Last month I found out that Kiss made a record in 1997 called "Carnival of Souls" but they went to the grunge/alternative direction rather than their usual hard rock.  It wasn't a bad record, but it made me think that they made this sound to sell records and jump into the bandwagon.

Some say Metallica did the same in 2003 when they put out St Anger.  The low-sounding guitars and angst ridden lyrics echo the nu-metal fad that was dying at the time.

That said, what other bands have done the same and if the band made the particular sound work?

PS..I couldn't find any songs on youtube of KISS's particular album but I did find a recording session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMT5RUyha1I

I guess The Bee Gees made the disco sound work for them.

The Monkees tried that once or twice.  I never forgave them.

Duran Duran recently did it - using Timbaland to produce their album. Of course, hardcore D2 fans loved it - but mainstream didn't pick it up so easily.

Madonna does it all the time.

I personally thought that Metallica jumped ship with Load and ReLoad

That said, what other bands have done the same and if the band made the particular sound work?


For consideration, I submit ZZ Top's two-album experiment (Eliminator and Afterburner) into blending keyboard/synthesizer-based rock.

KISS's venture into disco came across as self-parody. 

Duran Duran recent covers of Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines" and Public Enemy's "911 is a Joke" sounded stale and contrived, drawing the worst elements from both worlds.

ZZ Top made it work.  Eliminator and Afterburner are undeniably Texas-fried rock/blues, and the guitars/percussion are still predominant.  They're just using a few newly-invented instruments (keyboard/synthesizer/sequencer) to add a more modern (for the New-Wave inspired mid-80s) note to a classic sound.  I wish it had caught on.

   Skid Row's Slave to the Grind  (1991) was a good example of what you're talking about.  Big change.  A completely different sound and I think this was right around the time grunge music hit...

   Well, I liked it...

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeslRb91h8o


  KISS The Elder was their venture into concept after concept was cool...

 

♦ Both The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart sold out in 1978 and recorded Disco.  The end result was 2 #1 hits respectively with 'Miss You' and 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy'

♦ In the early 80s, Electronic Music was taking Europe by storm and synth wizards Depeche Mode were riding high, but without major US success.  As the decade slowly came to an end, they dropped their keyboards, picked up drums and guitars, released 'Violator' in 1989 and finally made themselves a name in North America

♦ In the mid 90s, British jazz group Everything But the Girl released the song 'Missing'.  Originally it did nothing for the group until a dance remix by Todd Terry took the clubs by storm and became their first ever US Hot 100 hit.  Capitalizing on this success, they switched to Electronic music and attained a huge following in the US

♦ In 1985, Genesis vocalist Phil Collins released 'No Jacket Required', an upbeat synth/pop album which was a genre he had never really tackled before.  The album went on to spawn 5 hit singles and went Multi-Platinum in the US.  That same year, Genesis founder Mike Rutherford did likewise with his side project Mike + the Mechanics, whose self-titled album spawned 3 US Top 40 hits.  Together, the two brought this sound back to Genesis and the resulting 1986 album 'Invisible Touch' went multi-platinum and spawned 5 US Top 5 hits