OK, so I was wondering...
What are some artists whose discographies start off as relatively normal pop, and gradually go down the rabbit hole of extreme experimentation?
The bigger the contrast between their earlier and later stuff, the better.
Most artists do the opposite. Start experimental, and then sell out and become more pop oriented.
The only artists I can think of who apply to this rule are The Beatles and Scott Walker.
>inb4 The Beach Boys
>inb4 Animal Collective
Come on guys. Get serious here. I want real examples.
neurosis?
>>60868564
Probably not what you're going for, but John Frusciante was the guitarist for the most normie-core teenager music there is, but he left and his shit now is really out there electronic shit. Most of his earlier solo work is indie though
>the beatles
>extreme experimentation
what the fuck?
>>60868595
They went from She Loves You to Tomorrow Never Knows in 3 years.
I literally can't think of a bigger leap than that.
Not EXTREME experimentation, but if you're willing to indulge the idea Radiohead's music kinda takes a similar trajectory.
radiohead
beach house(?)
coldplay(???)
kanye
>>60868595
you know what he meant fuck off
Talk Talk, you /mu/core loving fucks,
>>60868564
animal collective did that in reverse desu
kid cudi
>>60868693
Lmao
The Cure did this with their first 5 albums but then doubled back hard with Head on the Door. Traces of The Top's psychedelia can still be heard throughout the following albums though, albeit only traces.
>>60868564
The Beatles went back to normal pop though after their psych phase
>>60868693
Maaaaan, MOTM and MOTM2 we're great, everything since has just been shit.
>>60868788
I wouldn't really call Abbey Road normal pop, at least not for the time it was released.
>>60868619
This is a troll thread
>>60868642
>coldplay
Slightly weird by mainstream standards =/= experimentation
Bowie sort of fits the bill
>>60868821
How? I asked a legitimate question.
And if you deny that The Beatles were lightyears ahead of their contemporaries in terms of experimentation, then you're an edgy hipster.
>>60868666
couldn't even read it til the 5th line, eh?
genesis started off as pop. brefly then went off the prog deep end only to go back to being pop again.
>>60868821
Nice meme faggot
>>60868876
>lightyears
Sgt pepper came out the same year as the first Doors album AND the velvet underground. Other contemporaries were Pink Floyd and Hendrix. Nice argument btw
captian beefheart actually
King Crimson
>>60868876
lmao desu
>>60868564
of Montreal. First album is bubbly indie pop, recent work (and especially stuff around Skeletal Lamping era) is something like, a hallucinogenic, wet-nightmare. In a good way.
>>60869038
Not to mention, this came out in 63: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUgj94xGS3g
>>60869052
kinda
>>60869038
>The Doors
All they did was do sexual innuendo lyrics and a screaming drunken frontman.
Experimentation level 4/10
>Velvet Underground
Overrated heroincore trash.
Experimentation level 2/10
>Pink Floyd
Hippie trash. Not even going to dignify this with a response.
>Jimi Hendrix
Only legitimate example you posted. Guy pretty much single handedly invented modern rock music.
Experimentation level 9/10
>>60869087
>Guy pretty much single handedly invented modern rock music
LMAO
M
A
O
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r-iaw3D3Xs
>>60869113
>Pharaoh Sanders
>rock
I don't get what you're trying to imply with this.
Would David Bowie count? I mean, he went from pretty harmless stuff like Space Oddity to the Berlin Trilogy some years later, and ending that off with Lodger
>>60869131
Bowie could count, but all of his experimentation was safely calculated experimentation.
He went glam because he predicted a rise in its popularity.
He ripped off Kraftwerk on Low because he knew he'd be called an innovator.
etc.
All he did was spot trends that would be popular in the mainstream in 6 months and replicate them so it looks like he was ahead of the curve.
He's basically just the educated businessman of rock music, so I'm not sure if he applies.
Not knocking him though.
>>60869179
>Kraftwerk
Man you're dumb as shit he was ripping off Cluster and Neu! *drops mike* im out sempai
I bet you dont even know who they are
>>60868821
>>60868821
>>60868821
>>60869247
He ripped off all 3.
No one cares that you know slightly more obscure German bands.
>>60869179
You actually have a really good point there, now that I think about it.
Another artist that came to mind was Soft Machine, as they went from fun psychedelic rock (their early singles and first album) and in the course of a couple years eventually became a jazz fusion band that would make a double album of only four songs, including "Facelift". Much like Miles Davis, on that note, because he too created a fusion group that released a double album that very same year
Does Fleetwood Mac fit in here? They went from raw blues to refined blues to pop to new wave
>>60869344
They would be the absolute polar opposite of what I'm looking for.
Unless you consider new wave to be more experimental than raw blues. I guess it depends on how you look at it.
>>60868591
yeah thats what people say about RHCP but theyre a great pop band, idgaf about the haters. John and Flea's musical relationship was special and Anthony wrote some pretty memorable melodies and everything while Chad gave Flea's playing a metronomic and heavy kind of back up.
They were also an incredible live band with some really magical ESP.
Todd Rundgren
>>60869376
Only hipsters hate them.
Stadium Arcadium is a 10/10 album.
>>60869376
also, ill give you that the singles kind of suck like dani california is one of my least favorite songs, but they had some super rad deep cuts that are really great. porcelain, velvet glove, warm tape, animal bar, all great songs
>>60869389
True, he's a good one that fits this.
But where would Bang the Drum All Day fit in?
>>60869412
A realization that experimental music doesn't pay the bills
>>60869411
I legit can't think of a single bad song on Stadium Arcadium. Except that Martian song or whatever.
Kind of drifting from the topic of the thread though.
cause talk talk totally isn't mucore
>>60869427
Bang the Drum All Day is a work of genius though.
It's pretty experimental and unconventional.
>>60869446
Forgot about Talk Talk. Didn't think of them right off the bat because I'm not too familiar with their early stuff.
The only ones to pull it off are the beatles and radiohead.
>>60868655
This
>>60868564
It seems like you are comparing the Beatles' experimentation to Scott Walkers, which is a joke. It also seems like you are implying that the Beach Boys do not fit the trend of your post, which they actually do.
Anyway-
Autechre
Talk Talk
Brian Eno
The KLF
John Coltrane or Miles Davis or Sun Ra(didn't start as pop but definitely became increasingly more experimental)
>>60869179
This is correct, and the commonly held opinion about bowie as well. Hence his nickname as the "pop chameleon".
>>60869274
He's right though. Neu! and Cluster were definitely bigger influences on Bowie's Low than Kraftwerk. Eno, who produced Low, even collaborated with Cluster on 2 albums. Also they are not "slightly more obscure". They are, in fact, quite a bit more obscure. Most American baby boomers are familiar with Kraftwerk. The same can not be said for Cluster or Neu.
The Flaming Lips?
>>60869512
I don't know if you know, but you replied to me every single time.
So we agree on 33% of things.
>>60869521
they went back and forth
Maybe Portishead? Third was definitely an experiment for them and their S/T was basically a more abrasive Dummy.
>>60869535
>went from making nigger music to slightly more critically acclaimed nigger music
Try harder.
>>60869524
Ha. I assumed 3 different people. Good to know we agree on something!
>>60869535
this
what the fuck happened yeez lmao
>>60869087
surely this cannot be not bait
>>60869446
I never thought of it that way. Guess I can't get the sporting event/Fox Friday morning blooper reel imagery out of my head
>>60869546
I'd say they maintained the same level of experimentation their whole career.
Dummy seems less shocking now because it spawned a wave of copycats.
>>60869568
Velvet Underground 2/10 is clearly bait dude.
>>60869589
Velvet Underground is absolutely fucking terrible and there's a reason their music remained undiscovered for almost four decades.
>>60869600
Holy shit what
>>60869610
Only like 500 people on the planet knew who they were before Rolling Stone started jizzing over them in the late 90s.
>>60869655
oh man I'm sticking around this thread now
Bjork.
>>60869927
For what?
Ask your parents if they heard of the Velvet Underground. I can promise you the answer will be no.
Unless they hung out in Greenwich Village in 1966 and happened to be friends with Andy Warhol.
>>60869985
of course they fucking have, every old person knows who lou reed is
>>60870002
Of course they know who Lou Reed is. Because Lou Reed actually had hits when he ditched VU.
You seriously underestimate how pleb the average person is.
>>60868564
Anco has like, the complete opposite in their career, started out densely experimental and moved further into pop over time
>>60868564
Blur, the gorillaz, (both headed by damon albarn)
>>60868655
Talk Talk are very much /mu/core, not that that really means anything.
>>60868564
pink
>>60869600
He's right though. VU are terrible and were popularized for terrible reasons.
Is it 2008 again?
>>60868642
I wouldn't count Beach House or Coldplay but Kanye & Radiohead are good examples
>>60871649
Sup dude
>>60869179
If anything Brian Eno was the one who ripped off krautrock for the berlin trilogy
>>60868994
he's right though; danse manatee is pretty fucking experimental
