Fleetwood Mac and 4 Other Musicians Who Changed Genres and Reinvented Their Sound

Sometimes, a particular musician is just not cut out for a particular genre. In fact, quite a few of the bands and artists we love today became famous for genres completely different from the ones they started out in. Take a look at five bands and musicians you might be surprised to learn had changed genres at some point in their careers!

1. Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac’s earliest iteration formed in late 1968 in the blues-rock genre. They were pretty well known for “Black Magic Woman” and stuck to their blues-rock roots until the mid-1970s. 

However, things changed a bit when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band and lent their more mainstream rock sound to Fleetwood Mac. They began to lean more towards folk-rock than blues-rock, and the rest is history.

2. The Byrds

The Byrds were one of the biggest bands of the 1960s and inspired the likes of The Beatles, Tom Petty, and more. The were pioneers of psychedelic rock and even folk rock to a degree. 

However, the group decided to change things around after experimenting with the country song “Satisfied Mind” in 1966. A pretty significant lineup change later, The Byrds released their country-rock album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo two years later.

3. Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop is punk-rock’s cool grandpa today, but he did experiment with other genres before landing on proto-punk and eventually punk music. We’d be bold enough to say he’s one of the most well-known examples of musicians who completely changed genres.

Iggy Pop (then just James Osterberg) was once a drummer for the blues outfit Prime Movers, and even learned a thing or two about blues music from greats like Big Walter Horton. Around the mid-1960s, he decided he wanted to start his own band. He then changed his name and put together The Stooges, which would soon be revealed as one of the earliest punk rock bands.

4. The Go-Gos

“Our Lips Are Sealed” and “Vacation” are still new-wave pop classics today. Surprisingly, The Go-Gos weren’t always making music like this. In their early days, The Go-Gos were a part of the Los Angeles punk scene. They played with the likes of X and The Germs, the latter of which Belinda Carlisle was a member of for a brief amount of time.

5. Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers was a country legend, but his early music career looked very different from “Lucille” or “The Gambler”. In the 1960s, Rogers was like any other hippie; he boasted long hair, earrings, and a taste for jazz as well as rockabilly. He was part of the psychedelic pop band First Edition, too.

Rogers left the back in 1973. He struggled to find his musical identity for a while, but eventually scored his first country hit with “Lucille” in 1977.

Photo via Fleetwood Mac, ‘Mirage Tour ’82’ Album Cover (Courtesy of Rhino Entertainment)

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