Bands losing their originalality?

[Kiwi]

was thinking about this the other day, and I'll use red hot chilli peppers as an example

It seems to be a trend with alot of artists that they lose the sound or style that made them popular in the first place. Take the Peppers, their original sound, whilst not what I enjoy, was unique to them, and something that stood them apart from many at that time. And I respected that, but now they seem to have really pushed to what looks like conform to mainstream music in a bid to sell more cd's and have more hits. Evan alot of their stuff these days sounds the same, sounds like nothing new.

Do people still follow artists when they do this?

 

[Crazy_Goddess]

Metallica

 

[NK Arsenal]

St. Anger was sh*t but the new album is gonna be great

 

[strewth_mate]

Might not be anything special today (although I'd hesitate to say his last couple of albums have been bad) but David Bowie reinvented himself many times, usually with success. Some people can just be chameleons. That said, whenever he changed his image it wasn't necessarily to something that was easy and popular at the time, so while he changed I wouldn't say he was never totally original.

I'd agree about the Chili Peppers, while the latest album isn't necessarily bad, it's just convenient. Loses a lot of the early edge that got them a lot of devoted fans - I can't see many people jumping on board on the strength of 'Stadium Arcadium'.

 

[hineyrulz]

U2 and i'd have to agree the chilli pepper's last few albums have been very samey, Throw in Offspring and Nickelcrap as well.

 

[Eelementary]

* Korn - "Life Is Peachy" was pretty damn good, I thought. Since then, they're tried to constantly re-invent the wheel according to themselves, and each time, their new album is gets more tedious and worse.

* My Chemical Romance - not a fan. At all. However, my sister is, and so I heard their latest album...Fair dinkum, it's the biggest emo/Queen wannabee act ever.

* System Of A Down - their latest offerings have been abysmal.

* Disturbed - big fan of theirs, but they've lost that edge that made their vocals and music so identifiable as them.

 

[OVP]

was thinking about this the other day, and I'll use red hot chilli peppers as an example ( funkymonky don't take it personal, and if you can't actually contribute...shut the f**k up merkin )

It seems to be a trend with alot of artists that they lose the sound or style that made them popular in the first place. Take the Peppers, their original sound, whilst not what I enjoy, was unique to them, and something that stood them apart from many at that time. And I respected that, but now they seem to have really pushed to what looks like conform to mainstream music in a bid to sell more cd's and have more hits. Evan alot of their stuff these days sounds the same, sounds like nothing new.

Do people still follow artists when they do this?

Many people will point you to the direction of Pearl Jam when they ask a deep and quality question like that But those people have no idea of what Pearl Jam has performed since their heydey's in the 90's. . Im not about to shed light either ... Those who went to their concerts KNOW how good they are and what theyve done recently ...ie Lost Dogs ... so many great songs and it still has the Pearl Jam vibe ... love it, own it and not many do

But the Chilis and Nirvana are also great examples as well.

 

[HevyDevy]

Yeah some bands can change - others shouldn't.


The Beatles changed for the better. Pearl Jam - I still think their early stuff was better but later stuff is still decent.

Chillis have become commercial and repetitive. Nirvana were always crap anyway.

Metallica were once great and have become terrible.

Load etc was commercial and boring, St Anger was just woeful with some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard.

You know why I respect AC/DC? Because although they're far from the greatest band of all time, they stick to what they do best and just do it. You always know what you're going to get with an ACDC album, and they've had some classics.

 

[madunit]

The Rolling Stones.

They should stick to touring and singing their old songs and steer clear of studios.

 

[Mong]

You know why I respect AC/DC? Because although they're far from the greatest band of all time, they stick to what they do best and just do it. You always know what you're going to get with an ACDC album, and they've had some classics.

Meh.. If you want to hear the same thing over and over then fine your with the right band..

I much prefer some originality and change from a band especially if they are around for a long period of time. Metallica for mine is a good example.. I love load as much as i do Kill em all. I do like ACDC but not for any length of time, i find myself looking for something different after a while.

 

[Knightmare]

* Korn - "Life Is Peachy" was pretty damn good, I thought. Since then, they're tried to constantly re-invent the wheel according to themselves, and each time, their new album is gets more tedious and worse.

* My Chemical Romance - not a fan. At all. However, my sister is, and so I heard their latest album...Fair dinkum, it's the biggest emo/Queen wannabee act ever.

* System Of A Down - their latest offerings have been abysmal.

* Disturbed - big fan of theirs, but they've lost that edge that made their vocals and music so identifiable as them.

I thought SOAD "Steal this Album" was good, better than "Mesmerise" and "Hypnotise" which seemed to largely involve shouting incoherently about how evil the government is and bagging off Hollywood.

 

[Alex28]

The thing is that most bands that make it big have alot of pressure to keep churning out the hits. The quality of the music suffers because they need to churn music out pretty regularly otherwise they get forgotten.

There are not many bands that can evolve successfully - and the ones that do (think Pearl Jam, Radiohead) eventually lose sales and airplay (but still tour quite successfully). It takes balls to put integrity and pride in front of sales.

But really...there are an array of bands that keep trying to churn the same stuff out...people seem to still buy it (mostly commercial radio listeners who can't stretch their music tastes outside of what they are told to like) but the general consensus is that their old stuff is better than their new stuff. Add Coldplay and Foo Fighters to the existing list...

But there are still bands out there putting out original music and successfully changing their music as they need to. Arcade Fire and Wilco will be the two best examples this year - both albums are a natural evolution from their last album and have done so without compromising music for sales.

 

[mongoose]

* Korn - "Life Is Peachy" was pretty damn good, I thought. Since then, they're tried to constantly re-invent the wheel according to themselves, and each time, their new album is gets more tedious and worse.

* My Chemical Romance - not a fan. At all. However, my sister is, and so I heard their latest album...Fair dinkum, it's the biggest emo/Queen wannabee act ever.

* System Of A Down - their latest offerings have been abysmal.

* Disturbed - big fan of theirs, but they've lost that edge that made their vocals and music so identifiable as them.

Have to strongly disagree with System of a down there. If Mesmerize/Hypnotize isn't original then i don't know what is. I know they're not everyones cup of tea but damn, who else do they sound like if not system of a down?

By the way i though both of those albums were fantastic, musically anyway.

 

[Tom Shines]

Jet (although I don't know how original they were in the first place).
Shine On = Oasis singing a Beatles song.

 

[edabomb]

SOAD are the best. How they diss corporate America etc.. and then bring out a song like Lonely Day that is obviously trying to make millions off this emo fad.

 

[bazza]

I reckon most bands have only 1 or 2 good albums in them. After that you either keep doing the same stuff and people get bored except for the die hard fans or you change either for something different or to keep up with the latest sound and it is either crap or your original fans get turned off

 

[hillbillyjazzer1954]

Status Quo are a perfect example of this in the seventies they were a Kick arse Rockin Boogie band....but from about the Rockin All Over The World album, a producer called Pip Williams turnt the Guitars down in the mix and softened the sound and in my opinion from that album they slid down hill into a pop/rock band without the original feel of a dirty Denim Clad Boogie Band

another example is Elvis Presley, on the Sun Sessions album Elvis, Scotty Moore and Bill Black played some really down and Dirty Blues/Hillbilly country Based Rockabilly, when he went to RCA the sound got watered down a bit (but it was still great Rock n Roll)
and then when the sixties rolled around.......well forget it, there was a few brilliant Album Tracks but in my opinion 99% of it was crap

 

[Azkatro]

Tool's gone to sh*t.

By the way I think Mezmerize and Hypnotize are excellent.. No singles, just good albums.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Status Quo are a perfect example of this in the seventies they were a Kick arse Rockin Boogie band....but from about the Rockin All Over The World album, a producer called Pip Williams turnt the Guitars down in the mix and softened the sound and in my opinion from that album they slid down hill into a pop/rock band without the original feel of a dirty Denim Clad Boogie Band

Lancaster left because of that.

They hit their nadir at the covers album, that was just plain rank.

Some of their later stuff, although not back to basics, was pretty good. i.e. Burning Bridges.

 

[Dr Crane]

You know, i really shouldn't spring to the defence of U2 again, but i had a realisation the other day.

They go through periods where they release different albums that sound similar.

Post punk - Boy, October (less so hard though) and War. All fairly similar although more refined production-wise at the latter stage. Then is The Unforgettable Fire, a class of its own. Then they went quite americanish with the Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum.

In the 90s there was some pretty experimental, assisted stuff - Achtung Baby the most experimental of the lot, despite what people say about Pop. Zooropa and Pop, especially Pop had more of the band.

Since then they've taken a pop (as opposed to Pop) angle - it seems to some as though they've been producing the same stuff for ages despite the fact they have released two albums in about 7 years.

Bono has said they will be taking a new angle with the next album as well. I'm hoping for either a real pop album or something produced by Kanye West (or a real motherf**kin rock album with Rick Rubin)