I wouldn’t call it awful, but Tom was a straight up rocker.
Michael was more of a slow song crooner.
A lot of bands did the switch. Foreigner went from rock to ballads. Journey went to slower songs for a while. There were others.
Genesis with Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins.
(And yes, both were great!)
Journey started as a sort of progressive, experimental and sometimes jazz-fusion band. They were quite different in the Rolie-Schon era (both ex-Santana), especially with Aynsley Dunbar on drums for the first album.
“A lot of bands did the switch.”
Chicago came under the influence of David Foster in the early 1980’s. Like him or not, Foster knew how to crank out the hits. He did it for many bands - even including The Tubes.
I don’t understand. The Doobie Brothers first few albums don’t sound like hard rock to me, it sounds like soft rock.