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Bands that changed...for the worse

gary

gary

pfm Member
One band that i loved and then hated with their change of direction - Genesis. Liked nearly everything (and still do ) pre Duke ,but most everything beyond that bar the odd song just became formulaic pop. The only thing i found prog about them was how fast they then went down the toilet bowl.

Got any other's ?
 
Most bands with longevity “progress” over the years, otherwise they are status quo, literally!
Agree with the Genesis thing, Gabriel is another, Elvis Costello has had a fair few different styles over the years with varying degrees of success.
If you like Genesis, how about when Yes joined up with the Buggles?
In the Jazz sphere, I really can’t get into Miles Davis’ later work.
 
Dead Kennedys have lost my interest since Jello Biafra left.

They tour with some other vocalist, but Jello's voice was perfect for the job.
And he wrote the lyrics.
 
Later peter Gabriel stuff, after the So album maybe, nothing really does it for me. Also I think his voice has gone.
His first 3 or 4 albums are so much better ( for me) than his more recent stuff.
 
manicatel said:
Later peter Gabriel stuff, after the So album maybe, nothing really does it for me. Also I think his voice has gone.
His first 3 or 4 albums are so much better ( for me) than his more recent stuff.
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While I see some of what you are saying I don't think he has really changed direction as such and there are some gems on his post So stuff even if it's not as broadly consistent. I am a massive fan of the man, but strangely So doesn't really do it for me with the exception of Mercy Street and Red Rain. His finest hour for me was PG IV (Security as our US cousins like to call it) although PG III (Melt) is pretty stand out as well.

P.S. Have seen him in concert many times and his voice is still pretty good, much better than McCartney's or Elton's for instance.
 
The best (Miles, Bowie etc) change to avoid going stale/repeating themselves and most of all because they have something new to say, the rest (far too many to list) to sell-out in more mainstream genres, or simply due to running out of ideas/losing their key writers along the way. The worst of all IMHO are those that don’t change at all and just endlessly reheat their past.
 
Scritti Politti swung towards cheesy 80s smooth pop; it depends which side of the line you sit as to whether the earlier or later Green Gartside output was better.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
At the time I was horrified, but I recently gave “Drama” a spin, first time in ages, and I rather like it. Better than a few of their later albums.
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I think I agree with that too ST. If Anderson and Wakeman had been on Drama, rather than The Buggles, I'm sure that album would have seen in a different light these last 40 years.
 
Most of the long lived 'bands' (or at least the brand name they effectively become) change for the 'worse'. There are a couple of causations:

1. Yourself, the buyer/listener/consumer. You loved them when you discovered music at 14 - 18 yrs old say. Ten or twenty years later and the same 'band/brand' is pushing out new stuff, but you are no longer so receptive to it. The older you get, the more you reminisce about the good old days and the 'original line up and the 'classic' albums

2. The artist also changes. No longer young and firebrand. No longer fearless. Writes about different stuff - after all, they have settled down, had kids, got divorced whatever. Some of their mates have died perhaps. Or they become (drug riddled?) shadows of their former selves.
 
Occurs to me, some more reasons

3. They are contracted to a record label and have to produce x albums before they can get released. ELPs Love Beach comes to mind.

4. The record label have a big say in what they think would be the right commercial product to push out.
 
JensenHealey said:
Occurs to me, some more reasons

3. They are contracted to a record label and have to produce x albums before they can get released. ELPs Love Beach comes to mind.

4. The record label have a big say in what they think would be the right commercial product to push out.
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I think you might have something there. but taking Genesis for example - they already had a huge ,loyal following , so success was a done deal.
Maybe Hackett had much more influence than we knew.
 
Genesis and Yes are interesting examples, the transition being the interesting bit: Duke & Drama are respectively the transitional albums from Prog to Pop.... and both are themselves very interesting albums. I really rate Duke as an album, but nothing afterwards. I'll need to give Drama a spin, I remember it only from my older brother's copy 40 years ago now!
 
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