Godsmack Singer Joins LIst of Frontmen Gone S...

Godsmack Singer Joins LIst of Frontmen Gone Solo

Category: Breakup
Posted 12 months ago by bellababy
Credit: http://www.azcentral.com
Godsmack singer joins list of frontmen gone solo
By Geri Sciortino - Dec. 7, 2008
Any discussion on the merits of catching a concert by Sully Erna (lead dude from Godsmack to you) will invariably lead to a discourse of why it is that few if any of the most successful hard rock bands of the `90s and 2000s have spun off a successful solo career for their lead singers.

Used to be the norm that every huge band was at least good for two solo careers. Genesis has two lead singers who both enjoyed long and successful solo careers. Every Temptation that bolted the group was good for a few hits. Hell, everyone who crept up to a mike to sing in Traffic had a solo career. If millennial boybands like N` Sync and Dream Street can effortlessly create a major nuisance like Justin Timberlake or Jesse McCartney, why can`t bands with big watt amps behind them make some noise in the solo career sweepstakes? Is it because the quality of rock bands has gone so far down the tubes or because it`s almost as embarrassing to say "So and So formerly of Hoobastank" as it is to say you`re still a current member?

As a public service to Sully, we`re listing lead singers jumping off a similar boat and how they fared:
Chris Cornell
Any time one of the successful bands he fronts like Soundgarden or Audioslave goes belly up, Chris Cornell returns to a solo career where he seems intent on getting in touch with his inner wuss. His first solo effort Euphoria Morning yielded Can`t Change Me, a song where he exclaimed "Suddenly I can see everything that`s wrong with me/But what can I do?/I`m the only thing I really have at all.` Apparently he couldn`t see everything wrong with himself, as he compounded his rock balladeering on Carry On, which contained a comatose version of Billie Jean that made Michael Jackson`s original seem like alternative macho in comparison. The height of risk taking - or selling out, depending on which side of the adult contemporary divide you fall - is his all-out R&B teaming with Timbaland which Cornell likens to Gnarls Barkley but in truth the tracks previewed on iTunes sound closer to Sammy Hagar with a beatbox.

Gavin Rossdale
You`d think being married to Gwen Stefani, a girl who knows her way around a smile, would rub off on this grunge curmudgeon. Maybe having come from Bush, a band synonymous with our worst-ever president, still continues taking its toll. Listen to him on his recent solo outing Wanderlust, how he cries "Oh teardrop, you know you make me so sad." Makes you wish said teardrop would just tell him to snap out of it.

Zach de la Rocha
The fuming voice behind Rage Against the Machine has produced a very slim EP of material since leaving the band. It`s as if a guy who spent all his free time penning angry letters to the editor suddenly can`t find a pen when he loses his postal job.

JR Richards
The lead singer of Dishwalla `s debut solo album The Ghost Of Sorrow will be released in late 2008 by an as-yet-determined label. And then it can be determined if anyone still remembers who Dishwalla is.

Jonathan Davis
No matter what the lead singer of Korn cooks up on his own, he`s always going to be eclipsed by "The Dude from Korn that got religion and flipped out." Somehow The Dude from Korn that remained Korn-y" doesn`t sound quite so marvelous.

Scott Stapp
When disgruntled Creed fans filed a lawsuit against Stapp that said he was too "intoxicated and/or medicated" and "unable to sing the lyrics of a single Creed song" during a concert - and heaving "one last breath" before passing out doesn`t count - the limbo bar has been set so low that even the usual lower expectations don`t apply. True to its title, Stapp`s first solo release The Great Divide split the fan base and sold a fourth of what a Creed album would`ve. But you have to give Stapp marks for rehabilitating his image - the cover photo has him onstage standing erect!

Eddie Vedder
Pearl Jam is perhaps the most enduring rock band from the `90s but its slacker lead singer waited until 2007 to make a solo album when actor/director Sean Penn approached him about writing a soundtrack to his film about a guy who moves to Alaska, freezes and starves to death. When it`s right, sometimes you just know it.

Fred Durst
You could actually be mistaken for thinking Durst issued a solo record, seeing that his name is always at the forefront as Limp Bizkit continues to recede into the background. But nah, no solo career. Leaked sex tapes, Britney hookup rumors, B-movie appearances and "Fred Durst Sucks" t-shirts don`t count.

Darius Rucker
This year Rucker announced Hootie and the Blowfish had split so he could pursue a successful solo career as a country artist. He previewed this career move in, of all things, a Burger King commercial. Are you sure Hank done it this way?

mscrankyangelDec-06 @ 4:09 PM Report abuse 23Sully is a tool. I saw Godsmack in early 2001 and it was the first and only concert to date where I left early. It was an all ages show so there was no alcohol, and Sully showed up on stage hammered - taunting the audience about it and even spraying the first few rows with beer. They were touring in support of a new album and the new stuff sucked. The audience started reacting poorly and Sully started having a temper tantrum on stage, saying if the audience didnt start participating they were going to end the show. At that point my husband and I walked out and I havent enjoyed Godsmack since.

MalachiConstant7Dec-06 @ 6:04 PM This guy just moans like some lost hound dog howling. Also it seems that he portrays some type of tough guy image, but yet all the Godsmack lyrics seem to be about failed relationships and girl trouble. G`damn, toughen up you whining, howling simp.

LuvMy4GirlsDec-06 @ 10:44 PM The person that wrote this article is a moron. Check your facts before you go off spouting a bunch of nonsense about how "unsuccessful" these musicians are just because you obviously have a problem with their music. Eddie Vedder as a slacker and Chris Cornell as a wuss, do you even know who these guys are? Seriously, does azcentral just let you write whatever ridiculous thoughts come to your mind? All of these guys are ten times more successful with their so-called lame solo careers.

rAWr83Dec-08 @ 10:57 AM Report abuse13
Who the hell is Sully Erna?

samfrancis83Dec-07 @ 9:09 AM
How is Eddie Vedder a slacker lead singer? I think he`s one of the most versatile lead men of the last 15 years...Pearl Jam practically started the movement towards a more improvised rock show, crafting unique set lists in each city along any given tour. Plus they are the only "grunge band" still intact. But hey I`ve always felt that Sully was just a really bad imitation of Layne Staley.

Krusen1022Dec-07 @ 11:17 AM 02Eddie Vedders record wasn`t a solo record. It was a soundtrack to reflect the mood of the film. I saw his 2 solo shows in San Diego following the release of "Into the Wild", it was simply amazing and made me realize he is even more talented than I thought.

Chris Cornell simply wants to explore differnt areas he can use his talent, and not be chained down to one type of music.

Scott Weiland`s new solo disc is pretty cool in a POP ROCK find of way. No riff heavy STP tracks here, but if you liked his 1998 solo record you`ll like this one even more.

ButtersDec-07 @ 11:26 AM
Who would pay $44 to see this guy live?

Also, Eddie Vedder is a "slacker lead singer"? How many albums has Pearl Jam put out?
Will agree with Cornell though. Loved him in Soundgarden, but his solo stuff is almost universally atrocious.






Related Links: Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder, Sully Erna
Godsmack Singer Joins LIst of Frontmen Gone Solo
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See Also: Chris Cornell News :: Eddie Vedder News :: Sully Erna News
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