Chicago. They went from big band type rock, to pop ballads.
All bands turn into Spinal Tap.
Although their change in direction was an artistic triumph, it was a commercial disaster.
Very âSoft Machineâ !
Climax Blues Band. Gradually became more mainstream leading to âGold Platedâ and remained good in âShine Onâ and âReal to Reelâ.
Gong who became a jazz rock band in the late 1970s with âGazeuseâ and âExpresso IIâ. Quite different to earlier work and âShamalâ was a bit of both!
Weather Report became much more mainstream and accessible for âSweetnighterâ and beyond. Compare âHeavy Weatherâ with âI Sing The Body Electricâ from a few years before.
Miles DavisâŚâŚ
Rush, who started as more straight rock then became more prog with â2112â and âA Farewell To Kingsâ and then adapting for the 1980s etc.
UFO whose first two albums were different before they adopted their hard rock style on âPhenomenonâ.
Joy Division â New Order is a brilliant exampleâŚ.
Depeche Mode â more of a development and maturing you could say, but I remember the hooha when Martin Gore added guitarsâŚ! Not quite a âDylan goes electricâ moment, but certainly moved things from the Synth PopâŚ.
Led Zeppelin - started out as a brilliant blues band and then gradually the proggy tosh took overâŚ
That is very, very unfair.
My opinion, of course.
Never ever heard LZ described as proggy. Maybe I donât know what prog rock is.
I think they started as an excellent blues/rock band, maintained in full over their first two albums then gradually evolved, rather than changed direction, to eventually become dreary (but not in a style I recognise as prog).
More likely that I donât know what prog rock is - I guess Kashmir is an example of what I mean. Not a patch on Dazed and Confused - now thatâs what I call music!
Great description - proggy tosh. While I donât think it necessarily applies to Zep, there are so many others it does. May even replace wibble!
Some bands descend into jazzy bosh.
Others sell out into pithy pop.
HmmmâŚwhat would [censored] folk be I wonder