Eight Bands That Moved Away from Punk: Beastie Boys, Green Day, and more

The world would be a much poorer place if punk rock didn't exist. It's a great place for musicians to start out, but there's only so much someone can do within the genre before they (or their audience) get bored with it, which is why so many bands that started in punk eventually moved on, such as...

1. Joy Division

After attending the Sex Pistol's infamous July 1976 Manchester show, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook decided they wanted to start a punk band as well. Joy Division had intended on maintaining an aggressive punk sound, but producer Martin Hannett pushed them towards the more spacious sound of their albums, which the band allegedly hated.

2. Wire

Wire is so committed to moving forward musically that they don't play any of their classic '70s material in concert anymore. They began as a particularly experimental punk band, essentially bridging the gap between punk and post-punk, but eventually moved on to more atmospheric sounds.

3. The Go-Go's

The Go-Gos were initially part of the LA punk scene (Belinda Carlisle was once in the Germs), so much so that they even believed they were making a punk album when recording their debut Beauty and the Beat. When they first heard the mixes for the album, however, they realized that their producers Richard Gottehrer and Rob Freeman had coaxed a bright new wave album out of them instead.

4. The Replacements

The Replacements were one of the snottiest, brattiest bands from the early days of alt-rock. Its super-punky debut Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is a great document of this era, but the band soon found themselves branching out into more melodic jangle pop territory, with 1984's Let It Be being the culmination of their great new sound.

5. Hüsker Dü

While the Replacements were mellowing out over in Minneapolis, Hüsker Dü was on a similar trajectory in St. Paul. It prided itself on its blistering speed (its first release was titled Land Speed Record), but while it didn't exactly lighten up with time, it did slow down and move into power-pop territory later on in the '80s.

6. Beastie Boys

The Beastie Boys chose its name as a tribute to a similarly-initialed punk band, Bad Brains. The band was part of the early '80s hardcore scene in New York, but when their joke rap single "Cookie Puss" became an underground hit, they decided to abandon hardcore and pursue hip-hop instead, though they would revisit punk occasionally.

7. Green Day

There are probably a bunch of hip people who say that Green Day was never punk, but let's get real: They totally were (if the Ramones was punk, so was Green Day). However, I think even fans of Green Day's '90s albums would admit that in the last ten years, the band has lost its keys to the punk club. Broadway isn't very punk, guys.

8. Goo Goo Dolls

This one may come as a huge surprise, but back in the '80s, the Goo Goo Dolls was totally thrashy and rough. It all starts to make sense when you learn that the band idolizes the Replacements, and both of their careers have taken similar paths towards radio-friendliness.

Tags

Beastie Boys, Wire, Joy Division, Green Day, The go-go's, Husker du, The Replacements