Bands that spawned copycats but moved on

[Hippy_Hollow]

I agree with the bands that JD spawned, but I would argue that JD had a electronic dance music streak even when Ian Curtis was alive. “As You Said” could have easily been on New Order’s Movement or Power, Corruption, and Lies.

[MrDibble]

@LLCoolL

Upon the death of their singer Ian Curtis, they morphed into New Order, which went in a completely different direction

This is more natural evolution, and Joy Division were already heading that way with increased use of synths. Lyrically, New Order is not that different from Joy Division.

[standardnoise]

I know this is kinda strange… but Sugar Ray went from hardcore pop punk to Someday and Passerby…

[Ludovic]

@DCnDC

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.

I remember something that could almost fit into the “jokes that have to be explained these days” from an early 80s Mad Magazine with drawings of different “types” of people and attributes thereof. The only one I remember was “metalhead” with frizzy hair listening to a Walkman and one of their attributes is “Listens to Van Halen to ‘mellow out’”. These days it would seem more obviously true and less a mildly humorous observation that VH was fairly hard rock but not completely outre metal.

[BrickBat]

@Ludovic

I remember something that could almost fit into the “jokes that have to be explained these days” from an early 80s Mad Magazine with drawings of different “types” of people and attributes thereof. The only one I remember was “metalhead” with frizzy hair listening to a Walkman and one of their attributes is “Listens to Van Halen to ‘mellow out’”. These days it would seem more obviously true and less a mildly humorous observation that VH was fairly hard rock but not completely outre metal.

They’re hard to pin down I think. Their early stuff, well the first album in particular was scorching heavy metal to my ears…and I was already a metal fan in the late 70s. It was hard as a cement pie in the face, but it really, well, swung too.

I know critics said their following albums were “better” from a technical standpoint, but to me, even though there were a few good tracks on albums that immediately followed, I became more and more disappointed.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

DEVO was a trendsetting band from the start, subverting and eschewing traditions, norms and standards for over a decade while countless lesser artists and acts tried vainly to capture DEVO’s zeitgeist for themselves. Meanwhile, the band would move on from a heavy twin guitar attack to an almost all synth keyboard and electronic drum sound before finally calling it quits and members moving on to other projects.

[LLCoolL]

@MrDibble

This is more natural evolution, and Joy Division were already heading that way with increased use of synths. Lyrically, New Order is not that different from Joy Division.

Well, it’s all subjective how someone might judge the degree of difference between Joy Division and New Order. Yes, even if they shared no members they could be identifiable as cousins. Yes, there was a gradual evolution from one to the other. But the OP asked for bands who influenced others, and then moved on to a different sound. To me, New Order (especially by the mid-80s) was different enough to fit the bill.

[LLCoolL]

@Snowboarder_Bo

DEVO was a trendsetting band from the start, subverting and eschewing traditions, norms and standards for over a decade while countless lesser artists and acts tried vainly to capture DEVO’s zeitgeist for themselves. Meanwhile, the band would move on from a heavy twin guitar attack to an almost all synth keyboard and electronic drum sound before finally calling it quits and members moving on to other projects.

Can you identify other bands who were influenced by their early sound?