# Musicians/groups that underwent huge transformations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244 "2005-01-05T18:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/1 "2005-01-05T18:44:06Z")
The group Ministry has plagued my mind off and on over the past few months. I never ‘got into’ them in the 80s and while I have always enjoyed most of their music, I am hardly a huge fan. That said, it always baffled me how a group like them went from their sounds of the early-to-mid 80s with kind of a mellow dance club vibe, to a very heavy thrash sound. What spurned such a huge change in direction for them. It seems from what little I can tell that they have all but disowned/forgotten about their earliest years and now stick exclusively to their heavy music, so was it a corporate issue that did it? Along those lines, what other groups went through such huge changes? I came up with the following so far: **Beatles** went from happy pop band that made girls cry to a deeper, (IMHO) better music. **Metallica** had gone from super metal rockers to a ‘meh’-corporatized vanilla band that has all but fallen from the face of the earth (did anyone actually LIKE their attempt to return to their old sound with St. Anger?). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Crunchy_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/2 "2005-01-05T18:55:09Z")
- Kip Winger went from Hair Metal to Adult Contemporary. - Danny Elfman went from New Wave to A-List Hollywood soundtrack composer. - Vanilla Ice went from Light Rap to Punk Metal - Ice-T bounces back and forth from Gangster Rap to Punk Metal That’s all I got right now ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/3 "2005-01-05T19:01:40Z")
Therion and Lacrimosa, the two stalwarts of the symphonic metal genre, started out as a doom/death metal act and a goth/industrial act, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/4 "2005-01-05T19:21:41Z")
Genesis, beginning as a cool Peter Gabriel psychedelic outfit, changed into the crappy “new” Genesis with Phil Collins as frontman. REM, which has gradually metamorphosed from groovy jangly country-flavored rock to ironic pop to electronicish stuff to… whatever they are now (I haven’t listened for a while.), is another example. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/5 "2005-01-05T19:30:39Z")
Fleetwood Mac started in the 60’s as a hardcore Blues band in the John Mayall mold, then morphed into a California pop band in the 70’s and 80’s The Bee Gees were a pop band in the 60’s that morphed into a falsetto-singing disco group in the 70’s Michael Jackson went from a cute kid with an amazing voice singing R & B tunes to a…well, I’m not sure what he is at this point. David Bowie’s music has changed dramatically quite often. Queen went from 70’s rock to 80’s pop without a blink. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Crunchy_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/6 "2005-01-05T19:34:12Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > Genesis, beginning as a cool Peter Gabriel psychedelic outfit, changed into the crappy “new” Genesis with Phil Collins as frontman. Similiarly, **Chicago** : Classic Rock to Adult Contemporary. I should just add that I find nothing wrong with these transformations. I like 70s Genesis, and I like 80s Genesis. I like 70s Chicago, and I like 80s Chicago. I do not, however, like 90s Chicago. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/7 "2005-01-05T19:38:00Z")
Fleetwood Mac, from a hard-rocking British blues band to soft rock. Rush has gone through several stages, from Led Zep-ripoff to prog rock to synthesizer-heavy rock and now back to guitar-heavy rock. The Flaming Lips went from a noise-heavy psychedelic punkish band to… er, whatever you’d call the music they’re making now. Genius, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/8 "2005-01-05T19:40:16Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > REM, which has gradually metamorphosed from groovy jangly country-flavored rock to ironic pop to electronicish stuff to… whatever they are now (I haven’t listened for a while.), is another example. Their most recent album ditched most of the electronic stuff for a fairly mellow sound (with, oddly enough, drumming provided by former Ministry stalwart Bill Rieflin). ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/9 "2005-01-05T20:13:19Z")
Walter Carlos. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/10 "2005-01-05T20:31:07Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > **Beatles** went from happy pop band that made girls cry to a deeper, (IMHO) better music. Ditto, arguably, for the **Beach Boys** : from two-minute pop songs about girls, cars, and surfing, to Brian Wilson’s ambitious “teenage symphonies to God,” to the largely post-Brian 70’s albums that were hit-or-miss but still contained some stunning music. Perhaps even moreso than Fleetwood Mac with the introduction of Buckingham & Nicks, **The Moody Blues** experienced a major change in direction and became the group that most people think of as “The Moody Blues” with the addition of Justin Hayward and John Lodge. Before this, they were led by Denny Laine (later of Wings), were bluesier and far less orchestral, and their biggest hit was “Go Now.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/11 "2005-01-05T20:44:33Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > Walter Carlos. 🙂 More seriously, \*\*Bob Dylan \*\* has gone through all sorts of transformations: traditional folkie, electric folk, rock, spiritual, and many more in between. \*\*Rod Stewart \*\* went from blues to pop to disco and now is doing standards (pretty badly). **The Doobie Brothers** really changed their sound once they started featuring Michael McDonald on vocals. **Blood, Sweat, and Tears** was originally a heavily blue-oriented group led by Al Kooper. Kooper left and they turned to a more pop sound with David Clayton-Thomas. **Soft Machine** started as a song-oriented progressive rock group, but switched over to long jazz-oriented instrumental jams. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/12 "2005-01-05T21:08:25Z")
Jefferson Airplane -----\> Starship (“White Rabbit” --------\> “We Built This City”) ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/13 "2005-01-05T21:14:48Z")
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give it up for another great Italian… Frank Zappa ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/14 "2005-01-05T21:44:46Z")
Everlast used to be in House of Pain, a rap group. Now, he’s, uh, well, I don’t know what he’s doing now but he released a solo rock (sort of) CD in the late nineties. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/15 "2005-01-05T21:55:46Z")
The **Cardigans** are quite a bit different these days compared to their poppy beginnings. **Liz Phair** might count too. She went from a indie sound to a more polished, almost teenager-music style sound on her new album. Not bad though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/16 "2005-01-05T22:12:15Z")
**Paul Weller** went from fronting **The Jam** to fronting **The Style Council** (where’s that vomit smiley???) I think that **The Clash** transformed pretty majorly between _Give 'em Enough Rope_ and _London Calling_. **The Red Rockers** went from Clashesque punk to pop fluff between _Condition Red_ and _Good As Gold_ (where’s that vomit smiley again??). ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/17 "2005-01-05T22:18:58Z")
**Idlewild** deteriorated from high-energy thrash punk to MOR sap. **Muse** went from slow guitar ballads to effects-laden art-rock. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/18 "2005-01-05T22:35:30Z")
Elvis Presley went from balls-out rocker to Las Vegas excess lounge lizard. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/19 "2005-01-05T23:37:41Z")
Penelope Houston went from punk chanteuse with **The Avengers** to folk singer ( not a half bad one either - if you can find it and you probably can’t _On Borrowed Time, live in Frisco_ is worth a listen, especially for the acoustic rendering of her old punk tune ‘Corpus Christi’ ). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244/20 "2005-01-05T23:39:26Z")
**The Romantics.** They went from 60s brit pop to 80’s glam a la Duran Duran. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-groups-that-underwent-huge-transformations/283244.md?page=2)