Rock bands/artists who went pop

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by seed_drill, Feb 13, 2018.

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  1. steveharris

    steveharris Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    Pat Benatar
     
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  2. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Michael Bolton?
     
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  3. indeed, so much he changed his name
     
  4. BryanA-HTX

    BryanA-HTX Crazy Doctor

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    A lot of prog acts from the '70s. Genesis, Yes, Rush and Pink Floyd to some extent.

    I tend to disagree with Aerosmith, at least from Permanent Vacation thru Get a Grip. There were definitely a few moments where they rocked pretty hard like "Young Lust", "Eat the Rich", "Magic Touch" etc.

    I'll give you "Pink" and "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" though. They're pretty terrible.

    Another one that I definitely would say fit in this category is Def Leppard, starting with Hysteria (though maybe a couple of songs on Pyromania sort of predicted the trajectory).
     
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  5. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Oof. Granted, they did still have hard rock songs (rather they were good is another story), but those songs are dreadful. Not as dreadful as Brandon, but still.
     
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  6. Hardy Melville

    Hardy Melville Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    No one mentioned Steve Miller yet. But he's one of the first I think of when this kind of question (similar to the "sell-out" one) comes up.

    Steve Miller. I understand he's gone back to more rock and blues "lately", but he sure went pop a long time ago.
     
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  7. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    That song on a kids show... uhhhh :tsk::wtf:
     
  8. Hadean75

    Hadean75 Forum Moonlighter

  9. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    KISS had dabbled in pop before and after Unmasked, and occasionally would have a hit pop single. Beth, Hard Luck Woman, I Was Made For Loving You, Forever
     
  10. recordman33

    recordman33 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, Pa
    Liz Phair.
     
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  11. zen

    zen Senior Member

    John Wetton....Steve Howe....Carl Palmer....Geoff Downes.

    and I thank you!
     
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  12. Cassiel

    Cassiel Sonic Reducer

    Location:
    NYC, USA
    Split Enz
    Eurythmics
    Human League
    Simple Minds

    Look up their early stuff.
     
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  13. Could Paul McCartney fit this description as he worked with Michael Jackson on "Say Say Say"? Nothing against either artist and I love the song but I think this "crossover" would fit the criteria.
     
  14. chodad

    chodad Hodad

    Location:
    USA
    Rod Stewart
     
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  15. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    The phenomenon I'm talking about really only applies from the late sixties/early 70s onward. Before then there weren't separate rock vs. top 40 stations and everybody wanted a hit single.
     
  16. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    He was an example in my original post.
     
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  17. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Don't think there's a better example than Lady Gaga. Before she created that character, she was playing jazz standards on piano.
     
  18. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    I was thinking america compared to worldwide, rather than the U.K. You hear plenty of Queen in different countries on the radio. Certainly in Australia and in Europe too.

    Radio Gaga's a good example. It went to number 1 and number 2 in a lot of countries. You still hear that played often.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2018
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  19. ...and it's a great POP song!
     
  20. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    That it is. I never said it wasn't pop, so I'm not sure why you replied that.
     
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  21. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    Maroon 5 definitely deserve a shot at this title as well. That and the fact that Adam Levine should have went solo in 2007.
     
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  22. zen

    zen Senior Member

    Hetfield and Trujillo shopping at Armani....
    [​IMG] :winkgrin:
     
  23. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    Honestly, I was appalled when it came out. But I was a young teen and not into pop. I don't know that I've heard it in over 30 years, though I can still recall the melody, which I guess means it's a great pop song.
     
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  24. ampmods

    ampmods Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    I get what the OP is going for here but really isn’t (or wasn’t) rock music basically pop music to begin with?

    I mean in many of the examples given so far I’d say just keeping current is what lead many of the artists in the direction they landed in. While with others maybe became more interested in simpler song forms (like the prog cats) or maybe they became more adventurous and explored technology which ended up sounding more pop.

    I think a better distinction might be to say which artists intentionally compromised their artistic integrity to cash in on a wider audience or coasted on their fame to release lazy records.

    In that category I’d nominate Heart. The things they let their label or managers make them do are some of the most embarrassing examples I can think of.
     
  25. AveryKG

    AveryKG Sultan of snacks

    Location:
    west London
    Utopia… from prog to power pop.
     
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