# 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:** 3
**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, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/41 "2010-06-29T14:33:46Z")
\*\*The BeeGees \*\*had become very popular and had had a number of hits many years before they revived their careers with disco; they did enjoy an entirely new level of super-stardom with disco, though. \*\*The Golden Palominos \*\*started out as an avant-garde bang-on-a-can-style noise band before they retooled their sound and started crafting their intelligent, complex, mature brand of eclectic pop-rock (and enjoyed a modest level of success – they’ve never been anything bigger than a cult favorite). They’ve had a lot of personnel changes (and guest musicians and vocalists) over the years, though, so that figures into it, too. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/42 "2010-06-29T14:39:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The Steve Miller Band was strongly blues based. Miller changed to more middle of the road stuff and became superstars. Mr. Guitar Miller just released a new album (Bingo!), of his favorite blues covers. It’s not quite the same as the old days, but it sure sounds good. ---
**Author:** ![Ursine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Ursine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursine)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/43 "2010-06-29T15:59:36Z")
Dexy’s Midnight Runners did three or four records as a[big mod soul band with a horn section and everything](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXW4fFUXjb8) before turning into a sort of goof-troopin’ jug band and hitting it huge with “Come on Eileen.” ---
**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, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/44 "2010-06-29T16:21:27Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > \*\*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!) Actually, Billy Joel started out with a band called **The Hassles**. He and the drummer left to start the ill-conceived drum-and-organ duo **Attila** (no umlauts.) Here’s a [sample](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prFYOZIRcMM). The Attila album is somewhat notorious in critical circles, often ending up on critics’ Worst Rock Album ever list. [Here’s a sample of typical commentary about this record.](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3ifoxq95ldte) > [@](#): > > There have been many bad ideas in rock, but none match the colossal stupidity of Attila. There’s a reason why they’re the only heavy rock organ-and-drums duo in the history of rock & roll – it’s an atrocious combination > > […] > > By the end of the album, it feels as if a drill has punctured the center of your skull – it’s that piercing, painful, and monotonous. Joel has gone on record describing the results as “psychedelic bullsh\*t.” Remove the word “psychedelic” and you have an accurate description of the album. It is quite a mess, but I wouldn’t quite agree it’s in the realm of Worst Ever. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/45 "2010-06-29T16:40:08Z")
The Moody Blues started out as an R&B-flavored, blues-covers-playing pop group fronted by Denny Laine (later of Wings). With the departure of Laine and the addition of Justin Hayward and John Lodge, their sound became more orchestral and epic, and they hit the big time. (So, like Fleetwood Mac, this is an example where the change in style corresponded with a change in personnel.) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/46 "2010-06-29T16:45:56Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > These are all pretty good examples. > And as for: > > I knew that the Goo Goo Dolls could really rock before they mellowed out and became more successful, but I didn’t know Sugar Ray was metal first. I find that kind of interesting. Goo Goo Dolls were a fantastic punk-pop band. I heard them in the early 90’s, and loved 'em. When I heard their later stuff, I honestly didn’t believe it was the same band. Good for them, I guess. Joe ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/47 "2010-06-29T16:55:15Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > 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. Please. They roll themselves out every summer to play outdoor pavilions, inviting anyone from the past lineups that needs some dough that year to join them in the band, and filling in bits and pieces with session musicians. AFAIK, they do play hits from _CTA_ to the present, unless they are pushing an album like “Chicago Covers Benny Goodman” or something. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/48 "2010-06-29T16:55:47Z")
“There have been many bad ideas in rock, but none match the colossal stupidity of Attila. There’s a reason why they’re the only heavy rock organ-and-drums duo in the history of rock & roll – it’s an atrocious combination.” So we have a critic who’s never heard of [Lee Michaels.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Michaels) I suppose Michaels would also fit here: he had several successful heavy rock organ and drums albums out, then had a hit single with “Do You Know What I Mean?” which sounded nothing like his other work. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/49 "2010-06-29T16:58:35Z")
I think most of the British Invasion bands started out as Blues/R&B cover bands. Their style evolved not just because of change in personnel, but also because the songwriters gained confidence in writing and experimenting with new stuff. (Not to mention there was more money in writing and performing their own material.) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/50 "2010-06-29T17:44:16Z")
Both David Bowie and Marc Bolan were folkies before they became glam rock. wheresgeorge04: I saw the Goo Goo Dolls as a punk band, too. They did the greatest cover of My Girl. When a friend moved to L.A. and became their drummer, I thought “cool!” When I heard the record afterward, I did not think that so much. Eh, no one has to conform to my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/51 "2010-06-29T17:47:03Z")
The Commodores were a funk group before softening their sound in the late-1970s to chase chart position and record sales. There is a pretty big difference between their early-to-mid 70s sound and the later ballads. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/52 "2010-06-29T20:45:48Z")
[David Johansen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Johansen) - the ‘godfather’ of punk and leader of the seminal NYC band “the New York Dolls” did a complete about face, transforming himself into **Buster Poindexter** and scoring a big hit with a salsa number “Hot Hot Hot.” But he was late in the game. In fact, most of the CBGB acts - Blondie & Talking Heads in particular - quickly abandoned the punk rock sound for the less threatening, more commercial “New Wave.” Even Patti Smith, who never completely shed the punk image, watered her last few 70s records down for commercial purposes. For a more recent example, there’s Sinead O’Conner who grew to fame (and then notoriety) for her explosive, often angry rhetorical songs, many of them directed at the Catholic church. Years after her career-killing SNL stunt, she recorded an EP of irish religious songs - “Gospel Oak.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/53 "2010-06-29T22:23:26Z")
[Charlie Rich](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Rich) may hold the record for flailing away at the most music styles before settling on a career as a country music singer that made him famous (with songs like “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl”). Early on he played jazz and blues, became a session musician for Sun Records in the early rock n’ roll days (and had his own minor hit with “Lonely Weekends”), scuffled around on the fringes of rock for awhile longer (one other semi-hit was “Mohair Sam”), flirted with a couple of other genres and then scored big as a country ballad singer. A pop singer who also made a successful conversion to country was Mac Davis, who started out doing rock n’ roll, wrote a number of hit songs for other people and one for himself (the horrifically bad “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”) and then went into country where he reportedly exceeded his previously limited stardom, not that I ever listened to anything he did in that style.\* \*A song he recorded after his switchover to country (“Rock And Roll I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life”) was so dreadful that once during my college radio show I yanked it off the turntable in mid-play, announced that I was setting it on fire and segued into Arthur Brown’s “Fire”. I guess you had to be there. :dubious: ---
**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, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/54 "2010-06-29T23:03:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Actually, Billy Joel started out with a band called **The Hassles**. He and the drummer left to start the ill-conceived drum-and-organ duo **Attila** (no umlauts.) Here’s a [sample](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prFYOZIRcMM). The Attila album is somewhat notorious in critical circles, often ending up on critics’ Worst Rock Album ever list. [Here’s a sample of typical commentary about this record.](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3ifoxq95ldte) > > It is quite a mess, but I wouldn’t quite agree it’s in the realm of Worst Ever. Thanks for the corrections and links! I’m listening to the YT clips right now and thoroughly enjoying it both sincerely and in a camp sense… what can I say? I can see why it’s risible, and why some would feel it’s utter crap, but I think these guys had some serious chops, however artistically misguided. Billy Joel’s frantic arpeggio-ing reminds me of Emerson, Lake & Palmer – although I’m not sure if that reflects more positively on him, or more negatively on ELP. It’s always incredible to me when people sing and play a difficult (lead) part well at the same time, and Joel’s doing that here. And I can see from the pic of the album cover (on the “Brain Invasion” clip, for one) how I misremembered there being an inappropriate umlaut, too! ---
**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, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/55 "2010-06-29T23:22:32Z")
Foreigner I thought of them as pop ballads- Urgent, Waiting for a Girl Like You, these are songs I liked and loved I made the mistake of buying Head Games :eek: The toilet on the cover should have warned me. Foreigner’s early stuff is hard, arena rock ---
**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 30, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/56 "2010-06-30T22:04:32Z")
Not quite sure what you would call The Tubes mid70s songs: more of a live act. But in 1981 they went to a more AOR sound on “Completion Backwards Principle” which sold well. I give singer Fee Waybill credit for honesty at the time for saying “we had to sell out. We owed the record label a lot of money and could not pay it off on the sales of 120,000 loyal Tubes followers. You have to keep in mind what Lily Tomlin says: they call it show business, not show art.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/57 "2010-06-30T23:37:06Z")
> [@Ursine](#): > > Dexy’s Midnight Runners did three or four records as a[big mod soul band with a horn section and everything](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXW4fFUXjb8) before turning into a sort of goof-troopin’ jug band and hitting it huge with “Come on Eileen.” Well they had a #1 hit in the UK with Geno so although Come On Eileen was bigger they were hardly unpopular prior to their style change. Spandau Ballet had a hit with “[To Cut A Long Story Short](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KrFLZ9OCBQ)”, a synthy new romantic number but achieved lasting international fame with their soul numbers, “True”, “Gold” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/58 "2010-07-01T05:53:03Z")
> [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](#): > > 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). I think my mind just blew. Toastly serial? I’ll have to look on YouTube. I remember hearing HatB and saying, “I have two words for you: Huey Lewis.” I was more right than I expected: HL and the News had more hits than HatB did. If you’re right, I’m glad to see another black guy has been accepted by the country crowd, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/59 "2010-07-01T16:24:15Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > I’m glad to see another black guy has been accepted by the country crowd, though. You might be interested to know that the Pointer Sisters had a country hit with the song [Fairytale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXkllqtya90), which they won a Grammy for (and were also nominated for writing it), and were the [first black women](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pointer_Sisters) to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. (I remember my Dad coming home one day just raving about this song and calling up the radio station to request it!) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838/60 "2010-07-01T17:34:23Z")
\*\*Journey \*\*was a blue based rock band till Steve Perry turned them into arena pop rock (gag me with a spoon) icons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-changed-styles-or-genres-and-became-popular/544838.md?page=4)