Music Trivia: Steve Howe's 3 charting bands...

[rdclark]

Greg Lake with ELP (Lucky Man), KC (Court), and solo (Father Xmas)

[Facelift]

But we can't buy a Billboard Top 40 single. That's gotta grow its own legs.

Oh, absolutely - not disputing that at all. The public ultimately makes it happen or not happen. But the public can only choose from the songs that they actually hear. The public will get enough of a chance to hear the songs that the promo guy you referenced "can get to No. 1 on modern rock;" songs that, in his own words would be from "known bands that we promote a lot." Bands that don't have these kinds of advantages from the outset have a much tougher time of it.

[Digital_Man]

You forgot The Yardbirds. For Your Love went to number 6 on the Hot 100 chart, so says Wikipedia, anyway. Both the original and acoustic versions of Layla were top 20 hits, so I'll give you Derek And The Dominoes and solo.

Again according to Wikipedia, both White Room and Sunshine Of Your Love fit the bill too. So that gives you four different "groups" that Clapton was in, if you count that acoustic version of Layla, that had top 20 hits, possibly five if anyone can find any evidence of Blind Faith performing similarly.

You're right. I forgot the Yardbirds. Shame on me. I knew I was missing someone. Oh well. At least I was right about him. He's not exactly prog though.

[pb2015]

Well, the original poster already established that Traffic didn't have any Stateside hits, so that doesn't count. Did Blind Faith even release any singles? I don't any such evidence on Wikipedia. Can' tfind any info on Spencer Davis Group's Stateside chart positions either.

Spencer Davis Group had U.S. top tens with "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm A Man." Blind Faith did not have any chart hits.

[pb2015]

As far as arena rock, Neal Schon has been on hits with Santana, Journey and Bad English.

Same with Jonathan Cain except the Babys rather than Santana.

[Scott Bails]

Hmm....did Schon chart at all with "No More Lies," which was played to death on MTV (with Jan Hammer) or with HSAS?

[JJ88]

Phil Collins was barely on All Things Must Pass at all. He was of course on Philip Bailey's 'Easy Lover' but maybe as he was co-credited I don't know if it counts.

[arturs]

As far as arena rock, Neal Schon has been on hits with Santana, Journey and Bad English.

We have another winner. I had thought about Schon as a contender for the singles hat-trick, but I had completely repressed all memory of "Bad English"!

[musicislife]

Opinions are like u know what----no prog guitarist in his league---going from pure prog to popular---this is a progressive rock website isn't it?

It's the "none in his league" that I have a problem with. But, what's so great about playing "popular"? And what the heck is "pure prog"? Love it when fans think prog is somehow above everything else.

[UnderAGlassMoon]

We have another winner. I had thought about Schon as a contender for the singles hat-trick, but I had completely repressed all memory of "Bad English"!

Same could be said for John Waite, The Babys, solo and Bad English.

[GuitarGeek]

As far as arena rock, Neal Schon has been on hits with Santana, Journey and Bad English.

What Santana hits did Neal play on? I thought all the Santana hits were off the first couple records, ya know, before Neal joined the band.

[GuitarGeek]

Hmm....did Schon chart at all with "No More Lies," which was played to death on MTV (with Jan Hammer) or with HSAS?

Wikipedia says the HSAS version of Whiter Shade Of Pale (the only single from the album) peaked at 94! Good record though. Kinda went under the radar, as I recall.

Can't find anyone chart info on Schon & Hammer.

[GuitarGeek]

Phil Collins was barely on All Things Must Pass at all.

Yeha, I know, there was a joke about the guys in Genesis being impressed about Phil playing with George Harrison, then later they found out he played "third tambourine" or something like that.

[GuitarGeek]

The members of Toto.

Along with Gregg Philligaines, Nathan East, and all the other A Team session guys.

I think there was a stretch in the early 80's where just about every record made in LA had at least one guy from Toto on it.

As for C-Lo Green, I must be the only person on the planet (besides my mom and my dad) who never heard that Fuck You song.

[pb2015]

What Santana hits did Neal play on? I thought all the Santana hits were off the first couple records, ya know, before Neal joined the band.

"Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On" from the third album both reached top 40.

Regarding Schon/Hammer, as far as I know "No More Lies" didn't chart, although I remember seeing it on MTV too.

[Obscured]

Neil Young might have done it solo, with Crazy Horse, and with Pearl Jam.

C, S, N & Y


Jimmy Page- Yardbirds, Led Zep, Firm, w/ Coverdale, w/ Plant, solo scores.

[viukkis]

Neil Young also had a US top 20 hit with Buffalo Springfield.

[Scott Bails]

What Santana hits did Neal play on? I thought all the Santana hits were off the first couple records, ya know, before Neal joined the band.

He was in the video for "Black Magic Woman," so I assumed that he played on it.

Along with Gregg Philligaines, Nathan East, and all the other A Team session guys.

Phillinganes was actually a member of Toto for an album.

[JKL2000]

I don't know that the criteria for this thread really means all that much. If someone has hits in the context of three different groups, but two of them are "supergroups," does it really say something all that superlative about the player? As all musicians who tried to get a hit but never did would tell you, the biggest hurdle to having a hit was getting airplay. Supergroups have the inside track on that. Supergroups typically also had solid promotional support from their labels. If your recording is being heavily promoted and the singles are getting on the radio due to name recognition, then one has already gone a long way toward charting.

Anyway, a good example of an artist doing this without going the route of a supergroup is probably Cee-Lo Green. He had a hit while in Goodie Mob - 1995's "Cell Therapy" (#1 rap single; #39 on the Billboard top 100); several hits while in Gnarls Barkley (the highest charting being "Crazy," which hit #7 on the top 100 in 2006) and, lastly, his #2 hit as a solo artist, 2010's ubiquitous "F!ck You."

Impressive that these three hits all came in three different decades, and increased in chart stature each time.

Didn't Gnarls Barkley also have the inside track on getting airplay? Both of them had had a lot of critical success.

[Facelift]

Didn't Gnarls Barkley also have the inside track on getting airplay? Both of them had had a lot of critical success.

I woudn't say much more so than anybody else on a major label. Of the two, Danger Mouse was the hotter quantity at the time, but he nevertheless wasn't a mainstream "name."

Cee-Lo was a guy from an influential southern rap band which was known the mainstream as basically being a one-hit wonder. According to Wikipedia, the success of "Crazy" started when someone on the BBC began using it.

[GuitarGeek]

He was in the video for "Black Magic Woman," so I assumed that he played on it.

If you mean the clip MTV used to show on Closet Classics, that's actually from a German TV show called Beat Club. That particular clip I think was from around the time of Santana III. The "hit version" of Black Magic Woman is from Abraxas, which Herr Neal most definitely didn't play on. As far as I know, there wasn't an actual video shot for Black Magic Woman (or any other early Santana song, I think all the clips that exist are taken from TV programs or films like Woodstock or Last Days Of The Fillmore).

Phillinganes was actually a member of Toto for an album.

I forgot about that. But he was a studio musician for quite a few years before that. if I remember correctly he played in Eric Clapton's backup band for quite a few years, and he also toured with Micheal Jackson.

[SteveSly]

Wikipedia says the HSAS version of Whiter Shade Of Pale (the only single from the album) peaked at 94! Good record though. Kinda went under the radar, as I recall.

Can't find anyone chart info on Schon & Hammer.

While on the subject of HSAS, what about Sammy Hagar? Along with HSAS he had Montrose, Van Halen, and his solo career. Not sure if Chickenfoot has had anything that charted or not.

[gojikranz]

alan white on imagine all things must pass and owner of a lonely heart.

don't suppose run with the fox made it anywhere near the charts though...

also if we wanna give steve howe some more props he is on Frankie goes to Hollywood welcome to the pleasuredome

[Progatron]

Yeha, I know, there was a joke about the guys in Genesis being impressed about Phil playing with George Harrison, then later they found out he played "third tambourine" or something like that.

That's PG's quote about "third tambourine" but it was actually bongos Phil played on the track "The Art Of Dying" (a killer track)... but his parts didn't actually make it to the finished album. He goes into great detail about it in his new autobiography, it's quite an interesting story actually!

[onward]

alan white on imagine all things must pass and owner of a lonely heart.

don't suppose run with the fox made it anywhere near the charts though...

also if we wanna give steve howe some more props he is on Frankie goes to Hollywood welcome to the pleasuredome

Alan is also on Imagine and Instant Karma.
Steve is on Queen's Innuendo