This is Jammin’ With Josh. Each week I take a look at one of the bands that I love. Or perhaps it will be a band that I just discovered and think you should check out. Or maybe it will just be a way for me to post music videos. Honestly, no one will ever know.
It has been awhile since I did one of these. Today I thought I would talk about the band Incubus, but also just how a band can change over time. I started listening to Incubus when Make Yourself came out. I decided to buy their older album S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and downloaded as many of their songs from Fungus Amongus. I bought every album up until Light Grenades. During that time, I noticed something, their sound changed.
Some people hate when bands change their music. I am not one of those people. So today will take a look at the change in Incubus.
Here is one of their songs from Fungus Amongus–“Take Me to Your Leader.” It is pretty much rap-metal (or whatever genre you want to call it).
With S.C.I.E.N.C.E. we have more of the evolution, they start to have the heavy elements mixed with Boyd actually singing.
And then by Make Yourself they had perfected and truly found who they were. Notice that Brandon Boyd’s dreads are gone and the music is slightly less metal, but keeps that futuristic space feel.
Fun fact, “Pardon Me” is one of the few songs that I can sing in the shower and not screw up any of the words.
I feel like “Drive” definitely made plenty of ladies (and probably guys) swoon for Brandon Boyd. Am I right Allison?
“Stellar” is probably my favorite song from the album (if not my favorite song by Incubus).
After this album, they decided to make Morning View, which is where they lost a few fans. They pretty much dumped any pretense of being a metal band at that point. I saw them at Rolling Rock Town Fair 2.0 right before the album came out and I think they played right before the Deftones. I remember some fans being slightly annoyed by how non-heavy they were now. They came out with bongos and acoustic guitars for a few songs.
I can never remember, but I think “Echo” is Lindsey’s favorite Incubus song…I could be wrong though. I have been wrong before.
My favorite is probably “Nice to Know You”…which actually is a little heavier than the others. Although now that I am older, I probably listen to something like “Echo” more.
I think with A Crow Left of the Murder, Incubus fully stepped into the alt-rock world and left the nu-metal world. They toured with Ben Kweller and Sparta. That does not seem very metal to me.
The next album, Light Grenades, which I could never really get into, definitely sounded more alternative than their first albums.
Hell, just listen to the song from their album…”Nimble Bastard”, it definitely does not sound like that band from the first video.
And there is nothing wrong with that. Brandon Boyd is in his 40s now. I cannot imagine that his life has not changed in such ways that playing angry music is still part of who he is. He and the rest of the band seem like they enjoy experimenting with different sounds and trying new things. Also, people have this tendency to forget that musicians usually have pretty wide ranging tastes. Remember years ago when Brandon Boyd did a cover of Elvis Costello’s “Alison” for a Gap CD?
Did he sell out? Maybe. I do not know. Maybe Brandon Boyd is a huge Costello fan and jumped at the chance to do something different. One thing that always cracks me up though is if you go to an Incubus post on Facebook, you will see people screaming about them being sellouts and how much better they were in the olden days, and blah blah blah. Does anyone ever ask the band if they enjoy the music they make? If they are happy, then isn’t that all that matters? Also, if they put out a bunch of records that sounded exactly like their first album, would people complain that they always sound exactly the same? Probably.
I enjoy them and like watching them grow as musicians.
