The Term Selling Out.

[DaKillerWolf]

selling out to me is basically selling your soul by altering your sound to fit into the mainstream just for the money.

Exactly

 

[Riff Raff]

Nice to know you have an opinion ..however wrong it usually is...


Obviously anyone who as a group cut off all their hair, wear make-up and Italian suits ( overnight )and jump off of what seems to be a sinking ship ( metal) and on to the Very popular ( at the time ) alt bus, are CLEARING doing it to remain in the charts. Afterward they jump on the symphonic bandwagon as it is peaking in Europe ( and do a piss poor job of it at that ) , then jump on to the no guitar solo fade ( St Crapola )
and then back onto the thrash scene as it is growing again are CLEARLY doing so for CASH.

Metallica are the biggest sellouts in history all though their fanboys refuse to see the obvious.
Anyway, I'm not really concerned with what others think about my observation but if my "opinion" upsets people enough to touch a nerve so be it. I have no emotional involvement in others view points.. so continue on if you all must but I am done here

Your opinion doesn't upset me anyway ( I did ask for honest opinions and a bit of a debate), not even saying my opinion was wrong did, as meh there are worse things to get pissy over. I want to be enlightened on why people use the term sell out a lot, and what other bands tend to fall in the same light. I actually agree regarding the fanboys of a band who can't accept their band has actually done some shit stuff at times, all I was saying was I don't necessarily agree with them being sell outs. I would say though given I had thought about the Napster incident and how Lars handled that I can see why they do get labelled it.

Also the other band currently being labelled a sell out is Morbid Angel because of how watered down their sound became and it was a ridiculously industrial influenced album despite Trey once saying they would NEVER go industrial, do you think they did it to try to fit in with a more popular theme, I dunno if it was just for money as that album won't be doing well enough for that lol
I think given Trey hypocritically said the band would never go down that path suggests they may well have 'sold out'.

 

[Lynch]

I think the term "sell out" was coined by small-minded people who can't handle change. Now if those same people were to say "I don't like the direction they went", I've got no problem with that. "Sell Out", the way people use it now, just oozes with tiny-mind syndrome and the inability to accept adaptation, change or an evolution of the musicians themselves.


Calling a band "sell outs" because YOU think they did it to make money is ****ing riduculous. When they were struggling and just gaining noteriety they were raw, hungry and their "art" meant something and then when they came into their own and became more widely popular, snobby little men decide that the artist/band in question is suddenly a "sell out". get real.


Just my two cents worth.. and my opinion on the subject is no more or less valid than anyone else's

 

[LG]

^^

Seriously I agree with you, bands that are almost on the verge of extinction change things a bit manage to catch lightning in a bottle shoot to the top of the charts and embark on a successful career,,,if they are one of the Lucky few. Music is a cutthroat business and getting a little financial success is a good thing...otherwise they would be working like the rest of us for a living.

Last time I looked Metallica's "Black Album" was still it's largest seller, opened doors to a whole new demographic and launched them to worldwide superstardom...all because they changed things a little. And yet they still play their famous songs from their early years live in concert, to me that is not selling out that is being intelligent and getting the best of both worlds, both creative freedom to do new things, and keeping your old fans happy when they go to your shows.

Still don't like the word "Sell out" when it comes to music. When a friend betrays you for money and puts you in jeopardy that is being sold out,,,music I don't take that seriously it's not life or death it's Art and totally subjective.

Personally I like Mud and DKW and the fact they leave no doubt about where they stand even if I disagree with them as long as they don't insult anyone personally that is.

 

[Riff Raff]

I think the term "sell out" was coined by small-minded people who can't handle change. Now if those same people were to say "I don't like the direction they went", I've got no problem with that. "Sell Out", the way people use it now, just oozes with tiny-mind syndrome and the inability to accept adaptation, change or an evolution of the musicians themselves.


Calling a band "sell outs" because YOU think they did it to make money is ****ing riduculous. When they were struggling and just gaining noteriety they were raw, hungry and their "art" meant something and then when they came into their own and became more widely popular, snobby little men decide that the artist/band in question is suddenly a "sell out". get real.


Just my two cents worth.. and my opinion on the subject is no more or less valid than anyone else's

That is how I look at it, and I agree mine and your opinions are as valid as anyone else, there is no wrong opinion.

^^

Seriously I agree with you, bands that are almost on the verge of extinction change things a bit manage to catch lightning in a bottle shoot to the top of the charts and embark on a successful career,,,if they are one of the Lucky few. Music is a cutthroat business and getting a little financial success is a good thing...otherwise they would be working like the rest of us for a living.

Last time I looked Metallica's "Black Album" was still it's largest seller, opened doors to a whole new demographic and launched them to worldwide superstardom...all because they changed things a little. And yet they still play their famous songs from their early years live in concert, to me that is not selling out that is being intelligent and getting the best of both worlds, both creative freedom to do new things, and keeping your old fans happy when they go to your shows.

Still don't like the word "Sell out" when it comes to music. When a friend betrays you for money and puts you in jeopardy that is being sold out,,,music I don't take that seriously it's not life or death it's Art and totally subjective.

Personally I like Mud and DKW and the fact they leave no doubt about where they stand even if I disagree with them as long as they don't insult anyone personally that is.

Thats how I look at it too. If a band goes in a direction I don't dig, there are loads of other bands to choose from.

 

[Lynch]

Here's something else about "selling out"... what about bands that don't do what they want in the beginning because they want to "make it"? After a few albums, they gain popularity and are afforded the ability to make the type of music that they want to and perhaps wanted to from the start. Is that still "selling out"?

Listen folks, unless you know of guys in a band that like to struggle to make due, by the definion of some "fans", just about everyone is a sell out. Oh wait, you're making money at this? You are popular? Wait, worse yet, you're popular AND making money? Well you MUST be a sellout.

There are tons and tons of people who work a 40 (or more) hour a week job only to practice in their garage a couple of nights a week with their pals, write a few tunes, once every couple of months they play a show at some local bar and they have fun. I'm sure most of them would love to make a living at it, but let's face it, it's not in the cards for everyone. IT doesn't mean they aren't any good, but for whatever reason, they just haven't made the big time (for some yet, for others, it just won't happen). Because they are widely unknown doesn't mean they are more raw, any less talented or any less of a 'sell out' than a band that has sold 100,000,000 albums and just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

As LG said, music is art and it is subjective. Don't be so bitter in your own existence that you have to be jealous and petty of those that have made it and call them "sell outs" because of it. (once again, jm2cw)

 

[Riff Raff]

Some fans are amusing, they call other fans sell outs for liking a band or albums they hate themselves. Strange as that sounds I see it happen, and people have said it to me.
Example of fans with their heads that far up their own asses.
Someone said that of me because I like the Risk album of Megadeth. That is how retarded some fans can be.

 

[Sunny]

I think the term "sell out" was coined by small-minded people who can't handle change. Now if those same people were to say "I don't like the direction they went", I've got no problem with that. "Sell Out", the way people use it now, just oozes with tiny-mind syndrome and the inability to accept adaptation, change or an evolution of the musicians themselves.


Calling a band "sell outs" because YOU think they did it to make money is ****ing riduculous. When they were struggling and just gaining noteriety they were raw, hungry and their "art" meant something and then when they came into their own and became more widely popular, snobby little men decide that the artist/band in question is suddenly a "sell out". get real.


Just my two cents worth.. and my opinion on the subject is no more or less valid than anyone else's

Couldn't have put it better myself

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

I think the term "sell out" was coined by small-minded people who can't handle change. Now if those same people were to say "I don't like the direction they went", I've got no problem with that. "Sell Out", the way people use it now, just oozes with tiny-mind syndrome and the inability to accept adaptation, change or an evolution of the musicians themselves.


Calling a band "sell outs" because YOU think they did it to make money is ****ing riduculous. When they were struggling and just gaining noteriety they were raw, hungry and their "art" meant something and then when they came into their own and became more widely popular, snobby little men decide that the artist/band in question is suddenly a "sell out". get real.


Just my two cents worth.. and my opinion on the subject is no more or less valid than anyone else's

Hmmm I have to disagree. I look at a band like Metallica and see that piece of shit they made called St Anger and wonder wtf they were thinking because they didn't evolve as musicians there. They went backwards and were playing music that was popular at the time. Some will say they"sold out" with the black album. I really don't think they did with that album because they took their progressive style to the max with And Justice For All so stripping their sound at that point was their best option. St Anger? Nah that was just a crock of shit album made using the trend of Nu Metal hoping it would sell.

Evolving as musicians is one thing. Changing your sound for money with no artistic integrity in sight is another.

 

[Lynch]

I can't argue about St Anger. I think it's one of the worst metal albums ever recorded and to be done by a band as big as Metallica made it that much more obvious. I've long said how horrible that album is.

But I wouldn't say they sold out for that album (or any other one), but rather I think there was an incredible lack of creativity there more than anything.