Bad Rock Career Decisions

[Indy_Rob]

He didn't "blow" anything. He was set up. The bros. blew it by not reading the room. It was like if KISS didn't reunite after Unplugged.

But he was very disrespectful to Beck.

[Rocker4Real]

Steve Vai's band Vai. He's not much of a songwriter. If he was gonna go that route, he needed to collaborate and not run the whole show.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Steve Vai's band Vai. He's not much of a songwriter. If he was gonna go that route, he needed to collaborate and not run the whole show.

ITA. Him hooking up with the bald screamer ruined his career. Ego run rampant.

[dweezil]

Steve Vai's band Vai. He's not much of a songwriter. If he was gonna go that route, he needed to collaborate and not run the whole show.

ITA. Him hooking up with the bald screamer ruined his career. Ego run rampant.

It would have worked a lot better if Devin wasn't "just the singer". I bet if they truly collaborated... and had an outsider at least co-produce, they could have had a better result.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

So weird.
I watched this exact video on Saturday as well, and almost shared it.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Steve Vai's band Vai. He's not much of a songwriter. If he was gonna go that route, he needed to collaborate and not run the whole show.

ITA. Him hooking up with the bald screamer ruined his career. Ego run rampant.

It would have worked a lot better if Devin wasn't "just the singer". I bet if they truly collaborated... and had an outsider at least co-produce, they could have had a better result.

Must Lange couldn't've made the screamer sound good. That dude sucks.

[roxxxtar]

That singer from Live fucking over the whole band.

[digubetterdead]

He didn't "blow" anything. He was set up. The bros. blew it by not reading the room. It was like if KISS didn't reunite after Unplugged.

This is why it was a bad decision. Had they reunited and run with the momentum, it would have been amazing. They screwed him over though, he wouldn't do the videos for the two new songs, we ended up with Van Halen III (which I don't hate) and nothing came together for another decade.

[demolition23]

also.... Wings.

The public didn't ask for or want Paul McCartney to form some corny ass new band with his wife. Would have probably sold double the records as a solo artist.

Be that as it may, he got four straight number one records and kept his wife happy. Hardly a disaster.

[FreddyFender]

He didn't "blow" anything. He was set up. The bros. blew it by not reading the room. It was like if KISS didn't reunite after Unplugged.

Oh yeah, Roth didn't do anything wrong - he just had every news outlet and radio station in the country dunking on him for being a weirdo and a clown the next day. The conversation should have been "Van Halen Reunited!" instead it was "Wow, what is wrong with David Lee Roth?" MTV and Warner had been putting pressure on VH for a reunion. After that award show, they understood.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

He didn't "blow" anything. He was set up. The bros. blew it by not reading the room. It was like if KISS didn't reunite after Unplugged.

But he was very disrespectful to Beck.

No judgment! No judgment!

[Mister Freeze]

Adam Lambert went from being the most talked-about "American Idol" contestant in years to choosing this as the cover for his debut album and tanking his career before it even got off the ground.



I think the Billy Squier and Quiet Riot examples are historically overblown and just get repeated the more everyone keeps repeating them. On par with "We Built This City" always called the "worst song ever," even though it was a #1 single.

[FreddyFender]

Adam Lambert went from being the most talked-about "American Idol" contestant in years to choosing this as the cover for his debut album and tanking his career before it even got off the ground.

That is a great call. Also, the songs were criminally bad. It's mostly a wannabe-Britney Spears album with some a couple Queen-ish moments.

[Love_Industry]

It's hopefully forgotten, but Judas Priest announced a few years ago that they would tour as a four man band with just one guitarist, Faulkner.
They backtracked quickly when they saw the fan reaction.

[HueyRamone]

It's hopefully forgotten, but Judas Priest announced a few years ago that they would tour as a four man band with just one guitarist, Faulkner.
They backtracked quickly when they saw the fan reaction.

That was a strange one. It’s not like Sneapy quit and they were electing not to replace him. They just wanted to save money on the road or something by giving the fans less?

[Mister Freeze]

I kinda wonder about Soul Asylum. Did they do something to fuck things up?

Had a huge album, massive hype for the follow-up, then it suddenly ended after the "Misery" single. The next album got ZERO MTV play. Could only see their videos on The Box (a phone-in video channel) at that point.

[Love_Industry]

I kinda wonder about Soul Asylum. Did they do something to fuck things up?

Had a huge album, massive hype for the follow-up, then it suddenly ended after the "Misery" single. The next album got ZERO MTV play. Could only see their videos on The Box (a phone-in video channel) at that point.

Nothing I remember, this seems to have been a Quiet Riot / Twisted Sister situation where a band that was unsuccessful all of a sudden blows up, has hit singles and sells a ton of albums and then the next one doesn't live up to the hype and they are back to their "natural" level. Soul Asylum made it big with their sixth album.

[GoodJudge]

It's hopefully forgotten, but Judas Priest announced a few years ago that they would tour as a four man band with just one guitarist, Faulkner.
They backtracked quickly when they saw the fan reaction.

Speaking of JP and "fan reaction", the Stock, Aitken and Waterman demos. Rob 'coming out' before he actually came out.

[Love_Industry]

It's hopefully forgotten, but Judas Priest announced a few years ago that they would tour as a four man band with just one guitarist, Faulkner.
They backtracked quickly when they saw the fan reaction.

Speaking of JP and "fan reaction", the Stock, Aitken and Waterman demos. Rob 'coming out' before he actually came out.

The bad decision was not to release them. Jayne and the bankrobber wanted them to be the cartoon metal band they became with RID and Painfiller.

[HueyRamone]

I kinda wonder about Soul Asylum. Did they do something to fuck things up?

Had a huge album, massive hype for the follow-up, then it suddenly ended after the "Misery" single. The next album got ZERO MTV play. Could only see their videos on The Box (a phone-in video channel) at that point.

Nothing I remember, this seems to have been a Quiet Riot / Twisted Sister situation where a band that was unsuccessful all of a sudden blows up, has hit singles and sells a ton of albums and then the next one doesn't live up to the hype and they are back to their "natural" level. Soul Asylum made it big with their sixth album.

I often wonder when Winona married(?) the Soul Asylum guy or when Drew Barrymore married Tom Green and their careers pulled a Twisted Sister, if the ladies were like "Oh, I thought we were A-list marrying A-list. I cant be with a D-lister, why did you let this happen???!"

[Wiseacre]

I think the Billy Squier and Quiet Riot examples are historically overblown and just get repeated the more everyone keeps repeating them.

Not at all. it happened exactly the way “history” describes it. Billy Squier was always really popular with the “normies” into hard rock and he wasn’t exactly “butch” (just watch clips of the stroke or his other early videos). Even though I’d heard forever that he was “gay” and it didn’t matter at all to anyone, there was something so cringe about that video that just put people off big-time. It wasn’t JUST a “gay” thing. It’s hard to describe, but it was definitely a real thing. The world wasn’t terrified of “gay” by the ‘80s like people want everyone to believe these days. Especially MTV where you had Boy George and Wham and where half the new wave bands had members who made Billy Squier look like Chuck Norris.

Same for QR. my friends and I were all into metal-lite by then, but Kevin’s nonstop big mouth just got to be SO annoying. Also, although everyone liked a couple songs NO ONE was like “QR are my favorite metal band!” unlike Priest or Maiden. Everyone knew they were “OK” with a good guitarist but that Kevin’s ego was beyond delusional. People just got so sick of his comments that he couldn’t really back up (the fact that he was a total dork didn’t help). QR success was a fluke in the first place, largely due to “metal” creeping into the mainstream and mostly because of the RR tie-in. RR was already a legend right up there with EVH.

[veritas]

Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd is way up there.
That band was massive, he pretty much had his way with it in later years, and it was a RUDE awakening for him how little the public knew who he was -- or cared he wasn't in the band anymore.

A hard lesson in the importance of name branding.

Roger Hodgson leaving Supertramp also wasn't particularly bright.

[Wiseacre]

Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd is way up there.
That band was massive, he pretty much had his way with it in later years, and it was a RUDE awakening for him how little the public knew who he was -- or cared he wasn't in the band anymore.

A hard lesson in the importance of name branding.

No one “knew” Gilmour by his face either as far as the general public was concerned. When the other guys got to use the name Roger’s solo career was doomed. Most people didn’t even realize Roger wrote almost all of the songs and was co-lead singer and only went where the name PINK FLOYD was printed on the ticket. Not that I was a big fan of Roger’s solo work OR Rogerless Floyd. But it’s ALL about the name especially with a “faceless” band like PF. If Roger had won the right to use the name, he’d have done extremely well with a Gilmour sound-alike (hell, he had Clapton).

[veritas]

Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd is way up there.
That band was massive, he pretty much had his way with it in later years, and it was a RUDE awakening for him how little the public knew who he was -- or cared he wasn't in the band anymore.

A hard lesson in the importance of name branding.

No one “knew” Gilmour by his face either as far as the general public was concerned. When the other guys got to use the name Roger’s solo career was doomed. Most people didn’t even realize Roger wrote almost all of the songs and was co-lead singer and only went where the name PINK FLOYD was printed on the ticket. Not that I was a big fan of Roger’s solo work OR Rogerless Floyd. But it’s ALL about the name especially with a “faceless” band like PF. If Roger had won the right to use the name, he’d have done extremely well with a Gilmour sound-alike (hell, he had Clapton).

Well, yeah, that's my point: the name Pink Floyd was everything. Few people knew any of the band members, much less their respective contributions.
Roger miscalculated, thinking the band would end and he could at least leverage the Pink Floyd name over his side of the ledger.

I was a much bigger fan of Roger Waters and understood (and understand) his perspective: the "new" Pink Floyd was sort of a joke in the way people would have bristled at the Beatles continuing on as the Beatles without Lennon or McCartney in the band. But the days of bands like the Beatles or Led Zeppelin or other big bands ending when a critical member left (or died) sorta ended many years ago..... too much money at stake.

[soulonfire]

Spin Doctors releasing Cleopatra's Cat as the first single from their second album. Killed their career dead.

[HueyRamone]

Spin Doctors releasing Cleopatra's Cat as the first single from their second album. Killed their career dead.

I dont know a lot about that band, but based on the Trainwrecords episode on that album, there wasnt anything else on there that people wanted, either. And their time might have been passed even if they had released Another Pocketful of Krypronite

[HueyRamone]

Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd is way up there.
That band was massive, he pretty much had his way with it in later years, and it was a RUDE awakening for him how little the public knew who he was -- or cared he wasn't in the band anymore.

A hard lesson in the importance of name branding.

No one “knew” Gilmour by his face either as far as the general public was concerned. When the other guys got to use the name Roger’s solo career was doomed. Most people didn’t even realize Roger wrote almost all of the songs and was co-lead singer and only went where the name PINK FLOYD was printed on the ticket. Not that I was a big fan of Roger’s solo work OR Rogerless Floyd. But it’s ALL about the name especially with a “faceless” band like PF. If Roger had won the right to use the name, he’d have done extremely well with a Gilmour sound-alike (hell, he had Clapton).

Well, yeah, that's my point: the name Pink Floyd was everything. Few people knew any of the band members, much less their respective contributions.
Roger miscalculated, thinking the band would end and he could at least leverage the Pink Floyd name over his side of the ledger.

I was a much bigger fan of Roger Waters and understood (and understand) his perspective: the "new" Pink Floyd was sort of a joke in the way people would have bristled at the Beatles continuing on as the Beatles without Lennon or McCartney in the band. But the days of bands like the Beatles or Led Zeppelin or other big bands ending when a critical member left (or died) sorta ended many years ago..... too much money at stake.

Hindsight n all, but could Roger have wrested the Pink Floyd name from the others, legally? All he would have had to do was fire Gilmour and Mason, since Wright was already an employee. Or did he not have the voting power to do so?

[EuroJR]

Spin Doctors releasing Cleopatra's Cat as the first single from their second album. Killed their career dead.

THIS

Surely there has to be ONE song better than this one in their second album.
Who idiot chose this turd as a single? It was everywhere for something like 1 week or so and then NOTHING. I guess people stared phoning radio stations not to play that piece of garbage no more.

[Bono Nettencourt]

I think the Billy Squier and Quiet Riot examples are historically overblown and just get repeated the more everyone keeps repeating them.

Not at all. it happened exactly the way “history” describes it. Billy Squier was always really popular with the “normies” into hard rock and he wasn’t exactly “butch” (just watch clips of the stroke or his other early videos). Even though I’d heard forever that he was “gay” and it didn’t matter at all to anyone, there was something so cringe about that video that just put people off big-time. It wasn’t JUST a “gay” thing. It’s hard to describe, but it was definitely a real thing. The world wasn’t terrified of “gay” by the ‘80s like people want everyone to believe these days. Especially MTV where you had Boy George and Wham and where half the new wave bands had members who made Billy Squier look like Chuck Norris.

Same for QR. my friends and I were all into metal-lite by then, but Kevin’s nonstop big mouth just got to be SO annoying. Also, although everyone liked a couple songs NO ONE was like “QR are my favorite metal band!” unlike Priest or Maiden. Everyone knew they were “OK” with a good guitarist but that Kevin’s ego was beyond delusional. People just got so sick of his comments that he couldn’t really back up (the fact that he was a total dork didn’t help). QR success was a fluke in the first place, largely due to “metal” creeping into the mainstream and mostly because of the RR tie-in. RR was already a legend right up there with EVH.

RR had ZERO association with any success that QR enjoyed. Those 1st 2 albums with him were so bad they were never released in the States, and with good reason - they're barely garage-band level. MTV and Spencer Proffer made QR into a success, however fleeting.

[ElectrickMagick]

Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd is way up there.
That band was massive, he pretty much had his way with it in later years, and it was a RUDE awakening for him how little the public knew who he was -- or cared he wasn't in the band anymore.

A hard lesson in the importance of name branding.

No one “knew” Gilmour by his face either as far as the general public was concerned. When the other guys got to use the name Roger’s solo career was doomed. Most people didn’t even realize Roger wrote almost all of the songs and was co-lead singer and only went where the name PINK FLOYD was printed on the ticket. Not that I was a big fan of Roger’s solo work OR Rogerless Floyd. But it’s ALL about the name especially with a “faceless” band like PF. If Roger had won the right to use the name, he’d have done extremely well with a Gilmour sound-alike (hell, he had Clapton).

Well, yeah, that's my point: the name Pink Floyd was everything. Few people knew any of the band members, much less their respective contributions.
Roger miscalculated, thinking the band would end and he could at least leverage the Pink Floyd name over his side of the ledger.

I was a much bigger fan of Roger Waters and understood (and understand) his perspective: the "new" Pink Floyd was sort of a joke in the way people would have bristled at the Beatles continuing on as the Beatles without Lennon or McCartney in the band. But the days of bands like the Beatles or Led Zeppelin or other big bands ending when a critical member left (or died) sorta ended many years ago..... too much money at stake.

I'm sure many of you like "The Final Cut," but the public reception to it was not good, and it was the lowest selling Pink Floyd album in over a decade. "Momentary Lapse of Reason" sold over ten million copies worldwide versus "Cut's" three. That's wildly successful. In many ways I think Gilmour had a better handle on what people expected and wanted Pink Floyd to sound like than Waters did. Sure Waters wrote most of the classic stuff, but Dave knew how to make Pink Floyd sound like Pink Floyd, and was smart enough to bring in a bunch of people to help him do that.

Even if Waters had kept the Pink Floyd name, essentially turning Pink Floyd into the Roger Waters solo show was not the sound that people wanted.