I am having a big problem with the way musicians these days find it more and more necessary to do solo projects, and leave bands or groups and create the same style of music. It appears to me that the musicians are out for just the money and not the music anymore.

It is true that some of these side projects have become very successful, but there should always be some manner of experimentation in the music that comes out of a side project.

Musical side projects, whether they were started because of a falling out of the band, or because one of the members had an idea that they wanted to work on, need to be started because of a sound completely different from the one they are currently working on.

Bands like “Cobra Starship”, “Zwan”, “Lars Fredriksen” and “the Bastards”, Blink-182’s bands “Box Car Racer”, “Plus 44” and “Angels & Airwaves”, are all examples of bands that were created but pumped out the exact same music as before. It has been going on for quite a while too, “Morrissey” has based his entire career post “Smiths” era on music that sounds exactly the same as the music the “Smiths” put out. The same goes for “Rob Zombie”, and “Omarion” who broke off from groups that were doing quite well to do their own work, and because of this broke up their bands.

Every single one of the bands mentioned above, with the exception of “Cobra Starship” came from very popular bands in their day and age, but the side projects were all the same sound, the same instrumentation, and little innovation. Every single one of the bands mentioned above could have easily been a continuation of their original bands and not have had a problem. Suedehead could have easily been another “Smiths” hit instead of “Morrissey” one, and “Honestly” could have been a happier sounding “Smashing Pumpkins” song.

Instead all of those bands were simply one or two musicians looking to make a name for themselves or make money solely for themselves without having to make a cut of the profit or share musical control with another entire band.

If bands are going to do solo projects or side projects, they should sound more like “A Perfect Circle,” “The Postal Service,” “The Mars Volta,” “Fort Minor,” “Audioslave,” and soloist, Greg Graffin.

All of these bands broke away from their original sounds and created something totally new and separate from the other groups they associate with.

Graffin, lead singer of “Bad Religion” did a solo project of acoustic folk songs rather than the hard and edgy punk rock that “Bad Religion” and “Graffin” have created a niche for themselves. “Fort Minor” singer, Mike Shinoda did the same by breaking away from the rap-rock, clean lyric sound of “Linkin Park,” to the swear filled, bass heavy, traditional rap that Shinoda couldn’t do within the band. Both singers took a chance, and Shinoda was more successful than Graffin, but the fact still remains that they both experimented and that in and of itself is a victory for the music industry.

“The Postal Service” and “The Mars Volta” did similarly by creating sounds so different and more progressive, than their original bands, some people that stepped away from those music scenes for a time can scarcely believe that they are remnants of “Death Cab for Cutie” and “At the Drive In.”

At any rate, the music industry is better off by having musicians that truly care about the music enough to experiment with the music, rather than break away from one successful band to create another clone of the band just to bring in a little extra profit and more recognition. Solo and side projects have to be different and experimental in order for the music industry to thrive and be an even bigger influence for the world.