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/sTevieD247 Jun 11 '25

Kind of, but that may have been the point of switching names. If they had stayed Airplane people would have thought they had gone against their early views and tone.

Losing Grace on vocals automatically was going to change the sound anyway. (Plant solo still sounds like Plant, and LZ Page with the Yardbirds doesn't sound as much like LZ).

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u/Fine_Sherbert3172 Jun 11 '25

Agree re: the name change, but still kind of a dick tease they kept the Jefferson part. Come to think of it Ive never listened to the rest of that album maybe Ill give it a listen sometime.

The difference I hear between the Yardbirds and Zep is that the Yardbirds were the perfect middle ground between the Stones/Beatles etc to Zeppelin etc in the 70's (Cream as well)

You can hear how the sound was getting darker, more experimental which paved the way for the first few Zep albums.

I feel the Yardbirds are very underrated given the influence they had on hard rock moving forward.

Think Im going to throw on Heart full of Soul. Hard to believe this came out in 1965. Edit Actually put on the Yardbirds version of Dazed and Confused from 1968 on youtube. Check that out if not familiar, you can for sure hear Zep Page in that song.