Friday OT - It's Murder By Numbers, One, Two, Three

Angie

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So Peter Gabriel for sure then, right?

Joan Jett & Lita Ford.

Glenn Danzig

Henry Rollins likely has had more material success not even singing than with Black Flag.

EDIT: fun fact, I bought Synchronicity on vinyl when it came out and Murder By Numbers isn't on the vinyl album. It had three (iirc) different jacket designs.

I really liked Peter Gabriel solo far better than I did Sting - preference?

I was thinking of Joan Jett and Lita! I for sure was thinking Glenn and Henry (I've been on a classic punk kick lately). I think all of them could fall under #1 (small to moderate success in group, then big solo)? I mean, Misfits and Black Flag were seminal, but still only to a subset. (Which is criminal.)

I wonder how Murder By Numbers was originally released? B-side or on a compilation or something? It's such a great song. Synchronicity is just a great album. Janny and I were discussing this weekend who was empirically a "better" band - Cars or Police. I don't know the answer. He said Police (which I can absolutely see), but Ric Ocasek was one of the defining musicians (in all venues) of our era... So I don't know.
 

Cyclones_R_GR8

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I really liked Peter Gabriel solo far better than I did Sting - preference?

I was thinking of Joan Jett and Lita! I for sure was thinking Glenn and Henry (I've been on a classic punk kick lately). I think all of them could fall under #1 (small to moderate success in group, then big solo)? I mean, Misfits and Black Flag were seminal, but still only to a subset. (Which is criminal.)

I wonder how Murder By Numbers was originally released? B-side or on a compilation or something? It's such a great song. Synchronicity is just a great album. Janny and I were discussing this weekend who was empirically a "better" band - Cars or Police. I don't know the answer. He said Police (which I can absolutely see), but Ric Ocasek was one of the defining musicians (in all venues) of our era... So I don't know.
It's funny about the Misfits. When they were originally together they were playing at VFW's and high school gyms. Last year they got back together and did a sold out show at The Barclays Center.
 

Angie

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It's funny about the Misfits. When they were originally together they were playing at VFW's and high school gyms. Last year they got back together and did a sold out show at The Barclays Center.

It's amazing how much more mainstream punk has become since the mid-90s or so. I honestly wonder if it isn't largely credit to Cobain and his love of it?
 

Entropy

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Started thinking about the Wu-Tang Clan this morning (Gotta get up and be somebody! is my Monday morning motivation).

There were a ton of solo albums that came out of that group, but I don't know if any of those ever overshadowed what they did as a group.
ODB or Method Man might have gotten the closest.
 

Angie

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Started thinking about the Wu-Tang Clan this morning (Gotta get up and be somebody! is my Monday morning motivation).

There were a ton of solo albums that came out of that group, but I don't know if any of those ever overshadowed what they did as a group.
ODB or Method Man might have gotten the closest.

I was specifically thinking about ODB last week, too. (Probably because he had my favorite solo career.) But yeah, I still think Wu-Tang is far more iconic.
 

weR138

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I really liked Peter Gabriel solo far better than I did Sting - preference?

I was thinking of Joan Jett and Lita! I for sure was thinking Glenn and Henry (I've been on a classic punk kick lately). I think all of them could fall under #1 (small to moderate success in group, then big solo)? I mean, Misfits and Black Flag were seminal, but still only to a subset. (Which is criminal.)

I wonder how Murder By Numbers was originally released? B-side or on a compilation or something? It's such a great song. Synchronicity is just a great album. Janny and I were discussing this weekend who was empirically a "better" band - Cars or Police. I don't know the answer. He said Police (which I can absolutely see), but Ric Ocasek was one of the defining musicians (in all venues) of our era... So I don't know.

Funny you should ask. IIRC correctly it was always the last track on side two of the cassette (it was released that way in '83). I looked it up on Friday and discovered it was released as the B-side of the Every Breath You Take single. I'd never known that. It just goes to show the industry attitude about vinyl at that time. Clearly they were moving on (or had moved on) to cassette as the primary delivery method. And In '83 were probably already anticipating CD?
 

Angie

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Funny you should ask. IIRC correctly it was always the last track on side two of the cassette (it was released that way in '83). I looked it up on Friday and discovered it was released as the B-side of the Every Breath You Take single. I'd never known that. It just goes to show the industry attitude about vinyl at that time. Clearly they were moving on (or had moved on) to cassette as the primary delivery method. And In '83 were probably already anticipating CD?

I bet so. I think it was invented in 1982 or something like that, and was available to the high-end audiophiles. It's too bad, I still love my vinyl! I wonder if I can find Synchronicity on vinyl and see if it's a version that has Murder By Numbers - I think it's a criminally underrated song. It's one of the best tracks on my "Songs About Murdering People" playlist (which is surprisingly full of good music).
 

oldman

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I like DP with Ian Gillian though. The first singer is usually the best in my mind.
I'm not sure Ian was the first singer for DP. Just looked it up. Rod Evans was lead when they released "Hush" in 68? 69?
 

oldman

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I'd have to go with Neil Young solo vs CSNY.

What do you think about Stevie Nicks solo vs Fleetwood Mac? They were a kickass blues band (late 60s) before the Nicks and Buckingham show.
 
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Al_4_State

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On a related note, I thought about Van Halen.....when they first came out my buddies and I were in awe. Eddie playing guitar was a revelation, and these guys rocked. Then they got commercialized, added the keyboard, and it wasn't nearly as fun. And of course David left and Sammy arrived.

Would be interesting to know if CFers prefer David to Sammy, or vice versa.

Sorry Angie. Didn't mean to derail the thread. :oops:

I don't believe that there's a single human on earth that prefers Van Hagar to Van Halen.

Also, if such a person exists, they should be immediately regarded with suspicion.
 

weR138

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It's funny about the Misfits. When they were originally together they were playing at VFW's and high school gyms. Last year they got back together and did a sold out show at The Barclays Center.
Yeah,

The legend of The Misfits compared to what one might think they'd made from the original band years ('77-'83) is a gigantic disparity. When asked, I've seen GD say that the experience sucked...life in a van, getting stiffed, empty shows, etc. I'd always assumed that they'd become popular in NYC at GBGBs a la Talking Heads or The Ramones but according to Danzig, Hilly Krystal (CBGB proprietor) wouldn't book them so they actually got known from gigs at Max's Kansas City and...VFWs and gyms.

So, while off-putting for fans like me it's not that surprising that Jerry Only & Doyle would hawk action figures and candy bars to capitalize on The Misfits name. IIRC they've even tried to sue people who've used the Crimson Ghost image (my avatar) which, btw comes from a 1946 movie of the same name and DOES NOT belong to them. I'd be shocked if any of the members made any money at all from the band until Walk Among Us was released in '82.
 

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Markey Mark never should have split from The Funky Bunch.