Do you like artists/bands changing their style?


gorachi-II's avatar
Everyone knows nothing in music stays the same most of the time artists move on and grow but sometimes they go backwards. So it begs the question is change a good thing? . Personally I think too many bands try too hard to turn something they're not. Heres a few examples I can think of from the top of my head.

Artists that blew it
Ellie goulding
30 seconds to mars
the cab
my chemical romance

Artists that made it
Linkin park
one republic
Adele
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projectsonic's avatar
Artists that made it:
Radiohead (when I first heard about Kid A, I was afraid. But it was actually good.)
Spock's Beard (Neal Morse left as a born again christian, which normally doesn't sound good for any band considering his place in it. SB pulled it off very well, and still goes on to this day.)



Artists that blew it:
Skillet (it was competent Grunge on the first album, until the leader threw out the entire band and reconstructed. Now it just strives to be whatever's popular and changes style along with trends)
Green Day (It feels more manufactured every time they change style, obviously does it for money)
After The Burial (went from really awesome thing that took a genre and sounded their own with the instrumentation to shit we hear everyday within the first two albums)
Dream Theater (After the head of the band left, I feared the worst. The worst didn't happen, but it still doesn't sound great.)
gorachi-II's avatar
I liked skillets awake album along with all the remixes. They dont sound like a bunch of guys with guitars just screaming into the microphone which is what I think everyone assumes they do. And I always thought green day just stopped making music since I hardly hear anything from them anymore on the radio.
summitstars's avatar
I think the only band that I still listen to after a lot of style changes is Coldplay. Despite the changes though, it still has that unique sound that I've only ever heard out of them so to me it's still Coldplay and it's fresh at the same time.
gorachi-II's avatar
I only started listening to coldplay after viva la vida so I dont know much about their old style but I still like them. Especially paradise thats a great single.
Dezenerate's avatar
I remember, when I used to keep up with Disturbed, that their fans were getting rather tired of them "not changing". They claimed that their music just sounded rehashed with every album.

Personally, I think change is good, but it never hurts to go back and try an old thing.
SirBlackmoore's avatar
I don't mind it. As long as they don't go into lifeless pop music or top 40. As a musician i know what it feels like to get bored with a sound or want to change your message. It happens. Creative Evolution.
gorachi-II's avatar
I agree but the thing is those kind of songs probably sell more and at the end of the day artists are just like us who have to pay bills.
TaShawnMC's avatar
Depends... Linkin park(until now), and Panic! at the disco were pretty good at changing styles. However, when Cobrastarship made "You make me feel like." it kinda pissed me off because that is their most popular, but just seems like it was made to please the crowd, instead of their true fan base... :/
MatthewMatters's avatar
I don't mind a style growing, like how my favourite artist's (Aesop Rock's) early works differ from his newest: his discography is just one big growing up story. Sudden, intentional all-around changes are usually utter disasters in my opinion.
HGWizard's avatar
I think it depends on why they've changed their styles.

If an artists changes their style simply because they are trying to force themselve in a brand new demographics (AKA Sell out), it's gonna sound like shit.
If an artist changes their style because that is how they've naturally progressed as a musician or an artist, it can sounds great!

I personally don't like it when a band continues to stay with the same sound their whole careers (AC/DC is an excellent example of such). It's just plain redundant.
gorachi-II's avatar
It can become boring if a band does the same thing over and over again the lostprophets is a good example of this. It seems they just ran out of ideas. I don't listen to ACDC that much but they seem like one of those bands that have just learnt to stick with a style that they've become famous for. My chemical romance is doing the same thing atm
TheRoyalCrownJewel's avatar
The Grateful Dead changed their style in the late '70s-early '80s, abandoning their "psychedelic rock" style from the late '60s. But I still like their music.
safva's avatar
Personally I would put Linkin Park in the category as artists that blew it. :<

They lost so many fans with their new stupid music... I am so disappointed in them, really.
RestInMotion's avatar
They lost so many pre-teens with their new mature music, I think is what you meant to say
safva's avatar
Well, they have lost their really honest fan-base. I know so many people that were really into Linkin Park back in the day. You can't deny, their songs then were so good.
Their music now has just taken up a more subtle facade. Haha, now that you mention their new music is 'mature' though, I would agree to a certain extent, where it is 'mature' in a sense that it's controlled and together. However their songs had more impact when I used to know them a few years back. :)
gorachi-II's avatar
A thousand suns to me was their worst album but minutes to midnight and living things make up for it. Artists have to move on, you cant expect them to keep sticking with their angsty teen style of music. Im still gutted that I couldnt go and see them in cape town :(
safva's avatar
Whoa, I heard it was pretty hectic in Cape Town D: Someone passed away at the concert and stuff.

By the way, how is their new album?
I remember Minutes to Midnight, lol, we really thought the album would be something and we bought it expecting it to be as awesome as we imagined, but 'Bleed It Out' was the song I think they carried their old style into. Slowly though their initial sound just faded out.
gorachi-II's avatar
Its really good well at least for me. Its a lot more like their old work, you should listen to castle of glass if you can find it on youtube.
safva's avatar
Hmm, I should hey. I really miss LP :<

And it's so weird that they named the song 'Castle of Glass', I just recently got a new Moses Metroman song that's called 'Glaskastele' :XD:
pieaceOfmind's avatar
i dont think you should force it, just make what comes out. if you make hood rap, and you move out the hood then how are you gonna make hood rap. if thats your thing and you stay in the environment that made the music i think you can maintain the style. I dont mind artists changing their music as their life changes, if i dont like it too bad for me. im sure perspective changes with age and thats kinda why i would expect someones music to change. slayer keeps on rockn the same tune, but their out of ideas, they survive on news and politics now.
pieaceOfmind's avatar
and then theirs music theory, which you could maintain a style with but why wouldn't you want to explore more?
flamingflowerSPD8's avatar
i think they should stick to originality and what makes them them, Taylor Swift changed her style but country was.. HER. You know? I absolutely love her new pop songs but she's not unique anymore.
gorachi-II's avatar
I myself am a big country music fan and for me Taylor swift never really fell into
that genre. She always just been a pop singer who made a few soft
songs that everyone just decided to label country. Just listen to Zac brown and brad paisley and you'll notice the difference
ChibiLovett's avatar
Some can do it and some can't. Some can do it and succeed then do it again and fail or vice versa. Take Emilie Autumn for example. She started out with "Enchant" calmer, somewhat poppy, general classical, blues/jazz, that kind of thing ([link] or [link]). Then she released "Opheliac" (or even Laced/Unlaced) and was anything but calm for the most part. She became, as she calls it, victoriandustrial ([link] or [link]). Then she released her third non-instrumental full-length album "Fight Like a Girl" and is now somewhere in the middle, between the two ([link] or [link]). The first transition was good. The second.....not so much. FLAG was decent, but nowhere near as good as the other two.