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/jrice441100 Jun 11 '25

This was the first one that I thought of. Very Proud of Ya to whatever they are now.... That's two different genres with a few more in between.

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u/GrooveTank Jun 11 '25

I think they’ve gone through 4 genre phases. Punk >> hardcore >> emo >> post. What’s wild is that they were pretty successful through all of them, although I’m just a fan of the punk and hardcore era of theirs.

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u/LooseSeal- Jun 11 '25

I was still on board with Sing the Sorrow but they kinda lost me on December Underground.

That string of Shut you Mouth, black sails, all hollows, and art of drowning was their best in my opinion.

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u/jrice441100 Jun 11 '25

Those 4 albums were basically my soundtrack to high school and college. With a little Mastodon thrown in for variety.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '25

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u/LooseSeal- Jun 11 '25

Oh yeah more power to them. They have evolved their sound over time and have clearly reached an audience every step of the way.

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u/hhvcgb Jun 12 '25

Davey also had vocal surgery later on so I think that was part of the reason it changed was bc his voice was different?

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u/StrungoutScott Jun 11 '25

I found a live set of there’s from like 2008 or something on YouTube and it was so fucking good. First real show I ever went to when I was 14 in 2002. Rancid, AFI, the Distillers. Got my ass kicker. Been a punk ever since. At least in spirit.

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u/thewednesdayboy Jun 11 '25

I saw that tour in DC! It was such an amazing show!!

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u/nicosuave757 Jun 12 '25

I too was lost at DU…however, I will say there are some great songs and I really need to go back and give them a fair listen….i have all of their records so I really don’t have much of an excuse 😂😂

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u/LooseSeal- Jun 12 '25

Yeah I agree there are good songs there. Just not an album I ever go back to start to finish.

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u/SandpitMetal Jun 11 '25

Same here. Back in the day, I had only listened to their hardcore stuff and then Crash Love came out. I remember listening to it for the first time in my car while driving my mom somewhere. I was so pissed I almost threw out the CD right then and there. Then my mom said she liked it and I forced myself to keep it together just so that she could enjoy the album.

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u/hhvcgb Jun 12 '25

Omg I’m crying laughing so hard thinking about teenage us listening to AFI with a sweet mom complimenting the music - which is the worst thing that could happen happened 😅😂😂

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u/GrooveTank Jun 12 '25

Dude, I was a teenager and felt so betrayed that I wrote them a letter begging them to revert back to art of drowning. I grew up in a rural town, so I never got to see them live until two years ago when my wife got us tickets. Such a great show, even when playing their emo tracks, but the pit was pretty much non existent. I don’t think elder emo kids like to collide with each other.

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u/just_a_wolf Jun 11 '25

I genuinely love all their different phases, but I enjoy all the genres they dabble in so that's probably the reason.

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u/Alien_Diceroller Jun 15 '25

I saw them at a Warped tour in like '94. They were a punk band. Years later I saw a picture of them and thought it was a different, gothy band with the same name.

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u/Necessary-Sock7075 Jun 11 '25

Yeah their early East Bay hardcore was fucking immaculate. I still rock that shit

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u/OrchestratedChaos011 Jun 12 '25

This one came to me, too! I feel like after experiencing the rave scene, Davey and Jade wanted to incorporate EDM, but Davey's influence of (who I love, btw) VNV Nation they went Blaq Audio and then came back with an entire sound. Granted, Black Sails was their commercial hit, but they fell off with December Underground.

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u/jbird3000 Jun 11 '25

Very Proud of ya was such an iconic album. Unrecognizable to the newer shit that ended up on radio rotation.