Ever noticed how some artists in the 80's changed their musical direction?

Here's a few examples.  Can you add any more?

- Gino Vannelli had his biggest success ever when he switched to New Wave with the 1985 album "Black Cars"
- Barry Manilow had a New Wave hit in 1983 called "Some Kind of Friend"
- New Edition scored a 1986 hit with "Earth Angel" from their album "Under the Blue Moon' which was a collection of Doo-Wop covers
- 70's pop singer England Dan Seals switched to Country Music, and had a big hit in 1986 called "Bop"
- ELO tried New Wave with the 1981 album "Time" and had HUGE hits with "Hold on Tight" and "Twilight"

DEVO started making synth pop, as opposed to punk by about 1979 or 1980.

The Talking Heads sort of updated their sound to be more melodic and less post-punk. Prince changed over from funk, which he was in the late '70s, to new wave-influenced funk pop-rock in 1980 and from there into everything imaginable. Michael Jackson became less disco and more synthpop. Donna Summer had a string of synth-based hits in the '80s, while she was THE late '70s disco queen.

Yeah, the Heads were really raw-sounding in the '70s. Their '80s stuff was much more melodic (and better, IMO).

The Pretenders, Siouxsie Sioux, The Clash, etc. became more new wave as opposed to punk. Joni Mitchell did  a 360 out of jazz into almost electronic mood music.

I was thinking this the other day, especially with a lot of 60's singers such as Smokey Robinson (who was still kind of motown sounding but then started sounding more like lite rock in the 80's). Kenny Rogers went from mainly country to crossover pop country and then more pop and now I think he's back to country again, lol  ;D

The band Yes went from being a progressive-rock band in the 70s, when they made sprawling albums with songs more than half an hour long, into a pop-rock band with 1982's "Owner of a Lonely Heart," which went on to be their biggest hit.

I've gotta admit, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is the only song by them I know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_%28band%29

Oh, and of course, David Bowie made a major shift with his sound when he did 1983's Let's Dance, embracing upbeat dance and pop music.

But then, David Bowie makes a major change in his sound with every album he does!

Aretha Franklin went into urban contemporary.

ZZ Top - a moderately successful Texas band from the 70s became phenoms in the early 80s.  Definitely the 70s rock band that made the best videos in the 80s.

I just thought of another one. The band Heart was known in the 70s for hard-driving rock songs like "Barracuda" and "Magic Man." But in the mid to late 80s, they altered their style into a more mellow, pop sound and had big hits with arena-ballads like "These Dreams," "Alone" and "All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_%28band%29

Cliff Richard made several excellent updates to his style...prominently starting in 1976 with 'Devil Woman' and then embracing a pop/new wave style with his late 70s/early 80s efforts...('We Don't Talk Anymore', 'Wired For Sound', etc.)

(A tad different from 'C'mon little baby, let's-a move it and-a groove it'...!!)

Queen started using a synthesizer in the 80s. Sometimes it worked ("I Want To Break Free", "It's A Hard Life", "I Want It All") sometimes not (as in most of the tracks off the dance experiment album of 1982, Hot Space) I definitely think that Queen's finest moments were in the 70s. Ditto for the forementioned Electric Light Orchestra, though Time is among my favourite albums ever. ELO had become known for their heavy orchestral backing, which they diminished somewhat in favour of synthesisers.

The '80s had alot of "sound changes" because of the synthesizer and rise of rap/urban contemporary, probably more than any other decade.

Aretha Franklin

Diana Ross

Sheena Easton

Plus many more.

3 of the most changed artists, soundwise, in my opinion:

PETER GABRIEL- He went from the free-flowing, mellow smoothness shown with Genesis and "Solsbury Hill", to having more of a cross between punk & middle rock (which is between hard rock & soft rock).
For evidence, listen to "Shock the Monkey", "Big Time", and "D.I.Y.", with Rober Fripp.

THE WHO- In their final studio days, Pete, Roger, John & Kenney showed remarkable use of pop beats, as opposed to the Rhythm & Blues beats they were so noted for. See "Eminence Front".

SQUEEZE- Glenn Tillman & Co. were kinda bluesy in the late '70s, and switched to mainstream ska-pop in the '80s. Note the differences between "Tempted" and "Hourglass".

SQUEEZE- Glenn Tillman & Co. were kinda bluesy in the late '70s, and switched to mainstream ska-pop in the '80s. Note the differences between "Tempted" and "Hourglass".


Squeeze were extremely versatile...quite apart from the above, they could also switch to new-wave Cockney-style ramblings ('Cool For Cats'), pop-narratives in the style of The Kinks ('Up The Junction'), or even give you a dose of mock-country! ('Labelled With Love')

A very under-rated group...

Squeeze were extremely versatile...quite apart from the above, they could also switch to new-wave Cockney-style ramblings ('Cool For Cats'), pop-narratives in the style of The Kinks ('Up The Junction'), or even give you a dose of mock-country! ('Labelled With Love')

A very under-rated group...


Squeeze sure did have a very distinct style.  Blondie sort of had the same thing going on.  They did Disco (Heart of Glass), Punk (Atomic), Rap (Rapture), New Wave (Call Me) and Reggae (The Tide is High)

[quote author=wһіѕ

Heh!

Do I remember the amount of flak they took when they released 'Rapture'...

The general consensus amongst the critics was 'white groups shouldn't touch this sort of thing', but in all honesty, it was a very brave thing for the group to attempt...

And just to bring it full circle, Grandmaster Flash 'sampled' it on his 'Wheels Of Steel' record...


At the time, Rap music was sort of an underground scene.  Rapture was actually the first Rap song to reach #1 in the U.S. and some people say it paved the way for white rappers in the mainstream ...

http://www.geocities.com/enjoywhatyoudo/wham/whamrap/whamrap7nla.jpg

Well, maybe not that one, but you get the drift ;D

I recall a couple of bands that are considered "classic rock" today who changed their line-ups and sounds in the eighties to a more "pop" sound: Bad Company and .38 Special.

Bowie was always changing - I guess you could say, over his career, he was going through Changes.

Squeeze were extremely versatile...quite apart from the above, they could also switch to new-wave Cockney-style ramblings ('Cool For Cats'), pop-narratives in the style of The Kinks ('Up The Junction'), or even give you a dose of mock-country! ('Labelled With Love')

A very under-rated group...


I LOVE Squeeze.

Squeeze and Blondie were both very versatile. That is the mark of a true artist.

Another versatile band is The Tubes.

They were pigeonholed as a "novelty" act, but they had some very subtle songs, along with the obvious, and most of the songs they did were very tongue-in-cheek.

They included disco (Slipped My Disco, The Monkey Time); hard rock (Mondo Bondage); pop (No Not Again); Latino (Malaguena Salerosa); they even did some songs in tribute to our favorite B-movies (Attack Of the 50' Woman, Wild Women Of Wongo).

One of the most underrated bands of all, in my view.

Emerson Lake & Palmer was the epitome of progressive rock in the 70s. With
their solo ventures in the 80s to their reunion in the 90s they were had more of
a contemporary sound mixed with pop rock.

I was also going to mention The Tubes but not for the reasons in the post above.
The Tubes went from an excellent punk band of the late 70s to a MTv sell out pop
new wave band of the 80s.

I never did like ZZTop, although My Husband TheRemf did/does. No one would be able to tell if they updated their sound. TheRemf my Husband and I love alot of the same music, ZZTop is not 1 of these. Yes he does let me have my own opion.

I think the most dramatic IMO was Herbie Hancock. He had a 1983 hit called 'Rockit' using synthesizer and stuff. Hancock was into a totally different style of music before that (like a jazz funk fusion I think - I remember someone telling me that everybody was dissapointed when they went out and bought his album, lol).

Stevie Wonder turned towards the syntheziser as well.