the decades, it's a surprise that more members haven't attempted solo spin-offs. After all, it wasn't until 2016 that Steven Tyler dropped his first non-Aerosmith album, and even it was a country-rock affair. While Joe Perry's side band in the early '80s (The Joe Perry Project) recorded a couple of full-lengths, it wasn't until 2005 that Aerosmith's guitarist and founding member finally unleashed a record credited to him and him alone. Joe Perry's "Joe Perry" sounds almost exactly like you'd imagine a Joe Perry (or Joe Perry Project) album to sound like: lots of riffs, a couple of anthemic choruses, all immediately followed by more guitar riffs. The album debuted on the Billboard album charts at #110, and his follow-up records, including 2019's "Sweetzerland Manifesto", have failed to match even that placement. At least he can fall back on Hollywood Vampires, his somehow still-active band with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp.

Michelle Williams has the distinction of being the first member of Destiny's Child to put out a solo album, beating both Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland to the punch with her gospel-pop record "Heart to Yours" in 2002. Williams has made it clear how central her faith is to her music, and while "Heart to Yours" debuted at only #57 on the all-genre Billboard charts, it still ended up being the best-selling gospel album of the year. Her records that followed didn't generate the same kind of buzz, but for her 2014 album "Journey to Freedom", she managed to get both Bey and Rowland to show up on the lead single "Say Yes". Following her guest spot at Beyoncé's legendary Coachella gig, she's since pivoted to acting and has the unusual distinction of appearing in the most "Masked Singer" franchises. Take that to heart.

In 1965, before joining The Monkees, David Jones put out an album called "David Jones", a run-of-the-mill standards record that ended up being a hell of an audition reel for this jaunty new television pop act. After The Monkees disbanded, the now-named Davy Jones put out an album called "Davy Jones" that failed to make much of an impact despite The Monkees' gangbusters success. Why? Part of it was due to the way The Monkees gradually destroyed their own youth-centric image partway through their run and partly because Jones was signed with Bell Records, whose contract was allegedly so strict that Jones himself couldn't even pick out what songs he was performing or producers he would be working with. While he had modest success with the single "Girl", "Davy Jones" debuted at #205 on the Billboard 200, and to be honest, we didn't even know you could chart lower than 200. His albums since then were niche recordings for hardcore fans, even though Jones remained a universally well-liked figure until his passing in 2012.

While Nicole Scherzinger had a taste of popstar fame with the television-created group Eden's Crush, it was her central role in The Pūssycat Dolls that launched her into the pop stratosphere. The girls scored a lot of hits off of only two studio albums, but it was Scherzinger who recorded a vast majority of the vocals on all of the Dolls' albums, making her decision to go solo a no-brainer. Unfortunately, PCD's Scherzinger-focused efforts frustrated the rest of the group, leading to internal conflict and, eventually, their dissolution. As for Scherzinger, she spent most of 2007 firing out a series of one-off singles that bricked on the charts, barely scoring a Top 40 entry with the 50 Cent-featuring "Right There". Her long overdue solo debut, "Killer Love", was a modest success in the U.K. but a forgotten quantity virtually everywhere else, as the dated and tired beats she married her voice to made her sound more anonymous than when she was in PCD.

Mumford & Sons were in a rough patch following the release of 2018's "Delta". The group's pivot to more straightforward rock and pop forms alienated some fans, a changeup was needed in their management, and banjoist Winston Marshall's increasingly-vocal right-wing beliefs led to his dismissal from the group in 2021. Frontman Marcus Mumford increasingly turned inward to pen some new material, resulting in a solo record that is actually titled "Self-Titled". Featuring sparse instrumentation and a lead single with a music video shot on the fly by Steven Speilberg, Mumford's foray into music without his bandmates sounds exactly how you'd expect it to sound: sparse, acoustic, and sad. It no doubt reached the audience it was intended for, but a crossover success it was not, as even with some vocal assists from Phoebe Bridgers and Brandi Carlile, it debuted at an underwhelming #53 on the U.S. charts.

When Steely Dan disbanded in 1981 following the success of their seventh album, "Gaucho", members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker kept in close touch. In fact, it was Becker who produced Fagen's 1993 concept album "Kamakiriad", which, in turn, meant that Fagen was happy to do the same for his buddy. "11 Tracks of Whack" features the kind of jazz-pop compositions that Dan enthusiasts have come to know, albeit with the thin production of '90s drums that immediately dates the recordings. Fagen helped chart the horn arrangements, but the intended audience for this was fans of the Dan, and that's exactly who purchased it. While Fagen's albums received acclaim and Grammy nominations, Becker's solo efforts largely have fallen by the cultural wayside, appreciated by but not deeply loved.

Best known as the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, innovative guitarist Tom Morello is unafraid to wear his politics on his sleeve. We've covered some of the protests that RATM have gotten into before, but following the dissolution of Audioslave, Morello rediscovered his love of folk music and started performing under the moniker of The Nightwatchman, allegedly inspired by Bruce Springsteen. While the Nightwatchman became, one of several new musical outlets for Morello (including Street Sweeper Social Club and Prophets of Rage), fans who best knew him for his biting rock songs were surprised at Nightwatchman shows to see Morello strumming an acoustic guitar and singing. It's certainly a pivot, and despite being signed to major label Epic Records still, most fans didn't join Morello on his record of new acoustic folk tunes, with "One Man Revolution" debuting at #119 and its 2008 follow-up "The Fabled City" debuting even lower at #180. We're not too worried about Morello, as he's always booked and busy, but fans will be around for most of his revolutions when there's more than one man.

While Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars are considered the main songwriters for Mötley Crüe, superstar drummer Tommy Lee has more than a few co-write credits scattered throughout their discography, and following the band's much-maligned foray into pseudo-nu-metal stylings on 1997's "Generation Swine", the members sought different outlets. Tommy Lee scored a fluke hit (1999's "Get Naked") with his rap-metal outfit Methods of Mayhem, so all signs pointed to a successful launch of his solo career. Yet Lee's long-awaited album "Never a Dull Moment" lies to its listeners by having several of them. Adding nothing new to the alt-rock discourse, his album peaked on Billboard at #39, as even guest spots from Deftones' Chino Moreno and Incubus' Brandon Boyd couldn't entice enough fans (and the less said about his cover of David Bowie's "Fame" the better). Lee would continue to put out solo records and even helmed the TV rock supergroup "Rock Star Supernova" for a time, but all roads lead back to the Crüe, with whom he's been touring for the better part of the last decade.

Rap collective D12 is still best known as Eminem's outfit, which the group has jokingly referenced in hit crossover songs like "My Band". Yet each of the members tried spinning off solo records at some point, and while Bizarre garnered attention for his appropriately bizarre antics, it was DeShaun "Proof" Holton who was considered the group's best MC, even scoring a few small acting gigs in films like "8 Mile" and "The Longest Yard". Unlike his widely ignored debut, Proof's sophomore album "Searching for Jerry Garcia" had real features, ranging from 50 Cent to Nate Dogg to the rest of his D12 crew. It didn't fare well, topping out at #65 on the charts, but its critical reception was perceptibly higher than other D12 projects. Had he had the chance to make more records, Proof had the talent and hustle to make it as a solo rapper, but he was killed in a 2006 gun shooting at a bar, shocking the music world. Eminem has since referenced his friend in his music many times over, never forgetting him.

While Courtney Love rightly deserves credit for helping push the band Hole to be one of the most influential alt-rock groups of the '90s, much of her career has been defined by her marriage to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and handling his legacy in the aftermath of his passing. Following a few roles in some feature films following Hole's first breakup, Love finally leaned in and gave the world her only solo album to date, 2004's "America's Sweetheart". Superstar song collaborator Linda Perry helped co-write most of the album along with Love and Hole drummer Patty Schemel, and while lead single "Mono" was a minor rock radio hit, "America's Sweetheart" petered out at #53 on the album charts, with many stories after the record's release describing a heated recording environment as Love jumped between labels, was asked to re-record it while in rehab, and that she never saw a dime of the record's advance. Other rock luminaries like Kim Deal and Brody Dalle claimed to have worked and even co-wrote on the album, only to have their work not credited for the U.S. release. Had Love had more say and time to dedicate to the project, it could've done something, but given the alleged interference, it's understandable why she hasn't bothered with a follow-up.

The band Bush started with not one but two massive albums out the gate: 1994's debut "Sixteen Stone" and 1996's "Razorblade Suitcase". Cranking rock radio staples like "Everything Zen", "Machinehead", and crossover staple "Glycerine", the British outfit fronted by Gavin Rossdale seemed like a group that was set up for some real longevity, but once they were dropped from the majors following 2001's "Golden State", the returns were diminishing. Rossdale briefly tried another band (Institute) with Bush guitarist Chris Traynor, but their one album was all anyone heard of them. Rossdale then pivoted to a solo album all his own, with the yes-it's-spelled-that-way title of "WANDERlust". Hanging around in ballad and mid-tempo territory for most of its run, instead of giving us the charging and cathartic rockers he was best known for, the record was divisively received among even the most hardcore of the Rossdale cult. He was able to pivot to some acting roles but come 2011, he was back with the Bush, and they continued releasing new records to a diminishing-but-devoted fanbase.

The key to the success of San Francisco rock band Train was always going against the grain. Setting a 2016 pop song to the melody of the Hoagy Carmichael classic "Heart and Soul"? An unusual approach but sure. Releasing an album that's just your band performing "Led Zeppelin II" straight through? Why not! So when frontman Pat Monahan decided to move for solo stardom in 2007, it was surprising that "Last of Seven" was so ... normal. Working primarily with Madonna producer Patrick Leonard, "Last of Seven" was a straightforward pop-rock affair, waltzing between AM radio ear candy and a few growly guitar moments but nothing that Train hasn't pulled out. He tried making moves with the single "Her Eyes", but the single and the album floated in the chart's lower reaches. Monahan quickly rejoined his regular band and soon after released the biggest hit of their career, "Hey, Soul Sister", proving that maybe he didn't need a solo career after all.

When the Jonas Brothers decided to go on hiatus following the underperforming 2009 record "Lines, Vines and Trying Times", the question wasn't whether the boys would go solo so much as how quickly they'd do it. While Nick Jonas was first out the gate with his band The Administration, Joe Jonas' solo record "Fastlife" arrived with a thud in 2011. While Joe scored a Top 10 hit with his "Camp Rock" duet with Demi Lovato, he didn't have the personality to land certain pop star poses, meaning that even though "Fastlife" had production work by the likes of Timbaland protogé Danja, Chris Brown, and Hit-Boy -- to say nothing of a Lil' Wayne guest verse -- none of it connected outside of the hardcore JoBro fanbase, leaving brother Nick to soak up all the hits and attention. Joe took the L and rebranded himself with a new band DNCE, a wackadoo pop outfit that scored a mega-Platinum hit with "Cake by the Ocean". Then he returned to his brothers and scored a chart-topping single with "Sucker". Quite the fast life he's leading.

Following the fracturing of Fall Out Boy (say that three times fast), the emo-pop titans explored a variety of projects, and none of them were particularly successful. Pete Wentz formed the band the Black Cards with a then-unknown singer named Bebe Rexha, drummer Andy Hurley and guitarist Joe Trohman formed The Damned Things with Anthrax's Scott Ian, and lead singer Patrick Stump went to make an album in the form of a new genre he called "Soul Punk". These ventures underperformed largely because they barely had any of that special Fall Out Boy DNA inside them, with Stump perhaps taking the brunt of the bad reactions. While his album of synth-y pop compositions was only tangentially related to emo-pop glory (and even less related to the actual title of "Soul Punk"), the real issue came down to promoting it. Insisting that he take a full band out on tour, Stump alone couldn't sell out venues, and soon he was hemorrhaging money while dealing with unnecessary heckles from fans who simply wanted him back in Fall Out Boy. "Soul Punk" entered the charts at #47, and the reviews weren't too kind either, sending Stump into a dark space. When he reconvened with Fall Out Boy, they recorded their comeback album secretly out of fear that the group would fracture again. Instead, the opposite happened: their comeback "Save Rock and Roll" overperformed, and the two albums they released after topped the charts.

If KISS was known for anything outside of their live shows and music, it was their merchandising. While it would later reach truly comical heights (see: the Kiss Kasket), the band put out records at a breakneck pace, and between 1974 and 1977, they managed to drop six full-length studio albums and two double-disc live records on top of their litany of singles. Their long-standing record label Casablanca didn't think the market was oversaturated with KISS quite yet, so they decided that not only should every member release a solo album, but it'd be coordinated so that all four records would drop on the same day. Instead of occupying the top four spots of the Billboard 200, these LPs achieved wildly scattered chart placements, veering between #22 (Gene Simmons) and #43 (Peter Criss). None of the records received good reviews, despite the band members writing a majority of their own songs for each release, and while they each still went Platinum, this stunt still halted a lot of the group's momentum and led to accusations of flooding the market with too much inferior KISS product. The group thanked their lucky tongues that the following year's "I Was Made for Lovin' You" put them back on the top and made most people forget about this weird little experiment.

At the start of 2012, LMFAO played the Super Bowl, serving as surprise guests for Madonna's half-time show thanks to the strength of their back-to-back chart-toppers "Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It". By the end of the year, the group had splintered, with the party-rocking members SkyBlu and Redfoo going their separate ways. While SkyBlu was quick to put out singles and albums, both under his own name as well as the moniker W.E.E.D. (which stands for We Evolve Every Day), it was Redfoo whose guise was more instantly recognizable, and after dropping a sling of singles throughout 2012 and 2013, he finally unleashed his full-length record "Party Rock Mansion" in 2016. Unfortunately, the staid beats of dumb club bangers don't allow much room for growth, and all of Redfoo's songs sounded like lesser versions of already-existing LMFAO tracks. So how poorly did it fair? Outside of not charting on the Billboard 200, it sold 144 copies in its opening week in Australia. To us, that sounds like the party is definitely over.