Dork Age/Music: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* One example of a band that tried for a new, [[Darker and Edgier]] image and just... shouldn't have is demonstrated in the video and song, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJLsNYDZVXY&fmt=18 "Dirty Dawg"]. Let's just say, it '''really''' didn't go over well with [[New Kids on the Block]]'s established fandom.

* And then there's Jewel, who, for a thankfully brief period, abandoned her trademark sensitive folkie singer Lilith Fair poet persona in order to become... a clone of every crappy pop singer of the noughties. She ''claimed'' that her [[Love It or Hate It|violently-impossible-to-like]] song, "Intuition", was meant as a ''satire'' of interchangeable pretty blond pop singers. Sadly for her, that's a little hard to believe, considering she made a bunch of money off said song being used to launch a [[Product Placement|women's razor line called "Intuition"]].

* In a rare case of by the band's own admission, [[Oasis]] had at least one of these. Noel Gallagher writes off much of the late 1990s output, and also chunks of the mid-2000s. He even went as far on a Greatest Hits DVD as to ask why somebody didn't just to tell them to "stop", also making much of it an [[Old Shame]].

* Does it count as a [[Dork Age]] if it only alienates established fans? [[Bob Dylan]] grew tired of being viewed as "the spokesman of a generation", and decided to record the country music album ''Nashville Skyline'' specifically to alienate people who viewed him as such. This continued with ''Self Portrait'' and ''Dylan'', which were popular with critics but sold very poorly. Then Dylan recorded some albums that his original audience liked (including ''Blood on the Tracks''), and then he converted to Christianity and changed his style ''again'', losing most of his original fans over a quarter of a century (and gaining a few back after 1997's ''Time Out of Mind''.)

* Many fans consider that everything [[The Who]] did after Keith Moon's death as an extended Dork Age. Even more will agree that it started with John Entwistle's death in 2002.

* The Dave Matthews Band came off of a creative peak with ''Before These Crowded Streets'', only to shelve the promising work of ''The Lillywhite Sessions'' for the mainstream-pandering ''Everyday''. This album was made solely by Dave and pop songwriter Glen Ballard, to the dismay of the bandmates. Don't even discuss ''Stand Up'' amongst the fan-base unless you're willing to withstand high amounts of flames. Thankfully, ''Big Whiskey and the Groo-Grux King'' has improved things.

** [[Iron Maiden]] helmed by Blaze Bayley. Even though some songs of those albums remained in the setlist after he left.

*** The band continued to write good material during this time, though Blaze's singing is strictly from hunger.

*** The death of Cliff Burton/introduction of Jason Newsted is often cited as the cause of these problems. Whilst unfair on Newsted, since replacing him with Rob Trujillo, they have improved, though that may simply be coincidence.

*** The Napster suit in 2000 perpetuated this for many, as even the people Metallica was (supposedly) pandering to were disgusted with the band afterwards.

* John Cale was a drug-addled, overweight, mentally-unwell shell of his former self for a period in the early to mid-eighties. Fortunately, he cleaned himself up, but not before filming some very embarrassing live performances.

* [[Tokio Hotel]] with the Humanoid Album. Arguably, that is. The band both lost and gained fans with this album, though it seems to be more on the lost side.

* Two come to mind with [[Elton John]]: 1977-1982, when his lyricist Bernie Taupin had little or no influence on the albums of that period, his sales slowed, he dabbled in [[Deader Than Disco|disco]] for an album just as the style grew out of fashion, and his albums in general were of an inconsistent quality, and 1985-1990, where Taupin was more involved, but Elton's music became overly produced and synth-heavy, much of the classic 1970's Elton John Band who backed him in his 1983-84 period were fired and replaced by session musicians, and Elton's [[Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll|drug and alcohol habits]], bulimia and [[Anything That Moves|reckless love life]] were taking a toll on him.

 

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