00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be counting down our picks for those instances
00:10where musicians gambled upon a new visual aesthetic, but ultimately came up short.
00:2010. Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines
00:30It was a wild musical experiment that probably didn't pay off in the way that Garth Brooks
00:37intended when he dreamt it up. Chris Gaines served as a creative alter ego to Brooks,
00:42an alternative pop rocker that not only dropped the cowboy hats and jeans for a more
00:47designer look, but also had an attitude whose existence allowed for Brooks to perform different
00:52kinds of music. The country icon even brought his Chris Gaines to the stage of Saturday Night Live,
01:03further confusing fans that were wondering what exactly Garth Brooks was doing with that hair and
01:08those clothes. Like when Garth Brooks put on that wig and pretended to be that other dude. Remember
01:14that part? Remember that thing? I do remember that thing. I love that. I love when someone goes like,
01:21whoa, whoa, way off the reservation. The Chris Gaines experiment only lasted a year back in 1999,
01:28but the resulting album of new music titled Garth Brooks in the life of Chris Gaines actually earned
01:34a charting Billboard Top 5 single with Lost In You.
01:469. Billy Ray Cyrus
01:58There's been a lot of discussion with regards to just how far Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter Miley
02:03as a clipster dad in terms of relevancy. One thing's for sure, however, the elder Cyrus certainly had
02:09the market cornered on mullets. The Achy Breaky Heart star changed his hairdo and look during his
02:21brief foray into the Christian entertainment sphere. This appearance ran parallel to Cyrus' pack series,
02:27Doc, and he never really returned to sporting the haircut of the gods after he ditched
02:32writing and recording gospel tunes, and returned to the country music bowl.
02:458. Jefferson Airplane
02:47To Starship
02:49And we can build this dream together, stand in stone forever.
02:55It can be interesting to view just how far a band travels away from its embryonic roots.
03:01Jefferson Airplane helped to find psychedelic rock during the 1960s, complete with the sort
03:06of colorful and flowing outfits indicative of the period, all while embodying an idealistic youth
03:12movement. Fast forward to the mid-70s and Jefferson Starship continued in this mold, albeit with a less
03:2760s-leaning look that seemed to point towards something more casual. The addition of Mickey Thomas on vocals in 1979
03:35signified a turning point, however, as hit singles like Jane hinted at more commercial success.
03:40Thomas and former Airplane vocalist Grace Slick continued on with Starship, a melodically rich
03:53hit machine whose ultra-80s look felt to some fans like a selling out of those aforementioned 60s
04:00principles for corporate cash.
04:097. Beach Boys
04:20It's interesting to juxtapose the surf-obsessed era of the Beach Boys against the group's many attempts at
04:26reinvention. This isn't to say that such albums as Sunflower or Friends didn't perform well critically,
04:33but this was a time the band has essentially abandoned their clean-cut surfer look for something
04:38more haphazard. Some of these musical experiments, such as the Beach Boys' Love You, gained retroactive
04:53cult status years later, but failed to give the group any traction on the charts.
04:57Now we can fly high in the sky We'll live forever, we'll never die
05:06Meanwhile, the Mike Love-led era of the Beach Boys tried to revert back to that sun and fun look with
05:11albums like Still Cruisin' or the disastrous Summer in Paradise, but these efforts felt more like
05:18boomer nostalgia in a costume than relevant creativity.
05:296. KISS
05:30The word, ruined, is admittedly being used in a relative fashion when discussing one of the most
05:36financially lucrative bands in the world, KISS.
05:39That said, the decision for the group to remove their makeup in 1983 signified a new era for KISS,
05:51one that was embracing the more contemporary heavy metal sounds of the 1980s. The resulting albums did
05:58well with LPs like Asylum containing some of that era's heaviest and most dynamic tunes, while also
06:04showcasing the band's adoption of a more traditional hard rock-slash-heavy metal jean and t-shirt look.
06:19Still, not all of KISS' fans appreciated this gesture, and many yearned for the band's platform
06:24shoe-wearing, fire-breathing 70s heyday. This resulted in the band eventually returning to this
06:30place approach, putting the makeup back on until their formal retirement from touring in 2023.
06:425. Axl Rose
06:52There have been some critics out there that have risen to the defense of Chinese democracy by
06:57Guns N' Roses, yet even those who appreciated what this album had to offer musically can probably
07:03come to one specific consensus. The band sure took too long in bringing it to life. This epic length
07:10delay wasn't helped by a 2002 VMA comeback performance on MTV, one that debuted a freshly
07:16cornrowed Axl Rose, backed by a new band. The new look was disconcerting to many. Fans didn't really
07:30know what to do with this Guns N' Roses, and were far more interested in a reunion that brought together
07:36all of the Sunset Strip vibes that the band brought back in the 1980s.
07:47The old Guns N' Roses eventually returned to touring the nostalgia circuit, but interest in their new
07:52music has admittedly remained niche since Chinese democracy hit racks back in 2008.
08:084. Celtic Frost
08:16Heavy metal fans can often be intensely loyal, but can also turn hard. At even the
08:22smallest sign of selling out. Germany's deconstruction know this well, as does Celtic
08:27Frost from Switzerland. The latter are fellow trailblazers of extreme metal, thanks not only
08:33to their early 80s history of Hellhammer, but also such LPs as Morbid Tales.
08:44Internal tensions led to restructuring, however, and the subsequent album Cold Lake
08:48featured Frost teasing their hair, smiling for the camera, and going glam. It took a proper metallic
08:54return in 2006 to earn fan forgiveness, although Cold Lake has since been re-evaluated by some as a
09:01unique experiment of hair metal looks and heavy riff experimentalism.
09:06The 90s and early millennium felt like lost years for the former Sunset Strip gods in Motley
09:25Crew. This was an era where grunge ruled. Hair metal felt like it was in the rear view and Motley
09:31crew felt like they had to compete. Resulting albums like Generation Swine and a self-titled
09:36effort from 1994 incorporated grunge and electronic elements, but also saw the group ditching the
09:42hairspray in favor of flannel. The latter, especially, had crew fans rebelling, despite new frontman
09:57John Karabi's undeniable talent as a vocalist. It took the jettisoning of Crew's contemporary image and
10:09the rehiring of former singer Vince Neil for fans to eventually come back around for a participation
10:15trophy retread with 2008's Saints of Los Angeles.
10:232. MC Hammer
10:25It must have felt like a dream, nightmare, or bad joke for fans of MC Hammer, fans who were around
10:40when the You Can't Touch This singer tried to go gangsta. The Funky Headhunter was Hammer's second album
10:50after dropping the MC from his name and signified a more grounded and realistic musical direction.
10:56This was reflected in Hammer's look and demeanor, a tougher and edgier performer that wasn't smiling
11:01for the people any longer. Not everybody was convinced by Hammer's approach here, however, and not even a
11:15return to his older sound with the Inside Out album from 1995 could save the sinking ship.
11:211. Dee Dee Ramon
11:45Some records have a bad reputation, but standing in the spotlight is something else,
11:55an ill-advised sojourn into hip-hop by Dee Dee Ramon. The LP actually contains elements of
12:02rock and roll doo-wop and punk as well, but Ramon's alias of Dee Dee King is far more remembered for both
12:09his feeble attempts at rapping and his shift from leather jacket-wearing punk to neo-80s rap star than anything else.
12:25Stories have circulated about how Dee Dee would break up the Ramon's very specific dress code by
12:30showing up in his rap regalia. Standing in the spotlight may not have killed the career of Dee Dee Ramon,
12:37but it certainly remains a confounding moment of vanity recording and identity confusion.
12:48Do you like defending any of these controversial career moves? Let us know in the comments!
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