Bands that changed drastically overnight

And pretty much stayed that way. I'm not talking about bands who had a long, slow evolution; or bands that made one off the wall album. I'm talking about bands who pretty much turned into different bands, but kept the same name. The most obvious examples would be Ministry, who were a dance/pop band before Paul Barker. And of course Journey, who were a like a proggy version of Yesterday & Today before Steve Perry. Another candidate might be the Dio era Rainbow contrasted with the radio friendly version (although I love both versions). Sabbath too, although again I like every version of that band.
And I have a vague memory of buying a TSOL CD in the early 90's; and it seemed to me they had become sort of a glam band. That's a hazy memory, I might be wrong there, but I remember I kinda liked some of the songs, even though it wasn't what I thought I was getting.
What other bands suddenly changed and stayed changed?

The Cult, Love to Electric.

Drastic but both classic albums, Love was more wonderous psychedelic shamanistic goth with that shimmering guitar tone (Billy Duffy's guitar tone on Love is the best i've heard).

They went from that on Love to bad ass heavy metal biker outlaws on Electric.

I remember when the Southern Death Cult and Balaam and the Angel were considered "goth" bands.

Sugar Ray. Their debut, believe it or not, is awesome. A really diverse album, heavy and eclectic. The second album wasn't amazing, and sort of streamlined, but it had that hit song "Fly." On their third album the band had essentially turned into an acoustic pop band, trying to cash in on the popularity of "Fly."

Before:





After:





Pretty shocking how they ended up. They clearly sold out; one of the most glaring examples of selling out I've ever seen. Another drastic change in a band would be Corrosion of Conformity between the Six Songs EP to Blind. In 1989—and before—they were a pummeling metallic hardcore band; but in 1991 they were this really heavy, groovin' metal machine.

Before:




After:



After Blind, they brought in a lot of southern influence, too. Their change may have seemed drastic, but they always did have metal in the mix, and with some key band member changes it's really not that unthinkable that they changed. Unlike Sugar Ray, I think the band just went in a natural direction brought on by new band members. I wouldn't say they sold out. And if they did, they did one hell of a job with it!

And since the guy gets no credit ever, I'd like to point out that Mike Dean is one of the best bassists in metal today. The dude is phenomenal!

How bout Life of Agony from River Runs Red and Ugly to Soul Searching Sun


River Runs Red and Ugly were pretty much hardcore then SSS came out and i was like WTF..
I like SSS it had some killer songs on it but it was def a reach out to a new audience...

REO Speedwagon is another band there first few cds were rock like You can tune a piano but you cant tuna fish, then they came out with Hi Infidelity and it was pure pop arena rock...

The obvious one for me is Metallica. Many long-time fans poo pooed The Black Album but from Justice to TBA was not as drastic as TBA to Load.

Also Faith No More from Angel Dust to King For A Day gone was the dark semi-metal sound.

Also, also Alice In Chains from Dirt to Jar Of Flies was a drastic change.

Hahahaha, I used to dig that Sugar Ray track "Mean Machine," Eyesore... wow, I haven't heard that in years. Kinda reminds me of Beastie Boys in a way. It's got that "Fight For Your Right" kinda vibe to it.

Corrosion of Conformity are definitely chameleons of the first order. It's funny, my brother was a HUGE fan of their hardcore stuff ("Animosity" is one of his favorite albums EVER) but he has wanted nothing to do with'em since "Blind." I, on the other hand, was not big on the hardcore material but I love their later stuff. So obviously this is one band we have NEVER seen eye to eye on, haha.
To this day if I even MENTION any post-TECHNOCRACY era C.O.C. songs or albums around him I get "Don't even talk to me about that f**kin band, they're f**kin dead to me, those f**kin sell outs should've changed the f**kin name of the f**kin band 20 years ago, that f**kin' sh*t isn't Corrosion of F**kin Conformity!" So I guess he still holds a pretty major grudge. Haha.

Shotgun Messiah

From the hair metal of "Second Coming" to the heavy industrial metal of "Violent New Breed".

Not a fan, but PROJECT 86 changed drastically from their first album to their next. While they started off as a rapcore band, they soon dropped it as the trend was dead. They seem to try and disregard that album now.

While it wasn't overnight, BRIDE often jumped on the trend bandwagon and would change styles from album to album.

LIVING SACRIFICE were another one. First album was amazing thrash metal with a mix of Believer and Slayer influences. Next album was a huge jump to downtuned death metal. Didn't even sound like the same band. A couple albums and member changes later and another drastic change to metalcore.

KREATOR made some drastic changes in the 1990's to their sound. Thankfully they returned to their roots with their last few albums.

MOLLY HATCHET in the mid-80's jumped head-long into pop-rock from their classic Southern rock sound. This was driven by the record company for hit singles and producers who brought in outside songwriters. It didn't work. Hatchet have since returned to creating killer Southern rock.

SAVATAGE dove into a bad pop-metal sound on "Fight for the Rock". This too was fueled by a big label looking for hits and trying to make Savatage fit into a market they weren't really a part of. Didn't work. Thankfully Savatage returned with a metal monster with their very next release, "Hall of the Mountain King".

Let's not forget Deliverance... from a straight up speed metal band to an alternative/metal band to ... whatever the heck it is they're doing now.

The 1st one that comes to mind is Queensryche, but I don't know if they'd fall into the "change overnight" category. Their change was more gradual over the course of a few albums.

I thought Danzig switched up on Danzig 5 - Blackaciddevil. He/they went from blues-based metal to a industrial-NIN sounding band. I understand his newer material went back-to-basics style, but I have not heard any to fairly comment.

Guardian went all modern rock on us, after delivering some stellar melodic metal. They have also released at least 2 spanish languaged rock CD's!

Paradise Lost went from brutal death metal to almost goth. Same with My Dying Bride

SENTENCED

AMORPHIS ia another one that comes to mind.

Yes on 90125 made some major shifts. Worked though, that thing sold a ton.
You think Project 86 changed after the first album, you should hear the new one. Sounds like Psychadelic Furs on a couple songs.

emptytomb1 wrote:

Yes on 90125 made some major shifts. Worked though, that thing sold a ton.
You think Project 86 changed after the first album, you should hear the new one. Sounds like Psychadelic Furs on a couple songs.

The thing about YES is that the band, formed by Tevor Rabin and Jon Anderson was originally formed under a different name but the record company wouldn't put the album out unless the YES name was on it. I think they were CINEMA or something like that.

Lethal - Programmed
Lethal - Poison Seed

Queensryche inspired 1st cd to Alice In Chains sounding band on the 2nd.

You could say the band changed with the times musically, but it is IMO Voc. Tom Mallicoat who made the biggest change. I think it worked too, But not sure if they sold many cd's.

Crimson Glory!

MetalRob331 wrote:

How bout Life of Agony from River Runs Red and Ugly to Soul Searching Sun

River Runs Red and Ugly were pretty much hardcore then SSS came out and i was like WTF.. I like SSS it had some killer songs on it but it was def a reach out to a new audience...

Ugly was in no way a hardcore album. With LOA, they'd been playing those River Runs Red tracks for years before they got signed. So when Ugly came out, it was different, but not too much of a stretch. The same goes for Soul Searching Sun. I don't think they changed overnight, really; but they did progress rather fast. Now, if you compare Soul Searching Sun to River Runs Red, then there's a huge difference. But stick Ugly in between and it's clearly a mix of the two. So they changed quickly, but not quite overnight.

DallasBlack wrote:

Also, also Alice In Chains from Dirt to Jar Of Flies was a drastic change.

Jar of Flies was a purposeful switch in style, just like the Sap EP. Those are both EPs that were meant to be acoustic and mellow.

Neon Cross, while not an overnight change, sounds like 2 different bands when you play both of their albums back to back.

King Kobra went from metal band to pop rock between Ready to Strike and Thrill of a Lifetime and to almost a sleaze band on King Kobra III.

Here's an obscure one:

Asphalt Ballet

From the bluesy S/T to the GnR wannabe "Pigs" album.

SAHB Healer wrote:

I remember when the Southern Death Cult and Balaam and the Angel were considered "goth" bands.

Yeah although Southern Death Cult was a completely different band to early Cult.

Balaam And The Angel had a drastic change as well similar to the Cult although they went more in the direction of pathetic hair. Which wasn't as good as their 'goth' stuff, 'Love The Things You Do To Me' is quite a stunning song by virtue of its 'She Sells Sanctuary' vibe.

Actually alot of the Goths smelt hard rock dollars in the late 80's, what about Sisters Of Mercy from the icy goth cool of Floodlands to the sleaze metallized Vision Thing.

Although those changes were great before and after except for Balaam's transformation to hair metal.

spectrefate wrote:

King Kobra went from metal band to pop rock between Ready to Strike and Thrill of a Lifetime and to almost a sleaze band on King Kobra III.

And vocalist Mark Free changed drastically to Marcie Free .

One that I still trip on....23 or so years later , yet I like both lps alot

Icon-S/T and "Night Of The Crime"

tohostudios wrote:

Here's an obscure one:

Asphalt Ballet

From the bluesy S/T to the GnR wannabe "Pigs" album.

I have the Pigs album and even though I no longer own the s/t debut, I don't recall ther being that much of a difference between the 2. Could be though. It's been awhile since I've listened to either.