3 Rock Frontmen Who Completely Changed Their Style Mid-Career

Whether out of necessity or a new creative ambition, some artists change up their sound. It might alienate some fans or garner new ones, but that’s the gamble of a true artist. The three rock frontmen below all changed up their sound mid-career, to great effect. No one can discredit the trajectory-altering creative decision these frontmen made. These changeups completely reshaped their legacies.

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Phil Collins

With Genesis, Phil Collins was pushing complex prog-rock. Moving from drummer to frontman, Collins helped establish that rock subgenre, only to leave it once he went solo. Collins’ solo material was far sleeker than his band stuff. Going solo is hard enough, let alone going in a different direction musically while doing so. Nevertheless, that decision proved to be an apt one.

Collins’ R&B-filtered, pop-focused solo music in the 80s was a change of pace for Genesis listeners. But it proved more successful than his previous effort. Collins saw a potential creative outlet, went for it, and walked away with even greater spoils.

Darius Rucker

Transitioning from one style of rock to another is one thing, but changing genres completely is quite another. Darius Rucker pulled off one of the most successful genre leaps ever when he turned to country in 2008.

A longtime fan of country music, Rucker saw Hootie & The Blowfish’s hiatus as the chance to fulfill a dream of making a country record. His debut single, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”, made him the first Black artist with a No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart since Charley Pride in 1983. Needless to say, this sonic switch-up was a good move for Rucker. He kept his rock DNA in one hand and his country horizons in the other.

Steven Tyler

While the first two rock frontmen on this list switched genre sounds, the transition we’re talking about with Steven Tyler had to do with vocals. Early on in Aerosmith’s career, Tyler deliberately changed his singing voice, feeling insecure about how he really sounded. This facade broke on “Dream On,” giving fans a sneak peek at the banshee-like vocals he would later let fly.

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By the time Aerosmith released their seminal Toys In The Attic, he had dropped his early, faux style and laid his real vocals on thick. The band and Tyler were all the better for it.

(Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)