I was inspired to start this thread after seeing a Starship video on VH1 Classics.
Back in the 60s, Jefferson Airplane was one the premier psychodelic rock bands. In the early 70s, they changed the name to Jefferson Starship and began recording songs that leaned toward pop. In the 80s they became simply Starship and began to spew out crap. “We Built This City” on festering, oozing piles of garbage.
Another example:
Fleetwood Mac:
late 60s: Chicago blues
early 70s: The “California” sound (and quite a few good tunes, BTW)
late 70s: Pop monsters selling gazillions of records and selling out stadiums
early 80’s: pretty much the same without much feeling
late 80’s: a mish-mash of styles hampered by the ever-changing line-up.
today: uh, don’t really know. Have no desire to get their latest release since Christine McVie left
I would not include such solo artists like Neil Young, David Bowie, and Kate Bush, since, for them each album was a fresh start to try some new style.
With the exception of an individual good song here and there, The Joshua Tree was the last great thing U2 did, IMHO. TWith Rattlle and Hum, they started to believe thier own hype. I liked them when they were more like Simple Minds.
Radiohead has progressed from straight rock’n’roll (Pablo Honey) to an almost entirely electro sound (Amnesiac) and ended up somewhere in the middle (Hail to the Thief) all the while sounding great.
The Cure also comes to mind. Their initial releases (like Three Imaginary Boys) are of the same vein of pop that early Police belong to. Faith and Seventeen Seconds brought out a more gothic atmosphere which culminated with the release of Pornography. After that (I think its because Mr. Smith stopped using drugs) the albums became much brighter and at the same time, more heavily orchestrated.
If anyone can name a more drastic change than Ministry, I’ll be damn surprised. From the new wave electronic (super 80’s) feel of their debut “With Sympathy” to the drudgy metal they’ve played since 1988 or so, that’s one hell of a shift.
Generic '60’s with Buffalo Springfield
4-part harmony (and '60’s on steroids) with CSN&Y
Grunge with Crazy Horse
Country/hick/bluegrass
Smarmy pop
His style hasn’t evolved so much as it has blossomed and expanded.
Well gee, The Police themselves are a great example actually. In the beginning you had pure punk/reggae tunes with choruses written in solid 24 carat gold, but then, by their 4th album “The Ghost in the Machine”, you had tunes like “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, and then by their last album they were really getting into big epics - along with timeless anthems like “Every Breath You Take”.
The Police only recorded from 1978 thru to 1983 but gee they evolved quite amazingly in that period.
Of course, no one beats The Beatles for pure evolutionary genius. From “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah” to “The Long and Winding Road” in just 7 years, with Rubber Soul and Sgt Peppers along the way. Not to mention “I am the Walrus”. Amazing evolutionary path.
How about Iggy Pop?
Started out in the early to mid 60s with the Iguanas, a high school garage group, went on to invent punk with the Stooges, spent the next dacade or so putting out albums that, apart from some GREAT songs, sounded like bad Bowie outtakes, then went for a generic metal sound in the 90s, and now is back (WhooHoo!) with a reunited STOOGES!
Bob Dylan went from acoustic folk writer/singer to electric…something. His fans booed him at the concert where he first played on an electric axe. Now he seems to just be unintelligible.
Some years ago, Bob came to Savannah. A friend of mine and his neighbor, a hardcore Dylan fan, had front row tickets. Dylan was singing “Like a Rolling Stone”. The neighbor, who could recite the lyrics to every Dylan song, leaned over to my friend and asked, “What the hell did he just sing?”.
And speaking of Rolling Stones (oooohhh, a segue!), they went from bluesy R & B to whatever the heck they’re singing now and taking a shot ay every genre on the way.
Frank Zappa: Satires of psychedelic rock with the MOI and those sociological experiments/sonic montages. Then more jazz oriented with early solo albums. Cranked up the jokey crude humor during the “Flo and Eddie” period. Followed by a more mainstream rock sound during the mid 70s. Experimentation as a studio creature and wild story songs and concept albums. Further branching out in the 80s with avante-garde modern compositions, Synclavier experiments, and pointed satire of politics and social mores and trends. Zappa himself said his music drastically changed once he could afford better equipment, hiring professional studio and touring musicians whose abilities could keep up with his concepts, and finding vocalists capable of expressing his ideas like Ray White so he didn’t have to sing everything since he admitted his vocal range was too limited to make the cut if he were auditioning for his own band.
King Crimson: sprawling psychedelic jazz/rock 1969-1971, fusion inspired heavy sounding progressive rock experiementers with time signatures and keys, mature polished 80s New Wave quartet, 90s metal meets soundscapes sextet, to today’s quartet that sounds like a watered down and repetative version of the 90s version. Although some of the ProjeKcts spin-off groups sound interesting.
Chefguy, you and I seem to think so much alike. When I saw the thread title, Dylan is the first name to pop into my mind, and yet I know many others would have evolved at least as much as he. Something about his musical journey just seems a little more noteworthy in its evolution.
Only Miles Davis (I bet you’d agree, Chefguy), would eclipse Dylan. Miles was one of those rare people who just plain didn’t stand still. He was in on the major changes in movement of modern jazz, starting with BeBop by being in Charlie Parker’s bands as a sub/replacement for Dizzy Gillespie, then helping the “Cool School” (later to be known as West Coast Jazz) get its start along with Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, John Lewis, and others. Within just a few years he helped kickstart the “Hard Bop” movement, and within a few more years was able to make the Modal Jazz movement have its keystone with Kind Of Blue. The large band/orchestra style never had any bigger or better examples than his collaborations with Gil Evans on Sketches Of Spain, Porgy and Bess, and Miles Ahead. Then he pioneered the “Fusion” movement with Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way. His efforts in the “avant garde” and “hip hop” areas weren’t quite as pacesetting as the others mentioned, but he did participate. So at least these key turns in the style changing of jazz were done in the company of, or in the tailwind of, Miles Davis.
Exile started out as a soul/pop band with the hit “Kiss You All Over,” but eventually became a successful country band.
Genesis switched from art-rock (concept albums, half hour songs about the Meaning of Life, etc.) to pop/R & B after the departure of Peter Gabriel and the rise of Phil Collins.
And of course, Gabriel’s style changed completely after he left Genesis, too.
Colleen Fitzpatrick was the singer for an obscure 90’s alternative rock band called Eve’s Plum. Sometime in the late 90’s-early 00’s, she became Vitamin C and started doing teen pop. Weird.
Hole started out being rough hard punk, then became 90’s alt rock, then became radio pop, and then broke up. (Courtney Love should get a new band now. I don’t know what kind of music she’d do, but Marlon Brando can produce it!)