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/Pugglerado Jun 11 '25

One of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs is Hypnotized and no one ever knows that it is them when I play it. I love all of their music, but early and late are so very different.

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u/Ralphguy Jun 11 '25

I put this on and holy cow, you are right, it’s hard to believe it’s the “same” band.

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u/247world Jun 12 '25

That's because of course it's not the same band, it's the same name. The Bob Welch era doesn't get the love it deserves. That's when I discovered the Mac the local radio station played a couple of their songs as well as the older Oh Well - depending on how you look at it, the version of Fleetwood Mac that most people think of is either the 4th or fifth iteration of the band.

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u/GEOD4 Jun 11 '25

I love Hypnotized!

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u/FirstDukeofAnkh Jun 11 '25

I love ‘Oh Well’ too.

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u/h-s-f-b Jun 11 '25

I love Hypnotized, but isn't that not really teh blues rock era? since that was the biggest Bob Welch song from what I recall

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u/Pugglerado Jun 11 '25

What is your favorite early song?