# How did the guy/gal who wrote those ROCKIN' tunes turn into such a WUSS?!?!?!?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 3, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308 "2004-02-03T10:58:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/1 "2004-02-03T10:58:19Z")
The other day I was listening to _Jesus Christ Superstar_ (the brown album) for the first time in a long time. At one point while I was really kicking it with that tasty grooves it struck me like a revelation: Damn! Andrew Fucking Lloyd Webber wrote this!?!?!?!?!?
(Yes, I already knew that he wrote it, it’s just that I became suddenly very aware of it.)
Now _Evita_ was cool, but everything since has really just had maybe two or three good songs and everything else has been marshmallowy fluffy crap. In fact, he promptly turned into a big pussy. That’s why it is so strange to me to think that this is the same guy who wrote _JCS_.
Anyone else want to share some examples of folks who you think went from rocking hard to hardly rocking?
.
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### Author:  [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/2 "2004-02-03T11:17:29Z")
Sting. He stopped rocking soon after he left The Police.
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### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/3 "2004-02-03T11:37:27Z")
Paul McCartney.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Sparky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Sparky)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/4 "2004-02-03T11:38:09Z")
U2.
Just look at their best of albums.
The 80s one rocks.
The 90s one sucks rocks.
There hard hitting social message songs have turned into hit-em-over-the-head after-school special songs.
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### Author:  [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/5 "2004-02-03T13:13:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _originally posted by Saint Sparky_
> U2.
>
> Just look at their best of albums.
>
> The 80s one rocks.
> The 90s one sucks rocks.
This is my pet misplaced criticism. I mean, sure, I agree that _Pop_ was substandard - not because it was trying to be electronica, but because they weren’t good at electronica. But _Achtung Baby_ is a classic up there with _Joshua Tree_ and _Zooropa_ is a damn fine album, if seen in the light of it being an electro-pop album rather than a classic-rock U2 album. It’s not fair to dismiss U2s '90s work, considering that only one album was substandard.
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### Author:  [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/6 "2004-02-03T13:25:28Z")
Rod feckin Stewart. Course, he’s only been whoring it for the past 20–25 years, so maybe I should get over it already.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/7 "2004-02-03T13:37:27Z")
TOTALLY Rod Fecking (heh. I said “Fecking”) Stuart. He lost it. Completely.
Elton John
There are others, but I can’t think of 'em.
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### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/8 "2004-02-03T16:54:10Z")
For some time I have had a theory about this. Rock styles change more rapidly than ballad. A rocker at the end of the popularity of his style of music can extend his career by switching to ballads.
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/9 "2004-02-03T17:26:34Z")
Richard Ashcroft, formerly of The Verve.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/10 "2004-02-03T17:28:03Z")
_Styx_ turned into an icky pop band after they released _Grand Illusion_.
_Metallica_ got to the point where they could shit saccarine and play it on the radio. WHISKEY IN A JAR-OH!
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/11 "2004-02-03T17:30:33Z")
As for U2, Bono’s sound has changed somewhat. He once sounded as if he dropped an anvil on his foot before each song. I think he switched from the anvil to a bag of Cat Chow.
Seriously though, when an artist goes from a starving young howler to a fat & sassy star with a $2 million house, you have to expect some of that ferocious angrytude to soften.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/12 "2004-02-03T18:58:00Z")
Robert Plant
Listen to _Immigrant Song_ and then _Sea of Love_. Doesn’t sound at all like the same person even, regardless of the change in genre.
I’ve had a theory about this, too. It’s not just the starving artist becoming the rich one, but sometimes it’s a drug user going clean and sober. Bound to have some affects on one’s overall health, maybe affecting the vocal quality as it changes the entire organism to a healthy one. Then, there’s also the growth spurts that some people seem to go through in their early 20s. Changes in the body can affect the voice, even though it doesn’t always happen. But, that’s about the vocals only, not particularly about style changes.
Robert Plant changed in both.
Ooooh, add David Bowie to the list.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/13 "2004-02-03T19:16:12Z")
Canadian fans will nod in sad agreement with me when I point out that the ass-kicking rock band the Tragically Hip once were is no more. It’s hard to listen to a growling, angry, powerful song like “Cordelia” and believe the recent crap is from the same band.
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### Author:  [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/14 "2004-02-03T19:27:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> Canadian fans will nod in sad agreement with me when I point out that the ass-kicking rock band the Tragically Hip once were is no more. It’s hard to listen to a growling, angry, powerful song like “Cordelia” and believe the recent crap is from the same band.
Not from Canada, but I agree. I haven’t been impressed since after “Trouble at the Henhouse”. “Phantom Power” was…okay, but that’s when they started their downward spiral. I think it has something to do with Gord Downie’s God complex–he started getting kooky around that same time.
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### Author:  [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/15 "2004-02-03T19:41:34Z")
Liz Phair, Melissa Etheridge and Sinead O’Connor.
The Lion and The Cobra was one of those albums that stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it. Since then, pfft.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/16 "2004-02-03T21:00:32Z")
Elton John seems to have sold his soul to Disney. His albums were heavy business at one time, but no longer.
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### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/17 "2004-02-03T21:54:46Z")
Phil Collins. He was one of my favorites back in the 80’s, but has barely put out anything listenable since.
Of course, maybe it’s not so much a matter of his talent burning out, but of my musical tastes growing up.
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### Author:  [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/18 "2004-02-03T23:10:52Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#):
>
> Ooooh, add David Bowie to the list.
Would that be the list of artists who have gone from good to bad, or the list of artists who have gone from hard to marshmallowy?
If it’s the first, I can’t argue with you since it’s all subjective, although many would say his run of great albums in the '70s would be hard too match. If it’s the second, Bowie has made some very hard-edged musci in the '90s and '00s, although they haven’t gotten nearly the exposure that the '80s stuff did. For someone who cut his first albums in the '60s, I think he’s doing remarkably well.
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### Author:  [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/19 "2004-02-04T00:12:12Z")
I felt that way about Ozzy after _Ozzmosis_.
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### Author:  [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/20 "2004-02-04T00:16:47Z")
> [@+MDI](#):
>
> Richard Ashcroft, formerly of The Verve.
Totally agree. “A Storm in Heaven” is currently my #3 album of all time and I didn’t even bother to buy his latest solo effort. Having kids, being married, and staying off the drugs has robbed the man of his cajones. Not the kind of music I want from him (or anyone, for that matter).
Matter of fact, I’ll say that this happens to most rock stars given a long enough frame of time, and when it doesn’t, the result is the pathetic, shambling geezerings of bands like the rolling stones and aerosmith.
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