10 Amazing Rock Bands That Went Pop

Of all the genres that should have been an easy transition into pop, it should be the realm of pop punk. I mean, it has the genre in the name of the damn subgenre, so why the hell would it be hard to trade in the guitars for some poppier fare every now and again? Paramore managed to do it...but they took a pretty weird route to get there.

Shortly after arriving on the scene with Riot! in the late '00s, the next few years were a bit hectic for Paramore, dropping members like flies before finally making a return to form with Brand New Eyes. As much as something like this almost felt like a fluke, their self-titled album saw them double down on the poppier direction, even earning them a handful of hits with Still Into You and Ain't it Fun. If you asked what Paramore sounds like these days though, we are miles away from the era of Misery Business.

With the release of After Laughter, Hayley Williams has practically rebuilt the band's sound from the ground up, incorporating a lot more keyboards and having a retro throwback sound that feels like it's ripped straight out of the '80s era of someone like Tears for Fears. Though this is probably the equivalent of having New Found Glory make a jazz album, these musical left turns deserve to be celebrated, especially when they turn out this damn well.