Music history loves a good plot twist. Some artists do not just change styles. They jump genres entirely, confuse first-time listeners, and somehow pull it off. Here are 20 musicians whose resumes read like musical whiplash, in glorious alphabetical order.
Adrien Belew
From the angular art-rock of Talking Heads to the precision prog of King Crimson and the industrial crunch of Nine Inch Nails, Belew treats genres like playgrounds. Same guitar. Completely different rules.
Damon Albarn
Blur defined Britpop cool while Gorillaz rebuilt hip-hop collaboration culture from the ground up. Albarn made two cultural movements without blinking.
Larry LaLonde
He started in Possessed, one of death metal’s earliest and most extreme bands. Then he joined Primus and helped invent weirdness as a sustainable career path.
Dallas Green
One voice, two emotional extremes. Alexisonfire brought hardcore chaos, while City and Colour leaned into hushed folk confessionals that felt like the morning after.
Daveed Diggs
Broadway audiences know him from Hamilton. Experimental rap fans know him from clipping., where industrial noise and dystopian storytelling take center stage.
John Wetton
Progressive rock legend with King Crimson, then a mainstream arena force with Asia. Complexity on one side, glossy hooks on the other.
Julian Casablancas
The Strokes made him an indie rock icon. The Voidz let him tear that image apart with fractured rhythms, distortion, and controlled chaos.
Lee Buford
He drummed in the fragile, diary-like indie pop of Everyone Asked About You. Then he joined The Body and helped deliver some of the heaviest industrial metal ever recorded.
Mark Mothersbaugh
He helped Devo redefine punk-adjacent art rock. Then he became one of the most prolific and recognizable composers in film and television.
Mike Patton
Faith No More made him famous. Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Lovage, and Italian opera proved fame was never the point.
Monte Pittman
A guitarist for industrial metal band Prong. Also a long-time musical partner of Madonna. That contrast alone earns a lifetime achievement award.
Pat Mastelotto
From polished pop-rock success with Mr. Mister to complex rhythmic architecture in King Crimson. Same drummer, different universes.
Pino Palladino
He anchored glossy pop with Paul Young, helped shape neo-soul with the Soulquarians, then added low-end gravity to Nine Inch Nails. Bass chameleons are real.
Richard Barbieri
Atmospheric synth work in Japan laid the groundwork for art-pop elegance. Years later, Porcupine Tree pushed him deep into modern progressive rock.
Rivers Cuomo
Before Weezer, he chased hair metal dreams in a band called Avant Garde. From spandex ambitions to sweater-core sincerity.
Scott Walker
Teen idol crooner in the 1960s. Avant-garde experimental icon decades later. Few careers pivot that hard and land that successfully.
Tina Weymouth
Talking Heads reshaped new wave. Tom Tom Club turned rhythm sections into dance-floor joy machines.
Tom DeLonge
Blink-182 thrived on pop-punk humor and speed. Angels and Airwaves aimed for arena-sized space rock ambition.
Zach Hill
Hella showcased technical chaos. Death Grips turned that chaos into something confrontational, industrial, and culturally disruptive.
Igor Cavalera
As a founding member of Sepultura, he helped define extreme metal. With Soulwax, he explored sleek electronic and dance-forward experimentation.