Band! We don't need no stinkin band!

Browsing through my iTunes recommendations last night and I came across Brandon Boyd's solo release. Better known as the front man for Incubus; and being that it is a band that I am into, I gave the solo album a quick listen to. Then to even more of a surprise I see a solo album for Ed Kowalczyk of Live fame; then Brandon Flowers, The Killers; and another new Brett Michaels, Poison. The list goes on and on with front men of former great bands moving out on their own. This is not a new occurrence by any means, however it always surprises me how vastly different their solo projects are from their work with their previous band mates.

Granted there are front man that do solo gigs and their sound stays the same; Vince Neil is a perfect example. Nine times out of ten though, their work is a departure from what they do when they have their founding bands backing them. Makes me wonder; are front men in general creatively suppressed?

Roles vary from band to band, sometimes the lead singer just writes lyrics, sometimes they just sing them, and sometimes, in cases like Steven Tyler, they do it all. The role of the front man tends to be, in the grand scheme of things, merely for face value. Of course they should be able to sing, however more and more of them have some redeeming quality that sets them apart form the rest of the band; most of the time it is their looks. Stage presence sometimes supersedes musical ability, and what better way to have stage presence then to have a memorable front man.

All this being said you have to wonder sometimes if lead singers just get fed up with not having their creative voice heard. In the case of Vince Neil I can see this happening, it is clear that Nikki is the brains behind the operation; however I can not speak for the rest of the aforementioned singers. Needless to say Brandon's solo effort is horrible.