Musicians, artists, and bands switch genres all the time. There’s nothing wrong with it, provided the music is still good. These four rock stars leaned toward pop later on in their careers, and those moves actually benefited them greatly. Let’s take a look!
1. David Bowie
David Bowie’s music isn’t exactly easy to define. He enjoyed breaking boundaries and ideas of what “rock” and “pop” were. That being said, he did start out his career in the glam and art rock scene. The first bands he joined and formed as a teenager were guitar-based rock and roll bands, in fact.
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However, by the 1980s, he started to lean toward pop with the post-disco record Let’s Dance, notably with songs like “China Girl” and “Modern Love”. His work with Brian Eno also go quite experimental.
2. Phil Collins
Like Bowie, Phil Collins is definitely one of several rock stars who leaned toward pop later in their career, but his musical ability always seemed to transcend genres. As the drummer and frontman of Genesis, he made quite a bit of progressive rock music.
When his solo career took off, Collins became more well-known for pop-leaning songs with electronic elements like “In The Air Tonight” and the pop-leaning soft rock track “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)”.
3. Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz will likely always have the look of a rock star, but his music through the years has changed quite a bit in terms of genre definition. In the late 1980s, Kravitz put out funk-inspired rock music. However, he got much more success with pop appeal via songs like “Fly Away” And “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over”.
4. Rod Stewart
Probably the most well-known examples of rock stars that leaned toward pop as their careers progressed, Rod Stewart started his career in blues-tinged hard rock. Specifically, he was a rock musician in bands like Faces and The Jeff Beck Group. When “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” dropped in 1978, he moved toward soft rock, pop, and disco. That being said, rock music is still at the heart of his live performances.
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