10 Rockers That Went Pop (And Nailed It)

10. Cloud 9 - George Harrison

Towards the end of the '80s, George Harrison had pretty much washed his hands of being a pop star. The entire appeal of having a hit single wasn't really in the cards for the most spiritual Beatle, and finally being out of all his contractual albums gave him the freedom to do what he wanted. After all of those attempts to actually make a generic pop song though, it wasn't until he worked with Jeff Lynne that he actually got back on top.

Although Cloud 9 is more fondly remembered these days for George's cover of Got My Mind Set On You, the rest of the album actually blends into the rest of the '80s pop scene pretty well, from the crisp production behind the title track to actually sounding like a classic rock version of what the Cure were doing on songs like This Is Love. Since this is a former Beatle making this record though, you can hear some of those classic influences come seeping in as well, like the complex chords of That's What It Takes and the tribute to his other band on When We Was Fab.

Outside of just the pop sensibilities though, George finally feels at peace here, taking that jaded rocker that wrote songs like Taxman and making him a pop star all over again. Since the Traveling Wilburys were just a few years away as well, Cloud 9 was the first time where being an aging rock star didn't have to be all that bad.