10 Bands That Ditched What Made Them Famous

As a musician, one of your biggest aspirations is to find your own artistic identity. Many bands can spend their entire career trying to create their own unique sound or gimmick that will etch themselves in the minds of fans for years to come. On the other hand, gimmicks can run out pretty quickly.

Instead of just riding the wave of their initial star power, many bands have a tendency to drop what made them such a draw in the first place. This could take the form of a new look, new sound, or just a new mindset to creating music. Whether it's for a one-off musical experiment or a fully-fledged course correction, these artists were not afraid to leave their old selves behind for something much more interesting. While it's definitely debatable as to whether these shifts were in the "correct" direction, you certainly have to admire these artists' bravery in dissecting themselves and forging ahead down a much different path.

Even though it may be fun to do the same thing over and over again, it's even more of an artistic challenge to add other elements into the mix to see how they pan out. Here are the bands that refused to rest on their laurels and pulled their ideas out of left field.

If you were into any stripe of prog music in the 70's, Genesis sealed the deal with their extravagant soundscapes and manic musical movements. Under the watchful eye of Peter Gabriel, the band pushed the boundaries of typical rock music and turned the standard 3 minute rock song into great musical passages with complex chord changes and complicated time signature changes.

Once Gabriel left the band though, things began to turn in a different direction. After finding the perfect replacement in drummer Phil Collins, the band began making music that strayed away from their complicated songcrafting. By the time the band had reached the 80's, they were making full-blown pop rock with songs like "That's All" and "Invisible Touch."

Up until then, the band had a very niche audience with their zany prog stylings as their calling card. This led to an overwhelming backlash from the fans who preferred the more classic prog sound of the band. While many cried "SELLOUT" at this point in the band's career, the members never seemed to express cynicism towards their more commercial sound. Instead of using their later period to absent-mindedly cash checks, the pop crossover of Genesis seemed like the natural progression after years of sonic experimentation.