History GrowingTheBeard / Music

* It's no question that Music/{{Aviators}} has done this, never mind that he always had his [[BadassBeard trademark goatee]], the question of ''when'' is oftentimes what [[BrokenBase causes debate among his fans]].

* Music/TheBeachBoys had this with ''Music/TheBeachBoysToday'', particularly the second side. The upward trend culminated with the incomplete ''Music/{{Smile}}'' and Music/BrianWilson's breakdown. Depending on how you look at it, they either subsequently went through a DorkAge, or the other members grew their own beards (figuratively and literally. Though Bruce Johnston only grew a mustache).

* Music/ShaniaTwain's self-titled debut album was solid but unremarkable mid-90s country. Her second album ''The Woman in Me'', the first with Creator/RobertJohnMuttLange behind the boards, sold 12 times platinum and established her as one of the genre's leading women. Followup ''Come On Over'' poised her for mainstream crossover, selling '''''forty''''' times platinum, making it the second best-selling album by any Canadian artist and the ninth best-selling of all time in the United States.

* Music/JanetJackson's first two albums, 1982's ''Janet Jackson'' and 1984's ''Dream Street'', were critical and commercial flops as the public wrote her off as just another Jackson coasting on [[Music/MichaelJackson Michael]]'s fame (and not even the first girl). But 1984 was also the year Janet turned 18 and was free to control her career as she wished. She severed business ties with her brothers and [[StageMom her father Joe]] (who served as her manager), and was introduced by her record label to [[UsefulNotes/TwinCities Minneapolis]] production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, best known for their work with Music/{{Prince}}. Janet went as far as to move to Minneapolis during the production of her third album to escape her father's influence, and her newfound freedom became a huge creative theme. ''Control'' debuted at #1, is considered one of the greatest pop albums of all time, and made Janet Jackson a superstar in her own right.

* Arguably, the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers have grown the beard ''three'' times in their career. The first time was with ''The Uplift Mofo Party Plan'', their first solid album after two previous ones struggled with inter-band tensions that often verged on ExecutiveMeddling. The second time was on ''Blood Sugar Sex Magik'', where they first united with producer Rick Rubin and broke into the mainstream. The third was 1999's ''Music/{{Californication}}'', which started a revival of their career after half a decade of stagnation.

* Music/StevieWonder around the time of ''Music of My Mind''. While he was already a critically hailed artist in the late 1960s, he felt constrained by the business aspects of Motown. When it came time to renew his contract, Wonder refused unless he was given free artistic control. Eventually, Motown gave in and Wonder released a series of albums in the mid 1970s that rank among the best the soul genre has to offer.

* UK teenage girl group The Music/{{Sugababes}} found some critical acclaim but no massive commercial success with their 2000 debut album, and swiftly lost one of their three members to intra-band conflicts before being dropped by their record label. Regrouping with a new third singer and some cast-iron pop tunes, their [[Music/GaryNuman Tubeway Army]]-sampling 2002 cover of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21EvgxhDJY Freak Like Me]] was very well received by critics and fans -- they would become a byword for classy, slightly edgy pop for the next few years -- and gave them the first of what was to total six Number One singles. Alas the beard would gradually fall out after they sequentially replaced both the other two original singers as well by 2010, leaving the final incarnation of the act without any of its founding members.

* Music/{{Supertramp}} had some growing pains when their first two albums hadn't sold very well, and members that were not Rick Davies or Roger Hodgson left the band during the early-70's between albums. It wouldn't be until their third album, ''Crime of the Century'' to become a major critical and commercial success for the band that led to their success for the '70s and '80s.

* Music/TomWaits was always pretty good, but ''Music/SmallChange'' was the album that convinced him that he would be doing this professionally for the rest of his life.

* Beginning as an R&B "Mod" band, then doing PowerPop, Music/TheWho grew the beard with the recording and release of ''Music/{{Tommy}}''. This isn't to say that they didn't have great moments before, but that's when things really started to click and they became popular in the States.

* While ''Music/{{Paranoid}}'' (1970) is Music/BlackSabbath's greatest commercial success, hardcore fans see ''Master of Reality'' (1971) as where they hit their stride, in-part due to the band achieving a heaviness the likes of which had never been seen at the time, influencing many metal bands in the process. The band would continue their artistic and commercial success, reaching a peak with ''Sabotage'' (1975), and then a DorkAge followed by a ''second'' Beard in 1980 with the arrival of Music/RonnieJamesDio and ''Heaven and Hell''.

* Music/BobDylan grew a mustache with "Blowin' in the Wind", where he finally learned that he didn't need to cover the same folk songs as everyone else; he could write originals and make more timely statements. Then he finished out the rest of the beard three years later with "Like a Rolling Stone", where he figured out how to combine his main influences (folk, rock, blues, Beat poetry) into a single unified whole. Then after his motorcycle accident he literally grew a beard.

** It took 9 more years until they've released the widely acclaimed ''The Soft Bulletin''. Their NINTH album.

* Music/PinkFloyd admit that they spent most of their (Post-Syd) early career [[DorkAge not knowing what they were doing]]. They started off covering songs, experimented with psychedelia, then Syd Barrett started fronting the group and write singles, then [[CreatorBreakdown left]], and they had to go back to doing "long stuff", as they put it. Then, during production of ''Music/{{Meddle}}'', they managed to get their heads around the whole process of having ideas and turning them into albums. The next album, ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'', stayed in the charts for 741 weeks, and subsequent releases and tours were correspondingly bigger. Of course, this change was not universally popular with the [[BrokenBase fans]] - some preferring the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks older, lighter psychedelic]] stuff - and Roger Waters soon developed [[ArtistDisillusionment mixed feelings]] about the larger, mainstream audiences.

** It's also fairly well accepted amongst fans that the beard growing process began with the previous album ''Sheer Heart Attack'', moving from a heavier and proggier sound to a more commercial and varied output. (And it had both fan favourites"Killer Queen" and "Now I'm Here"). ''Queen II'' is also considered a step above their début album and is a CultClassic among fans of ProgressiveRock (it's actually their highest rated studio album on Prog Archives, even above ''A Night at the Opera'').

* Music/TheRunaways, despite the success of their single "Cherry Bomb", were commonly derided as merely a gimmick band, and their amateurish early performances did little to help their image. Internal tensions and Kim Fowley's poor management prevented them from ever really growing their metaphorical beard. However, members Music/JoanJett and Music/LitaFord went on to grow their own beards with highly successful solo careers. Also of note, vocalist Micki Steele was briefly a member before going on to major mainstream success with The Bangles.
* The three founding members of Music/{{Rush}} were Jeff Jones, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey. Jones was quickly replaced by Geddy Lee. They were a decent if generic rock band with some definite promise. Then Rutsey left the band because he could not handle the rigors of the touring schedule. The second album, ''Fly by Night'' introduced the new drummer Neil Peart. Not only is he pretty much the consummate rock drummer, but he wrote the band's lyrics. Goodbye cutesy songs like "I Need Some Love", hello prog rock history. Rush became famous for their concept albums, evolutionary style and incredibly deep lyrics. They continued the beard-growing process with the next few albums after Peart joined, with ''2112'' often being considered their first true classic.

** ''Katy Lied'' is considered this by many fans because it has a notably laid back sound to it that the band would make their trademark later on.

* This trope can also apply to Music/{{Nirvana}} itself. The band's first album, ''Music/{{Bleach}}'', was far grungier and less cohesive than their later, more critically and commercially successful albums. ''Bleach'' was rather boilerplate {{Grunge}}, much to the chagrin of Cobain himself, who struggled with his love of pop music in the face of the unforgiving and critical grunge scene. Only Music/TheBeatles inspired song, "About a Girl" provided hints towards Cobain's predilection for combining heavy riffs and poppy songwriting.

* Music/CharliXCX developed a strong early following as a popstar who dabbled in DarkWave and PopPunk with her first two albums, though the general consensus among critics was that [[SoOkayItsAverage she was good, but nothing too exceptional.]] Things really picked up for her with her 2016 ''Vroom Vroom'' EP, which saw her collaborate with [[AvantGardeMusic avant-pop]] producer Music/{{SOPHIE}} and the Music/PCMusic camp as she [[NewSoundAlbum began defining herself with a greatly experimental, futuristic, yet quirky and hyper-real style of pop]]. With future projects following the same vein, Charli has since gained critical prestige as a "popstar of the future", and become a darling among indie pop circles as partially [[TropeCodifier spearheading]] the {{Hyperpop}} genre.

* Finnish power metal band Music/{{Nightwish}} started off with generic power metal fantasy lyrics (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but by the album Century Child, their lyrics had shifted more towards themes of tragic romance, sin and temptation, betrayal, and personal growth and struggles, generally considered more mature than their previous work.

* Music/{{Pantera}} was originally a glam metal band during the 80s. Then came their 1990 album Cowboys From Hell, where they started becoming much heavier and screaming the lyrics. The four albums they made in the 1980s have largely been erased from history, never reissued and rarely mentioned. This trope is applied literally in that prior to Cowboys from Hell, the entire band except for drummer Vinnie Paul were more or less clean shaven. Around its release in 1990, the rest of the band began to sport beards, with guitarist Dimebag Darrell having his famous pink-dyed goatee by 1992.

** It's also fairly well accepted amongst fans that the beard growing process began with the previous album ''Sheer Heart Attack'', moving from a heavier and proggier sound to a more commercial and varied output. (And it had both "Killer Queen" and "Now I'm Here", fan favourites). ''Queen II'' is also considered a step above their début album and is a CultClassic among fans of ProgressiveRock (it's actually their highest rated studio album on Prog Archives, even above ''A Night at the Opera'').
* Music/{{Radiohead}} definitely grew the beard when they put out their second album, ''The Bends''. They went from a generic rock act to a promising one and, from there, one of the biggest and acclaimed bands in rock.

* The three founding members of Music/{{Rush}} were Jeff Jones, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey. Jones was quickly replaced by Geddy Lee. They were a decent if generic rock band with some definite promise. Then Rutsey left the band because he could not handle the rigors of the touring schedule. The next album, ''Fly by Night'' introduced the new drummer Neil Peart. Not only is he pretty much the consummate rock drummer, but he wrote the band's lyrics. Goodbye cutesy songs like "I Need Some Love", hello prog rock history. Rush became famous for their concept albums, evolutionary style and incredibly deep lyrics. They continued the beard-growing process with the next few albums after Peart joined, with ''2112'' often being considered their first true classic.

* Music/{{Slint}}'s debut album, ''Tweez'', was regarded as an okay if forgettable PostHardcore output. They then followed this up with ''Music/{{Spiderland}}'', considered one of the greatest albums of all time.

* Music/TalkTalk started out as a typical cheesy, {{New Wave|Music}}-y [[TheEighties '80s]] SynthPop band shamelessly ripping off Music/DuranDuran. They grew dramatically over their careers, getting more experimental, culminating in their fantastic final album ''Music/LaughingStock'', which pioneered the genre of post-rock and really showed off what they could do. Unfortunately, they broke up immediately afterwards...

* Music/{{Tool}} had always had a distinct sound. Their first official release was the EP ''Opiate'' in 1992. It was a heavy, rhythm-oriented hard-rock album that gave us the first taste of Tool's heavy-bass sound. Their second album (and first full-length), ''Undertow'', was released in 1996. It was still bass-heavy hard rock, but not quite as heavy, and with a more melody-oriented tone with longer songs on average. By ''[=Æ=]nima'', they shifted full-blown in to a very distinct, melody-oriented hard rock band. They became more progressive rock oriented with longer songs. Their next three releases (''Salival'', ''Lateralus'' and ''10,000 Days'') were an even further shift, and those three albums sound most similar to each other. While the post-''[=Æ=]nima'' albums represent their current sound, the album itself is probably where the band had fully grown their beard out.

* Music/WillieNelson was a clean-shaven, family-friendly country singer for his first decade and a half in Nashville. He both literally and figuratively grew his beard when he switched to the "outlaw country" that most people know him for, approximately around the time he recorded "Shotgun Willie".

* Music/TheMegas' Get Equipped album, although still amazing, had a sort of amateurish feel to it. Their later songs are noticeably better made although Megatainment could be chalked up to Entertainment System collaborating with them on it
** Just compare any Get Equipped song to the acoustic album or any song on the Sparked a War single.

* For their first two albums Music/TheMonkees simply provided vocals to songs written by outside writers, with music by session musicians (except Creator/MichaelNesmith, who was allowed to write and produce his own songs). Then, after music coordinator Don Kirshner was fired, they got to record the albums ''Headquarters'' and ''[[LongTitle Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd.]]'', where they played their own instruments, wrote a good portion of the songs, and demonstrated that they really had some talent. And if you look on the back cover of ''Headquarters'', they literally grew beards as well (though they shaved them off in time for the second season of the TV show).

* Music/TheMoodyBlues: What the heck happened between ''The Magnificent Moodies'' and ''Days of Future Passed''?
** Denny Laine and Clint Warwick quit, and Justin Hayward and John Lodge replaced them.

* ''On the Third Day'' saw Music/ElectricLightOrchestra shift from a side project to an actual band. ''Eldorado'' grew a larger beard, but ''A New World Record'' made them famous in their homeland and established them as a pioneer in symphonic rock.
* Music/EltonJohn grew his beard with his SelfTitledAlbum, which was actually his second album. It featured the hit "Your Song" and made him one of the quintessential singers/pianists of TheSeventies. But ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' had "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", a song showing that he was not just a singer-songwriter and had heavier material to write.

* While none of the member of Music/{{Genesis}} are well known for their beards, it's generally agreed that the introduction of Music/SteveHackett and Music/PhilCollins boosted the band from a largely forgettable pop and folk group to being one of the giants of ProgressiveRock. If there are any literal examples, then Phil's beard during the ''Music/ATrickOfTheTail'' and ''Wind and Wuthering'' tours would have to count, given that ''Seconds Out'' (recorded during those tours) is generally considered to be their best live album. And after he shaved it off, the band really began to change direction and lost a lot of their progressive rock prestige.

* While none of the member of Music/{{Genesis}} are well known for their beards, it's generally agreed that the introduction of Steve Hackett and Music/PhilCollins boosted the band from a largely forgettable pop and folk group to being one of the giants of prog rock. If there are any literal examples, then Phil's beard during the Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering tours would have to count, given that Seconds Out (recorded during those tours) is generally considered to be their best live album. And after he shaved it off, the band really began to change direction and lost a lot of their progressive rock prestige.

* Music/GogolBordello's third album Gypsy Punks was where the band really amped up the punk element, the album features far rockier songs than their previous albums. It set the stage for the follow up Super Taranta which brought them even more success.

* Music/TheRunaways, despite the success of their single "Cherry Bomb", were commonly derided as merely a gimmick band, and their amateurish early performances did little to help their image. Internal tensions and Kim Fowley's poor management prevented them from ever really growing their metaphorical beard. However, members Joan Jett and Lita Ford went on to grow their own beards with highly successful solo careers. Also of note, vocalist Micki Steele was briefly a member before going on to major mainstream success with The Bangles.

* Music/JanetJackson's first two albums, 1982's ''Janet Jackson'' and 1984's ''Dream Street'', were complete and utter flops as the general public wrote her off as yet another Jackson coasting on [[Music/MichaelJackson Michael]]'s fame (and not even the first girl). But 1984 was also the year Janet turned 18 and was free to control her career as she wished. She severed business ties with her brothers and [[StageMom her father Joe]] (who was her manager), and was introduced by her record label to Minneapolis production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, best known for their work with Prince. Janet went as far as to move to Minneapolis during the production of her third album to escape her family's influence, and her newfound freedom became a huge creative theme for the album. ''Control'' debuted at #1, is regarded as one of the greatest pop albums of all time, and made Janet Jackson a superstar in her own right.

* Music/JanetJackson's first two albums, 1982's ''Janet Jackson'' and 1984's ''Dream Street'', were complete and utter flops as the general public wrote her off as yet another Jackson coasting on Michael's fame (and not even the first girl). But 1984 was also the year Janet turned 18 and was free to control her career as she wished. She severed business ties with her brothers and [[StageMom her father Joe]] (who was her manager), and was introduced by her record label to Minneapolis production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, best known for their work with Prince. Janet went as far as to move to Minneapolis during the production of her third album to escape her family's influence, and her newfound freedom became a huge creative theme for the album. ''Control'' debuted at #1, is regarded as one of the greatest pop albums of all time, and made Janet Jackson a superstar in her own right.

* Music/{{Pink}}'s 2000 debut ''Can't Take Me Home'' was moderately successful but met with lukewarm reviews; critics labelled her an R&B knockoff of Music/FionaApple. She got the hint, and her second album ''Missundaztood'' combined her tough-girl appeal with a more appropriate rock flavoring. This new style took off and cemented her as a superstar.

* Music/TheMoodyBlues: what the heck happened between ''The Magnificent Moodies'' and ''Days of Future Passed''?

* Music/MyBloodyValentine grew the beard when their second album, ''Music/{{Loveless}}'', propelled them from an influential shoegaze band to ''the'' influential shoegaze band.

* Music/{{Radiohead}} definitely grew the beard when they put out their second album, ''The Bends''. They went from a generic rock act to a promising one and, from there, one of the biggest bands in rock.

* Music/{{Silverchair}}, with "Diorama", once they grew up, stopped whining, and brought in Van Dyke Parks.
** Silverchair's problem was that the band's musical and lyrical content had become hijacked by the skeletons in its lead singer's closet. The CD booklet for "Neon Ballroom" had an upbeat front cover which concealed some extremely disturbing imagery, and the themes in the songs (and some of the filmclips) were worse.

* When Music/MandyMoore's career started in 1999, she was lumped in with the pop princess craze, her first couple of [=CDs=] full of bubblegum hits such as "Candy". After a few years of nearly exclusively acting, Moore leapt back into the music scene with her 2007 album "Wild Hope", a vastly different album from her earlier work and one that received a good deal of critical praise. "Amanda Leigh", released in 2009, has received even more favorable acclaim, and even Moore's acting career seems to be improving with films such as ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' on her resume.

* Prog-power-something band Music/{{Kamelot}} started off in the middle of the 90s as a band with respectable musical ability but were held back by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGFaTg58PFg Mark Vanderbilt]] who could only be described as a singer in the loosest sense of the word. Vanderbilt's and his replacement with Roy Khan signaled the start of their evolution into a mature power metal sound. Whether this happened on their fourth or fifth album is debatable, but with each release leaning more and more away from power metal it's possible that they're still growing a very big beard that will be complete at some point in the future. (Relatedly, said new vocalist Roy Khan appears to sport a slightly stupider beard each time an album's released. Could this be a coincidence?)

* Prog-power-something band Music/{{Kamelot}} started off in the interesting experimental genre of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGFaTg58PFg abominable]] in the middle of the 90s, after which the departure of (I have to use this word in its loosest possible sense) "singer" Mark Vanderbilt and his replacement with Roy Khan signaled the start of their evolution into a mature power metal sound. Whether this happened on their fourth or fifth album is debatable, but with each release leaning more and more away from power metal it's possible that they're still growing a very big beard that will be complete at some point in the future. (Relatedly, said new vocalist Roy Khan appears to sport a slightly stupider beard each time an album's released. Could this be a coincidence?)