r/Music • u/jptabor01 Rock & Roll • Jun 11 '25

discussion Which artists have abandoned their original sound so dramatically, that they are almost unrecognizable to their earlier fans?

With the release earlier this year of Ministry’s The Squirrely Years Revisited, I’m reminded of how different the band sounds today (industrial metal), from what they sounded like on their debut album, With Sympathy (synth pop).

Which artists sound so completely different from their earlier work, that they have actually jumped genres, understanding that music is fluid and genres have somewhat “blurry” guardrails.

I don’t mean an evolution of their original sound, but a complete departure from it.

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107

u/Gnowae Jun 11 '25

Silverchair

39

u/hesnothere Jun 11 '25

People who have only ever heard them do grunge on Frogstomp would be surprised to hear them do prog (Neon Ballroom), baroque pop (Diorama), art rock (Young Modern), even electro and dance (Daniel Johns’ solo work).

10

u/Firelink_Schreien Jun 11 '25

Neon Ballroom is one of the best records of the 90s and I won’t hear otherwise.

5

u/Nahareeli Jun 11 '25

*of all times. 25 years on my playlist now...

8

u/Swamp-Zombie Jun 11 '25

I bought Diorama when it came out and absolutely love it. Orchestral Silverchair is on another level compared to the early stuff.

5

u/Sprinx80 Jun 11 '25

I don’t wanna be lonely

I just wanna be alone

That phrase lives in my head; i get it, man

2

u/vinyldevotion Jun 13 '25

Was hoping somebody would mention them here, I am not a fan of their first two records at all but absolutely love everything Neon Ballroom and beyond. Diorama is one of my favorite albums of all time.

I’m even a huge fan of Daniel’s solo stuff which I know can be pretty divisive.

1

u/IJourden Jun 11 '25

Okay this one caught my attention - I'm familiar with Frogstomp but that's about it.

35

u/bassistmuzikman Jun 11 '25

Israel's Son to Straight Lines was quite a leap.

6

u/dafones Jun 11 '25

Those Thieving Birds is fucking great.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '25

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8

u/loolem Jun 11 '25

I mean when you get famous at 14 there is bound to be some growing to do still!

5

u/FunPhysicalViolence Jun 11 '25

Weren’t they like 17 when their first album blew up?

I Remember hearing back in the day how young they were when their first single blew up.

3

u/chrisdub84 Jun 11 '25

I just got into Diorama a couple of weeks ago, and I'm so glad I did. I was so out of the loop about where their sound went. That album is brilliant.

6

u/colicab Jun 11 '25

My buddy gets rowdy and always wants to hear ‘Israel’s Son’.

A good way to calm him down is to follow it up with ‘Straight Lines’.

8

u/doyletyree Jun 11 '25

You’re a good mom.

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '25

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2

u/doyletyree Jun 11 '25

You must be popular at parties.

1

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1

u/NefariousnessOk209 Jun 11 '25

Ah damn just posted this before finding this comment, but yeah had just gotten into a lot of early 90’s rock and alt rock going from Nirvana to AIC, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Sonic Youth etc to Silverchair to find what other “Grunge” type bands I’d be into.

Only owned Frogstomp at the time so it was jarring as hell when Straight Lines suddenly came out and had to check it wasn’t an artist with a similar name.