Alt.Eighties: Flying Solo

The alternative and Indie charts in the 80s were clearly dominated by bands as opposed to the mainstream charts where solo artists had a much stronger presence – “why is it so” (as the great Julius Sumner-Miller would say). An interesting phenomenon but not one to be explored in this space.

What will be explored by Alt.Eighties this week is the occurrence of influential members of bands deciding to go it alone – either for a short while or forever. What inspires this desire to ‘fly solo’…is it out of artistic necessity, group friction or other factors? In many cases these departures from the group environment to achieve personal goals often leads to the artist returning to the family. The interesting phenomenon is the nature of the projects that these artists create in ‘solo’ form. Are they really that different? Does Peter Murphy really sound that much different without Bauhaus, does David Sylvian create a different experience away from Japan, did John Foxx really want to be associated with a band creating hit songs like Ultravox’ Vienna?

You can be the judge when Alt.Eighties pieces together an hour of music by artists who decided to ‘fly solo