Melodic Rock bands that turned to the blues

[Geoff]

Well before grunge ever came along, a trend I noticed when I was getting into melodic rock was that there were a bunch of bands who were going along as great melodic hard rock bands, and then suddenly around 1991 they turned into these very un-melodic bluesy bands. In many cases it was a real kick in the balls. In fact, in every case it was a huge kick in the balls, even if some bands were not total disasters. Who can you think of who went down this route... and why the f*ck did they do it?

 

Off the top of my head I have:

 

FM - 'Takin' it to the streets' ; arguably one of the worst CDs I have ever heard after two classics.

 

Dream Police - 'Messing with the blues' ; after a stunning debut they went and completely wrecked their discography with this steaming heap of shit.

 

White Sister/Tattoo Rodeo - Thankfully these guys changed their name along with their sound. For me, 'Rode hard put away wet', whilst being a HUGE departure from White Sister, was actually one of the successes. Great disc and still some nice melodic touches. 'Skin', however, is another story...

 

Treat - s/t (1992) ; yep, even my beloved Treat went down this route. Luckily, imo they were another success story. Again, the s/t album is NOWHERE near the quality of the likes of 'Dreamhunter' or 'Organized Crime' but it was actually a good CD with some classic tunes ('Learn to fly', 'Justice', 'Poor man' and 'Dog day comin' down') but also a heap of filler that we had not come to expect from Treat.

 

So who else have you got? I guess Great White are another example, and maybe the trend-setters? As they went bluesy in the 80's... but these guys always managed to keep from sucking. They always had a good balance.

[heaven&hell]

Great White were more almost a Metal band on the first disc before heading down the blues highway.

But if they count then no one did it better than they did.

 

I don't hear much blues in the Treat s/t disc with Leven just Hard Rock instead of AOR.

[Geoff]

Great White were more almost a Metal band on the first disc before heading down the blues highway.

But if they count then no one did it better than they did.

 

I don't hear much blues in the Treat s/t disc with Leven just Hard Rock instead of AOR.

Yeah, not so much blues in their case. And I don't mean straight-up bar-room blues, but just that more bluesy feel, if you know what I mean. Treat were more a straight ahead direction rather than the joys of previous work.

 

As for Great White, yeah, their debut is f*cking brilliant and still the best work they ever did, imo.

[Nick C]

Billy Squier - Happy Blue

 

After all his previous stuff he released the Happy Blue album which was acoustic with a bluesy feel...and I quite like it, but it's not a patch on his rockin' stuff

[eaglesfan3000]

Dream Police - 'Messing with the blues' ; after a stunning debut they went and completely wrecked their discography with this steaming heap of shit.

 

I think we see eye to eye on most things but I think this disc was a huge success for Dream Police lots of great tunes on this one I think they did the blues very well IMO.

 

Another sucess story would have to be AC/DC Ballbreaker they went down the blues trail on a few songs and did it very well.

[Jez]

I quite like a bit of the bluesy side of melodic rock, so all the albums mentioned above I quite like, especially the Tattoo Rodeo and FM ones. I thought The FM stuff was really quite good, especially the very Bad Co. like 'Aphrodisiac' disc which followed' Takin' It To The Streets'. 'Crack Alley' off 'Takin' It To The Streets' is still a magnificent track though, even if you don't like the rest of it.

 

Gary Moore would be my addition to this thread, although a bit different I suppose, as he went completely from brilliant melodic rock albums like 'Corridors Of Power' and 'Run For Cover' into doing the blues of 'Still Got The Blues', and 'After Hours' etc and has never (so far) looked back (except the not great Scars disc). I still love listening to his Blues stuff though, as he is such an awesome player, so no argument from me there either if I am honest.

[Geoff]

I quite like a bit of the bluesy side of melodic rock, so all the albums mentioned above I quite like, especially the Tattoo Rodeo and FM ones. I thought The FM stuff was really quite good, especially the very Bad Co. like 'Aphrodisiac' disc which followed' Takin' It To The Streets'. 'Crack Alley' off 'Takin' It To The Streets' is still a magnificent track though, even if you don't like the rest of it.

Backed 100%. I LOVE 'Crack alley' and to be honest that song alone has kept this CD in my collection for over a decade. But no longer. It'll be on my new trade list and the MP3 of this song will have to suffice.

 

I do like the 'Aphrodesiac' disc and that will be staying in my collection with the first two, but that one rocked quite a bit harder than 'Takin' it to the streets' or the horrible follow-up, 'Dead man's shoes'.

 

Tattoo Rodeo's debut is a nice one, though. Sweet disc.

[TIM (2)]

Any band that took this direction should have been beaten to death with a large saxaphone.

[Fat Freddy]

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

[brayndeded]

I have always loved the blues and love hard rock, so to combine the two is great music for me!! it wasnt a fuck it, it was briliant! another great one was dave meniketti solo blues rock cd's. great stuff there with great guitar riffs.

junkyard is that way

jackyl

[shamus]

Can't remember for sure but I think Tyketto's 3rd disc with Augeri on vox falls into this category.

[Rockposer]

Any band that took this direction should have been beaten to death with a large saxaphone.

 

Hmm.

 

 

I liked the 2nd Dream Police disc and a total agreement on Gary Moore.

[Geoff]

Any band that took this direction should have been beaten to death with a large saxaphone.

Backed.

 

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

How'd I miss that one?! I'm not into 'Heartbreak station' but 'Long cold winter' is a killer disc, so these guys did the transition okay.

[Dead Planet]

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

 

Damn few bands make the transition successfully but Cinderella did it incredibly well.....

[heaven&hell]

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

 

Damn few bands make the transition successfully but Cinderella did it incredibly well.....

 

Backed Cinderella did it very very well.

I'd say Cinderella and Great White did it better than anyone.

[Dave]

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

 

Damn few bands make the transition successfully but Cinderella did it incredibly well.....

 

Backed Cinderella did it very very well.

I'd say Cinderella and Great White did it better than anyone.

 

CINDERELLA - Long Cold Winter - Loved It

CINDERELLA - Heartbreak Station - Loathed It

[heaven&hell]

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

 

Damn few bands make the transition successfully but Cinderella did it incredibly well.....

 

Backed Cinderella did it very very well.

I'd say Cinderella and Great White did it better than anyone.

 

CINDERELLA - Long Cold Winter - Loved It

CINDERELLA - Heartbreak Station - Loathed It

 

Really? I thought and still think that HS is awesome.

Sure it's my least fav from the band but I still like it alot.

[Dave]

Cinderella went WAY blues on LONG COLD WINTER and especially HEARTBREAK STATION...

 

Damn few bands make the transition successfully but Cinderella did it incredibly well.....

 

Backed Cinderella did it very very well.

I'd say Cinderella and Great White did it better than anyone.

 

CINDERELLA - Long Cold Winter - Loved It

CINDERELLA - Heartbreak Station - Loathed It

 

Really? I thought and still think that HS is awesome.

Sure it's my least fav from the band but I still like it alot.

 

This was my thoughts back then on the album, and still is now.....Simply just did not like it at all....

 

From: Dave Date: June 25, 2004 at 22:55

First we had one of the best debut albums of all time in Night Songs then we had one of the greatest albums of all time in Long Cold Winter and then the next album ,if it was going to be as good as the previous two releases it would have shot this band to super stardom but how disapointed i was when i got home and played it. I was later to read a big review in a metal magazine with the heading 'CINDERELLA HAVE RUN OF THE RAILS WITH HEARTBREAK STATION' This album was the begining of the end. 4/10

[Geoff]

I just remembered one of the biggest culprits!

 

Blue Blud/Blood - Their debut was blistering melodic hard rock- almost sheer perfection in my eyes and then the 2nd disc, 'Universal language' was just a totally new bluesy, straight forward direction. Not a bad disc, and the two ballads were superb, but overall it was just such a letdown.