• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Artists with your favorite/most interesting career progression?

G

gfxtwin

Member
Just a few of my favorites:

I love how At the Drive In went from this amazing, energetic, punchy rock/punk band to mastering jammy, psychedelic prog rock as The Mars Volta.

Aphex Twin making fairly straightforward (but still highly imaginative) chamber electro and ambient to gradually making shit as insanely complex as Ziggomatic 17, and now he builds robots to make music for him lmao.

My Bloody Valentine - starting off as bland post-punk and then the bizarre, otherworldly sound of Isn't anything is followed by the timeless 2001 stargate sequence of an album that is Loveless, followed by an album after a 13 year wait that somehow expands on THAT.

Banksy - Street artist obviously known for making irreverent, clever satirical stencil graffiti. Then his art takes the form of an enigmatic documentary where he is both the filmmaker and subject. Now he has designed one-of-a-kind huge installation piece that's a theme park that is a satirical take on Disney.
 
Luschient

Luschient

Member
Been a NIN fan forever and it's been amazing to watch Trent go through everything he has.


  • NIN being a quasi-industrial club act in late 80s/early 90s
  • Closer taking off and launching them into headlining arena tours
  • Trent's addiction issues
  • Taking 5 years between albums
  • Finally cleaning up and releasing a metric ton of music (Ghosts, soundtracks, etc.)
  • Winning an Oscar for his soundtrack work
  • Starting a family
  • Side projects like How To Destroy Angels
  • Now, in the past few months releasing some of the best NIN music in the last decade
I know this is a Cliff's Notes version but it's been great to see Trent's growth and journey all these years.
 
G

gfxtwin

Member
Donald Glover:

- Starts off as a rando cast member on a not-well-known sketch comedy series
- Early EPs as Childish Gambino show promise.
- First album isn't very good, but still a hit.
- Balances TV comedies like Community and 30 Rock with stand-up.
- Drops 2nd Gambino album and it's more ambitious and sounds better, but is still not the most loved album of critics.
- Co-stars in major Ridley Scott movie.
- Auteurs (writes, creates, stars in) excellent TV series, Atlanta. Everyone suddenly realizes he's kind of a genius.
- Drops next Gambino album and reveals he's a damn talented soul singer/funk artist. Now everyone is waiting to see what he'll do next.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
gfxtwin said:
Donald Glover:

- Starts off as a rando cast member on a not-well-known sketch comedy series
- Early EPs as Childish Gambino show promise.
- First album isn't very good, but still a hit.
- Balances TV comedies like Community and 30 Rock with stand-up.
- Drops 2nd Gambino album and it's more ambitious and sounds better, but is still not the most loved album of critics.
- Co-stars in major Ridley Scott movie.
- Auteurs (writes, creates, stars in) excellent TV series, Atlanta. Everyone suddenly realizes he's kind of a genius.
- Drops next Gambino album and reveals he's a damn talented soul singer/funk artist. Now everyone is waiting to see what he'll do next.
Click to expand...
Wasn't his latest album his last?
 
L

Lys Skygge

Member
Luschient said:
Been a NIN fan forever and it's been amazing to watch Trent go through everything he has.


  • NIN being a quasi-industrial club act in late 80s/early 90s
  • Closer taking off and launching them into headlining arena tours
  • Trent's addiction issues
  • Taking 5 years between albums
  • Finally cleaning up and releasing a metric ton of music (Ghosts, soundtracks, etc.)
  • Winning an Oscar for his soundtrack work
  • Starting a family
  • Side projects like How To Destroy Angels
  • Now, in the past few months releasing some of the best NIN music in the last decade
I know this is a Cliff's Notes version but it's been great to see Trent's growth and journey all these years.
Click to expand...

Agreed with all of this. Watching Trent grow into the artist he is today has been a great journey. I know fans are always clamoring for him to go back to TDS era, but I really enjoy pretty much anything he puts out, and would personally rank TDS fairly low. I especially love his soundtrack work.
 
G

gfxtwin

Member
Killer Queen said:
Wasn't his latest album his last?
Click to expand...

I meant it feels like there's a general excitement to see anything he might do next, after the success of his auteur stuff as Gambino and showrunner of Atlanta. And one of those things is a script for an animated Deadpool TV series!

I remember reading he wants to do one more Gambino album, and then might call that project off. Might still make music though.
 
H

higemaru

Member
Scott Walker has an incredible career progression that I'm not even super well versed in. He went from being like in a 60s English rock band to doing his own ambitious/bizarre solo career that has shades of Sinatra and Zappa and then his career sputtered out in the 1970s with sporadic releases here and there. In the 80s, he released Climate of Hunter which was more post-punk influenced and was generally very dark and moody and then he doubled down on that ten years later with his next album. Then I think he went on hiatus for another decade before releasing another dark, moody, and beloved album.
 
U

uncelestial

Member
The Beatles

Start as a skiffle group

Get electric guitars, become an Rn'B/rock and roll combo

Become pop megastars

Start smoking weed and listening to Dylan, usher in proto-psychedelia and Eastern-influenced song arrangements

Go full on tripping balls acid crazy

Urge peace and love through a live musical performance on the first ever worldwide satellite broadcast

Fragment into pieces and put out a crazy double album of solo material by the four members

Get it together one last time and make one of the greatest rock albums ever made


Along the way, are the first ever to use backwards guitar and vocals, Indian instruments, samples/loops, and feedback in pop recording.

Fucking amazing.
 
V

vulva

Member
Sonic Youth consistently took their sound and shifted to different directions with their major releases while pushing further outward with side projects and experimental releases. Even while they were releasing more pop friendly things like Sonic Nurse, they were still trying new and creative things with their SYR releases. Then you look at things like Thurston's tapes or Kim's modern projects like Body/Head or Self Esteem and she continues really pushing in to different approaches to music.

It's crazy to me that Sonic Youth managed to get massive mainstream success while being one of the most eclectic and experimental groups to exist.
 
F

Frankenstrat

Member
The rise of Sturgill Simpson from nothing to people hailing him as the savior of country music has been a sight to see. Immediately looked him up after hearing Living The Dream on the radio three years ago and have kept up ever since. Going from traditional country with a soulful and psychedelic edge with Metamodern Sounds to the smorgasbord of sound that was A Sailor's Guide to Earth was interesting, as will be his return to more rootsy sound in the near future.
 
J

jstripes

Banned
Beck is kind of interesting. He went from an unknown folk singer to stoner grunge to weird mod-influenced experimental electro rock pop whatever to bossa nova back to folk and then just going in whatever direction he wanted.
 
M

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos
gfxtwin said:
Donald Glover:

- Starts off as a rando cast member on a not-well-known sketch comedy series
- Early EPs as Childish Gambino show promise.
- First album isn't very good, but still a hit.
- Balances TV comedies like Community and 30 Rock with stand-up.
- Drops 2nd Gambino album and it's more ambitious and sounds better, but is still not the most loved album of critics.
- Co-stars in major Ridley Scott movie.
- Auteurs (writes, creates, stars in) excellent TV series, Atlanta. Everyone suddenly realizes he's kind of a genius.
- Drops next Gambino album and reveals he's a damn talented soul singer/funk artist. Now everyone is waiting to see what he'll do next.
Click to expand...

Seconded.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Halftime Report: Your favorite albums of the year so far.
2 3
149
14K
torre_avenue replied
  • Locked
Your favorite/most formative pieces of media?
0
932
leroidys replied
  • Locked
Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Performance in the Style of Yamashiro Collective
3
2K
Zuhzuhzombie!! replied
  • Locked
Spin's 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014)
4 5 6 7 8
366
27K
Suzaku replied
  • Locked
COMICS!!! |OT| May 2017 - Every Empire Falls
123 124 125 126 127
6K
323K
Freezasaurus replied
Top Bottom