Which band/artist almost completely recreated themselves - and succeeded?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Spaghettiows, Nov 16, 2014.

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  1. joethomas1

    joethomas1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Yorkshire, UK
    Guess U2 with Achtung Baby would have to be on the list, if only for the abandonment of their previous earnest delivery and sound to some degree. They sound like they're having more fun on this record, compared to their previous 2 albums Rattle & Hum and The Joshua Tree. Also, in terms of the risk they took with this album, I would say they have to be on the list. They could have alienated a lot of their fanbase but probably gained a lot of new fans when they pulled off this risk.
     
  2. Lucidae

    Lucidae AAD

    Location:
    Australia
    Somebody mentioned The Doobie Brothers, I'd say that's one of the best examples. Almost two different bands, but equally as successful.
     
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  3. Aris

    Aris Labor Omnia Vincit

    Location:
    Portugal
    Beastie Boys, from hardcore punk to hip hop.

    The Mekons, from punk to cowpunk, alternative country...
     
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  4. lugnut2099

    lugnut2099 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Missouri
    Just to throw in an oddball, how 'bout Hank Williams, Jr.? Before his mountain-climbing accident, his music included a lot of covers of his dad's songs, and even when he wasn't singing those old tunes, his stuff still had a pretty "old-fashioned country" sound to it.

    I'm not sure if the fall had anything to do with it, but when he returned late in 1975 with Hank Williams Jr. & Friends, he'd transitioned into a hard-driving, Southern Rock-style sound that took him to superstardom and truly established "his own" sound finally.
     
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  5. manxman

    manxman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Isle of Man
    Regrettably, Jefferson Airplane/Starship. Having done well with acid-rock in the late sixties and early seventies as Jefferson Airplane, they reinvented themselves as the soft rock Jefferson Starship in 1974, changing style to AOR/hard rock after Grace Slick and Marty Balin left in 1978/9, then finally adding some eighties pop influences as Starship. They had at least one top ten album in each of these guises.
     
  6. Van Halen
     
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  7. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I waded through this entire thread looking to see if I could add UFO to the list, only to see it here! I sure would think it qualifies, especially from their 2nd album of space rock to that next transition.
     
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  8. Mark

    Mark I Am Gort, Hear Me Roar Staff

    Bob Dylan and Miles Davis, times too numerous to count.....
     
  9. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I was a pre-Michael McDonald guy, but they really hit the commercial jackpot during his era. There must have been two or three other acts, during that period, that mimicked that sound.
     
  10. vinyl diehard

    vinyl diehard Two-Channel Forever

    The Sweet come to mind. From bubble gum rock to hard rock.
    David Bowtie would be another.
     
  11. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Royal Trux. They went from making drug-soaked Revolution 9 type tape experiments to a legitimate rock band by the time they made Cats and Dogs.
     
  12. Dukes Travels

    Dukes Travels Forum Resident

    I'm happy to put Genesis in that catagory. Their journey to musical change is a bit more involved than "hey man lets change our sound" though.
    Lineup changes meant they would find it a laborious task to write 15 minute tracks between 3 people, one whos biggest influence was motown and the beatles. The changing musical landscape also meant there would be little interest in epic prog tracks in a dance/synth pop era.
     
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  13. Aguirre

    Aguirre Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Japan...?
     
  14. saturnsf

    saturnsf Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Am I the only person who much prefers their trashy early glam records to their "serious" later stuff? (Answer: yes)
     
  15. loki993

    loki993 Forum Resident

    I was going to say Fleetwood Mac but its been said a few times already....they were a darn good blues band too before the switch. I love that old stuff.

    Mine would be Shinedown I loved their first album, but after that they changed into just another pop rock nickleback clone.

    Im not sure but Taylor Swift....pretty sure she started out country and her new album, from what little Ive heard admittedly, is full on pop.
     
  16. montejay

    montejay Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    ?
    They didn't just add jazz guys. Their music moved from rock based to jazz based. They went from a touring band to a studio duo with session musicians. They reinvented themselves imo. Listen to CBAT and AJA or Gaucho to see the evolution and reinvention.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2014
  17. arthurprecarious

    arthurprecarious Forum Resident

    Location:
    North East England
    I quite liked their new direction.
     
  18. Mr. Pleasant

    Mr. Pleasant Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Deep Purple.

    Psychedelic/proto-prog rock >>>>> hard rock/heavy metal.
     
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  19. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
    Roxy Music, John Mellencamp
     
  20. lugnut2099

    lugnut2099 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Missouri
    And I'll add that there's a whole laundry list of rappers who released a handful of records early in their career that weren't necessarily intended to be commercial-oriented and were usually clearly identifiable as "hip-hop" and not "hip-pop," so to speak overall, but then "sold out" as soon as one of the songs actually did manage to catch on with the pop crowds. I know it's a more subtle change than most of the others mentioned, and not all of them have had much success with it, but for instance...

    How 'bout Nelly? Yeah, his first album Country Grammar had at least three huge pop hits, and the overall sound of the album was very much accessible to the mainstream, but nothing about it immediately seemed to indicate that these songs were intentionally aimed at the pop crowd - in fact, all of them were just based on existing demos and the first single that happened to take off has a word in its title that can't even be said here or on the radio. Overall the first album showed promise of a guy who could be "street" while still having a mainstream-friendly sound and do so with, for lack of a better word, integrity. The second album? Full of very, very carefully crafted songs that would be sure to blow up on pop stations and no real signs of the guy from the first record. You could easily make a case that his "style" hadn't changed all that much, but the "feel" between the first album and everything that followed couldn't be further apart. Now he raps in Cheerios commercials and does guest appearances on "country" songs.

    And then there's someone like Ja Rule, though it can be debated how much it "succeeded" for him. Started out as a gangsta-type rapper, made a decent-enough impression in that field (even though I never liked more than a couple songs from the guy). Then he did a couple duets with R&B/pop singers Lil' Mo and Ashanti where he provided the "sensitive thug" role that became big hits, and suddenly that's all he was doing. Duets with Jennifer Lopez, more with Ashanti, etc. These became big pop hits, but they completely alienated much of his hip-hop audience. This wasn't helped by the fact that, even though he's croaking out love songs with J.Lo, the next track on his album would be about how he was still putting in work on the streets. So in that case you get a guy who got a giant career boost in terms of sales/hits, but alienated his initial fans so much that they didn't want him back when the pop crowd dried up. Let's call it a half-success.

    There's a lot of others like those, too. Snoop Dogg is even a borderline contender. Would anyone have expected the "angry young man" from The Chronic to have wound up being America's Favorite Stoner with a huggable family-friendly image and most known by today's kids as the guy who was on that Katy Perry song?
     
  21. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Exile: Went from one hit wonder pop (Kiss You All Over) to a successful career as country artists.
     
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  22. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    It was good, but kind of overshadowed by Puppet Show.
     
  23. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Sarah Brightman: From disco/pop with Hot Gossip to the voice of Andrew Lloyd Weber.
     
  24. vinylphile

    vinylphile Forum Resident

    First one that came to my mind.
     
  25. bopdd

    bopdd Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Having just heard Atilla for the first time, I nominate Billy Joel.
     
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