# How did the guy/gal who wrote those ROCKIN' tunes turn into such a WUSS?!?!?!? **URL:** \ **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:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/21 "2004-02-04T01:02:04Z")
> [@The Tooth](#): > > Elton John seems to have sold his soul to Disney. His albums were heavy business at one time, but no longer. Agreed. It’s like age & money changes a man. How someone, who took his name from Bluesology members John Baldry & Elton Dean, leave the UK & come to the USA, show up at WABC-FM studios in NYC on 11/17/1970 and perform to a small group of 100 people where he reportedly banged the keyboard with such passion blood & flesh were flying everywhere… Go on to release such crap as: Philadelphia Freedom, I’m Still Standing and Candle in the Wind Is beyond my comprehension. ---
**Author:** ![Pepsi\_Classic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pepsi\_Classic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pepsi_Classic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/22 "2004-02-04T01:27:36Z")
Jay Farrar. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/23 "2004-02-04T01:54:05Z")
I don’t have a nomination, I just want to say that Andrew Lloyd Webber _never_ rocked, and U2 never rocked as hard as they did on _Achtung Baby._ ---
**Author:** ![Goofus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@Goofus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goofus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/24 "2004-02-04T04:33:52Z")
> [@Pepsi Classic](#): > > Jay Farrar. I would say “Them’s fightin’ words!” but I haven’t heard _Terroir Blues_ yet. Is it that bad? The samples on Amazon make me think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/25 "2004-02-04T06:49:30Z")
Clapton. Although he didn’t write many of the best tunes he played on, he’s taken mellow to new extremes. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/26 "2004-02-04T11:35:13Z")
Another Canadian act - The Headstones. They kicked ass on _Picture of Health_ and _Teeth & Tissue_ and then…nothing. Their only songs to get any attention after that were pretty gutless (Cubically Contained? feh). I’ll add another vote for The Tragically Hip. I like most of their stuff since _Trouble at the Henhouse_, but none of it even comes close to _Road Apples_ or _Day for Night_. And how about Pearl Jam? There are few albums that I truly regret buying…_Riot Act_ comes damn close. _Binaural_, too. ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/27 "2004-02-08T12:51:05Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > 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. Wow. Have you heard “Dreamland”. No, wait, have you heard “Heathen”? If answers are positive in both cases, I rest my…uh…case. We’re just from a different planet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/28 "2004-02-08T12:52:31Z")
Oh, but you can slowly start adding Tori Amos to the list. Another couple of albums like this and she’ll be doing the golden oldies. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/29 "2004-02-08T12:56:43Z")
But in actual fact, I think I should eat my words…hen I think of this, I don’t really mind any of these people changing. Okay, I might nominate another dozen, but that’s the way life goes, every single change in life would cause a change in art. Some of these people wrote intense stuff, because things that went on in their live and their hearts were intense, sometimes unbearable. Some of them, had they continued to move at that speed and burn so strongly and beautifully, wouldn’t be here today. I’m not just talking about drug abuse and rock’n’roll lifestyle, I’m talking about the fact that a lot of these men and women at some point, found a comfortable place in their lives, that not only enabled them to survive, but it made them feel…well…comfy. And that doesn’t _always_ serve your creative instincts well. So I’d rather enjoy the brilliancy they had and not scorn them for churning out diamond, after diamond. ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/30 "2004-02-08T17:47:25Z")
> [@gaba](#): > > I’m not just talking about drug abuse and rock’n’roll lifestyle, I’m talking about the fact that a lot of these men and women at some point, found a comfortable place in their lives, that not only enabled them to survive, but it made them feel…well…comfy. And that doesn’t _always_ serve your creative instincts well. > > So I’d rather enjoy the brilliance they had and not scorn them for churning out diamond, after diamond. I agree completely with **gaba** here. I write poetry (yeah, who doesn’t?) and churned out a lot of stuff 2 years ago during a really intense period of my life. Quite a bit was pretty good stuff, not publish-worthy but items I don’t feel I need to bury or burn right now. Since then the intensity has died down and so has the quality of my work as well as the volume. The impetus simply isn’t as powerful anymore to vent that raw, sometimes really painful, emotion. To carry gaba’s analogy out, it takes a lot of pressure to turn carbon into diamonds… and the pressure will eventually kill ya. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/31 "2004-02-08T18:12:34Z")
> [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](#): > > Sting. He stopped rocking soon after he left The Police. My thoughts exactly. How can the guy who belted out “Landlord” and “Truth Hits Everybody” be the same cupcake who is doing that “Desert Rose” adult comtemporary crap? ---
**Author:** ![gaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@gaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaba)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/32 "2004-02-08T19:31:40Z")
> [@Priam](#): > > To carry gaba’s analogy out, it takes a lot of pressure to turn carbon into diamonds… and the pressure will eventually kill ya. I’d just like to add: It doesn’t necessarily mean it takes unhappiness to create brilliant work. (I think there was a thread on this board a while ago, discussing whether personal misery is aprerequisite of a brilliant album… I don’t agree with that necessarily). But intense emotions definitely fuel great creativity, because it needs a movement of some sort. If everything stands still, the wheels just aren’t turning anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/33 "2004-02-08T19:37:10Z")
> [@Nutty Bunny](#): > > 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. Puhscuzeme? The Hip’s recent work is damned good. It’s just different. The Tragically Hip’s music has sort of settled into being a great soundtrack for Gord Downie’s amazing lyrics. Which is definately a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/34 "2004-02-09T13:19:00Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > 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. I agree. I just saw him, and he keeps up with the kids just fine. And is totally hot. Totally. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/35 "2004-02-09T15:57:38Z")
> [@mouthbreather](#): > > My thoughts exactly. How can the guy who belted out “Landlord” and “Truth Hits Everybody” be the same cupcake who is doing that “Desert Rose” adult comtemporary crap? Some of us like that cupcake. I have been listening to Sting and the Police for 20+ years, and I have enjoyed listening to the changes in Sting. His music is more nuanced and complex now, instead of just banging on a bass - that was great back then, but his musicianship has grown and so has my ear for it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/36 "2004-02-09T17:59:18Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > 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? Can’t read the OP’s mind, but I think we’re talking about the latter. IMHO, both good to bad and hard to marshmallowy are the rule. It might be more of a challenge to list rockers/bands that _haven’t_ gone marshmallowy over a two-decade or longer career in the public eye, than those who did. Going soft doesn’t always mean going bad, but it’s more the rule than the exception, in my observation. One category of artists particularly afflicted by this, IMHO, is frontmen who go solo. Without bandmates to keep them musically honest, they can go rather rapidly from their creative peak to poppy to bland/saccharine. McCartney, Clapton, Sting (sorry, Gingy), even Phil Collins (not that Collins was particularly edgy to begin with). Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland were far from Rock N’ Roll HoF on their own merits, but they worked _with_ Sting, not _for_ him, which gave them the standing that no studio musician had to keep him from losing his way musically while they were still together. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308/37 "2004-02-09T18:43:36Z")
I was ranting the other day about how Chicago turned into Air Supply. I got a lot of blank looks. I think it’s 'cause I’m old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-guy-gal-who-wrote-those-rockin-tunes-turn-into-such-a-wuss/227308.md?page=1)