10 Hard Rock Bands That Went Pop

10. Ghost

Ghost were a nice little throwback once they hit the hard rock scene in the early 2010's. Though the imagery was 100% chamber music, the actual compositions underneath it all seemed to hearken back to the glory days of heavy metal like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. However, Tobias Forge was not planning on staying in these dark cathedrals for the rest of eternity.

With the release of the band's album Prequelle, everything had gotten a lot different from the operatic side of the band. After the success of the single "Square Hammer," most of this record is more tuneful than the band's previous material, with songs like "Rats" and "Dance Macabre" even having the potential to be played on standard rock radio. However, this was not a case of a band going down the tubes once they went pop.

This album proved to be the band's greatest career high yet, with even songs like the instrumental "Miasma" gaining praise for making a saxophone solo work in a metal context. Papa Emeritus may have been demoted to Cardinal on this outing, but no unholy pedigree could diminish the massive amount of talent still at work here.