Artists who tend to repeat their own work over and over again usually aren't worth following (see: Oasis), but there are some artists who have shifted their sounds so radically that they've become virtually unrecognizable to their former selves. Here are six artists who sound totally different from when they started.
1. Radiohead
For a couple of years during the '90s, everyone assumed that Radiohead was going to be a one-hit wonder after the worldwide success of its debut single "Creep," and if it had continued pursuing that song's grungy sound, it probably would have been. However, Radiohead is a famously shape-shifting band, adding new dimensions to its aesthetic every couple of years. The band's most recent album The King of Limbs is a darkly fragmented electronic album and a million miles away from its guitar-based early work.
2. Primal Scream
Most bands that change up their sound do so in a gradual fashion, growing further and further away from their original sound with each subsequent release. Primal Scream, on the other hand, shifted on a dime, going from jangly pop to acid house in just two years. 2013's More Light provides a more modern spin on the band's love of dance music.
3. My Bloody Valentine
Before My Bloody Valentine acquired vocalist Bilinda Butcher and redefined the way electric guitars could sound, the band was writing bizarre goth rock with original vocalist David Conway, which sounded like a cross between the Cramps and Nick Cave. The sound is so startlingly different (you can actually hear the words, for one thing) that this might as well be an entirely different band altogether.
4. Of Montreal
Based on the extreme difficulty of finding any Of Montreal photos or videos from the '90s, I'm starting to doubt that the band actually existed before 2004. Though it's come to be known as a wildly psychedelic electro-funk band, Of Montreal actually started off as a trio, playing lo-fi twee-pop with no trace of funk whatsoever. The idea that the guy who wrote "When You're Loved Like You Are" is the same guy who wrote lines like "we can do it soft-core if you want" years later is totally absurd.
5. Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian's gradual shift in sound is very similar to Of Montreal's, only much more believable and organic. Stuart Murdoch's lyrical content has maintained its wit and sense of mischief, but the band has beefed up its fragile acoustic intimacy, taking cues from classic rock, synth-pop, and even disco.
6. Liz Phair
All the way back in 1993, R.E.M. was still together, Green Day was still punk, and Liz Phair was probably the coolest person in indie rock. All of these things have changed over the last twenty years, but Liz Phair's integrity is the most heartbreaking loss of all. Her debut Exile in Guyville is a punky lo-fi masterpiece, while her most recent album Funstyle sounds like something Beck would dream up while he had the flu (and then wisely reject the next day).
