Bands who changed direction, and remained successful?

Music Room
41

Chicago. They went from big band type rock, to pop ballads.

42

All bands turn into Spinal Tap.

43

Although their change in direction was an artistic triumph, it was a commercial disaster.

44
45

Very ‘Soft Machine’ !

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46

Climax Blues Band. Gradually became more mainstream leading to ‘Gold Plated’ and remained good in ‘Shine On’ and ‘Real to Reel’.

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47

Gong who became a jazz rock band in the late 1970s with ‘Gazeuse’ and ‘Expresso II’. Quite different to earlier work and ‘Shamal’ was a bit of both!

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48

Weather Report became much more mainstream and accessible for ‘Sweetnighter’ and beyond. Compare ‘Heavy Weather’ with ‘I Sing The Body Electric’ from a few years before.

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49

Miles Davis……

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50

Rush, who started as more straight rock then became more prog with ‘2112’ and ‘A Farewell To Kings’ and then adapting for the 1980s etc.

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51

UFO whose first two albums were different before they adopted their hard rock style on ‘Phenomenon’.

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52

Joy Division — New Order is a brilliant example….

Depeche Mode – more of a development and maturing you could say, but I remember the hooha when Martin Gore added guitars…! Not quite a ‘Dylan goes electric’ moment, but certainly moved things from the Synth Pop….

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53

Led Zeppelin - started out as a brilliant blues band and then gradually the proggy tosh took over…

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54

That is very, very unfair.

My opinion, of course.

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55

Never ever heard LZ described as proggy. Maybe I don’t know what prog rock is.

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56

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).

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57

More likely that I don’t know what prog rock is - I guess Kashmir is an example of what I mean. Not a patch on Dazed and Confused - now that’s what I call music!

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58

Great description - proggy tosh. While I don’t think it necessarily applies to Zep, there are so many others it does. May even replace wibble!

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59

Some bands descend into jazzy bosh.
Others sell out into pithy pop.

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60

Hmmm…what would [censored] folk be I wonder :smile: