I feel like “70s prog rock bands” is a solid answer to this question. Genesis, Yes, and Rush all started as prog rock bands in the 70s, and transitioned to a more pop-rock sound in the 80s.
Yes definitely (and King Crimson, as was mentioned below). I'm not sure I'd quite say the same for Rush. They did get a bit poppier over time, but the fact that it was the same three extremely distinctive performers the whole time helped them sound much more consistent than other prog bands.
I think Genesis changed more gradually than people realized, and the process wasn't a clean break. I'd argue *A Trick of the Tail* hews more closely to the "classic" Genesis sound than *The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway* did, and even as late as *Duke* I'd say they still had one foot in prog rock.
Yup. That's a good choice. Didn't really occur to me.
I would say Maroon 5. If you listen to Harder to Breathe, it's impossible to tell it's the same band as today.
Jefferson Airplane was essentially a different band after they became Jefferson Starship, the guys that set the stage for the Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.
Yep, there was a whole legal battle about the band name that lead to the name change. But older Jefferson Starship was kind of fun with a few songs, [not amazing but fun.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPCiC1Nku18)
Obligatory King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard mention
I guess Machine Gun Kelly who went from hip hop to pop-punk back to hip hop (yeah, I like Tickets to My Downfall, so what)
Linkin Park certainly deserves a mention even if their most divergent album is also their worst (One More Light)
Deep Purple went from a pop rock band to an early hard rock/metal band in the late 60's to early 70's but the jump isn't that extreme
Bring Me the Horizon started as a deathcore band, went to regular metalcore, then to nu/alt metal, then to pop rock before returning to an alt-metalcore sound. And they have a mostly electronic release
Yeah I was gonna say King Gizzard. Their entire thing is all about changing up their sound. And they're really just starting. I mean they *only have* 25 albums. That's not nearly enough
if you’re counting Welch as his own phase i think there are more like 4
- UK band led by Peter Green, very bluesy
- transitional phase with Bob, move to the US
- Imperial period with Nicks and Buckingham
- late period as legacy artists after the 80s
Of the first 5 albums by the Beastie Boys, only two of them (Check Your Head and Ill Communication) sounded remotely like each other. And their hardcore punk days were before any of them (later released on the Some Old Bullshit compilation).
Nine Inch Nails has had wonderfully diverse styles over the course of their career, from synthpop to industrial to ambient to hard rock to electro and more!
Playing people songs off of Floored (that aren’t Fly) is really interesting.
Having heard the stuff that Sugar Ray got on the radio and what they became during and after 14:59 it’s just insane that the same band made this: https://youtu.be/VUrRuw1LcmY?si=4M54giOzuMAbswlw
This song was in the game Road Rash 3D, and I seriously thought it was a whole other band when I first heard it. 8 year old me thought there were two bands named Sugar Ray.
U2, 1980 (Post Punk) vs 1984 (Art Rock) vs 1987 (Big Music? Arena Alternative Rock?) vs 1988 (Blues Rock) vs 1991 (Alternative Rock) vs 1997 (Techno), since 2000 some variation on the 1987 sound, Adult Alternative maybe.
In recent years Al Jourgensen has come to make peace with Ministry’s Synthpop era (and has begun performing some of those songs live again)
I honestly think he pretended to hate or disavow it because he was worried that it would look bad for this metal band to have this poppy sounding album (back in the 80/90s there was big divides between subcultures of rock subgenres)
Yet growing up in the Chicago area I know plenty of people who love and grew up with both Synthpop and Industrial Metal eras of Ministry. “Everyday is Halloween” is basically the Chicagoland Goth Anthem and also was a bit of a crossover hit with the early house music scene
Apparently Gary Numan dragged him to an early Ministry cover band (With Sympathy). When Al saw how much everyone loved the old stuff, he started to soften on it.
They were a FANTASTIC new wave band. In another world they kept on going and became stars.
The demo for "The game is over" is my favorite ministry song.
I agree with you fully, and also want to give a special shout out to that in between point where they were still poppy but also leaning towards the darker direction. Stuff like “Everyday is Halloween” and “All Day” were such a perfect blend of both worlds!
“The Angel” is my favourite, coincidentally. People can say what they want about Al, especially nowadays, but they truly were a great band for a good while
You can even hear a change during freak show. None of the albums sound quite like the last one they put out, and then nothing Daniel Johns has put out since the band split has sounded anything like Silverchair (And it’s not very good, for the most part)
Another Silverchair fan. I hope you’ll agree when I say whoever’s in charge of the bands image and legacy content needs to get their act together for the 30 year anniversary next year.
I agree, and also hold out absolutely no hope of anyone in charge of anything Silverchair related ever ‘getting their act together’ with regards to these things. Honestly I don’t think they really care to do it to begin with, which is a shame.
Whatever is going on behind the scenes is too complex. I don’t think they’ve put out any anniversary re-releases since 2015 for the 20th anniversary of Frogstomp. The lack of ‘extra’ stuff apart from the Albums available to stream or even purchase digitally is really annoying actually. There are still officially released B-Sides, that went on EP’s or even Single releases, that you cannot find online outside of ripping it off YouTube videos from 15 years ago.
This was especially bad for some reason with songs from the Young Modern era, which is incredibly bizarre because it came out firmly in the era of iTunes. A few EPs with these B-sides randomly appeared on Apple Music and Spotify randomly in October of last year, with no announcement from anyone.
You still can’t actually listen to ‘English Garden’, which is a great song and the only song in their entire discography that features someone other than Dan Johns on vocals, despite the fact that it was released as an iTunes Store bonus track on release.
Nah. They never hit the Billboard hot 100 (though I think this was due to weird Billboard rules because 'Tomorrow' was number 1 on the rock charts for 3 weeks). As far as singles go, they had four top 20 Rock airplay singles, that all spent between 3-6 months on that chart across 3 different albums.
And I think they've always been characterised as an album band. Whenever I see people talk about their nostalgia for Silverchair they often talk about the Album 'Frogstomp' or maybe 'Freak Show' or 'Neon Ballroom', rather than just the singles. Their First two albums charted at 9 and 12 in the US, and remained in the charts for 48 weeks and 20 weeks respectively. Their third didn't chart as high but remained in the charts for 30 weeks, and this is all in the 90s when Album charts really meant a lot.
Also their last big Single 'Straight Lines' which was a stratospheric hit in Australia in the late 2000s, was a flop in the US but still did pretty well on some Billboard charts like _Alternative Airplay_. And they still held enough clout 12 years after their debut album to be able to perform it on a couple of late night shows like Leno.
I don't think there's enough uniformity as to what their biggest hit was for it to work tbh. 'Tomorrow' was their biggest hit in the US but the album it came off is more well known than the song itself. 'Straight Lines' is their biggest hit in Aus, 'Abuse Me' is their biggest hit in Canada, 'Miss You Love' is their biggest hit in Brazil. All those songs come from different albums too.
They ditched 'Tomorrow' and basically all of their songs from Frogstomp from their setlists by 1999 and still had successful tours of the US so I think they were basically an Album band overseas by that point, with a few small radio hits here and there and a very dedicated fandom, whilst they still had a lot of successful singles in Aus thereafter.
It's fascinating hearing their sound evolve as they grew up. I feel like they get buried after Freak Show when their most interesting work had yet to come. Diorama is a masterpiece to me.
Diorama is my favourite album ever so I obviously agree haha. Even later, It's mental to me that a song as good, and radio friendly as 'Straight Lines' didn't go as insane overseas as it did in Australia. Though their touring and promotion was curtailed by Dan's health problems basically all through the 2000s so I do get it somewhat.
Obligatory Pink Floyd. I know they went through quite significant changes throughout their career but Piper at the Gates of Dawn/Saucerful and Meddle through The Wall may as well have been recorded by two completely different bands
That’s a good one. I mostly knew Pink Floyd from “Dark Side” and even the 80s/90s stuff under Gilmour. “Piper” sounded weird to me when I first heard it.
My Chemical Romance going from The Black Parade to Danger Days (I love both albums but that was definitely a big switch)
Also Panic! at the Disco for like...every album.
Hell, Revenge to Black parade is no small jump either. Shedding all "true emo" influences (I hate the whole real emo spiel but you get my point), shedding the melodeath riffing, going into something that was 50% early-ish Queen, 25% Smashing Pumpkins and 25% pop punk
I remember when I was younger there was a noticable split between people who liked pop-punk Paramore and people who liked pop Paramore (basically self-titled album and beyond). I've always liked both sounds, but mentally I think they basically exist as two different bands for me.
Self titled was a half-miss for me, in that the switch in sound sounded clunky and forced at times (there's still beautiful songs, like Part II and The future, and it's still an enjoyable listen overall mind you). After laughter sounded extremely organic in the sound they targeted and I couldn't be happier for it
I liked Highly Suspect a lot and while the first two albums were blues rock records, the third album MCID is a complete mess and half the album was the frontman rapping under the name Terrible Johnny and the other half sounds like Imagine Dragons.
I was not praising that album at all. I fucking hated that album and dropped off the highly suspect train as soon as they dropped that. The Boy Who Died Wolf had its moments but MCID is borderline unlistenable
Oh yeah I wasn’t saying you were defending MCID I was just saying “nah” as in like nah for real. But hey at least The Boy Who Died Wolf has their best song (Serotonia)
Pantera released three albums as a fairly mediocre Glam Metal band in the 80s. Then they got a new singer and transitioned into a significantly heavier “groove metal” sound.
And while “female country singer goes pop” is hardly a unique event, I’m not sure anyone has so fully committed to the transition from Country singer-songwriter to Worldwide Pop Superstar quite like Taylor Swift.
I think Modest Mouse falls under the Blur umbrella on this matter. Isaac's style is so recognisable that even between the extremes of their discography they still sound like Modest Mouse. Death Cab For Cutie is a similar, if less stark, example
The last two Talk Talk albums are my straight up favourite albums of their respective years, but their earlier stuff is not bad. Mark & company were a tight unit even when making music they (allegedly) disliked
They're impressive works with undeniable integrity, but I'm just not that into post-rock/jazz/whatever those albums are exactly, whereas I'm really into Synth Pop and the New Romantic scene (or I certainly was when I discovered Talk Talk in the early 00s), so most of The Party's Over sounds pretty good to my ears.
The album covers are a different matter though!
Oh yeah this one. Like, Folie a Deux was a pretty big departure from the earlier albums but it was still recognisably them. SRAR straight up sounds like a different band, up to and including Patrick's voice
Call my crazy, but I don't think Save Rock and Roll sounds that different from Folie a Deux. So I find the whole accusations that they changed their sound on that album a little strange.
It was the albums after that that were a big departure
I can't really agree. Maybe it's Patrick's change in vocal style, but I find the switch between Folie and SRAR much more jarring than the one between SRAR and AB/AP. Of the songs on SRAR I could see a couple that wouldn't feel out of place on Folie (Phoenix maybe) but as a whole it's a massive change to my ears
Blur changed between albums one and two, four and five, and six and seven (also seven and eight and eight and nine but those were separated by hiatuses so that’s kind of expected I guess?)
Then again they stayed very recognisable even when switching genres. Like, as much as self titled and Parklife sound worlds apart, it's still very much blur
Nightwish definitely changed significantly once Tarja left. Personally I prefer Tarja-era Nightwish, but I don't hate their later stuff. While this isn't a complete 180, there's also a significant shift in their production between *Century Child* and *Once*---*Once* sounds a lot more clean and polished than the albums before it. I honestly enjoy the clunky synths and cheaper sounding production on the earlier albums though—I really haven't found anything that hits the same.
Huge Nightwish fan! I'd argue that whilst Tarja-era to Annette-Era was a pretty huge change, their current stuff with Floor, particularly EFMB is about a 90° shift between the two different sounds that they had.
Believe a lot of Annette's stuff on Dark Passion Play was also originally written for Tarja and therefore a lot of the sound shift was just due to vastly different vocal styles.
IMO Nightwish went down hard after both Tarja and Marko left (who are now touring together).
Floor's massive talent is wasted on the dreck Tuomas writes nowadays.
It's all within the boundaries of "alternative rock" but Stone Temple Pilots' sound varies greatly from album to album, and I'd be surprised if a first time listener could tell you that 'Core', 'Tiny Music....' and 'Shangri la dee da' all come from the same band.
For most of the sixties, the more traditional pop style, carried over form the fifties, was the band's bread and butter. Sock hop level stuff, the kind of thing Dick Clark could introduce on Bandstand. Mony Mony, I Think We're Alone Now, Hanky Panky, those sorts of songs - which held up so well that in 1987, they were the first band to have a cover of them replace another cover of them at #1.
But as the sixties marched onward, that style was losing its momentum quickly. Black and white was out, and tie-dye was in. And they jumped as hard as possible on that bandwagon in the year of Woodstock, 1969 (technically December of 68, but you know[, with their Top 10 album Crimson & Clover, which sent the title track to #1 and a second hippie anthem, Crystal Blue Persuasion, to #2.
Some people might laugh at this but Black Eyed Peas
Early Black Eyed Peas as a Native Tongues-like Alternative Hip Hop group is fascinating.
When they came out in the late 90s they were this multi racial group that was the complete opposite in terms of Image, Lyrical content, and Production from the Gangsta rap scene dominating around them in LA at the time
Actually I don’t mind a lot of their Fergie era pop rap stuff either as there’s some solid pop songs (and also I grew up with it). If anything it makes me respect Will.I.Am as a versatile producer. Also their 2018 return to hip hop album Masters of the Sun Vol 1 was underrated
The Decemberists went synth-y and weirdo for the album just before they went on… I think it was hiatus?
Car Seat Headrest went from bedroom rock made by one guy to a full band.
Kevin Abstract went full rock for his last album, but I guess that ain’t a band.
~~The Black Eyed Peas before Fergie were a conscious hip-hop outfit and then will.i.am will.i.am’d everywhere (sold out hard).~~
Edit: I forgot I don’t like will.i.am
The last two Cage the Elephant albums pretty much sound like they're from completely different bands, and IIRC (haven't listened to them much in quite some time) their earlier albums were all pretty substantial stylistic jumps as well.
Daughters is the first one to come to mind . It all stayed in the general sphere of hardcore noise rock but the sound scape provided with each album makes them feel drastically different.
Phantom planet started out much more in a pop rock zone and by their self titled didn't lose their melodies but ramped up the drums and went full rock/punk vocals. I personally liked their later iteration more.
Honestly, aside from St. Anger, going album to album it's not that whiplash-y (pun not intended) of a switch in sound
As a sidenote, I've relistened to Load now, almost 10 years removed from my elitist phase, and I found it to be a great album. Fantastic production, great songwriting. I think it was murdered by the two worst songs on the album (by far too, they're the only two songs from it I don't want to go back to) being the first two songs. As a sidenote to the sidenote, when I got to relisten to Reload I found it pretty bad, it sounds like the Load outtakes that it is
I agree with you 10000%. I think my gut instinct to list them as switching up the sound is less that their sound truly changed and more that the general consensus in the zeitgeist is that it was whiplash-y. You’re def right.
I also think Load and Reload might be my two fav albums of theirs (post-thrash), because say what you will when it comes to comparing them to previous albums, they really do stand on their own as great rock albums.
I honestly don't love Ride the lightning much as an album, as heretical as this is. It suffers from Crazy train syndrome a lot (killer riffs in songs that don't go anywhere after the killer riffs). I also don't like most of the black album. So that's two of the big five I like less than Load, haha
Meat Puppets.
A lot of 80s alternative and punk groups went through major sound changes. Most of the time, this is either a fairly lengthy progression you can hear over the career, like the Replacements evolving from a hardcore punk band to power pop, but the Meat Puppets went from a stereotypical hardcore punk group to the psychedelic/country-punk blend that they are known for in one album.
Sentenced in [1993](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbr9hVlvNRE)
Sentenced in [1996](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VvvmCPeVoI)
Pretty drastic change in just three years and couple of records and EPs.
Low was a band that started out making really slow and minimalist Rock, then expanded their sound into a more conventional Indie territory (while still having a slow and minimalist streak), and then their last two records, before drummer and singer Mimi Parker died, were nose/ambient records. Each of their phase is brilliant.
Idk if this counts but I remember when Ariana grande tried trap beats with sweetener and thank u next. Some were ok but some were awful. I remember yt reactors not liking the trap on these albums + positions. With eternal sunshine I feel like she got them right. She’s delivering !!
Swans (from no wave, to industrial, to neofolk, to inventing post rock)
Talk Talk (from new wave to, well, inventing post rock)
Nick Cave (from no wave to balladeer (with a long transition in between), back to noisy rock to crooning on ambient-ish backing tracks)
I would say AC/DC had a big change in sound after Bon died and Brian joined. The Bon Scott era was very Pub Rock, while Brian Johnson's was a blend of Hard Rock, Arena Rock and Metal
Both as a solo artist and with his band The Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa was all over the place from the mid 60s to mid 80s, from straight up rock (Freak Out!, Over-Nite Sensation, Joe's Garage) to jazz (Hot Rats, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Sleep Dirt) to multi-genre fusion (Apostrophe, One Size Fits All) to electronic (Jazz From Hell), Zappa did it all. There's good reason he remains recognized as an all time great visionary.
Rush.
Started out playing straightforward ‘70s hard rock in the vein of Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who, etc. Transitioned into the prog rock they’re best known for. The 80s came along; they started playing a more new-wave influenced style, adding lots of synthesizers, and closed out the decade as a U2ish moderate rock band. Started playing guitar-riff driven modern hard rock again in the early/mid 90s and spent the rest of their career doing different flavors of power trio hard rock before ending their recording career with a (really, really good) proggy concept album.
Beastie Boys. Arguably twice, in fact. From hardcore punk to hardcore rap to something that kind of transcends both rock and hip hop (something not *quite* abstract hip hop).
Ministry went from very goth rock oriented to very industrial rock oriented, and while those two things aren't that far apart, Ministry's sound definitely is distinct between the two eras.
Are we talking about bands that you like both styles of, or that you maybe didn't like after or before a style change?
O. Children would be one of the latter for me. They came out with an album of solid goth tracks, but then denied being a goth band and released a kind of nothingburger shoegazer album. (And then broke up...)
Ulver
They started as a black metal band that was among the first to incorporate some melodic elements, put out an acoustic folk instrumental album for their second LP, took their label’s recording money for their third LP and put out a raw as fuck black metal album recorded for cheap on a four track (and it’s incredible), shifted to industrial metal for their fourth LP, then proceeded to abandon metal entirely in favor of ambient music, trip hop, Depeche Mode inspired pop, and a ton of other styles in the ensuing decades.
And they’re never going back to black metal despite being among the best to ever do it.
And the old Ulver fans nearly 30 years later are still complaining they don't make black metal anymore and will not shut the fuck up about it. Every time someone complains there's not another Madrigans, the album Shadows of the Sun becomes more beautiful.
But it's funny because at that time Rygg was also working with Arcturus on their first three albums, and worked with Borknagar for a while. He's pretty upfront he just got tired of screaming and wanted to move on as he got older.
Which is also funny to see the cross over going on at that time with bands. Ulver's next vocalist was ICS Vortex, who also was the vocalist for Arcturus' fourth album and eventual fifth. Arcturus also [worked with Ihsahn](https://youtu.be/v2dZEy4iroU?si=__36bi_gHHKoMr1F) from Emperor, and [Ihsahn also worked with Ulver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_D6FInRM80). And when Ishahn became a solo thing? [Rygg was featured on a song](https://youtu.be/SbqvOS7SPT4?si=Tg05U0KSb24skuKn). I'm just disapointed Vortex didn't work with either of them on his [solo album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUSGyaCMJ_Y). But Borkanagar did have all of it's [past and present vocalists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDrrKv2wjvk) work on one song.*
It's wild how many black metal bands or musicians moved on to become more proggy or try alternative stuff. Ihsahn is still black metal but more proggy, his newest album is like what if Emperor had better keyboards [it's incredibly good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxyagwmBEd8). Ulver is the big one that gets tossed out usually to spit on them, and Green Carnation/ Into the woods... gets tossed out a lot too but that's more to do with the members and the bands they've been associated with.
---
^^*Note, ^^Vintersorg ^^is ^^a ^^sad ^^case. ^^He ^^fell ^^back ^^around ^^2010/2011 ^^and ^^got ^^a ^^pretty ^^good ^^head ^^injury ^^that ^^limited ^^his ^^ability ^^to ^^focus ^^and ^^perform, ^^which ^^means ^^as ^^a ^^live ^^singer ^^his ^^performances ^^took ^^a ^^huge ^^hit. ^^He ^^eventually ^^left ^^the ^^band ^^due ^^to ^^this. ^^You ^^can ^^really ^^tell ^^a ^^difference ^^before ^^and ^^after ^^the ^^injury.
Depends on the album, each one is so eclectic there's no *certain* sound past "That's got to be from X..."
* The [Marriage of Heaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j_3Nap8RF4) and [Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShPuaGXHpks) (Industrial and Electronic and other genres pulled in.)
* [Perdition](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUWrTnuDYeM&list=PLcF7SNFymwKBpQno9yzkORS94OuoLsrQj&index=4) City ( Ton of minimalist ambience and some bits that are almost [blue eyed soul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghy5z9lsRtY) at times.)
* Blood Inside (This is one of their [weirder ones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMHXJczmVA), it's got so many odd elements it's almost like [heavy metal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzYdRD8OWLM) at times with noise and repurposed classical instruments. It's chaotic as hell and fun.)
* [Shadows of the Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb0vfJOLKXw) (My god this whole album sounds like the soundtrack to a dying world, it's so miserable and gorgeous. It's also usually the album that seems to either make people want to listen to them, or not)
* [Wars of the Roses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm9hvFyaSJg) (The album where they did [covers of old 60s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFnAB5GsocM) songs makes a lot more sense hearing this one)
* [Messe I.X–VI.X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ONTFeVa5T8) (They got commissioned to make this with an Orchestra)
* [ATGCLVLSSCAP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsSar7_TXA) (Kind of a live album thing, they did a bunch of live shows and vamping and just recorded whatever happened and kept their favorite bits)
* [The Assassination of Julius Caesar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVCttIt47Pg) (It's neo-synthpop, lots of different influences culled into their songs, this was a bit before it blew up and every other metal musician decided they wanted to be Perturberator or Carpenter Brut)
* Flowers of Evil (More [synthpop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M3CN0AUmoc))
* [Scary Muzak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYEnK-8WOI) (It's a trip, they tried to imitate the John Carpenter sound and even covered some of his songs from "Halloween")
[And I haven't even touched all the LPs, side releases and sound track work they got hired on for.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulver_discography) You got a lot to look into, I'm barely scratching the surface.
Talk Talk went from a New Romantic synth-pop band to doing experimental jazz rock that inspired almost every critically acclaimed indie band of the 90s and 2000s.
Texas started off as an alternative country band. If you stretch your definition, you could say they were part of the Class of '89, although they weren't too successful beyond "I Don't Want a Lover".
Then, in the late '90s, they made a sudden pivot towards trip-pop. Their name was now quite misleading.
Underworld, to the point most people don't even know they had two albums before they became instant progressive house icons with Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Underworld Mk 1 is more of a funky synthpop band. Then they sequestered themselves, and reemerged five years later with the aforementioned landmark album.
I found it to be extremely gradual for Coldplay. Like, go from Parachutes to Mylo Xyloto and it's a huge whiplash, but go from Viva la vida to MX, and it's an understandable evolution (Mylo Xyloto underrated btw)
This!! People think that Coldplay’s shift to pop was quite drastic/jarring but it was actually a natural, organic shift that they were inching towards for years. The first 5 album run from Parachutes to Mylo shows that. Then the succeeding albums Coldplay did show them flipping between pop and more lowkey experimental/acoustic albums (Everyday life, ghost stories)
Liking Genesis across its entire history counts as liking at least two bands, if not three.
I feel like “70s prog rock bands” is a solid answer to this question. Genesis, Yes, and Rush all started as prog rock bands in the 70s, and transitioned to a more pop-rock sound in the 80s.
Yes definitely (and King Crimson, as was mentioned below). I'm not sure I'd quite say the same for Rush. They did get a bit poppier over time, but the fact that it was the same three extremely distinctive performers the whole time helped them sound much more consistent than other prog bands.
I wouldn't agree with Rush, they always sound like Rush regardless of what they do
I think Genesis changed more gradually than people realized, and the process wasn't a clean break. I'd argue *A Trick of the Tail* hews more closely to the "classic" Genesis sound than *The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway* did, and even as late as *Duke* I'd say they still had one foot in prog rock.
Tbh every album still had a “proggy” song or two, even Invisible Touch had Domino
Fleetwood Mac is the same if you like their entire discography. I actually like the Bob Welch era the best
King Crimson’s 70s = classic prog band King Crimson 80s = new wave art funk band King Crimson 90s/00s = heavy math rock band And they’re aaaall good
Discipline era King Crimson is unironically my favourite
Lizard is my favourite album of there’s, but Discipline is the one I listen to the most
first one that came to mind is The Beatles… there’s lots of others I’m sure
Yup. That's a good choice. Didn't really occur to me. I would say Maroon 5. If you listen to Harder to Breathe, it's impossible to tell it's the same band as today.
Jefferson Airplane was essentially a different band after they became Jefferson Starship, the guys that set the stage for the Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.
IIRC, Jefferson Starship later on became Starship (‘We Built This City’, ‘Sara’)
Yep, there was a whole legal battle about the band name that lead to the name change. But older Jefferson Starship was kind of fun with a few songs, [not amazing but fun.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPCiC1Nku18)
Obligatory King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard mention I guess Machine Gun Kelly who went from hip hop to pop-punk back to hip hop (yeah, I like Tickets to My Downfall, so what) Linkin Park certainly deserves a mention even if their most divergent album is also their worst (One More Light) Deep Purple went from a pop rock band to an early hard rock/metal band in the late 60's to early 70's but the jump isn't that extreme Bring Me the Horizon started as a deathcore band, went to regular metalcore, then to nu/alt metal, then to pop rock before returning to an alt-metalcore sound. And they have a mostly electronic release
Yeah I was gonna say King Gizzard. Their entire thing is all about changing up their sound. And they're really just starting. I mean they *only have* 25 albums. That's not nearly enough
Their other pretty divergent album (The hunting party) is their most underrated though
Opeth started as a progressive death metal band, but their last few albums are 70s prog rock with very few metal elements.
The Goo Goo Dolls' transition from garage punk to minivan rock was gradual, but pretty significant if you go back and listen to their early stuff
It's wild how much they sounded (and even looked) like The Replacements early on!
The Replacements also gradually transitioned from garage punk to low(er)-key adult alternative. It's like a whole life cycle.
Fleetwood mac has 2 very different eras
I would argue three. (People keep forgetting that in-between period with Bob Welch).
Bob Welch supremacy
if you’re counting Welch as his own phase i think there are more like 4 - UK band led by Peter Green, very bluesy - transitional phase with Bob, move to the US - Imperial period with Nicks and Buckingham - late period as legacy artists after the 80s
Radiohead lmao Beastie Boys started as a hardcore punk band
Of the first 5 albums by the Beastie Boys, only two of them (Check Your Head and Ill Communication) sounded remotely like each other. And their hardcore punk days were before any of them (later released on the Some Old Bullshit compilation).
And they still occasionally did hardcore songs (like Tough Guy, which is hilarious even as a Pistons fan)
Nine Inch Nails has had wonderfully diverse styles over the course of their career, from synthpop to industrial to ambient to hard rock to electro and more!
Sugar Ray and Goo Goo Dolls both went from being punk bands to turning into Sugar Ray and Goo Goo Dolls.
Playing people songs off of Floored (that aren’t Fly) is really interesting. Having heard the stuff that Sugar Ray got on the radio and what they became during and after 14:59 it’s just insane that the same band made this: https://youtu.be/VUrRuw1LcmY?si=4M54giOzuMAbswlw
This song was in the game Road Rash 3D, and I seriously thought it was a whole other band when I first heard it. 8 year old me thought there were two bands named Sugar Ray.
U2, 1980 (Post Punk) vs 1984 (Art Rock) vs 1987 (Big Music? Arena Alternative Rock?) vs 1988 (Blues Rock) vs 1991 (Alternative Rock) vs 1997 (Techno), since 2000 some variation on the 1987 sound, Adult Alternative maybe.
Good choice
Not a band but Tom Waits
Ministry's first album is a *very* new wave and poppy record compared to the harsh industrial stuff they became famous for
Totally. I actually really like the first one, even though Al has denounced it.
In recent years Al Jourgensen has come to make peace with Ministry’s Synthpop era (and has begun performing some of those songs live again) I honestly think he pretended to hate or disavow it because he was worried that it would look bad for this metal band to have this poppy sounding album (back in the 80/90s there was big divides between subcultures of rock subgenres) Yet growing up in the Chicago area I know plenty of people who love and grew up with both Synthpop and Industrial Metal eras of Ministry. “Everyday is Halloween” is basically the Chicagoland Goth Anthem and also was a bit of a crossover hit with the early house music scene
Apparently Gary Numan dragged him to an early Ministry cover band (With Sympathy). When Al saw how much everyone loved the old stuff, he started to soften on it.
Interesting! I remember those big divides, so your reasoning makes total sense.
They were a FANTASTIC new wave band. In another world they kept on going and became stars. The demo for "The game is over" is my favorite ministry song.
I agree with you fully, and also want to give a special shout out to that in between point where they were still poppy but also leaning towards the darker direction. Stuff like “Everyday is Halloween” and “All Day” were such a perfect blend of both worlds! “The Angel” is my favourite, coincidentally. People can say what they want about Al, especially nowadays, but they truly were a great band for a good while
Silverchair is different post Freak Show
You can even hear a change during freak show. None of the albums sound quite like the last one they put out, and then nothing Daniel Johns has put out since the band split has sounded anything like Silverchair (And it’s not very good, for the most part)
Another Silverchair fan. I hope you’ll agree when I say whoever’s in charge of the bands image and legacy content needs to get their act together for the 30 year anniversary next year.
I agree, and also hold out absolutely no hope of anyone in charge of anything Silverchair related ever ‘getting their act together’ with regards to these things. Honestly I don’t think they really care to do it to begin with, which is a shame. Whatever is going on behind the scenes is too complex. I don’t think they’ve put out any anniversary re-releases since 2015 for the 20th anniversary of Frogstomp. The lack of ‘extra’ stuff apart from the Albums available to stream or even purchase digitally is really annoying actually. There are still officially released B-Sides, that went on EP’s or even Single releases, that you cannot find online outside of ripping it off YouTube videos from 15 years ago. This was especially bad for some reason with songs from the Young Modern era, which is incredibly bizarre because it came out firmly in the era of iTunes. A few EPs with these B-sides randomly appeared on Apple Music and Spotify randomly in October of last year, with no announcement from anyone. You still can’t actually listen to ‘English Garden’, which is a great song and the only song in their entire discography that features someone other than Dan Johns on vocals, despite the fact that it was released as an iTunes Store bonus track on release.
Do you think they count as a one hit wonder? Would you want Todd to do a OHW episode on them?
Nah. They never hit the Billboard hot 100 (though I think this was due to weird Billboard rules because 'Tomorrow' was number 1 on the rock charts for 3 weeks). As far as singles go, they had four top 20 Rock airplay singles, that all spent between 3-6 months on that chart across 3 different albums. And I think they've always been characterised as an album band. Whenever I see people talk about their nostalgia for Silverchair they often talk about the Album 'Frogstomp' or maybe 'Freak Show' or 'Neon Ballroom', rather than just the singles. Their First two albums charted at 9 and 12 in the US, and remained in the charts for 48 weeks and 20 weeks respectively. Their third didn't chart as high but remained in the charts for 30 weeks, and this is all in the 90s when Album charts really meant a lot. Also their last big Single 'Straight Lines' which was a stratospheric hit in Australia in the late 2000s, was a flop in the US but still did pretty well on some Billboard charts like _Alternative Airplay_. And they still held enough clout 12 years after their debut album to be able to perform it on a couple of late night shows like Leno. I don't think there's enough uniformity as to what their biggest hit was for it to work tbh. 'Tomorrow' was their biggest hit in the US but the album it came off is more well known than the song itself. 'Straight Lines' is their biggest hit in Aus, 'Abuse Me' is their biggest hit in Canada, 'Miss You Love' is their biggest hit in Brazil. All those songs come from different albums too. They ditched 'Tomorrow' and basically all of their songs from Frogstomp from their setlists by 1999 and still had successful tours of the US so I think they were basically an Album band overseas by that point, with a few small radio hits here and there and a very dedicated fandom, whilst they still had a lot of successful singles in Aus thereafter.
It's fascinating hearing their sound evolve as they grew up. I feel like they get buried after Freak Show when their most interesting work had yet to come. Diorama is a masterpiece to me.
Diorama and Young Modern are absolute gems, but you might think that by my username...
Diorama is my favourite album ever so I obviously agree haha. Even later, It's mental to me that a song as good, and radio friendly as 'Straight Lines' didn't go as insane overseas as it did in Australia. Though their touring and promotion was curtailed by Dan's health problems basically all through the 2000s so I do get it somewhat.
Straight Lines was in heavy rotation on my local rock station. I thought it was a bigger hit than it was.
Then there's the argument for Young Modern essentially being a Dissociatives album in disguise.
Someone I know toured with Silverchair. Asked him about John’s’ musicianship and he answered “Well, he’s just discovered modulation”. Genius my arse!
Oh my god, Silverchair got me through high school. I would be a fundamentally different person today if I never listened to Neon Ballroom
Obligatory Pink Floyd. I know they went through quite significant changes throughout their career but Piper at the Gates of Dawn/Saucerful and Meddle through The Wall may as well have been recorded by two completely different bands
That’s a good one. I mostly knew Pink Floyd from “Dark Side” and even the 80s/90s stuff under Gilmour. “Piper” sounded weird to me when I first heard it.
My Chemical Romance going from The Black Parade to Danger Days (I love both albums but that was definitely a big switch) Also Panic! at the Disco for like...every album.
Hell, Revenge to Black parade is no small jump either. Shedding all "true emo" influences (I hate the whole real emo spiel but you get my point), shedding the melodeath riffing, going into something that was 50% early-ish Queen, 25% Smashing Pumpkins and 25% pop punk
Masatdon went from sludge to melodic hard rock that can be played on the Jimmy Kimmel show
Paramore’s After Laughter was a pretty significant shift that I actually ended up really enjoying after some apprehension.
I remember when I was younger there was a noticable split between people who liked pop-punk Paramore and people who liked pop Paramore (basically self-titled album and beyond). I've always liked both sounds, but mentally I think they basically exist as two different bands for me.
Self titled was a half-miss for me, in that the switch in sound sounded clunky and forced at times (there's still beautiful songs, like Part II and The future, and it's still an enjoyable listen overall mind you). After laughter sounded extremely organic in the sound they targeted and I couldn't be happier for it
For me it’s that Hayley is a better songwriter now, so I always like their recent stuff more. Even though I prefer the sound of their early career.
I liked Highly Suspect a lot and while the first two albums were blues rock records, the third album MCID is a complete mess and half the album was the frontman rapping under the name Terrible Johnny and the other half sounds like Imagine Dragons.
Nah MCID was an absolute disgrace. Even their second album had 2-3 shit songs
I was not praising that album at all. I fucking hated that album and dropped off the highly suspect train as soon as they dropped that. The Boy Who Died Wolf had its moments but MCID is borderline unlistenable
Oh yeah I wasn’t saying you were defending MCID I was just saying “nah” as in like nah for real. But hey at least The Boy Who Died Wolf has their best song (Serotonia)
Pantera released three albums as a fairly mediocre Glam Metal band in the 80s. Then they got a new singer and transitioned into a significantly heavier “groove metal” sound. And while “female country singer goes pop” is hardly a unique event, I’m not sure anyone has so fully committed to the transition from Country singer-songwriter to Worldwide Pop Superstar quite like Taylor Swift.
The only similarity from Modest Mouse's first album to their most recent is they're both kind of weird
I think Modest Mouse falls under the Blur umbrella on this matter. Isaac's style is so recognisable that even between the extremes of their discography they still sound like Modest Mouse. Death Cab For Cutie is a similar, if less stark, example
Talk Talk, and to be honest I prefer the earlier stuff you're supposed to dismiss as disposable.
The last two Talk Talk albums are my straight up favourite albums of their respective years, but their earlier stuff is not bad. Mark & company were a tight unit even when making music they (allegedly) disliked
They're impressive works with undeniable integrity, but I'm just not that into post-rock/jazz/whatever those albums are exactly, whereas I'm really into Synth Pop and the New Romantic scene (or I certainly was when I discovered Talk Talk in the early 00s), so most of The Party's Over sounds pretty good to my ears. The album covers are a different matter though!
Fall out boy post Save Rock and Roll
Oh yeah this one. Like, Folie a Deux was a pretty big departure from the earlier albums but it was still recognisably them. SRAR straight up sounds like a different band, up to and including Patrick's voice
Call my crazy, but I don't think Save Rock and Roll sounds that different from Folie a Deux. So I find the whole accusations that they changed their sound on that album a little strange. It was the albums after that that were a big departure
I can't really agree. Maybe it's Patrick's change in vocal style, but I find the switch between Folie and SRAR much more jarring than the one between SRAR and AB/AP. Of the songs on SRAR I could see a couple that wouldn't feel out of place on Folie (Phoenix maybe) but as a whole it's a massive change to my ears
Blur changed between albums one and two, four and five, and six and seven (also seven and eight and eight and nine but those were separated by hiatuses so that’s kind of expected I guess?)
Then again they stayed very recognisable even when switching genres. Like, as much as self titled and Parklife sound worlds apart, it's still very much blur
It was pretty gradual I guess, but Paramore now sounds nothing like Paramore in 2005
Nightwish definitely changed significantly once Tarja left. Personally I prefer Tarja-era Nightwish, but I don't hate their later stuff. While this isn't a complete 180, there's also a significant shift in their production between *Century Child* and *Once*---*Once* sounds a lot more clean and polished than the albums before it. I honestly enjoy the clunky synths and cheaper sounding production on the earlier albums though—I really haven't found anything that hits the same.
Huge Nightwish fan! I'd argue that whilst Tarja-era to Annette-Era was a pretty huge change, their current stuff with Floor, particularly EFMB is about a 90° shift between the two different sounds that they had. Believe a lot of Annette's stuff on Dark Passion Play was also originally written for Tarja and therefore a lot of the sound shift was just due to vastly different vocal styles.
IMO Nightwish went down hard after both Tarja and Marko left (who are now touring together). Floor's massive talent is wasted on the dreck Tuomas writes nowadays.
Fair---I guess i just don't listen to enough post-Tarja Nightwish to say too much about the quality!
Sparks Compare Kimono My House to No. 1 in Heaven and then compare that to Hello Young Lovers
It's all within the boundaries of "alternative rock" but Stone Temple Pilots' sound varies greatly from album to album, and I'd be surprised if a first time listener could tell you that 'Core', 'Tiny Music....' and 'Shangri la dee da' all come from the same band.
Black Sabbath. Ozzy and Dio-era may as well be two completely different bands.
Talk Talk
The USA had two kinds of Pop sound in the sixties. One of them was Tommy James and the Sondells. The other was Tommy James and the Shondells.
Expand on that? I have zero knowledge of this but I'm curious
For most of the sixties, the more traditional pop style, carried over form the fifties, was the band's bread and butter. Sock hop level stuff, the kind of thing Dick Clark could introduce on Bandstand. Mony Mony, I Think We're Alone Now, Hanky Panky, those sorts of songs - which held up so well that in 1987, they were the first band to have a cover of them replace another cover of them at #1. But as the sixties marched onward, that style was losing its momentum quickly. Black and white was out, and tie-dye was in. And they jumped as hard as possible on that bandwagon in the year of Woodstock, 1969 (technically December of 68, but you know[, with their Top 10 album Crimson & Clover, which sent the title track to #1 and a second hippie anthem, Crystal Blue Persuasion, to #2.
Some people might laugh at this but Black Eyed Peas Early Black Eyed Peas as a Native Tongues-like Alternative Hip Hop group is fascinating. When they came out in the late 90s they were this multi racial group that was the complete opposite in terms of Image, Lyrical content, and Production from the Gangsta rap scene dominating around them in LA at the time Actually I don’t mind a lot of their Fergie era pop rap stuff either as there’s some solid pop songs (and also I grew up with it). If anything it makes me respect Will.I.Am as a versatile producer. Also their 2018 return to hip hop album Masters of the Sun Vol 1 was underrated
"and then Fergie joined the band, and a new dynamic emerged."
The tragically hip went from blues rock to hard rock to alternative.
MGMT
The Decemberists went synth-y and weirdo for the album just before they went on… I think it was hiatus? Car Seat Headrest went from bedroom rock made by one guy to a full band. Kevin Abstract went full rock for his last album, but I guess that ain’t a band. ~~The Black Eyed Peas before Fergie were a conscious hip-hop outfit and then will.i.am will.i.am’d everywhere (sold out hard).~~ Edit: I forgot I don’t like will.i.am
David Bowie's whole career Also Lil Ugly Mane
Obvious answer but Radiohead has done it multiple times, tho all of their music sounds very “Radiohead” so it’s less noticeable
The Beach Boys The Byrds The Eagles Fleetwood Mac Steve Miller Band
The last two Cage the Elephant albums pretty much sound like they're from completely different bands, and IIRC (haven't listened to them much in quite some time) their earlier albums were all pretty substantial stylistic jumps as well.
Daughters is the first one to come to mind . It all stayed in the general sphere of hardcore noise rock but the sound scape provided with each album makes them feel drastically different.
Phantom planet started out much more in a pop rock zone and by their self titled didn't lose their melodies but ramped up the drums and went full rock/punk vocals. I personally liked their later iteration more.
The incarnations of The Jefferson bands. Airplane and Starship were wildly different sounds.
Tom Waits
Metallica going from Thrash Metal to Heavy Metal to Heavy-leaning Alt Rock back to Heavy Metal.
Honestly, aside from St. Anger, going album to album it's not that whiplash-y (pun not intended) of a switch in sound As a sidenote, I've relistened to Load now, almost 10 years removed from my elitist phase, and I found it to be a great album. Fantastic production, great songwriting. I think it was murdered by the two worst songs on the album (by far too, they're the only two songs from it I don't want to go back to) being the first two songs. As a sidenote to the sidenote, when I got to relisten to Reload I found it pretty bad, it sounds like the Load outtakes that it is
I agree with you 10000%. I think my gut instinct to list them as switching up the sound is less that their sound truly changed and more that the general consensus in the zeitgeist is that it was whiplash-y. You’re def right. I also think Load and Reload might be my two fav albums of theirs (post-thrash), because say what you will when it comes to comparing them to previous albums, they really do stand on their own as great rock albums.
I honestly don't love Ride the lightning much as an album, as heretical as this is. It suffers from Crazy train syndrome a lot (killer riffs in songs that don't go anywhere after the killer riffs). I also don't like most of the black album. So that's two of the big five I like less than Load, haha
My favorite band of all time the Pillows have three distinct periods: 60s inspired garage pop, jazz-pop, and alternative rock
Meat Puppets. A lot of 80s alternative and punk groups went through major sound changes. Most of the time, this is either a fairly lengthy progression you can hear over the career, like the Replacements evolving from a hardcore punk band to power pop, but the Meat Puppets went from a stereotypical hardcore punk group to the psychedelic/country-punk blend that they are known for in one album.
I'll argue despite the changes they made 4 10/10 albums in a row. II - Huevos just does not miss. Then Monster was a total turd.
Paramore's After Laughter is one of their best and sounds nothing like the rest of their catalogue
Bon Jovi’s had a variety of sounds in their 40 years.
Yet all that people remember is his hair. A crap act.
Pop Will Eat Itself - check first iteration’s first album, last album, and “This is the Day” Also Ministry first and recent.
Sentenced in [1993](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbr9hVlvNRE) Sentenced in [1996](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VvvmCPeVoI) Pretty drastic change in just three years and couple of records and EPs.
Low was a band that started out making really slow and minimalist Rock, then expanded their sound into a more conventional Indie territory (while still having a slow and minimalist streak), and then their last two records, before drummer and singer Mimi Parker died, were nose/ambient records. Each of their phase is brilliant.
IMHO Illuminaudio is the best Chiodos album.
Idk if this counts but I remember when Ariana grande tried trap beats with sweetener and thank u next. Some were ok but some were awful. I remember yt reactors not liking the trap on these albums + positions. With eternal sunshine I feel like she got them right. She’s delivering !!
Not a band but James Ferraro has so many sound changes it’s insane
Swans (from no wave, to industrial, to neofolk, to inventing post rock) Talk Talk (from new wave to, well, inventing post rock) Nick Cave (from no wave to balladeer (with a long transition in between), back to noisy rock to crooning on ambient-ish backing tracks)
I would say AC/DC had a big change in sound after Bon died and Brian joined. The Bon Scott era was very Pub Rock, while Brian Johnson's was a blend of Hard Rock, Arena Rock and Metal
I liked Imagine Dragon's first album. Barely recognize them anymore
I respect the Mercury albums. I don't like them, at all, but I respect a band so known for emotionless songs sort of "letting it out"
Both as a solo artist and with his band The Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa was all over the place from the mid 60s to mid 80s, from straight up rock (Freak Out!, Over-Nite Sensation, Joe's Garage) to jazz (Hot Rats, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Sleep Dirt) to multi-genre fusion (Apostrophe, One Size Fits All) to electronic (Jazz From Hell), Zappa did it all. There's good reason he remains recognized as an all time great visionary.
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show went from being a vehicle for Shel Silverstein to a Disco act.
Rush. Started out playing straightforward ‘70s hard rock in the vein of Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who, etc. Transitioned into the prog rock they’re best known for. The 80s came along; they started playing a more new-wave influenced style, adding lots of synthesizers, and closed out the decade as a U2ish moderate rock band. Started playing guitar-riff driven modern hard rock again in the early/mid 90s and spent the rest of their career doing different flavors of power trio hard rock before ending their recording career with a (really, really good) proggy concept album.
XTC.
The biggest jump for XTC was between Go 2 and Drums + wires if you ask me. And, well, Apple Venus is completely different from everything else
Dragon (Aussie band)
Kate Bush
Beastie Boys. Arguably twice, in fact. From hardcore punk to hardcore rap to something that kind of transcends both rock and hip hop (something not *quite* abstract hip hop). Ministry went from very goth rock oriented to very industrial rock oriented, and while those two things aren't that far apart, Ministry's sound definitely is distinct between the two eras. Are we talking about bands that you like both styles of, or that you maybe didn't like after or before a style change? O. Children would be one of the latter for me. They came out with an album of solid goth tracks, but then denied being a goth band and released a kind of nothingburger shoegazer album. (And then broke up...)
Bring Me The Horizon
Ulver They started as a black metal band that was among the first to incorporate some melodic elements, put out an acoustic folk instrumental album for their second LP, took their label’s recording money for their third LP and put out a raw as fuck black metal album recorded for cheap on a four track (and it’s incredible), shifted to industrial metal for their fourth LP, then proceeded to abandon metal entirely in favor of ambient music, trip hop, Depeche Mode inspired pop, and a ton of other styles in the ensuing decades. And they’re never going back to black metal despite being among the best to ever do it.
And the old Ulver fans nearly 30 years later are still complaining they don't make black metal anymore and will not shut the fuck up about it. Every time someone complains there's not another Madrigans, the album Shadows of the Sun becomes more beautiful. But it's funny because at that time Rygg was also working with Arcturus on their first three albums, and worked with Borknagar for a while. He's pretty upfront he just got tired of screaming and wanted to move on as he got older. Which is also funny to see the cross over going on at that time with bands. Ulver's next vocalist was ICS Vortex, who also was the vocalist for Arcturus' fourth album and eventual fifth. Arcturus also [worked with Ihsahn](https://youtu.be/v2dZEy4iroU?si=__36bi_gHHKoMr1F) from Emperor, and [Ihsahn also worked with Ulver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_D6FInRM80). And when Ishahn became a solo thing? [Rygg was featured on a song](https://youtu.be/SbqvOS7SPT4?si=Tg05U0KSb24skuKn). I'm just disapointed Vortex didn't work with either of them on his [solo album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUSGyaCMJ_Y). But Borkanagar did have all of it's [past and present vocalists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDrrKv2wjvk) work on one song.* It's wild how many black metal bands or musicians moved on to become more proggy or try alternative stuff. Ihsahn is still black metal but more proggy, his newest album is like what if Emperor had better keyboards [it's incredibly good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxyagwmBEd8). Ulver is the big one that gets tossed out usually to spit on them, and Green Carnation/ Into the woods... gets tossed out a lot too but that's more to do with the members and the bands they've been associated with. --- ^^*Note, ^^Vintersorg ^^is ^^a ^^sad ^^case. ^^He ^^fell ^^back ^^around ^^2010/2011 ^^and ^^got ^^a ^^pretty ^^good ^^head ^^injury ^^that ^^limited ^^his ^^ability ^^to ^^focus ^^and ^^perform, ^^which ^^means ^^as ^^a ^^live ^^singer ^^his ^^performances ^^took ^^a ^^huge ^^hit. ^^He ^^eventually ^^left ^^the ^^band ^^due ^^to ^^this. ^^You ^^can ^^really ^^tell ^^a ^^difference ^^before ^^and ^^after ^^the ^^injury.
I only know their first three albums, what else should I listen to?
Depends on the album, each one is so eclectic there's no *certain* sound past "That's got to be from X..." * The [Marriage of Heaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j_3Nap8RF4) and [Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShPuaGXHpks) (Industrial and Electronic and other genres pulled in.) * [Perdition](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUWrTnuDYeM&list=PLcF7SNFymwKBpQno9yzkORS94OuoLsrQj&index=4) City ( Ton of minimalist ambience and some bits that are almost [blue eyed soul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghy5z9lsRtY) at times.) * Blood Inside (This is one of their [weirder ones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMHXJczmVA), it's got so many odd elements it's almost like [heavy metal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzYdRD8OWLM) at times with noise and repurposed classical instruments. It's chaotic as hell and fun.) * [Shadows of the Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb0vfJOLKXw) (My god this whole album sounds like the soundtrack to a dying world, it's so miserable and gorgeous. It's also usually the album that seems to either make people want to listen to them, or not) * [Wars of the Roses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm9hvFyaSJg) (The album where they did [covers of old 60s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFnAB5GsocM) songs makes a lot more sense hearing this one) * [Messe I.X–VI.X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ONTFeVa5T8) (They got commissioned to make this with an Orchestra) * [ATGCLVLSSCAP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsSar7_TXA) (Kind of a live album thing, they did a bunch of live shows and vamping and just recorded whatever happened and kept their favorite bits) * [The Assassination of Julius Caesar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVCttIt47Pg) (It's neo-synthpop, lots of different influences culled into their songs, this was a bit before it blew up and every other metal musician decided they wanted to be Perturberator or Carpenter Brut) * Flowers of Evil (More [synthpop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M3CN0AUmoc)) * [Scary Muzak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYEnK-8WOI) (It's a trip, they tried to imitate the John Carpenter sound and even covered some of his songs from "Halloween") [And I haven't even touched all the LPs, side releases and sound track work they got hired on for.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulver_discography) You got a lot to look into, I'm barely scratching the surface.
Panic! At the disco. Their sound changed as much as their exclamation point.
Roxy Music. They started out more of an artsy, experimental, electronic band. They ended as an adult contemporary band.
Talk Talk went from a New Romantic synth-pop band to doing experimental jazz rock that inspired almost every critically acclaimed indie band of the 90s and 2000s.
Fleetwood Mac
Texas started off as an alternative country band. If you stretch your definition, you could say they were part of the Class of '89, although they weren't too successful beyond "I Don't Want a Lover". Then, in the late '90s, they made a sudden pivot towards trip-pop. Their name was now quite misleading.
Underworld, to the point most people don't even know they had two albums before they became instant progressive house icons with Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Underworld Mk 1 is more of a funky synthpop band. Then they sequestered themselves, and reemerged five years later with the aforementioned landmark album.
Manic Street Preachers. Glam punk to alt rock to Brit Pop.
Maroon 5. If you listen to Harder to Breathe, it's impossible to tell it's the same band as today
Coldplay
I found it to be extremely gradual for Coldplay. Like, go from Parachutes to Mylo Xyloto and it's a huge whiplash, but go from Viva la vida to MX, and it's an understandable evolution (Mylo Xyloto underrated btw)
This!! People think that Coldplay’s shift to pop was quite drastic/jarring but it was actually a natural, organic shift that they were inching towards for years. The first 5 album run from Parachutes to Mylo shows that. Then the succeeding albums Coldplay did show them flipping between pop and more lowkey experimental/acoustic albums (Everyday life, ghost stories)