History Main / BlackSheepHit

* {{Metallica}}, "Nothing Else Matters" (pretty much the closest the band came to writing a ballad) and pretty much all of "...And Justice For All" save for "One", which was the only song from said album that survived the band's live set list after the tour for the album ended.
** And even "One" is treated like a bastard child, as far as MTV pretty much ignoring it in order to hype "Enter Sandman" as the band's first big hit. Granted, "One" is a ten minute song and filled with HighOctaneNightmareFuel lyrics/visuals compared to Enter Sandman's more commercially friendly length of five minutes with more mainstream friend NightmareFuel, but still...
* Scorpions, "Wind of Change".
** Even though this song became the hymn for the Berlin Wall fall, vocalist Klaus Meine said that the song had actually been written long before, and he happened to stumble on it when looking at some annotations.
** Also, "Still Loving You".
* {{Kansas}}, "Dust in the Wind".
** Arguably, "Carry On Wayward Son" also qualifies. It lacks the "fiddle" strings that characterize many of their other songs.
* {{Paramore}}'s "Only Exception" is becoming their biggest hit, but it's nothing like their usual punk rock style.
* Extreme, "More than Words".
* LedZeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven".
** Which is still much closer to their usual style than the reggae-tinged "D'yer Maker"
** "All My Love" is also commonly regarded as Led Zeppelin's worst hit song, in spite of it being a GriefSong that Robert Plant wrote about his deceased son.
** Then there is also "Fool In the Rain", which is from the same album as "All My Love".
* {{Aerosmith}}, multiple times, with "Dream On", "Angel" and "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing."
** "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" was also a black-sheep hit when Mark Chesnutt covered it; before that song, he was mostly known for his honky-tonk influences, and certainly ''not'' for pop power ballads.
* {{Music/Boston}}, who were stadium rockers, had two of this kind: "More Than a Feeling" and "Amanda," the latter much more than the former.
* {{Radiohead}}, "Creep" (which went so far that they wrote the song "My Iron Lung" in response to them being reduced to that one song). People would turn up to concerts waiting for that one song and then leave after it was played. After a while they simply stopped playing it.
** Though "Creep" is interesting in that it wasn't a departure from Radiohead's style, just one of their earlier songs (and their earliest single). As the band progressed, their style become more and more experimental.
*** It was a departure from the style of the rest of the album.
* The Rembrandts, "I'll Be There For You." (the ''{{Friends}}'' theme)
* {{Yes}}, "Owner of a Lonely Heart".
** Only in the context of the band's progressive rock past, really. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was an accurate enough picture of the band's Trevor Rabin period.
* GreenDay, "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)". Also, to a lesser extent, "Wake Me Up When September Ends". Different from many examples in that they're not upset about it, and the songs are hardly out of place for the band anymore since 21st Century Breakdown has many similar songs.
* CheapTrick, "The Flame".
* Early on in their career "See Emily Play" for PinkFloyd.
** Later this became "Money", then even later, "Learning to Fly".
** "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2" became a ProtestSong, something which the band hadn't planned, resulting in it being [[BannedInChina banned in South Africa.]]
* JanesAddiction, "Been Caught Stealing".
* AphexTwin and 'Avril 14th'. Most people don't even know its by him but they know the song.
* TheVerve, "Bittersweet Symphony".
** "All in the Mind", the title track of The Verve's first single, is in a very different style from the rest of the band's early output as seen on the ''Verve EP'', which was more strongly psychedelic or shoegazer.
* {{REM}}, "Shiny Happy People". Damn, they hate this.
* {{Soundgarden}}, "Black Hole Sun".
* BlackSabbath, "Changes" and "Paranoid"
* {{Blur}}, "Song 2", especially in America where its the only song most people know by them.
** Which is because that song was apparently written to parody American alternative rock at the time. Right down to the indecipherable vocals.
** Which isn't as much of a black sheep in the context of that album, which probably changed the course of rock music for the next decade.
* 311, "Amber"
* TheOffspring, "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?"
** Also "Pretty Fly For A White Guy".
* In a bizarre twist, this happened to {{Disturbed}} in just the opposite manner: ''Down with the Sickness'' remains one of their heavier and most well-known songs, which has gone to undermine their slower, more melodic works in later albums. 11 million records, four number 1 albums and a Grammy nomination later, they're still seen in the public eye as that band that makes staccato monkey noises.
** This is more a case of either CerebusSyndrome or GrowingTheBeard [[YourMileageMayVary depending on your perspective]]. Down with the Sickness very much was typical of Disturbed's style at the time. The slower, melodic, stuff came later as the band got more mature.
* Modest Mouse, "Float On". While the song sounds pretty similar to their other songs, it is 1000x times more upbeat and positive than other songs by them. Gets frustrating to fans, especially when games like RockBand seem to think that is the only song by them.
** "Dashboard" far more so.
* Sweet Child o' Mine from GunsNRoses, the riff was written as a joke by Slash. The song was quickly written, it had been heard that Slash does not really like the song.
* TheCure, "Friday I'm In Love". Whereas it's not much different from their other hits, the band loathe and detest it and Robert Smith once said in an interview that people who liked it "weren't Cure fans".
* Stone Sour's two biggest hits, "Bother" and "Through Glass". (the latter starts off ballad-y and gets harder as it goes, but is still different from their other songs).
* Finger Eleven present a variation. Until they had a hit with "Paralyzer", their best known song was "One Thing," which was far less representative of their typical style.
** Also, many {{WWE}} wrestling fans are only really familiar with "Slow Chemical," which the band tailor made for the wrestler Kane to use from 2002 to 2008.
* {{Kiss}} released "Detroit Rock City" as a single. Yet radios liked to play the B-side "Beth" instead...
** Their other big Top 10 pop hit was "Forever" (co-written by Michael Bolton of all people), which was a saccharine ballad like "Beth".
* Kings of Leon's biggest hit "Use Somebody", is completely different from the rest of their catalog, which leans far more towards indie rock, or its parent album, which has a more alternative rock feel.
* The Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer in the City", which had a much harder sound than their usual folk-pop. Their second biggest hit, "Do You Believe in Magic?" was poppier than their usual sound.
* The Stranglers, "Golden Brown", a baroque composition that was completely different from - [[YourMileageMayVary and arguably]] [[TropesAreNotBad superior to]] - the band's earlier punk rock sound.
* TheBeatles declined to release "Yesterday" as a single in Great Britain for fear it would become one of these. (Let's just say that their producer proposed that it be a [=McCartney=] solo work. [[YouAreNotReady The world was not ready]].) It became the most covered of their songs.
** According to the ''Guinness Book of World Records'', it's also the most covered of anyone's songs. Ever.
** "Eleanor Rigby" is another one, for similar reasons to "Yesterday" though not as severe.
** ''{{Help}}'', originally written as a slow, bleak ballad similar to ''Yesterday'', was retooled into a rock song for similar reasons too.
** "The Ballad of John and Yoko" has a similar history, being written by John and Paul as a snarky response to the media hype around John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It's credited to the Beatles as a whole, but only John and Paul appear (it was an 'on the spur of the moment' recording--to make up for it, George and Ringo appear on their own in George's "Old Brown Shoe" on the B-side of the single)
* FrankZappa, "Dancin' Fool". The humor is very typical of Zappa's music, but the highly commercial melody and radio-friendly production is not. Ironically he was trying to ''parody'' these effects, but Top-40 radio programmers [[MisaimedFandom didn't get the joke]]. See also "Valley Girl".
** "Bobby Brown (Goes Down)" fits the bill as well.
* Ray Stevens is mainly known for his novelty songs. However, he had his biggest hit with the extremely serious and sentimental "Everything Is Beautiful".
* Chumbawamba got known as an anarchistic punk band, but the only song of theirs most people could probably name is the pop number "Tubthumping".
** Which was a working-class song.
*** That now get sung by drunken, privileged frat boys.
** About getting plastered and fighting people. No wonder it was adopted as an anthem for Australian football.
** Everybody seems to forget that ''Tubthumper'' (which is a derogatory for "politician") isn't just about the working class, specifically it's a "TonyBlair hates the working class" ConceptAlbum. The narrator in "Tubthumping" isn't just some bloke getting drunk at a bar, he's Old Labour and the British Hard Left, predicting what he's going to be doing for the next twenty years: getting drunk and being irrelevant.
*** Never much understood this song growing up, but irrelevance certainly wasn't the impression ''I'' got. "Oh dang I'm irrelevant" doesn't seem to jive with the strength of a chorus like "I get knocked down, I get up again - ain't nothin' gonna keep me down." Might compare it more to part of the lyrics of ''Headstrong'' ("Back off - I'll take you on; headstrong to take on anyone. I know that you are wrong"...).
* {{Oasis}}' Liam Gallagher has this to say about "Wonderwall" (which is not much unlike their style - many of their songs are ballads):

* OlderThanRadio: [[LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] expressed irritation at the popularity of his ''Moonlight Sonata'', saying "Surely I've written better things".
* Also classical, but not OlderThanRadio: Ravel's "Bolero".
* Another classical gas: [[PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky Tchaikovsky]] was not happy with his most popular composition, "The Nutcracker".
* Listen to Berlin's best-of collection and you'll notice that "Take My Breath Away", the only song they're really known for, sounds like nothing else on the disc. Berlin's usual style is high-energy synth pop; "Breath" is a rather somber power ballad.
* Subverted with Heart; while they have long considered their run in the 1980s, which included such iconic songs such as "These Dreams" and "Alone", to be the group's DorkAge (due to them essentially allowing their record label to dictate what kind of songs to sing and controlling their public image to play up their sex appeal), the Wilson sisters have pretty much embraced the songs that they recorded during this period.
* OzzyOsbourne is known for the metal he does. His only two songs to chart in the top 40 in the US were "Close My Eyes Forever" (a somber, melancholy duet with Lita Ford) and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (about his impending "retirement"; also co-written by [[{{Motorhead}} Lemmy]]!), which are ''not'' indicative of the bulk of his discography. His highest-charting song in Britain, "Changes" (which hit no.1), is a father-daughter duet with Kelly, and a cover of what is ''itself'' a BlackSheepHit of Black Sabbath's.
* "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes, who otherwise does serious work. This song is "the success that ruined his career".
* {{Louis Armstrong}}, primarily a player of hot jazz, is best remembered for the sentimental pop ballad "What a Wonderful World."
** Either that or the theme from ''Hello Dolly'', which is a BlackSheepHit of a different style.
*** [[http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/112.asp Dolly]] wasn't [[IncrediblyLamePun black]]
* One reason that DonMcLean's successful career as a singer-songwriter was somewhat limited was that audiences and radio programmers expected his other songs to be similar to "American Pie" and were disappointed when they weren't.
* Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" is ''way'' poppier than most of his other stuff.
* The Beastie Boys, with "You Gotta (Fight For Your Right) To Party!". Not only was it different for being a PunkRap tune, but most people [[MisaimedFandom didn't understand the irony of the lyrics]]. The band hates the song and hasn't played it live for over 20 years.
* PearlJam had this with "Last Kiss". Even though it was a cover of an old 60's pop song, and only originally offered to the band's fan club, once radio stations picked it up it became their biggest hit.
** The jury is still out if their second biggest American radio hit, "Better Man" also qualifies.
* Most of TheClash's biggest hits are examples of this. Although music critics know them as revolutionaries in punk rock music (who later played reggae, jazz, world music and just about anything they could think of), most normal people know them for their pop hits "Train In Vain", "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go".
* GratefulDead, "Touch of Grey". The pop song introduced them to new fans in the 80's, who their original fans absolutely hated.
* [[PaulaCole Paula Cole's]] "I Don't Wanna Wait," a.k.a. the ''DawsonsCreek'' theme song. The rest of her work is much harder and darker. Yes, darker than a song about wanting to die.
* The Cardigans' "Lovefool" is much poppier and upbeat than the rest of their work (but its lyrics are just as dark and ironic as their other songs).
* Most people who've heard of LeslieFish know her first for "BannedFromArgo"...even though most of her work, even most of her filks, is some kind of ''protest'' song.
* Big & Rich's only # 1 hit and only Top 40 pop hit (and a minor AC hit!) is "Lost in This Moment", a wedding ballad which is quite far removed from their rock-oriented, in-your-face material such as "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)".
* Sugar Ray's "Fly". To the point where they had a song that sounded like it ("Every Morning") released the first single from their next album ''14:59''
* Coven was a hard rock band in the late '60s whose use of Satanic imagery predated BlackSabbath by nearly a year (they even had a song called "Black Sabbath" and a bassist named Oz Osbourne), and their debut album concludes with a recording of a Satanic mass performed by the group. Their biggest hit? ''One Tin Soldier'', a folksy ProtestSong recorded for the soundtrack to ''BillyJack''.
** Thus demonstrating why Satanic hard rock groups shouldn't [[CoveredUp cover songs]] by Canadian folk-pop groups.
* "Lucky Man" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Originally created as filler for their debut album, it became their most memorable radio hit. To top it off the song is a sloppy pop ballad on an otherwise jazzy and experimental album. Their other major pop hit, "From the Beginning" is similarly poppier (and folkier) than most of their other material.
* Wild Cherry was a 70's rock band. As disco became more popular, many of their audience, particularly the black members, started asking them to play "funky" music. So they came up with the song "Play That Funky Music", which became their only number one hit, although it was nothing like the rest of their music.
* TheSmiths have 'How Soon is Now?'. It's probably their best-known song, but its dreamy atmospheric quality is nothing like their normal indie rock sound.
* Music/{{Blondie}}'s primary musical style is new wave / pop-punk, but their four highest-charting singles in the US were the disco-electronica songs "Heart of Glass" and "Call Me," the hip hop song "Rapture", and a cover of a rocksteady song "The Tide is High".
** New Wave was in its infancy in the late 70's, and punk was just starting to become big in the US. Blondie's hits mark a transition phase in American pop music from disco to New Wave.
* John Cage's "4'33[=''=]." Of course, [[FridgeLogic what else]] ''[[FridgeLogic could]]'' sound like it?
* Butthole Surfers' number one hit "Pepper" is a style parody of Beck, and not really representative of their output, which is generally darker and more experimental.
* Focus, "Hocus Pocus". It still gets more play than anything else they ever did (with the possible exception of "House of the King"). If you've heard it, you'll remember Thijs van Leer's yodelling performance ("...yodel-lay-ee yodel-om-pom-pom!"). It is quite distinct from the rest of their repertoire, and has misdirected potential fans in the past. However, the group never turned against it.
* Before they enlisted Rod Stewart and changed their name to Faces, the Small Faces were a mod rock band comparable to a bluesier version of TheWho. Their biggest hit--and the one song of theirs widely heard in the US--was "Itchycoo Park", a flower power number they pretty much wrote as a joke.
* BoneThugsNHarmony: The Ghetto Cowboy Song, and to a lesser extent "Tha Crossroads". The latter making them ContractualPurity in some fans eyes.
* The rapper B.G. felt this way about the song ''Bling Bling'', which spawned a global phenomenon, and made the term a recognized word in the dictionary. Saying that people thought that was what he was all about.
* BlueOysterCult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," a flukey breakthrough hit for a band whose previous albums are full of weird, abrasive proto-metal songs.
* The Turtles, under pressure from upstairs to put out hit material, recorded "Elenore", deliberately going for the trite and cheesy ("Elenore/gee, I think you're swell") - it was a big hit.
** The band's best known song, the # 1 hit "Happy Together", was created in a similar way.
* The Strawbs specialised in folk-rock, mostly based on timeless poetic themes, historical events or personal experiences. The majority of their songs originated from frontman Dave Cousins, who sung lead vocal on all but a few. "Part of the Union", by far and away their biggest hit ever, was a topical pub-rock anthem that took the rise out of the militant workers who were butting heads with the UK's employers and government at that time. It was written by Rick Hudson and John Ford and performed with John Ford on lead vocals. The huge success of this BlackSheepHit was one of the main factors in Hudson and Ford's departure from the group, and also resulted in it being excluded from the playlist entirely when they took their next album on tour. (However, Hudson, Ford and [=PotU=] were all eventually returned to the fold.)
* GarthBrooks, "Lost In You" from ''In The Life of Chris Gaines''. At least, it was his biggest single pop-wise (it was his only Top 40 pop single, believe it or not).
* The Goo Goo Dolls were originally a punk-oriented alternative band similar to The Replacements (they were on Metal Blade Records - a famous metal label and as such were a strange fit there), but they decided to record a ballad ("Name") for their 1995 album A Boy Named Goo. That wound up being a major hit (their first, after three albums). They actually decided to roll with it and wound up completely changing their style to the softer pop-rock they're known for now.
** Actually, the Goo Goo Dolls have been doing slower acoustic songs from almost the beginning, the first one being the more jokey "James Dean" from their second album, ''Jed''. They just started doing more of it when they figured out that John was as good at ballads as he was at rocking out and that the ballads sold better - to the point where it's most of their music now.
* Free, "All Right Now." Before that, they mostly did slow blues-rock ballads.
* Hoobastank, "The Reason." It's completely a ballad, contrasting strongly with Hoobastank's usual alternative rock style.
* ElectricLightOrchestra's trademark sound of symphonic rock brought them fame...but their biggest hit in the US was the string-less "Don't Bring Me Down".
** They also had two other top 20 hits in the U.S. - "Hold On Tight" and "Calling America" - which lacked strings (although it must be noted that strings had been largely abandoned by that point in their career).
* This often happens with veteran artists who try changing their sound to meet current tastes. "Miss You", TheRollingStones' flirtation with disco, is one example.
* Ten Years After's biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World," was much softer than their usual hard-rock style.
* {{Queen}} fans, especially [[BrokenBase those who think it all went downhill around A Night at the Opera]], ''love'' to bash "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions," even though it may well be their most recognizable (double) single to non-fans.
* ''Dance with the Devil'' was Cozy Powell's first and biggest solo hit. Unfortunately, he didn't really mean it: "I only cut ''Dance with the Devil'' for a laugh, but then it escalated until I felt I was losing credibility..." It led to him quitting music and going into motor racing full time for a few months, after which he was persuaded to join Strange Brew and then Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
* Sort of averted by [[FlamingLips The Flaming Lips]]' "She Don't Use Jelly" - the band's only American chart single. Most fans tend to be weary of it still being the first thing many people think of when they hear the band's name, but the band still like it: Even though they're increasingly playing less early material live, the song is nearly always included in their setlists.
* The JimiHendrix Experience became sick of playing "Hey Joe" because it was all anyone would request. On ''Happening for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_(singer) Lulu]]'' they stopped playing it mid-song, with Hendrix referring to it as "rubbish", and launched into a cover of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love".
** He also developed a very strong dislike of "Purple Haze", as well as pretty much anything from his first album. Mainly because he was [[ExecutiveMeddling instructed to tone it down a lot]] the first album because {{the world was not ready}}.
* Filter's "Take a Picture" is a light, melodic song that stands in contrast to their darker, heavier music. This leads to a funny moment when one unfamiliar with the group first plays "Hey Man, Nice Shot" on ''GuitarHero World Tour'' and then wonders why the band has a song on the mainstream pop-oriented ''Band Hero''.
* Toto's "Africa". The song was almost omitted from the ''Toto IV'' album, since the band in general was tired of it, and some members even thought it didn't sound like Toto at all.
* DreamTheater wrote "Pull Me Under" almost as an afterthought to the album ''Images and Words'' because it was thought the album (which was released in 1992 but mostly written in 1989) needed a more straight-forward heavy song to balance out the EpicRocking and the ballads. The song went on to be a surprise # 10 rock radio chart hit and popular MTV video. They've also expressed irritation over the immense and enduring popularity of "Metropolis Pt. 1" (although this was not a radio hit) to the point where many fans wanted to hear it at ''every'' show. Mike Portnoy once asked, "Don't you guys ever get tired of this fucking song?" and John Petrucci said the band could "play it in [their] sleep."
* Ray Parker Jr.'s "{{Ghostbusters}}," which [[TheJimmyHartVersion sounds uncannily like a Huey Lewis and the News song]] but sounds nothing like Parker's other work.
* "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's - their usual style is much more upbeat, but their ballad was what became a major hit. They then followed it up with another ballad hit, "1234".
* XJapan, "Forever Love." The song became one of the most recognized in Japan featuring in everything from an anime ending to a political campaign to being played at hide's funeral. Only problem is it's actually the lowest point of {{Narm}} the band managed to reach.
* "Under the Bridge" by the RedHotChiliPeppers got a lot of people buying Blood Sugar Sex Magik expecting more of the same and not an album full of funk. Imagine all the suburban housewives who liked "Under the Bridge" and wound up stumbling into "Sir Psycho Sexy"!
* Fans turned on to Alien Ant Farm by their hit cover of "Smooth Criminal" were probably confused when they got Criminal and 12 tracks of emo.
** Which causes a bit of a BerserkButton among some of the earliest AAF fans. Before "Smooth Criminal" hit the radio circuit AAF were a hyped band in the local Bay Area rock scene, and they had two minor singles that received some radio play. After "Smooth Criminal", it got really hard to market "that band who did that MichaelJackson song".
* A rare example where the black sheep hit was their first: Boyz II Men are known for the romantic ballads and soulful harmonies. Naturally, their first hit "Motownphilly" was a "New Jack Swing" dance number.
* Mr. Big, a band known for having one of the fastest and most technically adept guitarists in rock and metal (and this was in the late 80s, when lightning-fast guitar shredders were everywhere) and a world famous bass guitar virtuoso, naturally had their biggest stateside hit with "To Be With You", a relatively slow and simple acoustic ballad.
* ThinLizzy's "Whiskey In The Jar" was originally recorded as an Irish in-joke and as B-side to one of their singles. When the management got hold of it, they flipped it to the A-side and it became a massive hit, much to the band's chagrin.
** {{Metallica}} covering it didn't help too much.
* Music/{{Chicago}}'s "If You Leave Me Now" was this at the time of its release. It was almost left off ''Chicago X'' for this reason. After the album was released, band member Walter Parazaider heard the song on the radio...and didn't know it was his own band's work. Needless to say, the success of the song led to a big shift in the band's style.
* Pretty much everything Chris [=DeBurgh=] ever did falls into three categories: 1. Michael Bolton-esque power pop beltfests (Don't Pay The Ferryman), 2. Gentle, melodic folk ballads (This Song For You), and 3. narratives (Patricia The Stripper). One time...ONE TIME...he did a mushy love song, Lady In Red. Which he specifically did as a tribute to his wife. Guess which is the only one that ever got ''any'' radio play?
** On classic rock radio at least, Spanish Train, something much more in line with his style.
* The Cranberries' "Zombie" to an extent - they've had hits that were just as big and were more representative of their signature style, but it's one of their most famous songs and also the only heavy, grunge-influenced thing they've ever done. They specifically went for a darker, more aggressive sound in this case because they thought it would fit with the overtly anti-war lyrics. It's sort of an inverse of the typical SurprisinglyGentleSong example.
* Canadian hair-metal band April Wine is best known for a sweet ballad [[GratuitousFrench with French lyrics]] (and a kick-ass guitar solo) called "Just Between You And Me". It was admittedly written as an attempt to bring more female members into their fanbase.
* I don't know if it counts, but "Mujer Amante", a LoveSong by the Argentinean HeavyMetal band RataBlanca was their biggest hit ever. The rest of their music was 100% HeavyMetal. (Even at high speeds and heavy sound)
* Sophie B. Hawkins's biggest pop hit is "As I Lay Me Down," which lacks the overt sexual content of most of the rest of her repertoire (including her other big hit, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover").
* Invoked intentionally by early ChristianRock band Petra, because their usual material was considered unacceptable for airplay on Christian radio.
* Marillion had one with "Kayleigh", which is a '''lot''' poppier than their usual progressive rock style.
* SmashMouth's first hit single, "Walkin' On The Sun", was a '60s-esque pop tune; the rest of their debut album was mostly ska-punk, with the exception of a cover of War's "Why Can't We Be Friends?" Like the above-mentioned Sugar Ray, who charted at about the same time, they embraced their Black Sheep Hit, and their second album was much heavier on the retro-pop.
* "Babe" by Styx is a slow ballad, unlike most of their other more rock-oriented works.
** "Mr. Roboto" is mostly [[{{Synthesizeritis}} synthesized]], while most of their songs were guitar-based.
* Patti Smith was a founding mother of [[PunkRock punk music]] who was shockingly profane for a female vocalist of her time, and brought to her music a strong feminist vibe. Her best-known hit is ''Because The Night'', a pop love ballad written by BruceSpringsteen, which contains ''none'' of these elements.
* TheBangles write the vast majority of their own songs, but of their 4 best-charting singles, "Manic Monday" was written by {{Prince}} (and sounds like it, being a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute vocally for his "1999".) "Walk Like An Egyptian" was a novelty song. "Hazy Shade of Winter" was a cover, and "Eternal Flame" was the only ballad on ''Everything''.
* Brazilian band Los Hermanos and it's first hit, "Anna Júlia", covered by many artists afterwards, including George Harrison. Los Hermanos got so pissed off with the songs' huge success that they've stopped playing "Anna Júlia" in the shows. For good.
* Modern English were generally a moody, goth-influenced post-punk band when the jangly, upbeat "I Melt With You" became a big hit - in the US they're still considered a OneHitWonder (they did technically have two other hits on the Billboard charts, but one of them was just a 1990 remake of "I Melt With You").
* 38 Special is known for their guitar-driven Southern rock. Yet their biggest hit was the synth-driven ballad "Second Chance".
* The Smithereens' biggest hit? "Too Much Passion", a light soul-pop song that sounds nothing like their guitar-driven sound.
* PatBenatar's "Love is a Battlefield."
* {{Slipknot}}'s lead single off their successful [[SelfTitledAlbum self-titled]] debut, "Wait And Bleed" could be considered an example. While it has the speed, angst and chaotic qualities of most of their output, it's by-far the least heavy non-electronic song on the record. It's also one of the album's shortest songs.
** Another example from may be the record's other single, "Spit It Out". While it's faster and longer than ''Wait And Bleed'', it's one of the band's few songs that has out-and-out rapping, causing them to often be pegged as rap-metal.
* Carl Orff has "O Fortuna" the first song from the suite "Carmina Burana". "Carmina Burana" contains 25 songs, whereof the first two ("O Fortuna" and "Fortuna plango vulnera") are dark ominous awesomeness, and the rest is a variety of medieval drinking- and love songs no-one has ever heard. Compare [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrML6s1wNHk "O Fortuna"]] with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vObLMZSDe2Q "Floret Silva Nobilis"]]
* The Hollies' "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" is much harder than their usual material. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the song is a {{homage}} to CreedenceClearwaterRevival.
** It also differs from the band's usual output in two other ways. The lead guitar was played by vocalist Allan Clarke as opposed to usual guitarist Tony Hicks, and it contains a solo vocal from Clarke (one of the Hollies' trademarks was their great harmonies).
* Arguably, BlindGuardian's The Bard's Song.
* Rollergirl's [[OneHitWonder only major hit]], a cover of Sunscreem's "Love You More", is trance, while most of her other songs are Eiffel-65 style Nu-Italo/Europop.
* Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a band cited as one of the precursors to heavy metal, hit the US top 10 only once - with the novelty song "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet."
* Comedian/singer Rodney Carrington rarely saw chart action due to the highly profane nature of his songs. In 2009, he hit the charts for the first time in several years with the dead-serious Christmas song "Camouflage and Christmas Lights," which is his only Top 40 hit on the country charts.
* {{OutKast}} have long been known for their endlessly creative brand of hip hop. Their biggest hit? "Hey Ya," a {{Beatles}}-esque pop song.
** That's because Big Boi wasn't involved with that song. If OutKast was just Andre 3000, there would have been more songs like "Hey Ya!."
* Todd Rundgren, despite his soulful stylings, may be best known for the latter-day TalkingHeads rip-off ''Bang on the Drum All Day.''
* Shinedown's cover of "Simple Man". Constantly screamed for at concerts by drunk people who know the band only for Brent Smith's rendition of this Lynyrd Skynryd classic. Old interviews had the band stating that they would never play it live again, due to guitarist Jasin Todd's departure. It is thought among some fans that the song's resurfacing in their current Carnival of Madness tour is due to pressure from their record label Atlantic, and the band actually hates playing the song. Singer Brent Smith has been heard to drop snide remarks at fans who show up only to hear Simple Man ("How many of you want to hear Simple Man so you can leave?").
** To a lesser extent, Shinedown's biggest hit to date "Second Chance" is not very representative of the band's typical hard rock style, although the band does embrace this song.
* EltonJohn's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is one of his best-known songs but is ''much'' harder than his other material. An inversion of the usual scenario.
* Del Amitri's "Roll To Me" was added to the ''Twisted'' CD as an afterthought, and it's now the only song of theirs that many people know. The rest of ''Twisted'' is harder and less tuneful.
* While Bobby [=McFerrin=] is still respected as a jazz vocalist, he's not likely to ever live down "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
* Few people who aren't fans of flamenco music can name any other song by Los Del Rio besides "Macarena."
* As an experimental musician, Mike Oldfield has never been interested in crafting pop hits, but he's remembered by most people as the guy who recorded "Tubular Bells," the theme from ''TheExorcist''.
* Soft Cell's megahit, "Tainted Love," is nothing like most of their other material, which is loaded with kinky sexual content that would not be played on most radio stations.
* "Breaking the Habit" for LinkinPark, at least at the time. All of their previous hits had been nu-metal/rap-rock affairs, which serve as a great contrast to a song comprised mostly of electronics and strings. The band credits this song as [[IncrediblyLamePun the catalyst]] for their [[GenreRoulette recent]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly experimentation]].
* Alex Day is an Indie Britpop artist. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnbry-y7B4& Don't Look Back]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o54ccUHXtc& Time Of Your Life]] are typical of his music. But his most well known song is {{Pokemon}}, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6xj40UVRM& What Happened To You?]], although it probably introduced a decent portion of his now current fanbase to his catalouge.

* "Breaking the Habit" for LinkinPark, at least at the time. All of their previous hits had been nu-metal/rap-rock affairs, which serve as a great contrast to a song comprised of mostly of electronics and strings. The band credits this song as [[IncrediblyLamePun the catalyst]] for their [[GenreRoulette recent]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly experimentation]].

* "Breaking the Habit" for LinkinPark, at least at the time. All of their previous hits had been nu-metal/rap-rock affairs, which serve as a great contrast to a song comprised of mostly of electronics and strings. The band credits this song as [[IncrediblyLamePun the catalyst]] for their [[GenreRoulette recent]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly experimentation]].

* "Breaking the Habit" for LinkinPark, at least at the time. All of their previous hits had been nu-metal/rap-rock affairs, which serves as a great contrast with a song comprised of mostly of electronics and strings. The band credits this song as [[IncrediblyLamePun the catalyst]] for their [[GenreRoulette recent]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly experimentation]].

* Soft Cell's megahit, "Tainted Love," is nothing like most of their other material, which is loaded with kinky sexual content that would not be played on most radio stations.

* As an experimental musician, Mike Oldfield has never been interested in crafting pop hits, but he's remembered by most people as the guy who recorded "Tubular Bells," the theme from ''TheExorcist''.

* In a bizarre twist, this happened to {{Disturbed}} in just the opposite manner: ''Down with the Sickness'' remains one of their heavier and most well-known songs, which has gone to undermine their slower, more melodic works in later albums. 10 million records, three number 1 albums and a Grammy nomination later, they're still seen in the public eye as that band that makes staccato monkey noises.

* Most people who've heard of Leslie Fish know her first for "Banned From Argo"...even though most of her work, even most of her filks, is some kind of ''protest'' song.

* Sweet Child o' Mine from {{Guns n Roses}}, the riff was written as a joke by Slash. The song was quickly written, it had been heard that Slash does not really like the song.

* {{Oasis}}' Noel Gallagher has this to say about "Wonderwall":

** Kinda common with them, actually ("Live Forever", "Stop Crying Your Heart Out"). It's been stated that the first rule of Oasis' singles discography is " for every rock out, there must be a heartbreaking follow-up."

* Blondie's primary musical style is new wave / pop-punk, but their four highest-charting singles in the US were the disco-electronica songs "Heart of Glass" and "Call Me," the hip hop song "Rapture", and a cover of a rocksteady song "The Tide is High".

* The [[JimiHendrix Jimi Hendrix]] Experience became sick of playing "Hey Joe" because it was all anyone would request. On ''Happening for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_(singer) Lulu]]'' they stopped playing it mid-song, with Hendrix referring to it as "rubbish", and launched into a cover of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love".
** He also developed a very strong dislike of Purple Haze, as well as pretty much anything from his first album. Mainly because he was [[ExecutiveMeddling instructed to tone it down a lot]] the first album because {{the world was not ready}}.

* Toto's "Africa". The song was almost omitted from the Toto IV album, since the band in general was tired of it, and some members even thought it didn't sound like Toto at all.

* Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters," which [[TheJimmyHartVersion sounds uncannily like a Huey Lewis and the News song]] but sounds nothing like Parker's other work.

* "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers got a lot of people buying Blood Sugar Sex Magik expecting more of the same and not an album full of funk. Imagine all the suburban housewives who liked "Under the Bridge" and wound up stumbling into "Sir Psycho Sexy"!

* Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" was this at the time of its release. It was almost left off ''Chicago X'' for this reason. After the album was released, band member Walter Parazaider heard the song on the radio...and didn't know it was his own band's work. Needless to say, the success of the song led to a big shift in the band's style.

* Smash Mouth's first hit single, "Walkin' On The Sun", was a '60s-esque pop tune; the rest of their debut album was mostly ska-punk, with the exception of a cover of War's "Why Can't We Be Friends?" Like the above-mentioned Sugar Ray, who charted at about the same time, they embraced their Black Sheep Hit, and their second album was much heavier on the retro-pop.

* Brazilian band "Los Hermanos" and it's first hit, "Anna Júlia", covered by many artists afterwards, including George Harrison. Los Hermanos got so pissed off with the songs' huge success that they've stopped playing "Anna Júlia" in the shows. For good.

* {{Slipknot}}'s lead single off their successful [[SelfTitledAlbum self-titled]] debut, ''Wait And Bleed'' could be considered an example. While it has the speed, angst and chaotic qualities of most of their output, it's by-far the least heavy non-electronic song on the record. It's also one of the album's shortest songs.
** Another example from may be the record's other single, ''Spit It Out''. While it's faster and longer than ''Wait And Bleed'', it's one of the band's few songs that has out-and-out rapping, causing them to often be pegged as rap-metal.

* As an experimental musician, Michael Oldfield has never been interested in crafting pop hits, but he's remembered by most people as the guy who recorded "Tubular Bells," the theme from ''TheExorcist''.

* GreenDay, "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)". Also, to a lesser extent, "Wake Me Up When September Ends". Different from most examples in that they're not upset about it, and the songs are hardly out of place for the band anymore since 21st Century Breakdown has many similar songs.

* GreenDay, "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)". Also, to a lesser extent, "Wake Me Up When September Ends".
** Honestly, neither of those seem out of place now that half of their latest album consists of ballads.

* Few people who aren't fans of flamenco music can name any other song by Los Del Rio besides "Macarena."

* While Bobby [=McFerrin=] is still respected as a jazz vocalist, he's not likely to ever live down "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

* Del Amitri's "Roll To Me" was added to the {{Twisted}} CD as an afterthought, and it's now the only song of theirs that many people know. The rest of {{Twisted}} is harder and less tuneful.

** ''The Ballad of John and Yoko'' has a similar history, being written by John and Paul as a snarky response to the media hype around John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It's credited to the Beatles as a whole, but only John and Paul appear (it was an 'on the spur of the moment' recording--to make up for it, George and Ringo appear on their own in George's ''Little Brown Shoe'' on the B-side of the single)

* While Bobby =McFerrin= is still respected as a jazz vocalist, he's not likely to ever live down "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

* While Bobby McFerrin is still respected as a jazz vocalist, he's not likely to ever live down "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

* "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers got a lot of people buying Blood Sugar Sex Magik expecting more of the same and not an album full of funk.

* EltonJohn's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is one of his best-known songs but is ''much'' harder than his other material. An inversion of the usual scenario.

* {{Oasis}}, "Wonderwall"

** To a lesser extent, Shinedown's biggest hit to date "Second Chance" is not very representative of the band's typical hard rock style, although the band does embrace this song.

* Carl Orff has Carmina Burana.
** Specifically, the song "O Fortuna", [[RefrainFromAssuming which is often mistakenly called]] "Carmina Burana" on its own.

* "These Dreams", the first # 1 hit for Heart, was one of the only songs on which Nancy Wilson sang lead. (Most songs were sung by sister Ann.)

* Shinedown's cover of "Simple Man". Constantly screamed for at concerts by drunk people who know the band only for Brent Smith's rendition of this Lynyrd Skynryd classic. Old interviews had the band stating that they would never play it live again, due to guitarist Jasin Todd's departure. It is thought among some fans that the song's resurfacing in their current Carnival of Madness tour is due to pressure from their record label Atlantic, and the band actually hates playing the song. Singer Brent Smith has been heard to drop snide remarks at fans who show up only to hear Simple Man.

* Todd Rundgren, despite his soulful stylings, may be best known for the latter-day TalkingHeads rip-off ''Bang on the Drum All Day.''

* {{Metallica}}, "Nothing Else Matters". While they are still hugely successful, most people who aren't really into them would name this song first if they were asked to name a random Metallica song.
** Unless, that is, they know who did "Enter Sandman", by far their most well-known song.

* NoDoubt, "Don't Speak".

* YeahYeahYeahs, "Maps", particularly after the song's inclusion in RockBand.