[mattmanser]

Beatles/music analogy rather backfires, no-one remembers Paul McCartney albums or Freddie Mercury solo projects.

I could spend years listing bands that have split up, the lead singer or guitarist tries to go solo, utterly fails, band goes for reunion tour 10 years later. It's a known band cliché.

A large software project is a lot of hard work of basically a bunch of people trying to write a story together. It's different to sport. One asshole pulling in a completely different direction is enough to drag everyone down.

[danjac]

Counterexamples: John Lennon, Sting, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Phil Collins, Lou Reed...

[mattmanser]

They're the exceptions to the rule, the converse happens far more often.

[danjac]

...George Michael, Paul Simon, Iggy Pop, Cher, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Diana Ross...