When is a pop band not a pop band

The original It Bites - Calling All the Heroes - made everyone think of them as a pop band, but they spent the rest of the time trying to break out from that. Melodic and accessible, but definitely prog-pop and Once Around The World clinches it!

There is also much more to Tears for Fears than Everybody Wants to Rule the World!

Good call on Pink Floyd. As for Blur, one could say that they Blurred the lines -- haha.

I think one could say this of a lot of art pop (and avant/ experimental pop) bands and artists. Artists such as David Bowie circa the Berlin trilogy fits, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Bjork and ones like Gary Numan can fit for a lot of stuff. Also bands like Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, Roxy Music Talk Talk and Sparks, Pink Floyd under Syd Barrett as experimental pop for instance, Phew, even ones like After Dinner could count. I think a band like Air could count for some work.

{edited for typos}

Edited by Logan - October 29 2017 at 19:48

The Residents is the first one that comes to mind.