Bands that took risks

Discussion in 'Music and Recordings' started by Darren G, Feb 8, 2018.

  1. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Subjective, but some bands stand out in mind as taking risks, willing to try anything vs so much of their music sounding similar (and in no particular order, some examples) -

    Led Zeppelin
    Steely Dan
    Pink Floyd
    The Who
    The Beatles
    Genesis
     
  2. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Radiohead. Dull first album. Rock monster second. Epic proggy third that nearly killed them.. then it all went a little strange. The vanilla rock heads who were slightly uncomfortable with OK Computer were somewhat alienated, to say the least.
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2018
  3. spoony

    spoony Spooky

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    Talk Talk starting with The Colour of Spring, but on a markedly different path by Spirit of Eden.

    From this:


    To this:
     
  4. spwath

    spwath Hijinks master cum laudle

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    King crimson. In the court of the crimson king seems pretty different for 1969
     
  5. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    I think the ultimate in taking risks was David Bowie. Almost no two albums sound the same.

    David Bowie
    Prince
    Johnny Cash
    Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys
    Beck
    Ryan Adams

    To a certain extent one could argue albums like The Beatles - Revolver and The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds were also huge risks.

    There are also bands that took big risks and failed. Some failed big, some just failed.

    Styx - Mr. Roboto
    Garth Brooks - Chris Gains
    Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship

    Although there are probably more failures than successes, but we only remember the successful ones.
     
  6. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    Jimi Hendrix comes immediately to mind. In addition to his experiments with his guitar playing he was pretty ground breaking in his productions. (I know Chas Chandler was credited as producer, but from what I've read Jimi Hendrix had more input.)
     
  7. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    They were stlll recognisable as Mr Bowie, though, generally. There's an artist called Clark who keeps me guessing- deliberately re-invents his sound every album. Weirdly exciting to go into one of his albums unwarned.
     
  8. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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    The Velvet Underground. Sung about heroin and S&M in 1966.

    Bob Dylan going electric.
     
  9. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    I don't think there was a bigger shock to the Folk community.
     
  10. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    JUDAS!
     
  11. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Bjork? :)

    There's not that uncommon for people on Warp.

    Anyway, Empty The Bones of You is the best one, with Turning Dragon a distant second. :p
     
  12. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    Metallica, if only for how they pushed the envelope of shitty production quality following Load/Reload.

    More relevantly, I think it was pretty ballsy to go from the thrash (and fairly complex, for thrash) stylings of ...And Justice for All to the Black Album and then to "WTF is this" Load. Lars playing a ride cymbal and playing a straight 4/4 bass-snare rock beat? But it caught on, and now they're circling back to heavy.
     
  13. Druid

    Druid Hyperactive Tree

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    R.E.M. - The period starting with Out of Time and ending with New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Different sound for each album, with Monster being the most different. The stuff before and after that I could never get into.

    Mumford and Sons - An example of a band going in a completely new direction and alienating their base.

    Beck - No two albums have the same style, although Sea Change and Morning Phase are similar (and my favorites.)

    I love artists that don't try to stick to the same style. Not sure why there are so many people that don't get bored of hearing the same thing over and over again.
     
  14. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    Bon Iver on the last album.

    King Crimson is an all-time fave that has continually taken chances for almost 50 years.

    Bjork
     
  15. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    In that era, you either sang commercial pop or took risks. Apart from some simply really good tunes, all the good music from the sixties was risk taking.

    I'd have to mention the Grateful Dead --- heck: I just like mentioning them!

    I don't come anywhere near qualifying as a real deadhead, it's just that they have remained my favourite band for forty-plus years, and one of the few that I have read any of the history of. See if you can find the tales of their early studio-recording days. Get in there, record, get out? Oh no... they had to find out what every knob did, and they used most most of them. You'll enjoy the acrimonious correspondence with the label/studio guys! And... I guess, the Dead had the last laugh!
     
  16. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    Depeche Mode.

    DJ Shadow.

    Muse, to an extent I have to include them. When you know where they came from, well they have guts.

    Black Sabbath, that first album changed Hard Rock and bands stuck in Prog (like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple) had to make a choice. Rock harder or go Prog.

    NIN, there are no words to describe how deep they sometimes go. Even in the 1990ties and 2000s they still surprised and shocked fans and critics.

    Tool, do I really need to explain this? In the landscape of Rock and Metal they made "Lateralus" and "10.000 Days" and when you have to describe their sound you say "it's Tool, they are different."

    Nirvana. I am not a fan but they broke down the music charts with raw emotion and buzzing guitars. I prefer "Bleach" over "Nevermind" but since Hendrix such a force of music was a rare event.

    James Brown & The JB's, from innocent Gospel and R&B he went to Soul and Funk to tell the world "Say it loud, I am black and proud" and proved all the labels and publishing houses wrong by taking back the ownership of his works. He built an empire to show everybody that even a black boy in segregated America could rise up and challenge the status quo to emancipate his peers to go out and do their thing. Without him MJ, Prince and every other coloured entertainer in divided America would have more hurdles to success. He proved the world wrong by making everybody dance for decade after decade until he collapsed. He was the man. He is one of my personal heroes.

    P.S. Sorry for the long post. The music is making me sentimental.
     
  17. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    You kneejerk hipster :)

    I don't mind that Bleach cost $600 or so to record (and sounds like it), that's part of its charm.. but the contrast when Dave Grohl took over the drumming duties is ludicrous. He's such a strong, vital underpinning. They became far more of a cohesive unit. It's not just about loud (though he certainly went loud), he was just as on-point with a jazz kit and gentle brushes- but just being present and synergising so thoroughly.

    I have a CD of a Nirvana concert from the Grohl era, and the raw live sound is really something.

    Incidentally, if you like poorly-recorded squealing, check out the earlier work of post punk Glaswegians, The Jesus And Mary Chain.. some good stuff there too:

     
  18. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Big shout out to both of these bands.

    p.s. Perfect Circle is more commercial than Tool, though has taken some risks too.
     
  19. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    @Kattefjaes Think of my opinion what you want. Early Nirvana had a raw purity to their sound. My favourite album right now is "Live At Reading" because well it is what it is.

    My love for music really started with Chuck Berry but he never really left his formula. The Beatles developed it further and polished his approach to music into what we now consider modern Pop and Rock music. The Beatles have already been mentioned so I have to stop here.

    Since I am writing in this thread I might as well add another band: Animals As Leaders.

    Instead of building on Metallica's legacy like Dream Theater does heavily, they expand into a different direction few bands ever go into. Ýou hear Jazz, Fusion, Folk, Math-Rock and Post-Rock and walls of sound blended into tight compositions and when you witness them perform live what your ears hear your eyes cannot match. They do this so effortlessly it still baffles me and I still semi-regularly play that first album. I keep discovering new things. Also "Cafo" is playing right now. It is like Rush's "YYZ" of the 21st century, make of that what you will...
     
  20. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Frankly, any excuse to shoot the breeze on the topic, it's sort of why we're here.
     

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