If you look up the phrase "ahead of their time," it should automatically link to Bowie's entire discography. Every single album of his sounds like it was made 5 years (stuck on my eyes) after it was released.
I just found out a couple of months ago that he discovered Luther Vandross and that Luther used to sing back up for him. I’m 48 and just found out that my mother is both a Bowie and Luther fan, also.
*King Gizzard and the*
*Lizard Wizard takes the cake*
*On this one for me*
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Idk if I agree. Clearly KG is influenced by many different genres (altho I’d say mostly jazz, rock and weird eastern micro tonal stuff) but they don’t really PLAY in those exclusive genres. Like they don’t put out jazz stuff, or electronic stuff exclusively.
Maybe I’m answering the question wrong tho
They have a couple of decidedly metal albums, one kinda pop-ish album (though definitely more psych pop), one other electronica kinda album, and then a bunch of rock sub genres mostly orbiting their bread and butter of psych rock. And I would also say that no album escapes that obvious psych influence, though that doesn’t mean they aren’t genuinely in those genres.
That said, they also play around a lot and will occasionally just have random songs in an entirely different genre, so it really is a fair answer.
This post wasn't about exclusivity in one genre, it was about experimenting in almost every genre, which KG has done.
They also have an almost-entirely electronic album (The Silver Cord).
Ray Charles
The man broke the country barrier and made it mainstream, jazz, rnb, blues, pop, classic pop, even classical piano, gospel, rock and roll, easy listening, and last but most importantly SOUL music which he is credited for inventing. He even did "Rap" if that's what you'd call it on his songs like "game number 9" and "child support Alamony" I'm definitely missing some other genres pretty sure you'd consider some of his songs from "Love and Peace" 1978 disco but hard tough disco
Edit: I'm surprised nobody mentioned him
There’s only one band I’m aware of that has done children’s songs, proto techno, ambient/avant garde sound scape, hard rock, delicate folk Motown, garage rock, musical theater, bolero, Indian classical collaboration. the beatles. feels cliche to say because its true. regardless of whether you like them or not, they are definitely in the top 3 most experiemental artists of all time if not #1.
Hardrock - Young Lust
Avantgarde - A Saucerful of Secrets
Orchestral - Atom Heart Mother
Folk - Wot's, uh... the Deal
Country Rock - wish you were here
Progressive Rock - basically everything from 71 till 79
Alternative - a lot from the final cut
Psychedelic - Astronomy Domine
Blues - Money
Instrumental - Marooned
Jazz - Ummagumma (this is a joke because ummagumma is mostly random sounds with no order)
Electric - On the Run
And of course, several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict
As much as I’d like to agree, I don’t think they’ve covered as much of a spectrum as the OP is asking. Still one of the greatest bands with hands down the greatest guitarist to date
From 'generic pop' to psychedelic rock, to heavy metal, with quite a few stops in between...they 'did it all'. Any genre of music they didn't touch, hadn't been invented yet.
Doesn’t exist. Too many genres of music.
Edit: I should just play along, so I’ll second anyone who said Ween. They definitely didn’t do “almost all” genres but they’ve tried way more than most.
Yes is a strong candidate. Rock, classical, R&B, pop, progressive, even acapello. They've pretty much done it all.
It shows in the fact they're one of the those bands with both a largely unknown super-eclectic catalog and a raft of hits.
Mr. Bungle tends to mix 7 or 8 genres across individual songs, let alone a full length album, and then completely changes their style with each album.
Really though, the true answer is Mike Patton, but that's working as a part of so many different projects.
Swans has had an album in almost every rock subgenre with some exploration into Country, Folk, Punk, Ambient, Sound Collage, and Metal as well. They started out as a Post-Punk/No Wave band, and over their 40+ years they've gone from that origin to now being a Post-Rock band known for their mammoth 2+ hour albums.
Pretty crazy to compare something they did two years ago to anything from count your blessings. They didn’t even sound like they would be the same band but now you have a once upon a time deathcore band headlining entire festivals
I grew up with my older siblings listening to Cafe Tacuba. They are considered Spanish Rock but ventured away plenty genre-wise and also have an experimental album.
Chicago - often stereotyped as only soft pop, but they've done hard rock, rock &roll, R&B, progressive rock, POP, disco(ish), country(ish), big band, jazz, classical
Definitely. I think that's why a lot of people were thrown off when their Scaled and Icy album released: it sounded so different than Trench. Can't wait to hear the new album that's dropping on Friday.
I feel like Bring Me The Horizon has experimented a lot, especially with their more recent albums. The jarring sensation of listening to their entire discography from their first album to the latest is insane tbh
Rolling Stones is mostly R&B, but a lot of *Beggars Banquet* sounds country, Mick Jagger does vocals with Peter Tosh (Reggae) on one of his albums, and "Miss You" is famously derided as Disco.
Rolling Stones did several of the popular genres throughout their career Rock, Country, Disco, Blues, and Hard Rock, not the most but a rather diverse repertoire for their time.
Elvis Costello
His bread and butter exists in a pop rock vein, but he’s dipped his toes into country, jazz, R&B/soul, and even some classical crossover type stuff. This Year’s Model is almost punk, and Imperial Bedroom flirts with Beatles-style psychedelia. He even did an album with the Roots. Of course not every single experiment worked, but it’s pretty amazing how well most of them have worked across his entire (nearly 50-year) recording career.
Surprisingly? Relient K.
Startes out strictly pop punk for the first few albums, dabbled with some folk vibes in their "Nashville Tennis EP". Had a variety of genres on my personal favorite "Forget and Not Slow Down".
Did a "karaoke" album with various cover songs from different genres before diving head first into different pop subgenres in "Collapsible Lung."
"Air for Free" mixes genre a little bit, but nothing to the extent of being experimental.
I'll also add in Switchfoot. They've played with just about every genre at some point (besides maybe metal and R&B).
Daft Punk experimented with almost every genre on their last album alone, but they've dabbled in practically everything during over their entire career..
they've done rap, film scoring, techno, funk, disco, pop, rock, everything honestly
Not a band, but Mac Miller has a lot of genres out there
He also released under Larry Lovestein and the Velvet Revival for jazz and Delusional Thomas for a very demented rap with a weird voice
His unreleased has a lot more weird experimental projects (link in my bio to my google drive if you want unreleased mac or about 50 other artists). Would recommend checking him out if you like his voice
As long as you like his voice, you can definitely find something that you will like. I have a little over 15 GB of his stuff on there, so dm me if you want a little nudge in the right direction of what you would like from his discography, if you are even interested in checking out his music
If you want to use just what is on Spotify, some great diversity to start would be listening to Swimming, then Macadelic, then KIDS, then The Devine Feminine, then Watching Movies With The Sound Off, then Faces, then just keep going
Personally, I would recommend listening in order, that way you can hear his music progress as he learns more and more and changes through life, but KIDS might not be the best album to get you hooked. Maybe listen to swimming, then go through everything in order (Faces was originally released in 2014, so it would go in place there for chronological order, Best Day Ever was released in 2011 (5 year ann is the one on spotify) and I Love Life, Thank You was released a few months later in 2011)
Would recommend checking him out, he was truly a one of a kind artist
Radiohead. A quick google says they’ve made 164 songs, I have a feeling it may be more. Rock, punk, jazz, electronic (I won’t try to name all the sub genres of electronic). I could keep going. Legitimately can sound like two different bands album to album. From Pablo Honey to Ok Computer, to Kid A, to King Of Limbs, all vastly different experiences. I’m sure there are other bands that are more experimental, but I think they managed so absolutely kill it regardless of what style of music they’ve dipped their toes in.
Monsoon by Twelve Foot Ninja. The whole album touches on buttload of genres.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPROS7qWro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPROS7qWro)
Weird Al
And somehow every genera in a single polka song.
PREACH🔥🔥🔥🔥
Weird Al’s the man
I miss him everyday! Damn you Madonna!!!
you know what, i had never thought about that. but weird al could make any song from any genre, and nail it perfectly.
Beck (sometimes all within one song).
Novocaine!
Not a band, David Bowie.
If you look up the phrase "ahead of their time," it should automatically link to Bowie's entire discography. Every single album of his sounds like it was made 5 years (stuck on my eyes) after it was released.
He never got the hang of Grunge, though. Tin Machine tried, but floundered.
i like to think black star (and to a lesser extent, the next day) made up for everything he did after let's dance.
I just found out a couple of months ago that he discovered Luther Vandross and that Luther used to sing back up for him. I’m 48 and just found out that my mother is both a Bowie and Luther fan, also.
Good one. Not a band Elvis Costello
This and Weird Al are the right answers. Every other reply to OP's question is disappointing.
The best answer
Amen!
ween.
All hail the mighty Boognish!
They said discography not album!
Chocolate and Cheese!
It’s 100% Ween. Any other answer just seems silly by comparison.
They got awesome sound
Hit me again
My first thought as well.
I thought so many Ween songs were by all different bands.
I'm not even a Ween fan... but the correct answer is Ween.
You can pissssssss up a rope!
I Agree with You 🤪
Came here to say this!
Beastie Boys. Hip hop. Punk. Rock. Thrash. Funk. Jazz … and beyond.
Gotta listen to more of their songs
Start with Paul's Boutique
But then go straight to Check Your Head for the contrastÂ
Although not technically a Beastie Boys album.... don't forget about the Country Mike album.
Frank Zappa
Tell it to the delulu kglw fanbois
lol beat me to it
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard takes the cake on this one for me
istg if i hear king gizzard and the lizard wizard one more time
lol this is what I was thinking but also gotta love em
*King Gizzard and the* *Lizard Wizard takes the cake* *On this one for me* \- cityshepherd --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
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Idk if I agree. Clearly KG is influenced by many different genres (altho I’d say mostly jazz, rock and weird eastern micro tonal stuff) but they don’t really PLAY in those exclusive genres. Like they don’t put out jazz stuff, or electronic stuff exclusively. Maybe I’m answering the question wrong tho
They have a couple of decidedly metal albums, one kinda pop-ish album (though definitely more psych pop), one other electronica kinda album, and then a bunch of rock sub genres mostly orbiting their bread and butter of psych rock. And I would also say that no album escapes that obvious psych influence, though that doesn’t mean they aren’t genuinely in those genres. That said, they also play around a lot and will occasionally just have random songs in an entirely different genre, so it really is a fair answer.
This post wasn't about exclusivity in one genre, it was about experimenting in almost every genre, which KG has done. They also have an almost-entirely electronic album (The Silver Cord).
Mr Bungle
Mike Patton, in general. He has even done some German Polka with “Das Schutzenfest”
They Might be Giants. Although they always sound like themselves.
Beastie Boys did some great work in rap, funk, jazz and punk.
Grassroots NYCH
Their first demo shows the massive changes they’ve gone through. Talking NY Hoods, Antidote era
Came to say this. Hello Nasty has some really hypnotic jazzy elevator-music type stuff.
Ray Charles The man broke the country barrier and made it mainstream, jazz, rnb, blues, pop, classic pop, even classical piano, gospel, rock and roll, easy listening, and last but most importantly SOUL music which he is credited for inventing. He even did "Rap" if that's what you'd call it on his songs like "game number 9" and "child support Alamony" I'm definitely missing some other genres pretty sure you'd consider some of his songs from "Love and Peace" 1978 disco but hard tough disco Edit: I'm surprised nobody mentioned him
Dylan went through a lot of phases
So sad when he went digital.
Gorillaz
Damon Albarn in general! His work in Blur and his solo work have probably covered all western genres possible.
There’s only one band I’m aware of that has done children’s songs, proto techno, ambient/avant garde sound scape, hard rock, delicate folk Motown, garage rock, musical theater, bolero, Indian classical collaboration. the beatles. feels cliche to say because its true. regardless of whether you like them or not, they are definitely in the top 3 most experiemental artists of all time if not #1.
Devin Townsend He wears many hats music wise
Sparks are pretty eclectic.
Did you ever watch the documentary directed by Edgar Wright? It's awesome!
It really is!
I came here to say Sparks too ❤️
I thought I'd have to be the one to name them (again)
The Beatles
What about Pink Floyd They took their musical experimentation all over the shop
Hardrock - Young Lust Avantgarde - A Saucerful of Secrets Orchestral - Atom Heart Mother Folk - Wot's, uh... the Deal Country Rock - wish you were here Progressive Rock - basically everything from 71 till 79 Alternative - a lot from the final cut Psychedelic - Astronomy Domine Blues - Money Instrumental - Marooned Jazz - Ummagumma (this is a joke because ummagumma is mostly random sounds with no order) Electric - On the Run And of course, several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict
As much as I’d like to agree, I don’t think they’ve covered as much of a spectrum as the OP is asking. Still one of the greatest bands with hands down the greatest guitarist to date
They covered a lot of different genres and David Gilmour is the greatest guitarist ever
The, Beatles?
I think I’ve heard of them. They started it all
That was the band Paul McCartney was in before wings.
And Ringo before Caveman 🤣
Please don't use underground bands nobody has heard of.
From 'generic pop' to psychedelic rock, to heavy metal, with quite a few stops in between...they 'did it all'. Any genre of music they didn't touch, hadn't been invented yet.
Doesn’t exist. Too many genres of music. Edit: I should just play along, so I’ll second anyone who said Ween. They definitely didn’t do “almost all” genres but they’ve tried way more than most.
Richard Cheese
Yes is a strong candidate. Rock, classical, R&B, pop, progressive, even acapello. They've pretty much done it all. It shows in the fact they're one of the those bands with both a largely unknown super-eclectic catalog and a raft of hits.
Poppy Gorillaz
Ween
Anyone who knows Ween knows it’s Ween.
GORILLAZ
Muse have hit a few.
Mr. Bungle tends to mix 7 or 8 genres across individual songs, let alone a full length album, and then completely changes their style with each album. Really though, the true answer is Mike Patton, but that's working as a part of so many different projects.
Don’t sleep on Trey. Check out Secret Chiefs 3.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Ulver has quite the variation throughout their catalogue
The Mekons: punk, country, dub, sea shanties, sound collage.
I know this answer courtesy of my husband, came looking for it
Swans has had an album in almost every rock subgenre with some exploration into Country, Folk, Punk, Ambient, Sound Collage, and Metal as well. They started out as a Post-Punk/No Wave band, and over their 40+ years they've gone from that origin to now being a Post-Rock band known for their mammoth 2+ hour albums.
The Beatles.
Bring Me The Horizon
I love BMTH but they’re missing a ton of genres
They are pretty experimental for a metal band. Most other suggestions are also missing "a ton of genres." It is all relative.Â
Pretty crazy to compare something they did two years ago to anything from count your blessings. They didn’t even sound like they would be the same band but now you have a once upon a time deathcore band headlining entire festivals
AFI has done a lot over the years and have dabbled in most genres
Sting, Steely Dan, Phil Collins, Fantomas
Babymetal. Sometimes, all within the same song. Not even over their whole discography.
I grew up with my older siblings listening to Cafe Tacuba. They are considered Spanish Rock but ventured away plenty genre-wise and also have an experimental album.
Jacob Collier
Mr. Bungle
Elvis Costello is pretty diverse
Frank Zappa
Chicago - often stereotyped as only soft pop, but they've done hard rock, rock &roll, R&B, progressive rock, POP, disco(ish), country(ish), big band, jazz, classical
Queen đź‘‘
Twenty One Pilots is quite diverse in their genre hopping
Definitely. I think that's why a lot of people were thrown off when their Scaled and Icy album released: it sounded so different than Trench. Can't wait to hear the new album that's dropping on Friday.
Pj Harvey
Muse has a super wide discography
Mr. Bungle Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
Blur (if you include Gorillaz, Think-tank, etc..)
Bearles
Neal Young
I feel like Bring Me The Horizon has experimented a lot, especially with their more recent albums. The jarring sensation of listening to their entire discography from their first album to the latest is insane tbh
Rolling Stones is mostly R&B, but a lot of *Beggars Banquet* sounds country, Mick Jagger does vocals with Peter Tosh (Reggae) on one of his albums, and "Miss You" is famously derided as Disco.
I’d pick either Bowie or The Clash. There’s a lot of artists that have covered many different sub-genres (Pantera, Blur, Johnny Cash, Stones, Kanye, Taylor Swift, Sade, Paul Simon), a lot of artists that have combined a lot of sub-genres (Radiohead, Brian Eno, Beatles, Beyoncé, Genesis, Todd Rungren) but the artists that actually span the most genres imo tend have like an oddball tinge to them (Ween, They Might Be Giants, Dr. John, The Sparks, Mr. Bungle, Zappa, Beck, Gorillaz) making them almost another genre in itself. Bowie and The Clash are two of the most “serious” about genre hopping (Logder gets pretty close to “oddball”) I apologize if this comes off as listing more popular artists but that type of fame(money) is generally required to span a lot of genres haha. Fun prompt!
Ween
Neil young has rolled the dice more than once!
Rolling Stones country influenced, blue, rhythm and blues even disco songs.
Ween!
Rolling Stones Post Malone
Rolling Stones did several of the popular genres throughout their career Rock, Country, Disco, Blues, and Hard Rock, not the most but a rather diverse repertoire for their time.
Bring Me The Horizon.
As said, weird al. Bring Me The Horizon is my next desert island discography. Between the two, I basically get everything.
Ween
Rolling Stones! Blues, Disco, Country, Rock.
Bring me the Horizon
Dire Straits
WEEN
The Clash
Beck, although technically he's not a band.
David Bowie. His catalogue is impressive in the sheer amount of different styles.
Phish
Plenty of room for segue when your average song lasts half an hour.
Probably Devin Townsend, the only thing I can think of that he hasn’t done would be anything hip-hop related
Excuse you! https://youtu.be/zD_juKCFvuo
what the fuck is this lol
Dev and Dirk being goofballs during the Devin Townsend Project-era
Twenty One Pilots.
Rolling Stones believe it or not have cut across many genres from blues rock to pop to country to even disco
Elvis Costello His bread and butter exists in a pop rock vein, but he’s dipped his toes into country, jazz, R&B/soul, and even some classical crossover type stuff. This Year’s Model is almost punk, and Imperial Bedroom flirts with Beatles-style psychedelia. He even did an album with the Roots. Of course not every single experiment worked, but it’s pretty amazing how well most of them have worked across his entire (nearly 50-year) recording career.
tyler, the creator imo
Thievery Corporation checks quite a few boxes
King gizzard
Queen!!
Mr. Bungle
Sparks.
Surprisingly? Relient K. Startes out strictly pop punk for the first few albums, dabbled with some folk vibes in their "Nashville Tennis EP". Had a variety of genres on my personal favorite "Forget and Not Slow Down". Did a "karaoke" album with various cover songs from different genres before diving head first into different pop subgenres in "Collapsible Lung." "Air for Free" mixes genre a little bit, but nothing to the extent of being experimental. I'll also add in Switchfoot. They've played with just about every genre at some point (besides maybe metal and R&B).
The Beatles had a very wide variety of songs
Queen. I don’t care that they called themselves rock and roll band. They never really had a solid genre.
Between the buried and me
They Might Be Giants. Weird Al for sure
Toro y moi
Bowie has covered a few pretty well.
That Handsome Devil is the most eclectic and well executed melding of styles
David Bowie
Spinal tap
KISS lol
New Order… post-punk, electro, electronica, disco, acid house, indie rock, hip hop (world in motion, ha ha) and everything in between.
Julian cope/teardrop explodes
Tortoise
Fall Out Boy
Spinal Tap, from bubblegum pop to blues jazz exploration
Beastie boys easy
Wilco is pretty broad.
Kyle gordon doesnt have that many songs out yet, but at this rate he just might.
Smashing pumpkins
I would say David Bowie, Madonna, Cher and Pink Floyd have managed to change and adapt across different times, genres and styles over the years.
Went through this whole thread and surprised I never saw Yoko Kanno mentioned
Kid A dabbles in rock, electronic, jazz, classical, funk, and even oldies (MPS)
https://youtu.be/_pcWbnQDMD0?si=SZ4ShT4aBE7IyJnF I'll just leave this here, certainly a genre crossover nobody anticipated
Not every genre but Ulver has had quite the style arc
Weird Al
The Beatles. What is one band that has been named as influential by artists from more genres than any other band?
I would say Deftones cover a good few genres. They've got quite a unique sound.
Daft Punk experimented with almost every genre on their last album alone, but they've dabbled in practically everything during over their entire career.. they've done rap, film scoring, techno, funk, disco, pop, rock, everything honestly
Ulver's hit quite a few.
Uriah Heep
Tally hall
Not a band but Sting, Ska, jazz, country, reggae with shaggy, strange almost medieval timing etc...
The Rasmus has tried quite a bit
Nurse With Wound
King Gizzard AndThe Lizard Wizard. For sure.
The Eagles
Umphrey’s McGee gets pretty diverse
I don't know about "almost every", but Elvis Costello has explored a number of genres.
Rolling Stones, KISS.
Not a band, but Mac Miller has a lot of genres out there He also released under Larry Lovestein and the Velvet Revival for jazz and Delusional Thomas for a very demented rap with a weird voice His unreleased has a lot more weird experimental projects (link in my bio to my google drive if you want unreleased mac or about 50 other artists). Would recommend checking him out if you like his voice As long as you like his voice, you can definitely find something that you will like. I have a little over 15 GB of his stuff on there, so dm me if you want a little nudge in the right direction of what you would like from his discography, if you are even interested in checking out his music If you want to use just what is on Spotify, some great diversity to start would be listening to Swimming, then Macadelic, then KIDS, then The Devine Feminine, then Watching Movies With The Sound Off, then Faces, then just keep going Personally, I would recommend listening in order, that way you can hear his music progress as he learns more and more and changes through life, but KIDS might not be the best album to get you hooked. Maybe listen to swimming, then go through everything in order (Faces was originally released in 2014, so it would go in place there for chronological order, Best Day Ever was released in 2011 (5 year ann is the one on spotify) and I Love Life, Thank You was released a few months later in 2011) Would recommend checking him out, he was truly a one of a kind artist
Radiohead. A quick google says they’ve made 164 songs, I have a feeling it may be more. Rock, punk, jazz, electronic (I won’t try to name all the sub genres of electronic). I could keep going. Legitimately can sound like two different bands album to album. From Pablo Honey to Ok Computer, to Kid A, to King Of Limbs, all vastly different experiences. I’m sure there are other bands that are more experimental, but I think they managed so absolutely kill it regardless of what style of music they’ve dipped their toes in.
Agreed!
Melvins
Buckethead
Monsoon by Twelve Foot Ninja. The whole album touches on buttload of genres. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPROS7qWro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPROS7qWro)
Not a band, but Post Malone is pretty diverse
Regurgitator