Can anyone think of a band that got LESS commercially accessible?

[CanuckAmok]

I've been thinking about bands that began as 80s "noise"/avant-garde acts, and "mellowed".

Think Psychic TV, Killing Joke, Joy Division/New Order, Bauhaus/Love and Rockets, OMD, Depeche Mode... they all got more melodic and less "challenging" to listen to as time passed.

The only bands I can think of that got "less commercial" as they evolved are Ministry and Killing Joke (the 2003 Killing Joke album is a return to their gloom-noise roots).

And maybe the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Metallica (although St. Anger is just plain hopeless, not intentionally anti-formulaic, IMHO).

Has there ever been an act who has said "now that we're rich and famous, and never have to worry about money or being accepted again, let's push the envelope of what we can do, and really challenge musical convention!"?

[solinvictus]

1. REM had a couple of albums like that...

"Up" seemed to fit that bill. U2 had "Zooropa" and "Disco".

[LSdemocrat]

2. Tears for Fears to a certain extent

[Lone Pawn]

3. Beach Boys. Certainly the Beach Boys.

From Summer Days (and Summer Nights!) to Pet Sounds to Smile, we got less and less commercial, deeper, and more complex. The lyrics evolved from sugary pop through introspection to insanity.

"I been around this great big world and I seen all kinds of girls
But I can't wait to get to the States back to the cutest girls in the world--
I wish they all could be California girls!"

gave way to

"Since she put me down, I've been out doin' in my head--
I come in late at night and in the morning I just lie in bed...
So, help me, Rhonda--get her out of my heart!"

gave way to

"Every time I get the inspiration to go change things around
No one wants to help me look for places where new things might be found...
I guess I just wasn't made for these times."

gave way to

"Stand or fall I know there shall be peace in the valley
And it’s all an affair of my life with the heroes and villains."

gave way to

"A blind class aristocracy, back through the opera glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn--Columnated ruins domino!"

Quite a change over three albums.

[RandomKoolzip]

4. Hmmmm....

I just wish more bands would get better, rather than just harsher and sloppier whilst pretending to be "daring" or "ballsy" or "challenging."

The Fall, for instance, got better and better all the way up until "Extricate," when Mark E's army got lost on the battlefield and started attacking their listeners with synths and sequencers, no doubt believing they were being "challenging." But that shit just sounds dated now. Too many post-punk groups got confused by sticking around past their moment and continuing to deface their chosen genre rather than attempting to get more musical.

The flip side is the phenomenon of which you speak, where all those "challenging" post-punkers decided to interface with the commercial needs of their respective record labels or fanzine sycophants and chose to adapt to trendy notions of "accesibility," like PiL or New Order, losing whateever made them interesting in the first place and just becoming bland carbons of the original manuscript.

Offhand, I can think of very few bands who kept their winning streaks going for more than ten years. Maybe Guided by Voices...although near the end, there's a gradual drop-off in quality.

The Scientists made a transition from arty new-wave power-poppers to ugly noise-blues mutants, infusing their previous bloodlessness with some brute physicality....I guess there's an example right there.

[norml]

5. Bjork

[Patchuli]

6. The Grateful Dead for sure

but they were always accessible on tour. Not much of the commercial stuff is that great, no where near as great as the shared tapes of the Dead sanctioned tapers' section. I miss Jerry!

[AwakeAtLast]

7. I would say Radiohead

After "Creep" they really went different directions, which pissed off fans of that hit. So glad for that! :)

[last_texas_dem]

8. A few

I know of a few that got less commercial and kind of started to do their own thing the longer they were around; even though most of these probably wouldn't exactly be described as experimental they're some of my favorites.

Pearl Jam is the first one that comes to my mind. I've liked them throughout their all periods of their career but I don't think they really found their "sound" until their third album. (Significantly, their first two albums were their most commercially successful and are their best remembered albums.)

Another is the Association; started out as a poppy vocal group and had much success, but their later (commercially unsuccessful) albums (from '69 and '71) where they essentially become a soft progressive-rock band are my favorites.

Neil Young is an example of a major artist who did this. After recording some more experimental works for Geffen Records in the early eighties I believe the label tried to sue him for breach of contract for being "deliberately uncommercial."

The Byrds are another band that also became less commercial and more experimental with time; even if their early works are what they are more remembered for. They branched out into psychedelia and then made a total left-field country-rock album, and their later albums blend folk, psychedelia, and country elements as opposed to their early "electric folk" sound.

Those are just a few off the top off my head. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other greats.

[Floogeldy]

9. You got the question backwards

It would be shorter to make a list of bands that became more commercially successful.