The Ten Best Musical Husband-Wife Teams EVER, Part One!

Is there anything worse than being in a band with a married couple?  Arguably, no, but here, in Part One of our epic list of The Ten Best Musical Husband-Wife Teams EVER,  we compile those instances where the musical results may have been worth the hassle and eventual heartbreak.
  
Nashville Pussy

Husband-wife team Blaine Cartwright and Ruyter Suys remain the sole original members of this nitro-burning Southern Hard Rock band best known for the seminal 1998 album Let Them Eat Pussy, which featured the Grammy-nominated song (!) "Fried Chicken And Coffee".  Based on the album title and cover art, which featured Suys and Parks each with a man's head between their legs, there was little reason to believe that the music could possibly live up to such "promise", but it did in spades.  Songs like "Snake Eyes"and "Johnny Hotrod" are amphetamine-fueled blasts of southern boogie that are as infectious as an STD.

While Corey Parks left after the release of High As Hell in 2000, the band remains active, with a rabid worldwide cult following.  


ABBA

Unlike Fleetwood Mac, who managed to stay together through the marital breakup of the McVies and the split between Nicks and Buckingham, Abba was a quartet comprised of two married couples.  While the band managed to carry on after the Ulvaeus-Fältskog divorce in 1979, when Andersson-Lyngstad divorced in 1981, the group's days were truly numbered.

Thankfully, the band released eight masterful albums of joyous dance pop and their special brand of earworm pop remains just as popular today (thanks to the film and Broadway play "Mama Mia").  While it seems the band chose to keep their marital woes under wraps until the very end, songs like "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) hinted at trouble in paradise.


Buddy and Julie Miller

There are few couples who embody music quite like that of Buddy and Julie Miller.  While they've recorded but two albums together to date, the results are stellarenough to warrant inclusion on this list.  Whereas the passive-aggressive non-dialogue between Richard and Linda Thompson made for a wince-inducing union (and years of mental issues for the latter), Buddy and Julie co-exist in a most beautiful way, resulting in songs that range from the upbeat heartland rocker "You Make My Heart Beat Too Fast" to the incendiary "Gasoline And Matches".  In between such accessible high points, though, is where you will find the real depth, as on Julie's gripping "Don't Say Goodbye".


Missing Persons
Easily dismissed by detractors as a mid-level new wave band, there are few odder musical marriages than the one between ex-Zappa session player Terry Bozzio and former Playboy model wife, Dale, who founded Missing Persons in L.A. with fellow Zappa alums Patrick O'Hearn and Warren Cuccurullo.

With a self-financed debut EP, produced by Ken Scott, gaining airplay on the powerhouse L.A. station KROQ, the band toured relentlessly and eventually graduated to Capitol Records, where they scored hits with "Destination Unknown" and "Walking In L.A.".  The juxtaposition of Dale Bozzio's revealing outfits and multi-color hair against the band's virtuosic musical chops made them one of the more colorful bands on an otherwise crowded '80s musical landscape.  Sadly, when the Bozzios' marriage ended in 1986, so did the band.

Fleetwood Mac

While the sort of mega-platinum chart-topping fame the band enjoyed in the late '70s is the stuff of dreams for most musicians, the effects it had on the two couples within the band were disastrous as both Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and husband-and-wife John and Christine McVie saw their relationships crash and burn during the sessions for the album.

While such turmoil is a recipe for disaster in most cases, the members of Mac obviously work better when its key songwriters (Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine McVie) are lacerating their exes in song.  The best kiss-off of all comes from Buckingham, who serves up the mesmerizing "Go Your Own Way".