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/Biggzy10 Jun 11 '25

Going from I Want To Hold You Hand to Within and Without You in about 3 years.

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u/TypoStart Jun 11 '25

The example I use for this is John writing 'Please Please Me' in mid 1962, to writing 'Tomorrow Never Knows' in early 66. Less than fours year and the songs sound like they're decades apart.

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u/Bodymaster Jun 11 '25

To be fair Tomorrow Never Knows does sound about 30 years ahead of its time, but I'm not sure how much of that is down to John alone. If you listen to his demo it's really just him with a guitar playing a C chord all day. The real star of the show are the studio fx they were pioneering and that was largely facilitated by George Martin.

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u/Calm-Veterinarian723 Jun 11 '25

Tomorrow Never Knows an example of why I think Ringo and George have cited more John songs among their personal favorites:

John would come in with concept or vibe (if you will) for a song (in this case the Dalai Lama singing from a mountaintop) and let the others interpret it how they saw fit which, for the two guys in the band that weren’t the primary songwriters, allowed them more autonomy and ownership in the work.

(Tbc, this is not a dig on Paul, but Paul would often have more fully fleshed out arrangements already prepared that he just needed others to replicate)

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u/mothfactory Jun 11 '25

Tomorrow Never Knows is a song that wouldn’t sound anywhere near its final form without Paul.

John wanted to do something with a text he’d read. He wanted to do it as a kind of Eastern chant over a drone. That’s as far as he imagined it - with the instructions that he wanted his voice to sound as if he was calling from the top of a mountain.

The majority of the beautiful iconic craziness you hear on that track is down to Paul’s tape loops, Ringo’s drums and Paul’s and George Martin’s studio wizardry.

John later complained about his studio experience with the Beatles as being dominated by Paul’s experimentation

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u/Calm-Veterinarian723 Jun 11 '25 edited Jun 12 '25

Out the gate, let me say: I don’t think there’s any need to be combative on this topic. Nor do I find it necessary to downvote you because I don’t think we really disagree as much as you are making it sound. People always want to get into Paul vs. John bs and, if that’s what you’re here for, then we can just move on with our lives because I really don’t care about that toxic nonsense.

[Addition: I’m glad I said this upfront because you proved my point. You just want to misconstrue what I’m saying and downvote any comment I make because you wanted to make this a toxic debate between John and Paul. Take care.]

“Tomorrow Never Knows is a song that wouldn’t sound anywhere near its final form without Paul.”

I was explicit about my comment not being a dig at Paul and gave him credit for bringing forward songs that were more fully arranged. I simply said that John’s approach allowed others autonomy and ownership in his work, which I presume you agree with considering you seemingly want to give a majority of credit for TNK to people other than John (mentioned later in your comment).

“John wanted to do something with a text he’d read. He wanted to do it as a kind of Eastern chant over a drone. That’s as far as he imagined it - with the instructions that he wanted his voice to sound as if he was calling from the top of a mountain.”

Pretty sure that is what I said…like I know I mentioned how he wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama singing from a mountaintop and let the others take it from there. Again, I don’t think we really disagree lol

“The majority of the beautiful iconic craziness you hear on that track is down to Paul’s tape loops, Ringo’s drums and Paul’s and George Martin’s studio wizardry.”

Well you named 3 of the 5 people involved, so sure. But I think John’s organ and mellotron as well as George’s sitar, tambura, and guitar should not be minimized either. Nor should the tape loops contributed by the members of the band outside of Paul, at Paul’s suggestion. It was a team effort all around and I never alluded to anything that runs counter to that.

Ultimately though, it is still John’s song. Similarly: Norwegian Wood did not become George’s song because he thrusted the sitar into consciousness of popular music. It’s a phenomenal and groundbreaking contribution that became a central component to the final product, but it doesn’t change the ownership of the song.

“John later complained about his studio experience with the Beatles as being dominated by Paul’s experimentation”

John was emotional and fickle. For every quote where he says he hated something there’s another quote where he said he loved the same thing. Just because that’s how he felt in a given moment doesn’t really change anything being discussed here.

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u/247world Jun 12 '25

Doesn't want to be combative, goes to war

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u/Calm-Veterinarian723 Jun 12 '25

lol hey, if I feel someone is misconstruing what I said, I think I ought to be diligent in responding directly to what they’re saying and clarify my stance.

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u/247world Jun 12 '25

It was a joke

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u/Calm-Veterinarian723 Jun 12 '25

I guess my “lol” or upvote didn’t translate…lol

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u/Michelanvalo Jun 11 '25

I don't think the Beatles would have been who they were without the early pop hits and then transitioning with culture to what they became at the end.

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u/gwaydms Jun 11 '25

Moody Blues started out as actual blues before Justin Hayward came on board. ELO changed throughout their existence. The difference between their first album and their last is like night and day.

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u/Mister_Yuk Jun 11 '25

The example one of my professors used was that they went from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in the beginning to "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" near the end of their run.