When Rock Bands Switched Genres and Fans Were Furious 

So glad that AC/DC never gave a shit about genres or critics or trends!

Weird to talk about bands changing their sounds without audio examples

Spinal Tap fans will never forget the infamous jazz odyssey without Nigel Tufnell!

Slight correction on Judas Priest, the Turbo album was intended to be released as a double album called Twin Turbo, however it was split due to financial issues. The commercial side of the album was released first as Turbo, but a more classic Priest sounding side was released two years later as Ram It Down. Painkiller was released afterwards as a more revolutionary sounding record combining the OG Priest sound with Thrash

Re-recording Mick Mars guitar parts is mindblowing without him is a disgrace.

Artists should do whatever they want to do.

Ram It Down released between Turbo and Painkiller, the title track Ram It Down has the absolute craziest guitar solo in existence. In my opinion, Painkiller was only a continuation of Ram It Down.

so glad AC/DC stuck to their roots since day 1, say what you want about them, they delivered quality music and never disappointed their fans for 50 years.

St Anger was WAAAAY worse than the Load & Reload

had to pause on the 2nd metallica pic @ the beginning, because i couldn't figure out why chris cornell and billy joe armstrong were in a band photo together 😆😆😆

This is why I am grateful we still have AC/DC, because they tick to what they do best and don't fix what isn't broken.

Linkin Park is definitely an exception on this list. Chester had such a range that he can literally be in any genre. Music wise, I can understand but chester himself wanted to explore and the other members have talent in other genres as well.

Love your video, love all the stuff you do honestly, but just one minor correction about Judas Priest, you said Painkiller was the follow-up to Turbo, but it was actually Ram It Down. While I understand the album wasn't what Painkiller was, it was still a great bounce back from Turbo.

I remember Andy Taylor left Duran Duran and became sort of an American style Hair Metal/meat and potatoes solo rock artist. It was quite a shift from the stylish British New Wave/New Romantics look/sound Duran Duran had. Granted, he had done Power Station with John Taylor and that was heavier more guitar focused than DD but it still had the stylish funk elements of DD. With his solo turn, Andy Taylor did a complete 180 sound and image wise.

Turbo is a really fun record. Perfect mix of synth and heavy metal.

This is not about rock bands in general switching, but just particular similar genres. Probably the most famous negative reaction to a switch was Bob Dylan going from acoustic fold to electric with blues musicians. Die hard fans though lost that one. This apparently AI voice is tough to listen to. It is funny though that it even has language mistakes.

Painkiller was NOT the follow up to Turbo. Ram It Down proceded Turbo and was their transition album to their heavy sound of Painkiller which followed.

A band never experiments with their sound and is criticised for always sounding the same. A band experiments changes things up and they're portrayed as sell outs. They can't win.

To add to the Metallica screw-ups, you could at least have added Lulu. At least you would have given Lou Reed a mention as well

Funny how Motley with Corabi's was one of their best records

I despise the term "Dad Rock." Many of the musicians in these bands now ARE Dads themselves, so I see this term as disrespectful.

I never could get my head around how you can play a guitar or bass standing up with the thing hanging to your knee, or why you would want to.

I love it when bands take creative risks, even if it goes against the expectations of their fans.

I'm all for bands experimenting and growing their sound when it's a natural and creative process, as long as they're not chasing a trend to make money.

Queen being included on this list totally tears apart my classic rock loving heart. Such smart, educated and classy guys, I love to point them out that you don't have be a hooligan to be an absolutely kick-ass legendary rock band. Plenty of great and unique albums and (IMHO) the best live band ever! Cosmo Rocks was definitely weak (especially for them), but that tour.. OMH that tour... That show was as good as the two shows I saw with Freddie. Fantastic set list and all of the standard Queen classy show theatrics. Guess we're all human, including Dr. Brian May...

Honestly, that Aerosmith album sounds more like they were trying to be more like, The Red Hot Chili Peppers? _Especially,_ their song, 'Outta Your Head'. I could hear RHCP doing that one song... only a _whole lot_ better. 😂😂 To me RHCP have a unique sound that's obviously _their_ energy & passion for their specific music style. Neither one of these bands are very "pop" like at all imo. In fact, Aerosmith _is_ supposed to sound like Aerosmith, that's exactly _why_ we love them.

cliff Burton Was METALLICA !!

0:32 no, the first big shift in musical direction for Metallica was in '88, with the less-blistering progressive metal of And Justice For All, a shift I welcomed, bass buried in the mix notwithstanding.

You could of mention practtically every 80's hardcore band that went "metal" to gain a bigger audience. DRI, COC, Agnostic front, bad brains, gang green for example.

korn didn't make path to totality to "cash in" on a trend, they did it because johnathan genuinely liked and still does like dubstep/electronic music and listens to it over metal. he still thinks the album is great, and i might have bias since my father really enjoyed it as well and played it all the time, but its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

although you can't argue with crue's success, i would attribute a LOT of that to their image, off stage coverage in magazines, and widely publicized antics. I always found their albums kinda crappy overall with a few very good songs that keep it going. In that way, the other albums weren't very different. Theatre of Pain had 2 huge radio songs and nobody remembers the rest. The following albums were the same. Kick start, dr feelgood. and what else?

Metallica did what Def Leppard did and went poppy. It made them tons of money of course but forever labeled them as traitors to the thrash scene.

There's one album missing - the 1999 "Eye II Eye" by Scorpions. It's an electronic/pop album from start to finish, very different from the hard rock that they're known for.

Got up to In Justice For All and saw them at the Lakeland Civic Center on that tour. Bought the Black album and took it back to work at Circuit City. Got 10 minutes into it and gave it to a customer who walked into the car audio room. Sold him a MTX MTA 250 amp though. That was in 1991, seems like yesterday.

Tuned down guitars isn't exclusive to Nu metal. It's been a part of metal since Black Sabbath first appeared on the scene...the godfathers of metal themselves.

The funniest thing about no solos on st anger is that less than a year later nu metal was dead and all the modern bands like lamb of god and killswitch engage were full of solos kirk was right

Rush snd Yes did this throughout the 80s with mixed results. Nevertheless, Vapor Trails didn't have one riff being basicall an alt metal album.

And then there was the legendary Danzig 5: Blackacidevil

Load is a masterpiece! My second fave Metallica album! Sometimes even feels like my fave! People like to force bands into a little box trying to block any artistic expression beyond what they already know. My favourite band Pain of Salvation basically changes with every album and I LOVE IT! But then again imo, not everyone has the ability to transcend to other styles or genres. It should be organic and not some corporate sellout move or forced attempt.

Then you have bands like Type O Negative, with the fluidity, versatility, and skill to switch genres right in the middle of a section, and even switch tempoes with the effectiveness the band was known for. They are also a big factor in the eventual creation of the Goth Metal subgenre. You'll almost never find bands like them anymore. RIP Peter Steele. 🖤💚 PS:RIP Chester Bennington as well. He deserved way better than he got in life. 🙏🕊️💜

Band doesn't change their style: Criticized for repeating the same formula. Band experiments: Criticized for alienating their fan base.

I like how the bands changing styles are almost always phased as selling out but with the justification bad sales

That Priest album has 'Turbo Lover' on it though. Love that tune!

I will never understand the music 'fans' who think their favorite musicians owe them a goddamn thing

I liked Diabolus...there are some bangers on there.

Def Leppard did it a few times. Fans who'd followed them from the start were initially furious about Pyromania and even more so about Hysteria. But the band was proven right. They were not so right when they decided to take on Grunge with Slang (I actually think it's their best album musically) and then X, when they went for a more pop sound.

You should see the anger over Satyricon and their different sounds over the years. People are so frail it's ridiculous.

If the guy doing the voiceover on this video starts going up, instead of down at the end of almost every sentence, he could probably enter this list too

It was Aerosmith's 70s work that made made a fan and I own all their albums. To be honest the so called "sellout" phase doesn't really sound *that* different to me. I remember when Permanent Vacation and Pump came out even the denim jacketed metalheads liked them. I can understand the negativity to songs like I Don't Want To Miss A Thing and Crazy but their later albums all have some good songs on them.

Fkoff with the AI narration.

So many metal elitists in comments, oh my God...

ok st anger was my turning point.Any thing before that was good.They survived the changing of times. if you dont think so its hard to call u true metallica fan

Linkin Park actually departed from their signature sound in 2007 already with Minutes to Midnight. They never really made anything like Meteora or Hybrid Theory again.

I was physical security for the Virginia Beach amphitheater in the early 00"s, and Vince Neil had a particular preference. He wore custom painted Adidas wrestling shoes. I watched one of the band's assistants painting a pair of shoes before Vince went on stage.

Huh, I could've sworn the John Podesta thing was why Chester did that but maybe that's just something I noticed myself

Male vocal fry at the end of every sentence is this video :) But interesting stuff, thank you!

Who the heck was that band of Joshes you showed at the beginning of the Bad Religion segment? Josh and the other guys named Josh?🤦‍♂️

CRUSH EM!!! Man I love that song Jesus Christ that shit really gets my testies pumpin and thumpin it might be the best song in the entire death collection. It’s hard as hell. I always bump that song real loud driving down the street or whatever. Pulling up to a stoplight. Turn that bitch up real loud. Fuck yeah man I love it.

Somewhere Beavis is watching this and shaking his head 😂

What? Crush em' was great. I liked that a lot as a kid

I made through two tracks of St Anger. About the time Lars starting playing the pots and pans I never played it again.

The best band to ever switch between genres is also (imo) the best band ever, the awesome Thin Lizzy🎸. They could go from hard rock to laid back on every album they released. Each new guitarist changed them without ever departing from being 'Thin Lizzy'. From the funky dancing in the moonlight to the hard rocking cold sweat they managed to play all styles with utter ease. One of the few bands who you really couldnt pigeonhole into a single musical category 👍

Funny, I actually like the Black Album, Load, Reload and St. Anger.

The worst part is that all we had always was the experimental rock, always evolution of rock exponentially wtf?!?!

Radiohead does it every 3-4 years and not only got away with it the did it to massive critical acclaim.

its kinda funny hearing this about judas priest considering Rob Halford actually ended up voicing the glam metal antagonist in Brutal Legend later

At least the risk album had an epic song "Prince of Darkness"

15:55 Trying to blame fans for Chester's actions is wild.

Chinese Democracy is a good album IMHO, particularly if viewed as an Axl Rose solo record.

IF a band changes their sound for creative and experimental purposes, more power to them. Even if I don't like it, I'll usually respect the audaciousness. The problem is the vast majority of these bands aren't "taking risks". They're doing the exact opposite. They're dumbing down the technical, progressive, and unique aspects of their music with the express purpose of selling more albums to a wider audience. They're changing their sound to a more radio-friendly, usually-lighter format and jumping on the popular trends of the era so the masses (who typically shunned their original style of music) will buy their albums. And yes, often times also because their record companies tell them to do all of the above. This is the very definition of selling out. And if listening to your favorite bands from rebellious, unique, quirky, original, powerful, unconventional genres like punk and metal turning into the complete opposite of all that doesn't make your skin crawl and cause every fiber of your being to want to scream out in frustration, I don't know why you bother listening to music.

The self-development that James Hetfield experienced as an individual is really inspiring.

I have just started watching so I have no idea all the bands they will mention but I can certainly think of a few HOWEVER my reaction is 180 degrees as coming from a Musical family myself, and one who dabbled in music in 70's and 80's to now just having my writing/entertainment offerings just in book novels, I get that sometimes people GROW (read: change a bit) as they get older and others try cling to their pasts. I think of Van Halen when Women and Children lp came out and especially when the tune JUMP later came out (Eddie wanted to learn and explore other Instruments, I as a THE POLICE Fan didn't get all NUTso when Sting decided to learn the Sax and Synchronicity changed their direction, and ultimately Sting's desire to leave and go almost a completely different direction, changing Genre's several times (I had all The Police lps, but while I still "enjoyed" Sting, again able to "appreciate" the desire to "change up" and "explore" other things I never bought a Sting solo album)) and the furious response of some Fans that demanded they do what THEY WANTED (stay 100% nothing but a copy of their former selves) rather than what I think most Artists want (but not all have the GUTS to do) which is a desire to explore other Avenues of their potential creativity and not be a creature of habit. Is that SELLING OUT to want to "explore" one's full talent and other "options" or is it SELLING OUT to stay stuck with being a complete COPY of themselves into forever (recording new songs, basically 100% same, just different lyrics)?!?!? I know some will get an AH-HA from that, others will just get their Panties-in-a-bunch over it. Did they SIGN A CONTRACT WITH YOU to provide YOU what you wanted, or do they remain HONEST WITH THEMSELVES which may be a whole lot more dimensional (do many other things they've always WANTED to do, rather than what EXPECTED of them to do) than many of their FanBase want/desire/demand?!?!? Original Fans CAN CHOOSE to go along on the JOURNEY OF GROWTH with them, OR NOT, that is up to both the Artist(s)/Band(s) and the Fans to CHOOSE, but neither has RIGHT TO DEMAND something of the other.

Never understood all the hatred for bands evolving or trying something new. Who wants the same damn album for 30 years. If ya don’t like it, don’t listen.

I don't care what anyone says. I still like the St. Anger album. And no amount of hate will convince me otherwise. And at the same time, there is also no way to convince me that dubstep is good music.

I always try to expect that a band might change their sound so if they do I won’t be surprised especially with Green Day. I didn’t grow up with Green Day so listening to their newer stuff I loved it even though it’s different.

Turbo was EPIC!!

Moral of the story, Fans and critics suck. Just enjoy the music and embrace when your favorite artists tries something new. Half the time, history is kind to their output. Listen to the BR Into the Unknown album, it is actually awesome. They did rip off a Pink Floyd song from Animal pretty blatantly. When listening to that album, they were teenagers still, not a bad effort for what it is.

IMO Linkin Park executed their genre changes very well and Metallica still sounded good when they “sold out”

Why is there Simple Plan footage over Bad Religion talk?

You forgot 1 Thing, Green Day With The Album "Father Of All Motherfuckers" Where They Switch Genre From Pop Punk/Punk Rock To Glam Rock 'N Roll 50s & 60s Rock 'N Roll With Autotune

Happy birthday Chester ❤

Def Leppard's 1996 album, Slang would have been another good example of a rare misstep.

Nevertheless, RISK by MEGADETH is a decent album, imo. After being kicked out by Mötley, Vince Neil released an album that showed what had been missing from the Crüe for a long time. "Exposed" with Steve Stevens on guitar is an excellent album!

One from And Justice for All made them a household name. But you wouldn't know that AI voice. Would you?

No Metallica's worst album was not load or reload, Saint anger

From Screaming For Vengeance to Turbo was heartbreaking.

I'm a longtime Queen fan, and The Cosmos Rocks was not a problem. Hot Space was the real betrayal of genre for Queen.

chinese democracy is actually quite good, its a more calmed down guns n roses but the songs there are good in their own right and good pace breakers from listening to all their earlier stuff.

Now thank god after path to totality they went back to their roots

I hadn't listened to the Slayer one mentioned here until now...but I don't hear any departure from what they've always done. The "South of Heaven" album was more of a departure than any of them.

At 55 years old I absolutely hate this narrative that the moment "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the radio grunge was the only thing. I love the Seattle sound but at the same time I know me and a lot of people I knew at that time still listened to the hairbands a lot of people were listening to gangster rap but bands like Metallica chili peppers Aerosmith we're all having huge success doing that same time frame.😂

Nothing but EGO, I think playing different genre’s is brilliant. Neil Young was/is the best at it IMO

I really like Path of Totality!

What are "glitchy guitar effects"?

Rip Chester Bennigton

In a genre known for rebellion, risk taking and general f##k you-ness it's amazing how Conservative a lot of Rock and Metal fans are. Let people take a chance man! If it doesn't work you've still got the stuff you like.

But surely Beyonce will be taken seriously as a country act??

St. Anger was Metallicas Spaghetti incident

Funny using images from The Dirt in the Mötley Crüe part 😉

12:49 I don't know how you managed to show fifteen seconds of Simple Plan instead of Bad Religion