# Musicians who changed styles or genres and became popular **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838 "2010-06-28T20:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/21 "2010-06-29T03:46:58Z")
> [@Acantha](#): > > Seals and Crofts, they were fairly well known. Not quite- Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts had a lot of mellow rock hits in the Seventies. Jimmy’s younger brother Daniel took the stage name “England Dan” and formed his own successful duo with John Ford Coley. Together, they had a few big hits like “Nights Are Forever” and “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight.” “England Dan,” of course, had some big country hits under the simpler name Dan Seals. Speaking of acts that switched to country, remember these guys? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NJJQpSzDgC0/hqdefault.jpg "Exile - I Wanna Kiss You All Over (1978)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJJQpSzDgC0) They reinvented themselves as a successful country band. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/22 "2010-06-29T03:51:14Z")
Bill Haley and the Comets are known today for “Rock Around the Clock,” but Bill Haley originally called himself “The Ramblin’ Yodeller,” and recorded country songs like this one: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hcGyIjTq2hc/hqdefault.jpg "Bill Haley - Yodel Your Blues Away") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcGyIjTq2hc) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/23 "2010-06-29T03:53:15Z")
And the late, great heavy metal hero Ronnie James Dio, a nice Italian boy, started out imitating other nice Italian boys like Dion and Frankie Valli. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/kmbuHKuyDRc/hqdefault.jpg "Ronnie & The Red Caps-An Angel Is Missing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmbuHKuyDRc) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/24 "2010-06-29T04:13:43Z")
**Roy Orbison** started in [rockabilly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-ijEWj2xmg), but found success with some lonesome[crooning](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07NMA51D46c). \*\* Conway Twitty\*\* started as a [rocker](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Uoy9fcfMWU&feature=related) before a very successful switch to [county](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1QRtcWdEY&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/25 "2010-06-29T04:24:33Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Not quite- Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts had a lot of mellow rock hits in the Seventies. …which was a big change from their previous band, the Champs, of “Tequila” fame (although Seals and Crofts weren’t yet in the band when “Tequila” was recorded). ---
**Author:** ![ironbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ba8739/32.png) [@ironbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ironbender)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/26 "2010-06-29T04:29:11Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > :::glares suspiciously at Gangster Octopus::: “Spinal Tap … right!” > > Kenny Rogers’ first hit was the heavy duty acid rock song: “I Just Stopped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In.” He did a little better when he went country. Wow, I didn’t know that was Kenny Rodgers, and I love The Big Lebowski. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/27 "2010-06-29T04:51:25Z")
Jim Croce started and failed as a folk singer. His first album features songs like _This Land is your Land_ a Woody Guthrie song and _Ole Man River_. Jim finally found success partnering with Maury Muehleisen and getting a pop/rock beat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/28 "2010-06-29T05:04:58Z")
The Beastie Boys started out as a punk rock band before moving over into hip-hop. [Here’s an example of their pre-Licensed to Ill](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu5VkypHzoI) work. As far as I know, they only have a handful of EPs from their punk era, but no LPs. Depeche Mode started out as a peppy, upbeat dance synth-pop band (see: [“Just Can’t Get Enough”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6FBfAQ-NDE)) before really finding their niche in their barnd of dark, brooding industrial-influenced alternative music. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/29 "2010-06-29T05:10:59Z")
Ministry–from synthpop to industrial metal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry\_%28band%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_%28band%29) ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/30 "2010-06-29T05:20:01Z")
Ministry’s first album, _With Sympathy_, is early '80s New Wave synthpop dance music. What came after, starting with _Twitch_, got progressively harder, with Ministry being a trend-setter in the late '80s-early '90s in the Industrial genre. Seriously. Listen to _With Sympathy_ and _The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste_ (or anything later than _Twitch_) back to back and your head will explode. Compare and contrast: [Effigy (I’m Not An)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdB6e91stm0) [Thieves](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKweBcU2s9A) It’s the same guy. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/31 "2010-06-29T05:27:30Z")
Oh yeah. If I want to see my office-neighbors get nervous, I put on “Thieves” or “NWO”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/32 "2010-06-29T08:20:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Bobby Darren moved through several genres. He started out in pop rock (“Splish Splash”) moved into vocal standards like “Mack the Knife” and “Beyond the Sea” and then tried out country and folk. Although he enjoyed a great measure of success, Darin missed out on every bandwagon he tried to jump on; he did Rat Pack music as Elvis got big, he did “Splish Splash” as hippie rock became the dominant style, and he did earnest Woodstock rock and protest ballads when Bowie was setting the new tone. Man, if he’d been born five years earlier… The artist I thought of was Smash Mouth. Originally a punk act, he (They?) peaked with the poppy “All Star.” Not sure he’s done anything of note since, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/33 "2010-06-29T09:46:33Z")
Creedence Clearwater Revival started as the Golliwogs (before that Blue Velvet) and had a different sound than when they became successful as CCR. Dizzy Gillepsie was more of a traditional swing jazz musician before going to bebop. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/34 "2010-06-29T10:21:04Z")
It’s not that Darius Rucker wasn’t popular 15 years ago (as frontman of Hootie and the Blowfish), but the band died out as a pop music joke in the start of the 2000s (well, before then, but apparently, they kept releasing albums until 2003). Fast forward to 2008-20099 or so, and witness Darius Rucker, the successful country music solo act (three Billboard Country #1s, and a #3, so far). ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/35 "2010-06-29T10:55:06Z")
Lady Gaga [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNq1jSqakIQ) - ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/36 "2010-06-29T10:59:31Z")
Deep Purple was a flower child hippie-ish rock band(with some success) before they became heavy metal rock Gods 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hook)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/37 "2010-06-29T12:58:25Z")
**The Wiggles** sort of qualify. Before becoming huge in the Kiddie Rock field, two of the members were in **The Cockroaches** a pop band in Sydney, Australia. [The Wiggles - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiggles) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/38 "2010-06-29T13:54:09Z")
Chicago was at one point a respectable blues-rock band. Then they got prosperous with the pop-rock sound most commonly associated with them, then syrupy love ballads. Have they broken up yet? Please tell me they’ve broken up. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/39 "2010-06-29T14:17:37Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Although he enjoyed a great measure of success, Darin missed out on every bandwagon he tried to jump on; he did Rat Pack music as Elvis got big, he did “Splish Splash” as hippie rock became the dominant style, … I’m a bit confused. Hippie rock wasn’t even a gleam in anyone’s eye in 1958. On top of that, the song (Splish Splash) went to #3 in the charts. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/40 "2010-06-29T14:21:28Z")
\*\*Billy Joel \*\*started out in a band called \*\*Attilla \*\*(I think there was an umlaut in there somewhere), which may or may not have been as metal as their album cover’s semiotics would suggest. (I haven’t heard any of it; I’m sure very few people ever have!) \*\*Fleetwood Mac \*\*(apologies if I’m not the first to post this) started out doing blues; after a personnel change or two and a shift to a more mainstream pop-rock style, they exploded in popularity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838.md?page=3)