3 Pivotal Songs That Ruined a Musician’s Relationship With (Some Of) Their Own Audience

The goal of an artist is sometimes at odds with the demands of their audience. Earning a living as a musician is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’re able to do what you love every day, but on the other, the business of it all takes over and supersedes your creative whims. The three artists below threw caution to the wind and followed their own cues without worrying about what it might do to their listeners. These specific songs sullied the relationship between a musician and their audience.

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“Like a Rolling Stone” (Bob Dylan)

One of the most famous instances of a musician alienating their audience is Bob Dylan, who swapped his folky tendencies for an electric guitar. Though the shift is more commonly associated with a place (the Newport Folk Festival) than a song, we can trace Dylan’s evolution to “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1965.

This song was a far cry from the simple, acoustic songs Dylan started his career with. “Like a Rolling Stone” was era-defining. He completely stopped the world in its tracks, jumping ship when everyone least expected it. Audiences weren’t all easily swayed, leading to his fandom being split between the open-minded and those who didn’t want things to change.

[RELATED: Remember When Bob Dylan Released an Album That Went Way Against the Psychedelic Grain in 1967?]

“Miss You” (The Rolling Stones)

The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” had a marked disco influence. It didn’t entirely fall into the disco movement, but it was close enough to have rock purists unsure.

By 1978, when this song was released, disco had already been up and running for a whole decade. Because of this, many fans thought the Stones were trying to capitalize on a trendy movement instead of following their own ideas.

“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith)

Aerosmith’s career had declined by the late ’90s. Though they weren’t entirely out of the picture, their commercial success wasn’t as rampant as in past decades. That is, until they released “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”

“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” revived Aerosmith as a commercially successful band. Some of their fans considered this “selling out.” But, say what you will, it introduced Aerosmith to a whole new generation of fans and has kept them in rotation for decades longer than they likely would’ve been without this song.

[RELATED: Aerosmith’s Joe Perry Reveals How He Met the Kindred Rock Star He Would “Give the Keys to His House”]

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