History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / Music

* Music/LukeBryan's debut album ''I'll Stay Me'' is by far his most country-sounding. The production is more driven by fiddle and steel guitar, and the style bears an overall closer resemblance to Music/BillyCurrington's "Good Directions", which Bryan wrote just before his breakthrough. Most of his subsequent albums are dominated by a mix of melancholy, electric guitar-driven country-pop ballads such as "Do I" and "I Don't Want This Night to End" alongside harder, rock- and rap-influenced uptempos like "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)", "That's My Kind of Night", and "Kick the Dust Up".

* Music/AvengedSevenfold's first effort ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'' (2001) ressembles their later works very little. First, the bassist wasn't Johnny Christ but Justin Sane[[note]]not to be confused with the Music/AntiFlag frontman[[/note]], Zacky Vengeance was the sole guitarist, M. Shadows screamed for 90% of the album, and drummer The Rev was in the middle of his 'Pinkly Smooth' period (a Music/MrBungle-inspired side-project). The result was a pretty messy HardcorePunk album produced with close to no budget under a Belgian label, that featured none of the epic riffing and soloing of later albums (save for the remade intro track "To End the Rapture", recorded after Synyster Gates joined the band as lead guitarist). The album does feature a PowerBallad though, which is pretty jarring. Also, the band didn't have its iconic Deathbat logo yet. The untitled demo made the year before with original bassist Matt Wendt, is even weirder. Their second album ''Waking the Fallen'' also qualifies, but to a lesser extent − while it has a melodic Main/{{Metalcore}} style and still a lot of screaming, the core of their later material is already there, and the final track "And All Things Will End" largely prefigures the style of ''City of Evil''.

** Also, Rob Halford (and, by extension, the rest of the band) wouldn't adopt the [[HellBentForLeather now-iconic and highly-influential "leathers and studs" look]] until 1978, around the release of ''Killing Machine/Hell Bent For Leather''.

* Music/MercuryRev: The first two albums, which featured original frontman David Baker as lead singer, bear the influence of Pink Floyd filtered through punk and noise bands, with some elements of world music and pretty much everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. In other words, nothing like the LighterAndSofter (but fucking awesome) band's breakthrough fourth album ''Deserter's Songs''. The aptly named third album ''See You on the Other Side'' sounds closer, but is more of a palette cleanser than a bridge between the two eras.

* BlackMetal as a genre also went through this trope. The early first-wave black metal (called "extreme metal") was basically a ''very'' raw ThrashMetal with shades of DeathMetal, SpeedMetal, DoomMetal, HardcorePunk, PunkRock, PostPunk and proto-{{Grunge}}, and the Satanic themes was used more as a shock value rather than having the bands actually being Satanists.

** CD packaging was also different early on too. Early jewel cases had smooth lid edges instead of ridged ones, and more significantly the cases had an extra layer of packaging in the form of 12"-tall "longboxes" intended for vinyl-oriented record store racks and out of an attempt to make them difficult to shoplift. These were eventually phased out in 1993 thanks to a mix of environmentalist pressure (since most people threw out the boxes after purchase), the boxes making shoplifting ''easier'' instead of deterring it (since you could stealthily remove the [=CDs=] and leave the boxes), jewel case-sized store racks becoming more common, and newer, more effective forms of anti-shoplifting technology emerging.

** The packaging of music cassettes also went through several iterations. Early cases were paperboard or plastic sleeves, sometimes with a snap case (paperboard sleeves would be retained for cassette singles). The liner notes were also limited to the front cover and tracklist on the assumption that, like 8-tracks, they would be used mainly with portable and car units. This only started to change in the early 1980s when cassette sales overtook vinyl for home listening, with plastic flip-top cases and foldout J-cards including full liner notes and interior artwork.

* Listening to Music/GGAllin's first album ''Always Was, Is, And Always Shall Be'' can be a strange experience. The sound isn't quite as harsh as his later works and his voice sounds relatively normal compared to the raspy bark he show in later works. The lyrics are still crude, but nowhere near as gruesome and hateful as the stuff he would become (in)famous for.

** The unexpected success of early single "Cooky Puss" was what eventually led them to start performing hip-hop, but even that release was pretty far from what they'd sound like on their first full album: The title song was a parody of instrumental breakdance music, with crank-calls to a Carvel restaurant as the only non-sampled vocals, while the only b-side that wasn't a "Cooky Puss" remix was "Beastie Revolution", a dub reggae jam [[note]]the liner notes to the ''Some Old Bullshit'' compilation explain that for these sessions, they ended up in a studio normally used for commercial jingles and couldn't get their punk songs to sound the way they wanted with the equipment provided, so they just started messing around with other styles[[/note]].

** For even more early installment weirdness, there's their rare debut single, "Can I Sit Next to You Girl"/"Rockin' at the Parlour", their only release to feature [[ThePeteBest little-remembered original vocalist Dave Evans]]: On one hand, the actual song-writing isn't ''too'' different from their Bon Scott material, and in fact the band re-recorded "Can I Sit Next To You Girl" with Scott for the album ''High Voltage''. On the other, Angus and Malcolm Young hadn't found their signature guitar tones yet, and most strikingly, Dale Evans sang in a drastically different way from either of the band's better-known vocalists: Both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson are known for high-pitched, raspy singing voices, while Evans had a lower voice that didn't stand out nearly as much from other hard rock singers of the time. Seeing the rare promo video for the original version of "Can I Sit Next to You Girl" can be surprising too, since the band had a GlamRock image instead of the more "working class" one they have now - Angus Young still had his trademark schoolboy outfit, but in a way that just makes everyone else look weirder in comparison.
** Just prior to joining AC/DC, Bon Scott was in a band called Fraternity, who played ProgressiveRock - just about the last rock subgenre you'd expect him to have any roots in. In addition to singing with the group, he also played recorder.

** Double-LP albums that exceeded a CD's original 74-minute runtime -- or in more severe cases, [=PolyGram's=] 65-minute limit (as the 74-minute size was a last-minute expansion by Sony) -- used to either [[ReCut edit down or remove tracks]]. Creator/WarnerMusicGroup and Creator/VirginRecords, both frequent clients of [=PolyGram=] during the first half of the '80s, were serial offenders, where most other labels simply issued double-CD sets of double albums that didn't fit on one CD. This practice mostly died out after 80-minute [=CDs=] became widely available in the late '80s, though albums that still surpass ''that'' might rarely see edits.

* Music/{{Combichrist}}: This Industrial Band started out as a HardcoreTechno One. On their frist Album, ''The Joy of Gunz'', none of the songs have actual vocals, but most have spoken dialogue, taken from various sources or read by a computer voice, mixed in. While songs like these still made up half of their second Album, ''Everybody Hates You'', the concept of them was abandoned from the third Album onwards.

* Music/TraceAdkins originally sang in a higher, more restrained voice and sometimes went falsetto (most notably on "Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone"). In addition, almost none of his material was overtly sexual or macho (except for "I Left Something Turned On at Home", which even then is played far more lightheartedly). By ''Chrome'' in 2001, he began singing in his deeper BadassBaritone and cutting edgier, often more sexualized material such as "Chrome", "Hot Mama", or "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" alongside more impassioned ballads.

** Double-LP albums that exceeded a CD's original 74-minute runtime used to either [[ReCut edit down or remove tracks]]. Creator/WarnerMusicGroup and Creator/VirginRecords were serial offenders, where most other labels simply issued double-CD sets of double albums that didn't fit on one CD. This practice mostly died out after 80-minute [=CDs=] became widely available in the late '80s, though albums that still surpass ''that'' might rarely see edits.

* BlackMetal as a genre also went through this trope. The early first-wave black metal (called "extreme metal") was basically a ''very'' raw ThrashMetal with shades of DeathMetal, SpeedMetal, DoomMetal HardcorePunk, PunkRock, PostPunk and proto-{{Grunge}}, and the Satanic themes was used more as a shock value rather than having the bands actually being Satanists.

* Music/GarthBrooks' debut album was noticeably more traditional than his distinctive rock and pop influences on later work, even though "The Dance" remains among one of his most beloved songs. In particular, "Not Counting You" sounds like it could've been cut by nearly any guy in a cowboy hat. What makes this all the more unusual is that his first album had [[ProductionPosse all of the same songwriters, musicians, and even producer]] who would appear on his later, career-defining albums.

* Spinto Band had a lot of self-released albums full of Music/{{Ween}}-inspired GenreMashup; by the time they got signed they whittled down their influences to something more coherent. From their 2006 album ''Nice And Nicely Done'' and on, their style can basically be summed up as a mix of indie, NewWaveMusic, and PowerPop. Earlier albums like ''Digital Summer (New Wave Techno Pop)'' jump from trippy instrumentals to ska to novelty rap.

[[caption-width-right:350:Take note as this was the early fashion sense of Devo, long before the energy domes[[note]]And yes, they were wearing diapers[[/note]].]]

** Even their sound was different early on. On the first two albums, Lynn Bellmore (then under her maiden name Lynn Anderson, and [[NamesTheSame not the same woman]] who sang "Rose Garden") largely plays an analog synthesizer instead of more traditional keyboards. "Last Frontier", the opening track to ''Culture Shock'', even has a drum machine! [[ThePeteBest Original bassist Jim Pennell]] gets two turns on lead vocal, singing "Smeltin' USA" on ''Yoopanese'' and "Chicquito War" on ''Culture Shock''. Pennell's short-lived replacement, Joe [=DeLongchamp=], sang and wrote the title track to ''Camp Fever''. Finally, most of the second halves of ''Culture Shock'' and ''Camp Fever'', even beyond the folk song covers, rely on "folksy" instrumentation such as jugs, spoons, washboards, and gutbucket bass (interestingly, this includes the SignatureSong "Second Week of Deer Camp" from the former). By ''Yoop It Up'', their sound was almost fully established.

** ''Slim Shady EP'' and ''Music/TheSlimShadyLP'' both have him using a [[VocalEvolution high-pitched voice]] that he mostly dropped after the albums, with a lot more style elements drawn from his BattleRapping writing. Slim also undergoes some changes in concept -- he's presented in these albums as a parody of GangstaRap tropes, with his poverty, friendlessness, suicidality and the [[StupidEvil uselessness of his crimes]] in the focus. Starting with ''Music/TheMarshallMathersLP'', Slim becomes a more {{Camp}}y horror-movie themed SerialKiller character, gains his [[WeaponOfChoice signature]] association with a HockeyMaskAndChainsaw, and starts getting [[LoonyFan obsessed with celebrities]], all of which remain consistent throughout the entire rest of Eminem's discography.