How often would accept a new direction for an act? - Music

Spyglass
Resident Metalhead

Gender: Male
Location: The red dot on the map

I always appreciate a new direction, even if it constitutes as a sellout (as long as it's a good album). Ulver is the best example of changing direction if you ask me, and even drone/metal/stoner band Boris had a decent J-pop album.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

As often as it's good.

I'll bore everyone with my love/hate relationship with U2.

I mean you got your:
1) Post-Punk
2) Alternative Rock
3) Alternative Dance, Electronic, Experimental Rock
4) Pop Rock (their worst era)

Every era though people will say is their best or worst pending on who you talk to, which I find intriguing.

craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

Ideally, an artist is coming up with new ways to challenge themselves. When bands make a habit of repeating themselves over and over, they lose that sense of enchantment for me. They get dull and predictable. And you get the sense they’re mailing it in. Might as well just break up the band at that point or take a summer off to work at a hotdog stand.
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JOSweetHeart

Gender: Female
Age: 41
Location: East Tennessee

^^^ The good thing though about being predictable is that people know who to go to when wanting to hear a certain form of music. The first male singer who came to my mind when thinking about this chat was country singer Alan Jackson when his album named Red On A Rose was released in 2006. It was so different compared to what was already out there from him. The title track only got as far as #15 on the radio. The follow up named "A Woman's Love" did better getting as far as #6, but his next song on the radio named "Small Town Southern Man" came from his next album which sounded like what he is more known for and the song went all the way to #1 for him.

God bless you and AJ always!!!

Holly
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mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

1. Is it good?
2. Was their preceding album great?
3. Is their new sound betraying who they are sonically as an artist?
4. Is it good?

craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

Gowi wrote:

1. Is it good? ... 4. Is it good?

amen.

Gowi wrote:

2. Was their preceding album great?

does it matter? to pick on everyone's favorite band, thom thom and the radio heads, how significant was it that kid a followed ok computer? they ran the risk of following in talk talk's shoes, who bettered themselves into obscurity, but i think that once they'd really maxed out how much blood they could draw from that one artery, they weren't ever going to match it. anything less than ok computer 2.0 was going to be received unfavorably. to that effect, the change of direction was absolutely necessary for thomas and the greenwoods.

Gowi wrote:

3. Is their new sound betraying who they are sonically as an artist?

true. there's a tipping point though too, right? where staying the same would be a betrayal as well.... sometimes, an artist releases a new record that just leaves me scratching my head, asking, "wait.... haven't i heard this before?"

---

in the related-unrelated category, i think this is part of why i find myself especially drawn to one-off albums by artists that never released anything before or since because they can't taint it*. had arcade fire funeral'd out with funeral, i would absolutely love them, but their subsequent albums get further and further from whatever it was i liked about their first record. i feel like i'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth now, since i insisted change is important, but i guess that gowi's points here, that change works if it's good and doesn't betray their eariler work, is spot on the dog. to seth's example with u2, i think that even their old music gets less palatable with every new release. had u2 hung their hat on the joshua tree, achtung baby, or even all that you can't leave behind, they would have a very different reputation, however unfair that is. i guess it'd also help if bono didn't tax-dodge and sell the band's soul to apple, but i digress. their music dropped off a cliff.

*meshes of voice, excava 11, new heroid, the dissociatives, sharpen your teeth, hush harbor, anemone, and third eye all come to mind.
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Last edited by craola on 06/23/2020 22:37; edited 1 time in total

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

Quote:

true. there's a tipping point though too, right? where staying the same would be a betrayal as well.... sometimes, an artist releases a new record that just leaves me scratching my head, asking, "wait.... haven't i heard this before?"

Yeah, like sometimes it works and an artist obviously doesn't owe it to anyone if they want to explore new sounds. But for example, Caitlyn Smith is a country artist who utilizes pop hooks, though ultimately she's had a very strong identity and personality through that. Her new album is just contemporary pop with a little "twang" which is a recurring trend in Nashville. The album as it is isn't as good as her style was on its predecessor, so I obviously do not like this change and think its kind of betraying how she had drawn listeners in to her image, style, and ability. I'm not sure how much on this is the label's fault, but cases like this obviously make me not accepting of a new direction.

For an older example in the other direction there is Ulver, who started out as a straight forward black metal band with great albums whom got more avant-garde as they went along until they didn't want to write black metal anymore and switching to an electronica, art rock, etc. direction. Difference is it still felt, to me, like Ulver's earnest and true self. The albums were good-to-great and I was never conflicted with them "betraying" black metal. IDK it's complicated.

Mythtall

If the music is great sounds about the right answer

Romanelli
Bone Swah

Gender: Male
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

If I am unable to accept that any musician wants to expand their direction or try anything new...then what kind of an asshole does that make me?

If you can't be okay with an artist trying something new, then you should probably find something new to do with your time.
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baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Gowi wrote:

1. Is it good?
2. Was their preceding album great?
3. Is their new sound betraying who they are sonically as an artist?
4. Is it good?

What's an example of an album that is as good as its predecessor, but that you don't accept because you consider it a sonic betrayal?
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