Eitzel v Mould

In a change for the usual news posts, today will be more of an opinion post. I was flicking through my iPod the other day and it struck me that two of my favourite singers were following rather similar career paths. The two chaps in question being Mark Eitzel and Bob Mould. As I see it, their careers go something like this.

• Start as singer in an influential underground band (American music Club and Husker Du respectively) that briefly flirt with success and major labels.
• Split the band up for music influence/ego problems.
• Get a reputation as a really miserable git. When "Black Sheets of Rain" came out the Guardian called Bob "the most miserable man in rock" and Mark of course wrote "If I Had a Gun".
• Release great debut solo album and then a series of patchy follow ups.
• In Bobs case, do the same again with a band call Sugar.
• Endlessly tour with solo acoustic shows.
• Come out of the closet, start hanging around clubs like Trade (or the US equivalent), think that Soft Cell are fab and re-invent yourself as a "electronic" artist.
• Release a series of electronic/dance albums to various amounts of critical praise.
• Finally make a decent comeback album. In Marks case it was "Love Songs for Patriots" and in Bobs case it was "Body of Song".

I just find it strange that the singers of my two fave bands of the late 80s/early 90s both had such similar career paths. They have both gone electronic and produced Pro-Tools albums though the albums have been most different. Marks are still singer/songwriter albums while Bobs still have that hint of power pop guitar in them.