There’s nothing wrong with switching things up. In fact, I’d say that most musicians out there have radically changed their style at least once in their careers. It just comes with the territory of being an artist. However, the following rock music style changes by famous bands were quite jarring, to say the least, but not in a bad way. These stylistic changes ended up resulting in each band’s finest works. Let’s take a look!
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Green Day
At the band’s core, Green Day will always be a punk rock band. However, they have changed up their style on more than one occasion. And no occasion was more surprising than American Idiot in 2004.
For a while after Dookie, Green Day was on the pop-punk trajectory. Sadly, things weren’t going well in terms of sales. Warning, a folk-leaning record, did poorly on the charts. The band went back to the drawing board and saved their careers with the unabashed punk rock gem American Idiot. It’s a highly political, rage-filled anthemic album that was an enormous hit, and the stylistic change was welcomed by their fans.
Radiohead
Radiohead’s iconic 1997 album OK Computer is still a deeply loved piece of work today. Few albums were like it, and plenty of listeners at that time related to its themes of isolation and fear of technological advancement.
Instead of sticking to the same rock formula forever, Radiohead decided to go in a completely different direction with one of the most jarring style changes in rock music history. Frontman Thom Yorke began to focus more on the use of ambient synths and rhythm over catchy melodies. The result was the 2000 effort Kid A, an album that couldn’t be more different from OK Computer. Fans needed a minute to get used to it, but Kid A eventually earned the same kind of love as OK Computer did.
The Beatles
The Beatles always maintained that Fab Four sound throughout their career, but they also managed to reinvent that sound on occasion. Enter Revolver from 1966.
This album has to be one of the band’s most experimental, psychedelic works. With tripped-out songs like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Yellow Submarine”, complete with experimental recording and production techniques, fans were shocked by the final result. Today, Revolver is considered to be something ahead of its time, and I’m inclined to agree with that.
Bob Dylan
One of the most famous examples of rock music style changes has to be Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan. He famously shed his acoustic folk formula to opt for electric instruments after being inspired by bands like The Beatles. There was some serious pushback when he first debuted with an electric guitar, but Highway 61 Revisited has gone on to be one of the most famous albums of all time.
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