00:00I keep trying to tap into that person who maybe was naive and you know went into it
00:07feeling like you could make a difference. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we'll be counting down our
00:13picks for those musical artists that largely stuck to their creative guns while finding success
00:20on their own terms. We were talking about boy we should charge 25 dollars and really milk it
00:25really take them for all they got. Number 10 ABBA. When we got into the studio after 39 years
00:32it was like no time had passed. The swedish pop sensations known as ABBA may have released a new
00:38album in 2021 and they did create a virtual residency known as the ABBA voyage in London
00:45soon afterwards. However the members of ABBA had been notoriously reluctant to reunite prior to
00:52the 2020s even famously turning down a 1 billion dollar payday back in 2000. This is pretty
00:59astounding stuff since even the most stalwartly grounded groups would have a difficult time
01:05turning down that kind of money. But the fact that ABBA also utilized motion captured avatars
01:17of themselves within their residency might speak to the fact they simply want their fans to
01:22remember them as they were to enjoy the past. Number 9 Rush. Progressive rock artists have
01:34long stood proudly and defiantly out of time. Bands like Rush remain steadfast in their dedication to
01:46music rather than fashion or trends. This stands in line with Prague's reputation for boundary
01:52pushing musicianship and Rush has certainly achieved this and all on their own terms.
02:05Granted the 1980s output of Rush did embrace the burgeoning synthesizer movement
02:11but their musical fences never felt enclosed by possibility.
02:16Instead fans responded in droves to how these Canadian legends made arena rock a place where
02:27both the visceral and intellectual spaces could be explored and those same fans wouldn't want
02:34it any other way. Number 8 Motorhead. We are Motorhead and we play rock and roll.
02:46This was a line famously uttered by the group's leader Ian Lemmy Kilmister before practically
02:52every gig. And Motorhead never pretended to be anything other than loud, heavy and obnoxious
03:03rock. They're seen today as one of the godfathers of speed metal thanks to their high octane tempo
03:16and driving double bass drumming. Motorhead could also slow things down to a bluesy crawl or even
03:23some surprisingly effective balladry. And they did it while never straying from that
03:34rock and roll core that endeared Lemmy and company to generations of headbangers.
03:46Number 7 Beastie Boys. Does the act of progression mean selling out? It's a question that's been
04:00asked of many bands and will likely continue to be asked of practically any group that picks up
04:06some guitars. The Beastie Boys didn't seem to think so and many of their fans seem to agree.
04:16These rebellious youths started out playing hardcore punk before their early love of the
04:22hip-hop genre encouraged a stylistic shift. Those early Beasties records featured party
04:28anthems that blurred the lines between rock and rap. Meanwhile, future efforts from the
04:40boys became more and more influential, delving deep into the rap genre with a dedication that
04:46made them respected pioneers. Number 6 Iron Maiden. The landscape for commercial metal
05:02was a challenging one for the established guard. Fans had dug their heels into the underground,
05:08leaving many traditional acts struggling for relevance. Iron Maiden, to their credit,
05:13weathered the storm with a new singer, Blaze Bailey, while continuing to write the music
05:18they wanted to play. This stood in contrast to the choices made by Judas Priest, Rob Halford,
05:31or former Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, all three of which attempted to appeal to new metal,
05:36industrial, and grunge trends of the day. Maiden, through it all, stayed Maiden, despite
05:49stunted sales and concert tickets. The band would eventually reunite with Dickinson and
05:54regain their prominence, but fans never forgot Iron Maiden's dedication to the heavy metal cause.
06:01Number 5 Pearl Jam.
06:14We've probably all paid a little too much to see our favorite bands.
06:18This could be due to them playing a big festival, or maybe we just waited too long to grab tickets.
06:25Pearl Jam has always seemed to respect their fans, particularly when it comes to ticket prices.
06:36The grunge icons famously attempted to circumvent the Ticketmaster runaround back in 1994,
06:42and their dedication to this mission sees no signs of slowing down decades later.
06:47Pearl Jam even promised to cancel any resale tickets sold above face value
06:57for their 2025 tour, in a move that likely made their devoted fans love them even more.
07:04Number 4 Radiohead.
07:06There's something to be said about sticking to one's guns, particularly when it comes to
07:19composing difficult music. Britain's Radiohead blew the minds of critics back in 1997 when they
07:25released OK Computer. This was a marvelous record that somehow managed to combine alternative rock
07:32with electronica and even vintage progressive sounds in a manner that felt fresh and new.
07:38Radiohead didn't stop there however, and continued to push creative boundaries
07:43with every new album or project. It would have been easy for the group to capitalize upon the
07:54goodwill received from both OK Computer or their 1993 debut Pablo Honey. Instead, Radiohead dug in
08:08their heels and never sold their defiantly unconventional musical principles. Number 3
08:14Roger Waters. The departure of Roger Waters from Pink Floyd didn't spell the end of that band.
08:28Floyd carried on just like they did after their separation from founding member Sid Barrett.
08:34Waters, to his credit, continued doing things
08:43his way, retaining the levels of control he wielded in Floyd.
08:53This resulted in a solo career that put just as much focus on Waters' sardonic lyrics
08:59as it did on guest spots from friends like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Floyd became more
09:04melodic and soulful after the departure of Waters, while the latter's LPs Amused to Death
09:10and The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking were experimental exercises from a fertile creative mind.
09:23Number 2 Nirvana. What do you do when millions of music fans suddenly adore you for
09:29writing the loud, abrasive, and intentionally uncommercial rock you've been writing for years?
09:39The members of Nirvana likely asked themselves this question after their 1991 album Nevermind
09:44struck a conceptual nerve in the pop zeitgeist. Grunge was suddenly an in-thing, with many new
09:50groups struggling to jump on the new rock bandwagon. Nirvana could have easily dumbed
09:55the Nevermind formula to compete in this new space, but they had another idea.
10:05In utero was the follow-up, and it felt even more focused and cognizant of Nirvana's new
10:10place, the food chain. This was a hard-hitting and even controversial album, one that proved Nirvana
10:16wasn't backing down to major label pressure.
10:40Number 1. David Bowie. There are just some masters of musical reinvention out there
10:46that managed to stay relevant for decades. David Bowie released his first albums during
10:57the tail end of the 1960s. Then he broke barriers with his glam rock dominance that challenged
11:03just about everybody's preconceptions of what a rock star looked like.
11:07Bowie never rested on those creative laurels however, and instead embraced every new
11:19technology while creating music that always felt true to his personal style.
11:30The thin white dude could do no wrong in the eyes of his fans and continued to stay musically
11:35relevant right up until his death in 2016. Which artists do you feel have retained the
11:41most integrity over the years? Let us know in the comments.
12:05Here's what's next!
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