# What musician (or band) changed styles midstream and lost you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913 "2011-12-03T01:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/41 "2011-12-03T18:14:45Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Yeah, I was afraid of that. No dis to the lute as an instrument. I love the lute and own some lute CDs. It’s specifiically Mr. Sumner playing the lute. Just too obvious a douchebag move for him. \*\*That \*\*I can agree with! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/42 "2011-12-03T18:39:03Z")
Boz Scaggs. Lost me for good with “Silk Degrees.” ---
**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:** [December 3, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/43 "2011-12-03T18:42:41Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The correct answer to the OP is Sting. Which inspired one of my very [favorite Onions bits ever](http://www.theonion.com/articles/you-know-i-used-to-be-kind-of-cool-once,10932/). ---
**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:** [December 3, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/44 "2011-12-03T18:52:49Z")
I could only listen to the first two **Gang of Four** albums. I mean, sure, they set the bar high with _Entertainment_ and _Solid Gold_, but man did they fall well short with everything afterwords, especially the execrable _Hard_ and _Mall_. (I could just about tolerate _Songs of the Free_.) But I’m not sure if I should count them, as they kind of disbanded after their fourth studio album, _Hard_, and _Mall_ was kind of an ill-advised reunion album. (At least that’s how I view it.) ---
**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:** [December 3, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/45 "2011-12-03T19:10:48Z")
Crap, sorry for three in a row. I just re-read the thread. I should probably hold off on Gang of Four as I’m not sure whether it counts as a stylistic shift. The music got more dancey and produced, but might not quite qualify under the terms of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/46 "2011-12-03T19:34:54Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The correct answer to the OP is Sting. This is what I was coming in to post. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/47 "2011-12-03T20:25:12Z")
**Frank Black** (a/k/a **Black Francis** ): Everything he did with **The Pixies** : A++ His first two solo releases (_Frank Black_ and _Teenager of the Year_): A+++ (I know that’s blasphemy to my fellow Pixies fans, but there’s not one subpar track on either of those albums, and I still play them often) Third (final) solo album (_Cult of Ray_): A First three releases by **Frank Black & The Catholics** (_FBATC_, _Pistolero_, _Dog In The Sand_): A+ After that he went all Americana Rock and I lost interest. Nothing even A-rated in the last ten years (although, admittedly, I did stop actively buying his stuff so I could be missing something). The _Frank Black Francis_ album was an enjoyable throwback, but only as a novelty. Now that the Pixies are back together (hard to believe it’s been 8 years now), I have conflicting feelings each time a rumor surfaces re: a new album from them… It could easily rock hard or suck hard. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/48 "2011-12-03T23:49:08Z")
Has anyone else noticed that this thread is full of \*"… then they started trying to please someone else…" \*(the radio audience, a reviewer, the record buyers, Sting’s mom)? At least the ones that admit it (I think Gwen Stefani basically said she decided to be a pop star) have a teence more integrity. But look how many bands traded “what made them unique” for a fleeting outside chance at ‘a-medium-amount-of-fame’ or some cash? But it’s so sad… and worse when you see it coming, like a friend of mine who knew some of the guys in _ **Chicago** _. Terry Kath died, and someone said something like “Okay, here’s where Cetera tries to get us to be a lounge band, so he can croon.” ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/49 "2011-12-03T23:57:31Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > U2 once they went Hollywood after _Joshua Tree_. Yup. After Joshua Tree they lost me. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/50 "2011-12-04T00:37:20Z")
> [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](#): > > **Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s** -I absolutely loved their first album, _The Dust of Retreat_. It was indie chamber-pop with a sort of eerie, haunted aesthetic. Their world was a swirling shadowland of lost love, vampire women and ghosts that haunt hallways. Their most recent album, _Buzzard_, sounds like a middle-aged man wanted to make a boring rock album. ☹ Does even “New York City Hotel Blues” strike you that way? ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/51 "2011-12-04T01:40:07Z")
With the possible exception of Scarlet’s Walk, Tori Amos after Boys for Pele. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/52 "2011-12-04T02:02:30Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > ☹ Does even “New York City Hotel Blues” strike you that way? Oh yes. This actually exemplifies my point. Listen to that track - it’s a mess. There’s so much unnecessary distortion and buzzing that what would be an okay middling rock track is just bland rock-by-numbers. It’s almost like even at the highest quality it’s being transmitted through an fm reciever and our connection’s not that good. Which could conceivably work, if it was working towards some effect in the song. It’s not. And the whole album is like that. It reminds me of when Dashboard Confessional went ‘electric’ and it was really just him playing ostensibly acoustic rifts and progressions but with a bit of feedback on. It’s not a good use of the instrument, and if you’re going to focus on it as much as **Margot** obviously did during recording, it creates a different tone which in this case produces mixed results. Compare \*\*New York City Hotel Blues \*\* to early bittersweet tracks like **Broadripple is Burning** , **Skeleton Key** , **Quiet as a Mouse** , hell I’ll even throw in something like **My Baby Shoots Her Mouth Off** - not a great song (although it’s decent) but certainly of that haunted style that they debuted with and that I loved. _Buzzard_ is itself an okay album, but in my opinion its light years away in terms of both style and absolute quality from the dreamy, intriguing songs they used to play. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/53 "2011-12-04T02:22:51Z")
> [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](#): > > Compare \*\*New York City Hotel Blues \*\* to early bittersweet tracks like **Broadripple is Burning** , **Skeleton Key** , **Quiet as a Mouse** , hell I’ll even throw in something like **My Baby Shoots Her Mouth Off** - not a great song (although it’s decent) but certainly of that haunted style that they debuted with and that I loved. _Buzzard_ is itself an okay album, but in my opinion its light years away in terms of both style and absolute quality from the dreamy, intriguing songs they used to play. Yeah…I think we just like different things about Margot. While I do love “Skeleton Key,” I don’t like the other two nearly as much as “A Children’s Crusade on Acid” and “Pages Written on a Wall” which “NYCHB” reminds me more of…from my play count I’ve played them both (and Skeleton Key too) 10x as often as either “Broadripple is Burning” or “Quiet as a Mouse.” ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/54 "2011-12-04T02:48:30Z")
**PJ Harvey** after _Is This Desire?_. And I feel a little disloyal for saying so, because on some level I do detachedly appreciate the music she’s making now (especially her last album, _Let England Shake_) (like, I’m glad it exists in the world, even if I don’t like it). But I loved her second, third, and fourth albums so much because she stood as such a powerful figure in the stories her songs told, and her voice was so strong and dauntless, and she wasn’t afraid of sounding ugly and off-putting for effect. Then _Uh Huh Her_ happened and…man, I don’t even _know_. What happened to the musician that late I loved? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/55 "2011-12-04T16:31:14Z")
The Beatles. Their first couple of albums were rock-and-roll greatness. Then they got into drugs and flushed themselves down the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/56 "2011-12-04T16:50:39Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > The Beatles. Their first couple of albums were rock-and-roll greatness. Then they got into drugs and flushed themselves down the toilet. Bonnie Raitt. Love her older stuff. Then later in her career she got off drugs and cut way back on alcohol. She achieved more widespread popularity, but she lost me. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/57 "2011-12-04T17:37:30Z")
A lot of people are ignoring the “changed styles” part of the OP. The question isn’t “At what point did a musician/group you used to like jump the shark?”\* Black Sabbath, for instance, never **changed their style** , they just lost whatever it was that made them great. \*Go ahead, if there isn’t already a thread covering that question… ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/58 "2011-12-04T18:17:20Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Yeah…I think we just like different things about Margot. While I do love “Skeleton Key,” I don’t like the other two nearly as much as “A Children’s Crusade on Acid” and “Pages Written on a Wall” which “NYCHB” reminds me more of…from my play count I’ve played them both (and Skeleton Key too) 10x as often as either “Broadripple is Burning” or “Quiet as a Mouse.” I dig it. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/59 "2011-12-04T23:37:17Z")
Leann Rimes decided to go pop for a while, as did Faith Hill. They both have country voices that sound decidedly better in a country setting. Gospel tenor singer David Phelps of the Gaither Vocal Band decided to do an album or two of Contemporary Christian music. And while they weren’t bad music, his strong suit is definitely in his gospel. His amazing voice seemed wasted in a CCM setting that didn’t challenge it. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913/60 "2011-12-04T23:58:29Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Genesis??! Genesis band that became awful is! > > Well, at least, IMO. I loved the music with Peter Gabriel still fronting the band, with the notable exception of _Lamb Lies Down_. After Gabriel left the band, _Trick Of The Tail_ was still pretty damn good. > > Shortly thereafter came _Duke_, which if memory serves included “Grab A Cab”\* and “Paper Late” and suchlike pop bilge, and that was the end of it for me. > > Yes I know the early albums strike most people as a prog slog for stoners, but I liked it anyway, dammit. > > \*(OK, really, it was “ABACAB”, named for the chord progression of the chorus.) I came in to say this same thing. _Trick of the tail_ was the last good one, although I also think PG needed to leave when he did. The music that Tony Banks wrote for _Lamb_ was, well, frantic… perhaps in an effort to keep up with what Gabriel had accomplished lyrically? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musician-or-band-changed-styles-midstream-and-lost-you/604913.md?page=4)