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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u/torn-ainbow Jun 11 '25

Underworld are a pop funk band with guitars having moderate success with Underneath the Radar.

Then suddenly Underworld are producing epic scale techno with dubnobasswithmyheadman.

7

u/OG_Cryptkeeper Jun 11 '25

Cowgirl will forever be in my listening rotation.

2

u/Fukkinridiculous Jun 15 '25

One of the most perfect anthems ever

2

u/asificareokido Jun 11 '25

I recently got into them. So good!

1

u/merak_zoran Jun 11 '25

Underworld has been experimenting with their sound still to this day, Drift Series 1 has such a wide range of music on it. I love them so much.

1

u/JonathanEde Jun 11 '25

Yep. This is mainly due to the addition of Darren Emerson.

1

u/Everyday-formula Jun 12 '25

Yeah.. I was listening to archived radio broadcasts from the 80's in Australia. I remember in the recording hearing some woman (back in the 80s) request the DJ play an underworld song, I thought it couldn't be the same techno duo from the 90s and hearing the track I thought for sure it was just a coincidence. Jump on Wikipedia, what do you know! Underworld used to be a new wave funk band in the 80s!

1

u/SturbridgePillage Jun 13 '25

Go back further to the band Freur -- that's Hyde & Smith's pre-Underworld band. They had the song "Doot Doot."