It’s painful to hear new Dolls and Stooges albums. I think they are the exact opposite of the original post. They are so deeply stagnated there is little value.
I’m a Todd Rundgren fan, and the man changes his style on every album.
The most recent, State, is Electronica. The one before that was an album of Robert Johnson covers. The one before that was Arena Rock. Over the past twenty years, he’s done and toured an acapella album, a couple that featured him rapping, and a collection of his old songsrecorded in Bossa Nova style.
Todd fans have to be nimble.
In the midst of these, he toured big productions of several of his older albums, produced a number of other people’s album and did orchestral shows.
Haven’t heard the Stooges newest album, but I was one of two people who liked “The Weirdness”. As far as the Dolls, isn’t David Johansen the only original member left? Anything that deviates from the classic sound might as well be a solo album.
Another Marillion fan checking in. I liked the Fish/H transition. I liked the transition to their current sound, though that’s been gradual.
Likewise, I’ve stuck with Jethro Tull through numerous transitions, though many of those transitions came before I was even born. They’ve been a blues band (This Was), a progressive rock band (Aqualung-Too Old to Rock and Roll), folk, '80s electronic (I could skip this era), classic hard rock, and world/folk.
Since Metallca’s been mentioned, I’ll toss my two cents in there. I’m with them from Ride the Lightning through S&M. I think people overlook the transition from Kill 'Em All to And Justice for All. There’s a pretty steady transition from thrash metal with Hetfield’s vocals closer to barking than anything resembling singing to more carefully composed songs like One with Hetfield trying to carry a melody.
Actually Sylvain Sylvain is still with the group and he was integral to the early years.
Oh, sure. I waded through the drama at the time, and it’s quite clear to me that giving Tarja the boot was the right thing to do. It’s what *Paramore *shoulda done, too, when faced with very similar issues.
But… yeah 
Didn’t even know Annette was out. That didn’t last long, what happened ?
Many examples I agree with. Loved early 90s Radiohead - The Bends, IMO, is a flawless album. I saw them touring with R.E.M. in '95 and in '97 for OK Computer - a little artsy, but still a damn good album. Then Kid A… I haven’t listened to them seriously since then. They occasionally put out a single I like, like “There There,” but I haven’t wanted to listen to their new stuff. Thanks to their “change of musical direction” Coldplay was foisted upon us. (Actually, I’ve grown to respect them, but they’re still fun to make fun of.)
R.E.M. - absolutely is in this category. I got into them around the Document era, discovered their back catalogue, and basically that was the soundtrack to my college years (along with The Smiths). Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People… all masterpieces. I even liked Monster and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Then Bill Berry left, and they never recovered. I am a diehard R.E.M. fan and I have not listened to any of the post-Berry albums all the way through. I only own Up and Reveal, I think. Turns out Berry was the firewall against the rest of the band’s indulgences. He wrote “Everybody Hurts” which is damn near everybody’s favorite song from the band.
I like some stuff from pretty much all eras of Genesis post Gabriel. The really commercial stuff hasn’t held up as well, but I appreciate them now in a way I didn’t when they were popular.
New Order is a band I’ve enjoyed morph from Joy Division to John Hughes soundtrack darlings to MDMA fueled dance mavens. I’ll be seeing the latest iteration of the band this summer.
The Clash were awesome in all their forms, from punk to rockabilly to dub to R&B. Only misstep was Cut The Crap, and actually, there are some pretty good songs on that album.
The Police were great from post punk to Synchronicity. The contributions from Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland diminished toward the end, and Summers parodied any recognition he’d ever acquired as a songwriter with “Mother.”
Well, Rush has been discussed here a number of times, so I’ll add my thoughts. I got into Rush fairly early in their discography. Hemispheres was my first album, and I immediately bought their earlier stuff and loved it. When new albums came out, I’d buy them as soon as I could. The somewhere around Grace Under Pressure I lost touch with my inner Rushness.
Fast forward a few years to Snakes and Arrows which someone gave me as a gift. Okay, I’m back on board. Loved it! Then I went back and bought some of the discs I had skipped. For the most part I liked those too.
I went to see them live a few weeks ago. Good show, they are still excellent musicians and put on a good performance. I liked it, but there was lots of grumbling from fans around me. Rush played a few of their old hits from the 80s and 90s, but mostly they played newer stuff, including at least 8 songs from their current release. Turns out, all those old farts around me just wanted to hear the old hits, not the new stuff.
Maybe bands HAVE to grow musically to stay fresh. Rush has been recording for 40 years! I guess the fans don’t have to grow, and many choose not to.
And to be fair, those two are the only living members of the original band. Part of what cheeses me off in that case is that Sylvain did play on a couple of Johansen’s solo albums, and if the latest were billed as Johansen solo albums, I wouldn’t mind.
Yeah, I agree. Which brings up the question, when is the band not the band?
They were doing 18-month long world tours and it was just too much for her. She had one baby while with Nightwish, which necessitated a hiatus for the band, then quit entirely when she got pregnant again.
It’s interesting to note that Rush have actually changed their sound numerous times over their career. According to all the interviews I’ve seen, they were were always listening to what other artists were doing and were always intersted in incorporating new sounds, techniques, and technology to their music. The Zeppelin-esque debut is quite different from the Fly by Night/Caress of Steel/2112 period, Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres were more progressive rock and showpieces of their technical ability. Reggae, Ska, and New Wave were a huge influence on Permanent Waves/Moving Pictures/Signals
I think most fans agree that the synth-rock era and subdued guitar is their least favorite.
All this talk about Rush has intrigued me. It’s interesting that people discovered them at different times and then went through their back catalog. I’ve also seen alot of new fans at their shows.
It depends on how the sound changes.
There was no bigger fan of Jefferson Airplane than me, but once Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen took a hike, and it morphed into Jefferson Starship, I dumped them like yesterday’s paper.
On the other hand, when Bernie Leadon quit the Eagles and Joe Walsh came on as his replacement, I LIKED the harder edge of “Hotel California.”
That has to be the most jarring change of all time, from Jefferson Airplane to Starship. What’s funny is that the 80s AOR sound actually fit Grace Slick’s voice pretty well.
I thought about mentioning this change but came to the same conclusion. I think by that time they’d milked to country-rock sound dry and needed to progress. Apparently, Bernie Leadon disagreed.
Kiss’ sound changed dramatically when the released the disco-influenced albums Dynasty and Unmasked which lost me.
They tried a concept album *The Elder *then Peter Criss left, followed by Ace Frehley sometime before/during/after *Creatures of the Night. *This basically ended their classic sound and led to removing the make-up and the 80’s era of Desmond Child bad hair band songs.
Alice Cooper has experimented with many sound changes as well. I followed the band and his solo career up until the New Wave album *Flush the Fashion *but lost interest until his comeback with Constrictorbut lost interest again.
I’ve seen him on almost every tour since but I’m guilty of being in the “New Song? Time to go on a bathroom/beer run” club.
Like i said, almost everyone sold out during the 80s. There’s never been anything quite like it since.
If Willie Nelson put out an album about rockin’ that booty with dub step beats, that would come close to what about 50 respected groups did to make money in the 80s.
When a band does something like this I try to stick with it long enough to figure out what they’re doing. That can be a fun challenge. But whether I keep listening beyond that point just comes down to whether or not I like the new stuff. I’m still a Radiohead fan. Some of the newer stuff leaves me cold, but when it works I still think it’s very good. I thought In Rainbows merged the older and newer aspects of their sound very well.
I sort of got into R.E.M. backward, but the way things developed, I have everything (I think) up through Monster and nothing afterward. I’ve heard some of the stuff from after that point and it doesn’t hold my interest.
I like artists like Neil young, bowie and wilco because they aren’t afraid to experiment with their sound. That’s much more interesting than artists that never throw a curveball.
I tend to agree with you except those artists are kinda known for deliberately doing whatever they want regardless of what their record companies or fans think.
I’d also include the Kinks at the top of that list.
My favorite band’s Pink Floyd, but when Panic! at the Disco changed their sound to be more beatlesque, they still sounded good just based on the singing and guitarist. Then when the guitarist left they went back to their original sound but minus the great guitar work. They’re still good just based on the singing and sound, but I liked it when they had the raw rock energy plus the great guitar licks.