Out of curiosity...

[NeverIsForever]

This is kind of random, but I'm going to ask anyway.

So I'm sure everyone on here can name about a million bands who were awesome for a while, then went mainstream and turned into absolute shit.

My question is, are there any bands that did the opposite--in other words, starting out mainstream and then becoming more extreme over time?

 

[Profanity]

Pink Floyd. They started off extremely mainstream when they released singles like "See Emily Play" but then they turned good producing masterpieces like Dark Side Of The Moon.

 

[Profanity]

um, have you heard most of pink floyd's early albums? definitely not mainstream. then in 1972 they come out with an album full of pop singles and you're calling it extreme

What are you talking about?

DSOTM was more atmospheric than any Black Metal album and Pink Floyd only ever released 2 singles:
See Emily Play(1967)
Another Brick In The Wall Part II(1979)

 

[shantideva]

Zeppelin's best work was definately the first four albums. they got pretty terrible after that.

the Beatles are the only band I can think of that got progressively better, and even they tapered off at the end.

oh! wait! vanilla ice!

...

 

[Profanity]

Physical Grafiti was a masterpiece as well as their heaviest album to date. I'd class that as more extreme then their early blues rock.

 

[JoeVice]

lol @ vanilla ice...he did give rap metal a shot

 

[Seth'Peth]

Gotta go with bangadrian on almost every dispute here. Pink Floyd were out of their friggin' minds in the mid to late 60s, but while the music was way out there(extreme)...it was fantastic, psychedelic craziness. As time went on they toned down the drug induced stuff considerably, but still put out great music....certainly not more extreme though.

I would say Zeppelin toned down as they went along, wasn't real noticable though IMO. They really only have 2 sub-par(for them) albums.."Coda" and "In Through the Out Door". And those still weren't bad...but they were definitely changing with the times since those were their much later albums.

The Beatles absolutely became more "extreme" as they went along. They were following the pop culture, 2 and 3 minute goofy love song format at first. Even then they were putting out good stuff for the time. But once the drugs took over, they started putting some of the best "extreme" music(again for the time). They did break a lot of barriers, and helped the Doors and Floyd get their sound when they started(The Doors didn't sound exactly like them, but the trippy stuff was Beatle inspired).

Seth

 

[shantideva]

yeah, I forgot 'houses', that is a good album. i was thinking 'in through the out door' and 'presence', which sucked.

and zep were still ripping off blues acts on iv. at least they ripped off good songs.

 

[Seth'Peth]

yeah, I forgot 'houses', that is a good album. i was thinking 'in through the out door' and 'presence', which sucked.

and zep were still ripping off blues acts on iv. at least they ripped off good songs.

You're kiddin' right? "Presence" is a great album, ranks probably 3rd or 4th for me in their discography.

Seth

 

[Seth'Peth]

presence dominates. achille's last stand, tea for one, for your life, the candy one,etc..all good songswell i'm confused on extreme, so i dunno

heaviest zeppelin track=the ocean

Right on with "Presence"...

But can't agree about "The Ocean" being the heaviest. Might have to go with "Communication Breakdown" or "Dazed and Confused". Probably some others I'm not thinking of.

Seth

 

[Profanity]

Custard Pie and The Ocean are the heaviest Zeppelin tracks.

Custard Pie has extremely loud guitar parts which almose resemble Metal.

 

[Profanity]

well it must be the heaviest boogie-rock jamming session ever.

 

[Profanity]

who cares? custard pie slaughters all songs on lzI

and 10 Years Gone is even better than Custard Pie.

 

[Profanity]

BOM isn't even in the true Zeppelin hard rock style.

 

[Profanity]

There's a difference between "favourite" and "best".

 

[Seth'Peth]

"Custard Pie"??? Certainly not heavy compared to some of the earlier Zep...IMO anyway.

This is kinda hard, but I may have thought of one. Judas Priest. IMO, "Rocka Rolla", "Sad Wings...", and "Sin After Sin" are my absolute favorites, but were more mainstream sounding(again for the time, this is where the 'what is extreme" question comes in). But if you compare "Rocka Rolla" with say "Jugulator"...they absolutely got more extreme as time went on.

The change was for the worse IMO even though I like some of the post "Unleashed in the East" albums...nothing compares to their first 5.

Seth

 

[NeverIsForever]

*Edit: @Trey and Profanity*

he said/she said...

any bands more recent (or heavier, i.e death metal) that were either mainstream to begin with or not always as extreme as they are now?

 

[NeverIsForever]

Agreed. I meant, are there any mainstream, i.e. nu-metal, bands that moved away from the mainstream in favor of death metal or a similar genre?

 

[Kenneth R.]

system of a down? perhaps. they moved away from their start towards more political and social commentary

edit: so has green day.

 

[Kenneth R.]

i don't think you've heard either band's latest or you're joking.