History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / Music

* Music/MyChemicalRomance tries new things on every studio album they make, but compare their debut ''Music/IBroughtYouMyBulletsYouBroughtMeYourLove'' to their sophomore ''Music/ThreeCheersForSweetRevenge''. The difference is astounding: every member had improved and it gave the band the sound they're best known for.

* Music/Blink182's material before their commercial breakthrough, ''Enema of the State'', notably sticks out from the rest of their discography. On top of having a rougher, significantly muffled mix, they're considerably more focused on raw song compositions than melodic ones, and several songs feature recorded non-musical sounds for comedic effect.

* Music/Blink182's material before their commercial breakthrough, ''Enema of the State'', notably sticks out from the rest of their discography. On top of having a rougher, significantly muffled mix, they're considerably more focused on raw song compositions than melodic ones.

* Music/MyChemicalRomance tries new things on every album, but compare ''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'' to ''Music/ThreeCheersForSweetRevenge''. The difference is astounding: every member had improved and it gave the band the sound they're best known for.

** For that matter, Michael's first chart-topping single, "Ben," sticks out like a sore thumb compared to what followed--not just because of his age (he was 14 when he recorded it), but because it's a movie tie-in about a boy and his violently-protective pet rat. This is probably why the different versions of his ''Number Ones'' compilation album either omit the song or use a later live recording from when Michael was an adult.

* Music/{{Korn}}: Listen to the first album. Then listen to ''every single other one''. Sure, it's all NuMetal, but none of their work sounds as angry and raw as their first album, which sounds almost like if the [[FunkMetal groovy bass-driven funk]] of Music/{{Primus}} and [[SludgeMetal sludgy misanthropic self-hatred]] of Music/{{Buzzoven}} fused together. Furthermore, there are some noticeable ProgressiveMetal influences on their first two or three albums, through the inclusion of ThrowItIn jamming, multiple riffs and tempo-shifting in songs, elements which gradually disappeared and were simplified afterwards.

* Music/{{Skinless}}: ''Progression Towards Evil'', the debut album of the Brutal DeathMetal band, was almost entirely focused on ToiletHumor and {{Gorn}}. Their sophomore album, ''Foreshadowing Our Demise'', still contained a few songs of this nature, but by and large shifted to the HumansAreBastards and politically-oriented themes that took up the entirety of their subsequent albums.
* Music/{{Slayer}}'s first album, ''Show No Mercy'', is very different from their later albums. It is (very slightly) slower and much more melodic (as opposed to out-right E-string shredding a la ''Reign in Blood'' - it is fast in its own right) and aside from being American and much heavier, is almost downright NWOBHM (in the words of Kerry King, there is some "Music/IronMaiden [influence] here and there") - to the extent that it's pretty much a Venom tribute album.
** Their second album, ''Hell Awaits'', features darker, [[EpicRocking longer]] songs than the band had performed before or since with some ProgressiveMetal leanings. Both it and ''Show No Mercy'' feature more outright Satanic, mystical lyrical content than the rest of their discography. It wasn't until ''Music/ReignInBlood'' that Slayer adopted found their a more punk-influenced sound and lyrics more based in real life horrors like serial killers and war.

* Music/GreenDay's first 2 albums were produced at indie label Lookout! Records and feature a noticeable lack of polish than their later albums. Their first album also featured their original drummer John Kiffmeyer rather than Tré Cool, who'd join Billie and Mike on their second album when Kiffmeyer left the band to go to college. They also feature a more straight Punk sound than they're usually known for. [[Music/{{Dookie}} Their third album]], which was more polished and contained stronger hooks than the last two, became a giant hit and revolutionized what we call PopPunk nowadays. After that, the rest of their 90s output into ''Warning'' went either darker or experimental. Hell, ''Warning'' was their most Pop-friendly album at that point and features a lot of ''Folk'' elements. It was only when they lost the master tapes to ''Cigarettes and Valentines'' that was supposed to bring them back to how they used to be that they decided to produce their magnum opus, ''American Idiot,'' and reinvented themselves with a more political edge and RockOpera tendencies, which they continued into their next album before producing the trilogy to try again to hearken back to what they used to be, then decided to mix the best elements of their best albums to produce ''Revolution Radio,'' which has a good mix of both political and non-political songs.

* Music/{{Anthrax}}: The first album with John Bush, ''Sound Of White Noise'', is a bit different from their later Bush-era albums. Its production is rawer, its songs are more brutal, and Bush uses far more multilayered vocals and high pitched screaming than on the following three albums.

* Music/FleetwoodMac

* The Music/FooFighters' self-titled debut album was done solely by Music/DaveGrohl, as a way to try to cope with Music/KurtCobain's death, so most of its songs, particularly "I'll Stick Around", sound a lot more like Music/{{Nirvana}} than future Foo Fighters songs would.

* Even vinyl records went through this as a medium:

* Music/AvengedSevenfold's first effort ''Music/SoundingTheSeventhTrumpet'' (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''.

* Even vinyl records went through this as a medium:
** The earliest vinyl records were actually 78 rpm ones, replacing prior shellac discs due to the latter material becoming scarce during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Most of these were for V-Discs issued to the Armed Forces, though they later lingered around during and after the rise of their 12" and 7" successors, first for people who couldn't afford to upgrade their sets and then as novelty releases. Before the war, vinyl had also been the standard for radio transcription discs.
** The earliest pop music LP records were 10" discs, matching the size of their 78 rpm counterparts, and featured much greater gaps between tracks, while 12" discs were marketed to classical listeners. The assumption was that popular music listeners would prefer shorter albums, but they increasingly demanded more music on [=LPs=] like classical listeners had. In order to maximize the amount of music that could be included, the 10" discs were phased out in favor of 12" discs, and between-track gaps became far smaller.
** Creator/RCARecords introduced the 7", 45 rpm record as a competitor to Creator/ColumbiaRecords' LP (incidentally a successor to RCA's failed experiments with long-playing discs) in 1949; an album comprised several discs similarly to the 78 rpm albums that already existed. RCA relegated the 7" format to singles after it became clear that record buyers overwhelmingly preferred LP albums because they only needed one disc.

* Music/{{Kiss}}' second studio album, ''Music/HotterThanHell'' (1974), never became a huge hit with anyone other than die-hard Kiss fans, even in the wake of their later mega-stardom, and it's not hard to understand why: the record hardly fits the Kiss stereotype at all. Although the band had their "kabuki/dungeon porn" look by this time (as opposed to their appearance in the original version, Wicked Lester, where they were simply in street clothes and plain whiteface), only about two or three of the songs were similar to "Rock and Roll All Nite" or other classic Kiss hits. "Parasite" was more of a "stoner metal" song (seriously, you can just picture WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead rocking out to it, especially the Music/{{Anthrax}} cover version), while "Goin' Blind" has a very low-key, almost '90s alternative sound to it. Quite a few of these songs were written by guitarist Ace Frehley, who had much less of a "pop" sensibility than the other band members.

* Music/{{Metallica}}'s ''Kill 'Em All'' contains some weirdness that wouldn't be found in their next several albums, stemming directly from their then-still major influence from Music/DiamondHead. James Hetfield sings in more of a "shriek" than on later albums, and the album has two songs ("Hit the Lights", "Whiplash") with lyrics that are, in Hetfield's words, "Sort of Music/JudasPriest, [[HeavyMeta 'let's go rock out..']]", contrasting with their later releases which tend to be about social or political issues.
** While the music is as fast, loud and optimistic as they arguably never repeated, the production is kind of muddy and the instruments are hard to discern (particularly the drums).
** This is not to mention their pre-''Kill 'Em All'' demos, featuring original lead guitarist [[Music/{{Megadeth}} Dave Mustaine]]. "Thrash" is ''not'' the word that comes to mind when listening to the demo song "the Mechanix"[[note]]which Metallica rewrote as "The Four Horsemen", while Mustaine retained it as the faster "Mechanix" on Megadeth's debut[[/note]]. Hetfield, imitating English vocalist Sean Harris, sings in a glam rock style and puts on an English accent on occasion while singing [[BawdySong Mustaine-penned lyrics about sex]]. The guitar solos are different for these songs, because Mustaine's replacement Kirk Hammett rewrote them.

* Music/MyChemicalRomance tries new things on every album, but compare ''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'' to ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge''. The difference is astounding, every member had improved and it gave the band the sound they're best known for.

* Music/NineInchNails'first album, ''Music/PrettyHateMachine'', was heavily influenced by the new wave music that Trent Reznor had previously performed, sounding a lot like a darker, more aggresive version of Music/DepecheMode's ''Music for the Masses''. It would take ''Broken'' and ''Music/TheDownwardSpiral'' to transform the band to the IndustrialMetal style it's known for.

* Music/{{Nightwish|Band}}'s debut album, ''Angels Fall First'', is their only studio release to feature vocals from keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. All of their subsequent releases would feature guest vocalists or (after he joined) bassist Marco Hietala singing when a song called for a male vocalist.

* Music/NineInchNails: The first album, ''Pretty Hate Machine,'' was heavily influenced by the new wave music that Trent Reznor had previously performed, and sounds almost like a darker version of Music/DepecheMode. It would take ''Broken'' and ''The Downward Spiral'' to transform the band to the industrial metal it's known for.
* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s debut album, ''Music/{{Bleach|Album}}'', takes massive influence from heavy metal -- it could reasonably be labelled "punk metal" (if avoiding the term "grunge") -- and sounds like a combination of Music/{{Soundgarden}} and Music/TheMelvins. Grunge music was forced on them by the producers, as the grunge scene was already huge in Seattle by that point. Cobain expressed disdain for this album in later years.
** Although Nirvana are considered grunge (usually by people who haven't heard of Alice in Chains or Soundgarden), they didn't reach massive success until they largely ditched grunge and released the commercially-accessible ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', their most famous album, in 1991... which is what most people consider to be grunge.

** Michael's first solo album was 1972's ''Music/GotToBeThere'', which was released when Michael was only 13 years old and best known for being the lead singer of Music/TheJacksonFive. It kicks off with a more-than-respectable cover of "Ain't No Sunshine," but from that point forward is very ballad-heavy. Even the more well-known stuff ("Rockin' Robin" and the title song) don't hint at any aspect of the post-disco dance pop that defined the style of his '80s albums. His next three albums are more of the same, and even ''Music/OffTheWall'' was far more disco/quiet storm than one might expect from his later work, without any rock crossovers or anthemic ballads about saving the world.

* In an example based more on a music ''format'' than a music ''act'', Compact Cassettes went through a good deal of evolution on their way to late 20th century ubiquity.
** The format was originally for dictation and amateur home recordings instead of music. Early recorders were mono and had no noise reduction, with the latter being invented in the late 1960s and introduced in high-end stereo decks around the start of the 1970s along with improved tape formulations, leading to cassettes emerging as an alternative to vinyl records for home listening by the late '70s.
** 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 around the turn of the decade when record companies noticed that cassettes were rivaling vinyl records for home listening, with plastic flip-top cases and foldout J-cards including full liner notes and interior artwork emerged. These became mostly standard for cassette releases after the early 1980s, when cassette sales overtook vinyl.
** Another carryover from 8-tracks was the idea of an endless loop of music, albeit with the same sequence on the LP, which on cassette was achieved simply by recording the entire album on both sides and playing it in an auto-reversing deck or just flipping the tape in a deck that didn't auto-reverse. Some early Music/{{U2}} cassette releases used this method, including ''Music/WarU2Album''.
* Like cassettes, the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc format was a much different beast in its early phases, stretching back to before it even made its official debut.
** Prototype [=CDs=] took more after the vinyl records that they were made to supplant, featuring small, standardized labels in the hub area and LP-style pressboard sleeves; the official launch of the format would switch over to the more ubiquitous jewel cases, designed after the ones used for cassettes (though "mini LP" packaging would later catch on as a novel alternative).
** From the format's launch up until the turn of the '90s, it was most common for [=CDs=] to still use standardized labels (occupying the whole of the disc face this time) thanks to silkscreen technology at the time only being able to accommodate one to three colors. Custom labels would be experimented with as soon as 1984, but it would take until the early 90's for most labels to phase out the standardized ones entirely (outside of re-pressings, CD singles, and promotional releases).
** Early [=CDs=] also tended to have mirror bands, thin blank areas at or near the rim of a disc that provided a pure mirror effect; mostly this just served to give an extra aesthetic touch during the era of generic label designs. Since this took up usable space, [=CDs=] that clocked in at an hour or more would downsize or omit them. The mirror band was mostly phased out by 1993 thanks to a mix of custom labels becoming dominant, albums growing long enough to use most of the space on a disc, and it simply being easier to manufacture discs without the mirror bands.
** 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 and attract buyers with large designs similar to [=LPs=]. 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, label and retailer fears about consumers rejecting smaller jewel case sizes turning out to be unfounded, and newer, more effective forms of anti-shoplifting technology emerging.
** Early double-CD sets used to come in either two individual cases stacked in a single longbox or a single fatbox. The former was phased out with the longbox, while the latter was supplanted by the advent of standard-sized cases with hinged trays (though fatboxes remain in place for releases of 3 or more [=CDs=], assuming a digipak, digisleeve, or BoxedSet isn't used instead). Some releases both then and now feature individual cases in a single horizontal slipcase or just shrink-wrapped together, but these are comparatively rare.
** 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. By that time, the commercial viablility of the CD format was more than proven, meaning that multi-disc sets weren't seen as much of a commercial risk as they were when the CD first launched.
** [=CDs=] were originally designed with the ability to subdivide tracks into segments via an index-marking feature, mainly to distinguish movements in ClassicalMusic releases. A few early releases on the format included this feature, both classical and non-classical (e.g. the first CD release of Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/{{Wish You Were Here|1975}}'' as part of the format's launch lineup in 1982, where each side of the LP was one twentysomething-minute track subdivided into the individual songs via index markers), but compatibility was quickly dropped from CD players afterward thanks to it being much simpler to just sequence tracks as SiameseTwinSongs.
** From the format's launch through the early '90s, the back covers of CD releases carried three-letter SPARS (Society of Professional Audio Recording Services) codes indicating whether an album was recorded, mixed, or mastered on analog ("A") or digital ("D") equipment.[[note]]Since [=CDs=] are digital, they are all "digitally mastered." Certain cassette and LP releases featured "AAA" SPARS codes, but these are scarce compared to the ones that lacked codes altogether.[[/note]] This practice was also abandoned in the mid-90s outside of an increasingly small handful of labels; by then, digital recording became more widespread, SPARS themselves realized that the codes oversimplified the production process, and record companies realized that no one really cared except for audiophiles.

* Music/{{Descendents}}' first single, "Ride the Wild" / "Hectic World": As opposed to the melodic HardcorePunk they'd become known for, the two featured songs were sort of a mix of PowerPop and {{New Wave|Music}}, prominently featuring a SurfRock-influenced guitar-playing style with no distortion. In addition, Milo Aukerman hadn't joined the band yet, so members Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo sang one song each - neither Frank nor Tony considered themselves singers, so they basically recorded and self-released the single as a tool to recruit a full time vocalist. "Ride the Wild" and "Hectic World" were later included on the compilations ''Bonus Fat'' and ''Two Things at Once'', and the contrast with the rest of the material can be sort of jarring.

** "Love Me Do", "Music/PleasePleaseMe", "From Me to You", "Thank You Girl", "I'll Get You" and "I Should Have Known Better" all stand out for the use of harmonica, an element they rarely revisited after 1964.

* Music/LadyGaga: If you met Lady Gaga from "Bad Romance" onward, listening to ''The Fame'' will be weird, as it's mostly standard electropop with a bit of GenreRoulette (including two piano ballads, a pop-rock song, and even a ''rap song'') that mostly lacked the DarkerAndEdgier shock-rock/pop overtones from the newer tunes (except maybe "Paparazzi").
** It wasn't so much that ''The Fame'' was out-of-place so much as just... ''different'' from her next two releases. ''The Fame Monster'' was intentionally different, and ''Born This Way'' mostly continued the "darker and edgier" style mentioned above. From there on out, fans just sort of expected this to be her style (particularly ''Born this Way'', as it was largely devoid of the "fun" songs prevalent throughout ''The Fame'', instead going for a more serious approach). In any case, the fans expecting this to be Gaga's permanent style was more of a knee jerk reaction to a singer whose career was still relatively young. To the surprise of some fans, ''ARTPOP'' ended up largely going back to ''The Fame'''s style with its own unique vibes, as mentioned below.

** ''ARTPOP'' bears a lot more similarities to ''The Fame'', with its varying genres and electropop overtones (though not without plenty of its own unique qualities). Gaga even sports her signature fringe bangs on the cover art.

* Music/MichaelJackson: Michael's first solo album was 1971's ''Got To Be There'', which was released when Michael was only 13 years old. It kicks off with a more-than-respectable cover of "Ain't No Sunshine," but from that point forward is incredibly ballad-heavy and even the more well-known stuff ("Rockin' Robin" and the title song) don't even hint at any aspect of the post-disco dance pop of the '80s. His next three albums are more of the same, and even ''Music/OffTheWall'' was far more disco/quiet storm than one might expect from his later work. No rock crossovers or anthemic ballads about saving the world.

* Music/{{Kiss}}: The second album, ''Music/HotterThanHell'' (1974), never became a huge hit with anyone other than die-hard Kiss fans, even in the wake of their later mega-stardom, and it's not hard to understand why: the record hardly fits the Kiss stereotype at all. Although the band had their "kabuki/dungeon porn" look by this time (as opposed to their appearance in the original version, Wicked Lester, where they were simply in street clothes and plain whiteface), only about two or three of the songs were similar to "Rock and Roll All Nite" or other classic Kiss hits. "Parasite" was more of a "stoner metal" song (seriously, you can just picture WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead rocking out to it, especially the Music/{{Anthrax}} cover version), while "Goin' Blind" has a very low-key, almost '90s alternative sound to it. Quite a few of these songs were written by guitarist Ace Frehley, who had much less of a "pop" sensibility than the other band members.

** From the format's launch through the early '90s, the back covers of CD releases carried three-letter SPARS (Society of Professional Audio Recording Services) codes indicating whether an album was recorded, mixed, or mastered on analog ("A") or digital ("D") equipment.[[note]]Since [=CDs=] are digital, they are all "digitally mastered." Certain cassette and LP releases featured "AAA" SPARS codes, but these are scarce compared to the ones that lacked codes altogether.[[/note]] This practice was also abandoned in the mid-90's; by then, digital recording became more widespread, SPARS themselves realized that the codes oversimplified the production process, and record companies realized that no one really cared except for audiophiles.

** Even more jarring is her pre-Gaga work as the namesake of the Stefani Germanotta Band. Their one EP, ''[[http://ladygaga.wikia.com/wiki/Red_and_Blue_(EP) Red and Blue]],'' features mostly (as phrased by [[TheWikiRule Gagapedia]]) "female-vocal ballads with a glam rock edge," very similar in style to her [[RearrangeTheSong acoustic versions]] of "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi". Though the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy6z23iJMLk title track]] is more in the vein of Music/NoDoubt than anything else.

** 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 original lead 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.

* Music/{{Swans}}: The 1982 self-titled debut EP is vaguely creepy, saxophone-laced PostPunk with a pronounced No Wave influence; their first LP, 1983's ''Filth'', is far harsher, not unlike some sort of primitive hybrid of {{Industrial}} and HardcorePunk. It is also far more unsettling. And then there's their second LP, 1984's ''Cop''. [[HellIsThatNoise "Brutal" does not begin to describe it]].