# Bands that spawned copycats but moved on **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 25, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540 "2020-09-25T21:08:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/1 "2020-09-25T21:08:08Z")
I’ve been trying to think of bands and artists that caused others to copy their style and sound but who themselves moved on to sound different. The only band I can think of is Radiohead. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/2 "2020-09-25T21:09:35Z")
The Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/3 "2020-09-25T21:13:55Z")
I was wondering about them. I wasn’t about in the sixties but I always thought their early sound wasn’t unique and they just did an existing style rather well. Maybe I’m wrong about that. Either way I guess their success would have encouraged a lot more new bands to adopt the style they had. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/4 "2020-09-25T22:20:05Z")
Bob Dylan multiple times in his career. He started as the gruff folkie with self-penned topical songs and spawned a legion of young men with acoustic guitars voicing their concerns (not that Dylan was the first folkie witn topical songs, of course not, but that’s another story). At that time, he turned to electric rock’n’roll with acerbic, sophisticated and often acid-drenched lyrics, and everybody in rock followed and was influenced by his electric trilogy of 65/66. When the rock revolution reached its psychedelic peak in 1967, he had already moved on to record the Basement Tapes with the Band and thus founded the music we today call americana, as also documented on his 67 album “John Wesley Harding” and culminating with 69’s “Nashville Skyline”, which was one of the starting points of country rock, which became one of the leading trends in the 70s. He was often far ahead. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/5 "2020-09-25T22:27:37Z")
Television was the progenitor of the 70’s NYC punk scene. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jlbunmCbTBA/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGHIgRChUMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCVtye766A9eMuxWASuh2xDnmowFQ "Television - Marquee Moon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlbunmCbTBA) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/6 "2020-09-25T22:28:18Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I wasn’t about in the sixties but I always thought their early sound wasn’t unique and they just did an existing style rather well. I wasn’t around then either, but my understanding is that the Beatles were unique when they first started. It just doesn’t seem like it now because so many other bands copied their style. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/7 "2020-09-25T22:48:14Z")
The Kinks. Their early songs like “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night” mark ground zero in the development of what became hard rock and heavy metal but it was nothing like nearly everything they did afterward. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/8 "2020-09-26T00:52:58Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > > [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > > > I wasn’t about in the sixties but I always thought their early sound wasn’t unique and they just did an existing style rather well. > > I wasn’t around then either, but my understanding is that the Beatles were unique when they first started. It just doesn’t seem like it now because so many other bands copied their style. There were precursors like the Everly Brothers, but the Beatles music stood out from the start, especially since music at the time was going in different directions (folk oriented and beach music). The Grateful Dead evolved from a psychedelic rock group to something more country oriented with “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty.” ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/9 "2020-09-26T02:09:13Z")
In 1964, the **Moody Blues** were in the vanguard of the British R&B scene that dominated the Rock world throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies. With a lineup change in '66 they took a sharp turn toward Clasical/Art/Prog Rock and never looked back. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/10 "2020-09-26T02:13:25Z")
If ever the world needed a clone, it would be of Ray Davies. One to pioneer hard rock with his brother Dave, and the other to do all the cool psychedelic/nostalgia Brit Pop stuff. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/11 "2020-09-26T04:13:07Z")
This example doesn’t quite fit the OP’s question. But Joy Division is a pretty clear influence on subsequent goth or droning bands such as Interpol, the Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, etc. Upon the death of their singer Ian Curtis, they morphed into New Order, which went in a completely different direction (electronic dance music). ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/12 "2020-09-26T05:51:17Z")
Cream Established the equally talented Power Trio as a thing [in rock] (though it was long a standard in jazz) then moved on by disbanding. For those who are yelling that The Jimi Hendrix Experience was also a Power Trio, Hendrix far outdistanced Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell in talent. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/13 "2020-09-26T07:34:30Z")
David Bowie isn’t a band, but he deffo spawned copycats, while quickly moving on with his own music, re: Glam Rock etc. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/14 "2020-09-26T12:53:38Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Bob Dylan multiple times in his career. I came to say this, but I couldn’t have said it as well. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/15 "2020-09-26T20:52:10Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > he Kinks. > > Their early songs like “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night” mark ground zero in the development of what became hard rock and heavy metal but it was nothing like nearly everything they did afterward. I know people who swear that its not the same band that sang those two songs and then put out “come dancing” 20 years later … they just ant wrap their head around it ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/16 "2020-09-26T22:46:42Z")
I feel like the Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship to Starship should be mentioned. Though I don’t know if the band that wrote"Somebody to Love" and “Whiten Rabbit” is considered to be the same band that wrote “We Built This City” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/17 "2020-09-27T00:30:18Z")
Yes, that was a really weird direction to take. 😟 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/18 "2020-09-27T00:34:12Z")
The Beach Boys’ early sound has been often copied and pastiched, but they moved on past it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/19 "2020-09-27T15:04:34Z")
Yeah[quote=“Thudlow\_Boink, post:18, topic:921540, full:true”] The Beach Boys’ early sound has been often copied and pastiched, but they moved on past it. [/quote] Yeah, the Beatles’ “Back in the USSR” was a parody of a Beach Boys sound that no longer existed in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540/20 "2020-09-27T16:13:39Z")
Van Halen. While they always had a streak of “pop” in them, Sammy Hagar’s addition flipped the formula from mostly heavy rock with some pop, to mostly pop with just a token heavy song or two on each album. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-spawned-copycats-but-moved-on/921540.md?page=2)