Bands that many fans wish would go back to their "older" sound

[soupytwist]

I think everything upto and including Backspacer is really good, infact I love the directness of Backspacer - as I said after that I haven't overly enjoyed the most recent two releases.  I feel they are a collection of individuals who just come together and record whatever they have - they don't seem together as a band much thesedays and that's fair enough they've survived longer than most other 'grunge' acts.

[HOF]

Backspacer is a really fun album. I didn’t care for the self titled or Riot Act, and only about half of Binaural is interesting. I like Yield and No Code, and Vitology is up there with Vs for my favorite PJ album probably. Ten is probably one I listen to the least, even though I do think it’s a great record.

[Stadler]

I like the Stone Gossard/Jeff Ament Pearl Jam, not the Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam.  I'd be fine with going back to the Stone and Jeff years.

As someone who is more of a Pearl Jam newbie and have just started diving deeper (I was familiar with Ten but in last few weeks have moved onto Vs, and now Vitalogy) I'm kinda curious if you could expand on this, as I thought Gossard/Ament have been there for the whole ride as well as Vedder?

Well, you know (or many you don't) that Pearl Jam started from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, a band that Stone and Jeff were in with Andrew Wood, Bruce Fairweather and Greg Gilmore.   Wood (a close friend of Chris Cornell) died of a heroin overdose.    Cornell (and Matt Cameron) joined up with Stone and Jeff to put together an album called "Temple Of The Dog".  They got a new guitar player, Mike McCready.  On the side, Ament, Gossard, McCready and a guy named Dave Kruzen (it might have been Jack Irons then, don't quote me on this) put together some demos and sent them out, including to a guy recommended to them by Jack Irons, a guy named Eddie Vedder.   Vedder even came up to Seattle and made his recorded debut (at least major label) on "Hunger Strike" from TOTD.

So Vedder wrote lyrics to the rest of the material, and that was the Ten album.  Basically Stone and Jeff's music with Eddie's lyrics.    Vs. was more of the same, generally, with Stone and Jeff basically as band leaders.  There's a really poignant scene in the "20" documentary - a MUST SEE if you're a fan of the band, by the way - where Stone recounts being really unhappy around the time of No Code and he and Jeff had to make a decision:  do they implode Pearl Jam and go off and continue their specific vision, or do they acknowledge that this isn't their band anymore, it's Eddie's, and they can cede that leadership in exchange for a global stage for their creative outlet.  They obviously made the decision to stay in Eddie's band.

Watch the doc; Stone is really candid about it, and not without a little sadness if you ask me (though I don't know the man, and never asked him about it.)

[soupytwist]

I like the Stone Gossard/Jeff Ament Pearl Jam, not the Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam.  I'd be fine with going back to the Stone and Jeff years.

As someone who is more of a Pearl Jam newbie and have just started diving deeper (I was familiar with Ten but in last few weeks have moved onto Vs, and now Vitalogy) I'm kinda curious if you could expand on this, as I thought Gossard/Ament have been there for the whole ride as well as Vedder?

Well, you know (or many you don't) that Pearl Jam started from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, a band that Stone and Jeff were in with Andrew Wood, Bruce Fairweather and Greg Gilmore.   Wood (a close friend of Chris Cornell) died of a heroin overdose.    Cornell (and Matt Cameron) joined up with Stone and Jeff to put together an album called "Temple Of The Dog".  They got a new guitar player, Mike McCready.  On the side, Ament, Gossard, McCready and a guy named Dave Kruzen (it might have been Jack Irons then, don't quote me on this) put together some demos and sent them out, including to a guy recommended to them by Jack Irons, a guy named Eddie Vedder.   Vedder even came up to Seattle and made his recorded debut (at least major label) on "Hunger Strike" from TOTD.

So Vedder wrote lyrics to the rest of the material, and that was the Ten album.  Basically Stone and Jeff's music with Eddie's lyrics.    Vs. was more of the same, generally, with Stone and Jeff basically as band leaders.  There's a really poignant scene in the "20" documentary - a MUST SEE if you're a fan of the band, by the way - where Stone recounts being really unhappy around the time of No Code and he and Jeff had to make a decision:  do they implode Pearl Jam and go off and continue their specific vision, or do they acknowledge that this isn't their band anymore, it's Eddie's, and they can cede that leadership in exchange for a global stage for their creative outlet.  They obviously made the decision to stay in Eddie's band.

Watch the doc; Stone is really candid about it, and not without a little sadness if you ask me (though I don't know the man, and never asked him about it.)

The thing is after VS and Vitalogy (which were heavy Vedder) No Code, Yield, Binaural and Riot Act had far more contributions from the other members, including the lyrics for the first time ever.  From the Self Titled album things have swung back more towards Vedder - but most of the other members now have their own creative outputs either with solo or small bands.

[Stadler]

I like the Stone Gossard/Jeff Ament Pearl Jam, not the Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam.  I'd be fine with going back to the Stone and Jeff years.

As someone who is more of a Pearl Jam newbie and have just started diving deeper (I was familiar with Ten but in last few weeks have moved onto Vs, and now Vitalogy) I'm kinda curious if you could expand on this, as I thought Gossard/Ament have been there for the whole ride as well as Vedder?

Well, you know (or many you don't) that Pearl Jam started from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, a band that Stone and Jeff were in with Andrew Wood, Bruce Fairweather and Greg Gilmore.   Wood (a close friend of Chris Cornell) died of a heroin overdose.    Cornell (and Matt Cameron) joined up with Stone and Jeff to put together an album called "Temple Of The Dog".  They got a new guitar player, Mike McCready.  On the side, Ament, Gossard, McCready and a guy named Dave Kruzen (it might have been Jack Irons then, don't quote me on this) put together some demos and sent them out, including to a guy recommended to them by Jack Irons, a guy named Eddie Vedder.   Vedder even came up to Seattle and made his recorded debut (at least major label) on "Hunger Strike" from TOTD.

So Vedder wrote lyrics to the rest of the material, and that was the Ten album.  Basically Stone and Jeff's music with Eddie's lyrics.    Vs. was more of the same, generally, with Stone and Jeff basically as band leaders.  There's a really poignant scene in the "20" documentary - a MUST SEE if you're a fan of the band, by the way - where Stone recounts being really unhappy around the time of No Code and he and Jeff had to make a decision:  do they implode Pearl Jam and go off and continue their specific vision, or do they acknowledge that this isn't their band anymore, it's Eddie's, and they can cede that leadership in exchange for a global stage for their creative outlet.  They obviously made the decision to stay in Eddie's band.

Watch the doc; Stone is really candid about it, and not without a little sadness if you ask me (though I don't know the man, and never asked him about it.)

The thing is after VS and Vitalogy (which were heavy Vedder) No Code, Yield, Binaural and Riot Act had far more contributions from the other members, including the lyrics for the first time ever.  From the Self Titled album things have swung back more towards Vedder - but most of the other members now have their own creative outputs either with solo or small bands.

All true; I think, though, it was a mindset.   The Ticketmaster thing.  Some of the politics around the band.   Stone was clear, it's not like they were doing something they didn't want to do, but there was a clear delineation of leadership in the band, and the axis shifted from "Stone/Jeff" to "Eddie". Whether that was benevolent or not we can only guess.  But there's one clear difference:  the knock on Stone and Jeff (particularly Jeff) is that they wanted to be ROCK STARS.  That was the beef with Mark Arm and Steve Turner in Green River, that was one of the things they LOVED about Andy Wood is that he did too, and that was a knock about the early Pearl Jam as compared to Soundgarden and some of the other Seattle bands.

[Phoenix87x]

Devin townsend is so diverse that its hard to identify old/new sound, but I just prefer his older work such as Ocean Machine, Terria and Accelerated evolution.

[Pettor]

Sonata Arctica. This is the big one for me. Once my favorite band with tons of great melodies and a strong Queen energy to everything. Creating albums like Winter heart, Reckoning Night and UNIA plus many other great albums they just lost it. The production is TERRIBLE and the melodies just left planet earth. I can't understand what happened. Every other band in my list at least found a new direction that is interesting but maybe just not for me, but this one just sounds uninspiring.

Opeth. Still think it's the right move for them since this is what inspires them, it just felt like they moved away from having one of the most unique quality sounds to some 70s prog rock that I have a hard time even getting through one spin. Mikael's growl was one of the best in the industry and jumping between that and clean vocals really gave the music a dimension few bands could match. Even mellow songs was fantastic at this point, something I sadly don't think they are anymore.

Leprous I think is one of these band now as well. Their sound was soooo good on Biliteral and Coal but I have a hard time getting into their new sound.

Nightwish. Floor is the best metal singer. Period. Sadly she joined the band in a time where they started doing big dramatic and quite pretentious pieces without the same melodic focus and catchy songs. Once and Dark Passion Play just hits perfectly for me but everything after is kind of meh.

[soupytwist]

I like the Stone Gossard/Jeff Ament Pearl Jam, not the Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam.  I'd be fine with going back to the Stone and Jeff years.

As someone who is more of a Pearl Jam newbie and have just started diving deeper (I was familiar with Ten but in last few weeks have moved onto Vs, and now Vitalogy) I'm kinda curious if you could expand on this, as I thought Gossard/Ament have been there for the whole ride as well as Vedder?

Well, you know (or many you don't) that Pearl Jam started from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, a band that Stone and Jeff were in with Andrew Wood, Bruce Fairweather and Greg Gilmore.   Wood (a close friend of Chris Cornell) died of a heroin overdose.    Cornell (and Matt Cameron) joined up with Stone and Jeff to put together an album called "Temple Of The Dog".  They got a new guitar player, Mike McCready.  On the side, Ament, Gossard, McCready and a guy named Dave Kruzen (it might have been Jack Irons then, don't quote me on this) put together some demos and sent them out, including to a guy recommended to them by Jack Irons, a guy named Eddie Vedder.   Vedder even came up to Seattle and made his recorded debut (at least major label) on "Hunger Strike" from TOTD.

So Vedder wrote lyrics to the rest of the material, and that was the Ten album.  Basically Stone and Jeff's music with Eddie's lyrics.    Vs. was more of the same, generally, with Stone and Jeff basically as band leaders.  There's a really poignant scene in the "20" documentary - a MUST SEE if you're a fan of the band, by the way - where Stone recounts being really unhappy around the time of No Code and he and Jeff had to make a decision:  do they implode Pearl Jam and go off and continue their specific vision, or do they acknowledge that this isn't their band anymore, it's Eddie's, and they can cede that leadership in exchange for a global stage for their creative outlet.  They obviously made the decision to stay in Eddie's band.

Watch the doc; Stone is really candid about it, and not without a little sadness if you ask me (though I don't know the man, and never asked him about it.)

The thing is after VS and Vitalogy (which were heavy Vedder) No Code, Yield, Binaural and Riot Act had far more contributions from the other members, including the lyrics for the first time ever.  From the Self Titled album things have swung back more towards Vedder - but most of the other members now have their own creative outputs either with solo or small bands.

All true; I think, though, it was a mindset.   The Ticketmaster thing.  Some of the politics around the band.   Stone was clear, it's not like they were doing something they didn't want to do, but there was a clear delineation of leadership in the band, and the axis shifted from "Stone/Jeff" to "Eddie". Whether that was benevolent or not we can only guess.  But there's one clear difference:  the knock on Stone and Jeff (particularly Jeff) is that they wanted to be ROCK STARS.  That was the beef with Mark Arm and Steve Turner in Green River, that was one of the things they LOVED about Andy Wood is that he did too, and that was a knock about the early Pearl Jam as compared to Soundgarden and some of the other Seattle bands.

Been ages since I saw PJ & 20 I don't remember the scene your are refering to so I'd need a rewatch.  I do remember Mike saying Eddie could be an intense character though.  I'm not sure I'd agree about the rockstar part - I mean they were/are rockstars, maybe the biggest band in the States (maybe world) around the VS era.  Cobain's suicide changed the band's outlook on fame, and yes there was a deliberate scaling back after that, not sure that was a pure Vedder decision though.
Even though the record quality may have dropped that still remain a top tier live experience, one of the few who change their setlist every date.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Sonata Arctica. This is the big one for me. Once my favorite band with tons of great melodies and a strong Queen energy to everything. Creating albums like Winter heart, Reckoning Night and UNIA plus many other great albums they just lost it. The production is TERRIBLE and the melodies just left planet earth. I can't understand what happened. Every other band in my list at least found a new direction that is interesting but maybe just not for me, but this one just sounds uninspiring.

Nightwish. Floor is the best metal singer. Period. Sadly she joined the band in a time where they started doing big dramatic and quite pretentious pieces without the same melodic focus and catchy songs. Once and Dark Passion Play just hits perfectly for me but everything after is kind of meh.

Interesting that you mention Unia.  To me that's the album they lost me on, and I've never really gotten back onboard with any of their new material since then.  Those first four albums are still magical though.

Wishmaster to me was NW's peak, and I wish they could combine Floor's vocals with that era stylistically.  You get a glimpse at it with Floor's rendition of "She Is My Sin" on the live album which is killer. 

[dparrott]

Radiohead.  To me it sounds like they've been making the same album since Amnesiac.  Plug in a distortion pedal!!!

[Zantera]

Radiohead.  To me it sounds like they've been making the same album since Amnesiac.  Plug in a distortion pedal!!!

As much as I love The Bends and OK Computer, I would argue there's less variety across the first 3 albums before Kid A than in the albums after it.

[MirrorMask]

Sonata Arctica. This is the big one for me. Once my favorite band with tons of great melodies and a strong Queen energy to everything. Creating albums like Winter heart, Reckoning Night and UNIA plus many other great albums they just lost it. The production is TERRIBLE and the melodies just left planet earth. I can't understand what happened. Every other band in my list at least found a new direction that is interesting but maybe just not for me, but this one just sounds uninspiring.

Nightwish. Floor is the best metal singer. Period. Sadly she joined the band in a time where they started doing big dramatic and quite pretentious pieces without the same melodic focus and catchy songs. Once and Dark Passion Play just hits perfectly for me but everything after is kind of meh.

Interesting that you mention Unia.  To me that's the album they lost me on, and I've never really gotten back onboard with any of their new material since then.  Those first four albums are still magical though.

Unia is my favorite Sonata Arctica album. I love how completely batshit insane and all over the place is. They never made an album as good since then.

[wolfking]

Sonata Arctica. This is the big one for me. Once my favorite band with tons of great melodies and a strong Queen energy to everything. Creating albums like Winter heart, Reckoning Night and UNIA plus many other great albums they just lost it. The production is TERRIBLE and the melodies just left planet earth. I can't understand what happened. Every other band in my list at least found a new direction that is interesting but maybe just not for me, but this one just sounds uninspiring.

Nightwish. Floor is the best metal singer. Period. Sadly she joined the band in a time where they started doing big dramatic and quite pretentious pieces without the same melodic focus and catchy songs. Once and Dark Passion Play just hits perfectly for me but everything after is kind of meh.

Interesting that you mention Unia.  To me that's the album they lost me on, and I've never really gotten back onboard with any of their new material since then.  Those first four albums are still magical though.

Unia is my favorite Sonata Arctica album. I love how completely batshit insane and all over the place is. They never made an album as good since then.

Agree.  It's easily my fav too.  They lost me with the next one.

[KevShmev]

Radiohead.  To me it sounds like they've been making the same album since Amnesiac.  Plug in a distortion pedal!!!

As much as I love The Bends and OK Computer, I would argue there's less variety across the first 3 albums before Kid A than in the albums after it.

Totally agree. The Bends and OK Computer are both stellar, but there has been a lot more variety in their music since Kid A. 

[LCArenas]

Opeth. I like Pale Communion and In Cauda Venenum, but Sorceress and specially Heritage were misses imo. They don't even have to return to their 90's sound, I'll settle for Ghost Reveries and Watershed. This'll probably never happen since Mikael has said he's not coming back to growling vocals, though.
Coldplay. I actually liked their last album and am looking forward to their next one (LOVED "Coloratura"), and I can safely say I love at least a pair of songs of every album they've released, but I want something more intimate, less overproduced, more like Parachutes and Rush of Blood to the Head, even Ghost Stories which was a great album. Do it for one album and you guys can go back to do songs with whatever band is popular right now.
Mutemath. Vitals was a cure for insomnia. Play Dead and Voice in the Silence were better I guess, but come on. I want that raw power that the Self titled, Armistice and Odd Soul gave me. Seeing that it's more a Paul project nowadays I doubt that's gonna happen.

[SoundscapeMN]

Mutemath. Vitals was a cure for insomnia. Play Dead and Voice in the Silence were better I guess, but come on. I want that raw power that the Self titled, Armistice and Odd Soul gave me. Seeing that it's more a Paul project nowadays I doubt that's gonna happen.

I know a lot of fans that feel this way. I enjoy Vitals, and actually really love Play Dead (my AOTY for 2017, at the time).
But at the same time, I can follow why fans want that older sound.

I made a video on YouTube recently talking about all the Mutemath Albums, showing my collection, and I get into that a bit.Sadly, dunno if/when it'll happen given it is more or less a Paul Meany's project now and Darren and the others aren't involved at this point.

[Volante99]

Opeth- but not specifically for death metal/growls- but they’re missing the dark atmosphere. I know some people love Watershed and all that but frankly I thought they started slipping after Blackwater Park; it’s pretty easy to see why Mikael was getting burnt out on the metal thing. Most fans hated Heritage but I consider it their last great album (Mikael also seems to hold it in high regard)- it’s proggy, unique, yet still retains a sense of “darkness” for lack of a better word- I wish he would have explored more of that. In Cauda came close but not quite hitting the spot.

I’d like the see Ulver do one more modern metal album. Doesn’t necessarily need to be black metal but something heavy. I know the band prides themselves by being unpredictable and different and at this point doing a metal album would be the most unpredictable move for them.

[jingle.boy]

Bon Jovi.  'nuff said.

[wolfking]

Bon Jovi.  'nuff said.

I'm amazed at how fucked his voice is now.

[wolfking]

I'll put a vote in for Opeth.  BP, GR, Deliverance, just incredible.  The new stuff just doesn't compete with those albums on any level.

[HOF]

Bon Jovi.  'nuff said.

I'm amazed at how fucked his voice is now.

It was rough back in 2000 when Crush came out.

[Kotowboy]

I heard a new bon jovi song recently and I was like who is singing this one ? It sounded NOTHING like Jon.

His voice is GONE.

[King Postwhore]

Sure with his voice but the writing dynamics changed too when Richie was let go.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I wonder which 80s rock/metal belter's voice has aged the best.  My first thought is Michael Sweet, but there could be an even better example.  A lot of them can barely sing at all now, much less hit the notes they used to be able to or sometimes even sound at all like themselves anymore. 

[HOF]

I wonder which 80s rock/metal belter's voice has aged the best.  My first thought is Michael Sweet, but there could be an even better example.  A lot of them can barely sing at all now, much less hit the notes they used to be able to or sometimes even sound at all like themselves anymore.

Kip Winger without a doubt.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The last winger album is 7.5 years ago.  Has he done anything else since then?

[HOF]

The last winger album is 7.5 years ago.  Has he done anything else since then?

I saw him last year two years ago solo acoustic and he still brings it. This was from earlier this year:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGeIX5BiXsw

I’m sure he’s not hitting all the high notes from earlier in his career, and to be fair he hasn’t been around as long or touring as heavily as someone like JBJ, but he is 60 and he’s taken great care of his voice through the years.

[Kotowboy]

Hetfield on a good day still sounds really good. But it's hit and miss.

[wolfking]

The last winger album is 7.5 years ago.  Has he done anything else since then?

I saw him last year two years ago solo acoustic and he still brings it. This was from earlier this year:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGeIX5BiXsw

I’m sure he’s not hitting all the high notes from earlier in his career, and to be fair he hasn’t been around as long or touring as heavily as someone like JBJ, but he is 60 and he’s taken great care of his voice through the years.

Still a sexy man at 60 too. 

[MirrorMask]

I heard a new bon jovi song recently and I was like who is singing this one ? It sounded NOTHING like Jon.

His voice is GONE.

Bon Jovi, sadly, spiralled down in music and voice quality, it's a free fall and he's not even halfway there to the bottom.

He was my first musical love, he's the one with whom I started to listen to foreign and somehow heavy music, and I never saw him live... but that ship has sailed, now I wouldn't go seeing him live even if I could. No Ritchie and a poor performance? that's not the memory I want to have of my first musical passion as a teen, should have seen him 15 years ago.

[Snow Dog]

Within Temptation’s last couple of albums have been largely forgettable. The only song I remember from Hydra was the rapping one, and that’s only because I was surprised to hear the word “fuck” in a WT song. I listened to Resist once and haven’t spun it again. And for the love of Pete, stop it with the constant guest vocalists.

I also listen to a fair amount of Christian rock. Something I’ve noticed the past few years is that a fair number of these artists who previously used the guitar to push the songs are now shifting away from this and moving toward using keys/synths/programming as their fundamental driver. I’m not against this in principle if they’re doing something unique and interesting with it, but they just seem to play chords and put some Jesus vocals over them and that’s it. Seriously boring and feels very phoned in.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The last Within Temptation album I really loved was The Unforgiving.  I miss the Enter/The Dance period even more though, they had a really interesting sound at that point unlike anyone else.  They started stripping out the progressive and gothic elements and went full-blown symphonic, which they're good at, but became an overly saturated scene. 

The Christian music industry always chases secular trends and takes a few years to catch on to the mainstream zeitgeist, so the dance-pop trend that started in the late 00s and became huge in the earlier 10s had a lag for them and didn't take off until a bit later. 

[Anguyen92]

^^ So what, we are going to see Christian EDM or something?

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Hillsong Young & Free, some of Elevation Worship's stuff, various others pretty much are.  Probably a lot more, I don't really follow the scene very closely. 

[cfmoran13]

For me, the only band that really falls into this category is Aerosmith.  And, it's not so much that I wish they would go back to it now because, I think, they're just about done at this point.  I wish it would've happened after Get A Grip.  It had a good song or two.  But, with the release of the 3 Alicia Silverstone video tunes, they were definitely at their poppiest.  I would've loved for them to get back some of their rawness.  They became way too polished and way too formulaic.  And, it only got worse from there.  Every song required an outside co-writer and every song got more watered down than the one before.