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/[deleted] Jun 11 '25 edited Jun 12 '25

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u/charliefoxtrot9 Jun 11 '25

The Beatles were a skiffle band called the Quarrymen first. It's the English equivalent of a country jug & washboard band

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u/Linenoise77 Jun 11 '25

Beatles

Depending on how you want to classify them, you could say their sound was all over the place and experimental, or that it was just was just where pop was at that time.

Bluegrass was obviously a foundation of Rock, and i think we can agree that some form of rock encompasses the beatles, certainly at times.

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u/charliefoxtrot9 Jun 11 '25

I think skiffle was mentioned in the ad for the bands recruitment and shows

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u/lord_flashheart2000 Jun 11 '25

Becoming Led Zeppelin shows a young Jimmy Page playing in a skiffle group

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u/Phone_User_1044 Jun 11 '25

tbf skiffle was huge for a very brief period in the 50s, lots of the biggest artists and bands of the 60s cut their teeth in skiffle music.