When Your Favorite Rock Goes Pop?

Question

Gimme some names of albums released by one or two of your favorite lesser-known bands that made them overnight "Pop Sensations" That basically just ruined it for you so bad that you never bought albums of their's again after that point

Now Be honest.

***BTW - This question was partially inspired by a question that Lovnrckts asked yesterday, and by a discussion that Huevo Ranchero and I just had about two of his favorite bands that went "Pop"

For some reason The Shin's "Wincing The Night Away" has really popularized them lately. If anything - "Chutes Too Narrow" had so much better material...

Another example -- RHCP after their release of Mother's Milk; I never bought anything else of their's again after that, even though I still have respect for them as musicans....

awe shucks lovnrckts!

Ozman - agreed about Ben Folds solo.

I third the Modest Mouse motion - and hey no worries - Huevo Ranchero, you partly inspired the question, so you have an entitlement to ramble...

Answer 1

I'll bring up the 2 examples that I used earlier, the first being Modest Mouse. Their releases on indie labels I truly enjoyed Lonesome Crowded West, Long Drive......,Building Nothing (although more B sides), but when The Moon and Antarctica came out I was pretty much disappointed except for a couple good tracks. Then when Good News......was released, I pretty much stopped listening. It's not because they made it big (I still like some U2 but nothing is anywhere near The Joshua Tree) but the style they had switched to did nothing for me. It was as if (and I hate this word) they had sold out, although I know that as an artist you need to evolve.

Same goes for REM. Prior to "Green", they definitely had a rock vibe, but that seemed to change with the release of the single "Stand". Poppy and catchy (to some), it was a 180 degree turn from what they had done before. While the album did have some good tunes on hand (Orange Crush, You Are The Everything, World Leader Pretend), it is one that I have problems listening to these days. From then out it was hit or miss with the albums although I find the whole of Out of Time (minus Shiny Happy People) to be an enjoyable solid output.

Good point with the Chili Peppers. Although Blood Sugar Sex Magic was the album that nade them superstars, I think Mother's Milk is where they stand at the top of their game. It's amazing to me that they had the entire country at one time singing a song about shooting up. You're right though, Flea and Frusciante are as talented as they come.

And then there's The Lemonheads. Their Taang! days were great, blistering garage rock with funny metal riffs and even a Charles Manson cover. I do enjoy It's a Shame About Ray but what the f*** happened after that?! I caught them (actually the Evan Dando show) last year with Tony Lombardo and Bill Stevenson from The Descendents on bass and drums and all they played were tunes from The Lemonheads Atlantic years. It royally sucked - at least when Dando did his solo acoustic set, he could have done his covers of Skulls or Fade To Black.

Sorry, I just had to ramble on there for a minute.

Thanks Mach, sometimes it's just good to get it out of the system.

Answer 2

I'll just mention a few essentials (in my view) of non-pop music: Classical: Bach Beethoven Debussy Ravel Music for 18 Musicians - Steve Reich Jazz: Kind of Blue - Miles Davis Giant Steps - John Coltrane Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus The Inner Mounting Flame - Mahavishnu Orchestra The Way Up - Pat Metheny Group BQ: :( BQ2: Generation Landslide, atm

Answer 3

I second Modest Mouse - big fan of earliest stuff (This is a Long Drive..., Lonesome Crowded West, and The Fruit that Ate itself EP). I fell in love with MM because they were raw and original but once I sensed that slipping my interest sadly followed.

I did buy Good News...but I think I was just attempting to rekindle something that was long gone.

Another band that is following down this path is Spoon. When I heard "Don't Buy The Realistic" on the Matador compilation I couldn't stop smacking myself because this band ROCKED! They've slowly introduced a more "pop" sound into their albums since then but generally stayed true to their roots.

I do love Gimme Fiction but then they started getting a lot more attention and I felt the inevitable was near...and it was in the form of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

I tried to force myself to like it but it does nothing for me and I haven't listened to it since. I realize bands need to evolve but sometimes the direction they evolve in is just the wrong one (for me at least).

Answer 4

I liked Ben Folds Five, although they weren't necesarliy rock. they split up and Ben Folds went solo. All of a sudden everyone fell in love with Ben Folds, and I wondered if they knew he was part of a better band.

311's Dont Tread On Me was awful. I am a huge fan of Grassroots and their self-titled.

I agree about Chili Peppers, Mothers Milk is my favorite.


i agree about the Shins also

Answer 5

My heart soars to the sky whenever I inspire the great ones. :-)

This may not be the perfect puzzle piece to your question but a case can be made for AFI - Decemberunderground. This album seems to have irked tons of their longtime faithful. Personally, I liked it but there were two songs in particular that went kinda soft, which might be a no-no for a hardcore punk band; The Missing Frame & Love Like Winter.

Answer 6

Stabbing Westward was (still is) one of my many favorite groups. They were a good industrial rock band but a little more radio friendly than most, even though they never got much radio play. Their final album (self-titled) came out and they completely changed their sound into what was more like a darker version of Goo Goo Dolls. I actually still liked the album quite a bit, but it was easily their weakest effort.

Answer 7

Avenged Sevenfold at first was pretty small with their albums Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen...both those albums were awesome...i could listen to them over and over...but then when their new single Bat Country came out...it immediately went pop and it made me so upset that i didn't even bother listening to their new album until 2 months after it came out...they also have another album coming out soon and i haven't even bothered to listen to their single

Answer 8

Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil

They went from being a semi underground metalcore band to a TRL pop band. Yup, that CD sure did ruin A7X for me

Answer 9

LP's new album, i only like 1 or 2 songs i used to be their fan... then MCR, I really like their first album, but now I'm getting sick of them because there are so many fangirls out there saying :"Gerard Way is mine, I'm gonna kill his wife!"
seriously... and fall out boy, they're turning from worse to worst i never liked them...

Answer 10

Before they hit mainstream, The Goo Goo Dolls were punk......I really liked their albums Jed and Hold Me (when Robbie was the main vocalist).......then when Johnny took over as main vocalist, their sound changed.........Name came out, etc..........I stopped listening to them