Biggest musical sell out ever...
 

...according to you.

At random... The Dead Kennedys reunion thing a few years back.

The videos taken from those gigs are just painful to watch...

Pixies cash-in reunion.

those fuckers HATE each other, and avoid each other like the plague, but Kim Deal needed heroin money I guess.....

"We're interested in anything that's going to earn us a fair wage. It's not to say it's not about art, but we made that art fucking 20 years ago. So forget the fucking goddamn art. This ain't about the art anymore. I did the arty farty part. Now it's time to talk about the money."

"I was recently quoted about the state of the music business, and I was saying it should be kind of a $5 world right now. Records and tickets should be cheap, given the overpricing of the recent years and the state of the world economy. But now, this box comes out and I feel like the biggest shithead in the world."

- charles francis frank thompson bliggity black

That (first) Frank Black quote is kind of awesome in a way. Have you ever heard a musician be that honest about his business?

kraftwerk going electric

I thought the term "selling out" was done. I thought we were over that.

If someone can make alot of money doing what you're "passionate" about, good on them! What is wrong with that, if it doesn't ruin the quality?

Well that's kind of the issue, in many cases...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktY9K...eature=related

Chumbawamba going from underground crusties to what they became was pretty weird.

Liz Phair hiring Avril lavignes' producers to make a cash-in record

Sometimes.

Well, ok, when they're missing a key element, but using the name to sell.,,
It's not even the same band.

Oh well. When I hear "selling out", I automatically assume people are going to start complaining about their sacrid indie/underground/first one to hear about it band is being exposed to a wider audience, and it hurts.

Maybe that part is indeed over now, and I need to grow up and move oooon.

black eyed peas went from being an mediocre underground hiphop group to the most corporately tied in group on the planet. apparently the main dude gives seminars on marketing and the like to office workers now.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...636121658.html

A thousand fucking times yes. This is the first thing that came to mind. To go from, say, this and this, to this and this, in what is pretty obviously a straight up cynical cash grab, just really makes me sad. I mean that. Like literally upset. I know that's stupid, and it doesn't diminish those early records, and if the artist is happy then who cares, and whatever, but damn...

Those early recordings, Exile In Guyville and the Girlysound tapes really, still shine for me as some of most unique and generally fantastic work in 90s indie. So raw and personal and eloquent and just... I love them so much. And then the records drop off pretty quickly as she goes for the more commercial sound, and then you get to the fucking s/t record, and it is just truly awful soulless music. That fall outstrips the worst falls in musical history for me. Even on the shittiest records by like Dylan or Elvis Costello or Van Morrison or whatever songwriter with rough patches you can think of (and there are some TERRIBLE records there), there's at least this sense that they're trying, or if not, then at least it's personal to them, or was where their interests were, or just SOMETHING. But those last two Phair records, I can't even bear to listen to. It just seems like she has 100% submerged everything true about her in this purely boring, cookie cutter bland pop shit, and I really can't do it.

Sorry for the rant there. I know I shouldn't get upset over these things, it's no big deal really. But fuck me, that's one crushing, hell total, fall off from artist that I really used to love, and I can't see any other reason for it than goddamn money.

Ah well, off to listen to the Girlysound tapes, and none of that will matter.

When Three Six Mafia thanked God after winning some bullshit award.

Yeah, that was pretty bad. They went through all those fucking awful singers, trying to replace Biafra. Ugh...

I saw a video of a kid throwing jello at East Bay Ray at one of those shows. Ray flips out and goes after the kid. It was totally immature and kinda lame, but at the same time, I kinda thought it was hilarious cause Ray just got soooo pissed once he realized it was jello being thrown at him.

pixies box set is insanley overpriced. And they wonder why people steal music

Isn't it the other way around? The Pixies boxset is over-priced because they won't shift as many copies as they would've 10 years ago. Sell fewer at a higher price makes a bigger return than pressing a load that'll sit on electronic shelves for 5 years.

Any band that ever decided to try something different. Any band that ever tried to make money. Any band that ever signed to a major. Everyone is a sellout...didn't you get the memo?

The term sell out is fucking retarded. You want to make music because you want to make money.

You either make good music or shitty music.

By saying "sell out" you treat music with an immature view, likes its this some important thing that will put food in starving kids mouths and if you do it differently or make more money, you're just being a piece of shit.

Hey, we're back in sync! Exactly what I was going to post, although I kind of like what they became more for the weirdness of it all. Especially when they did the thing with Negativland which was almost post-post modern.

Yeah, but even her 2nd album was already shit.

pete townshend not dying before he got old

just playin'





no wait i'm not

Well said.

That one! It made for an amusing documentary though, watching them try to be in one room together over and over until the tour footage over time finds them more and more isolated from each other (again).

I think their tour title said it all, wasn't it called "Sell-Out Tour" or something, as named by the guitarist because it sold out so quick?

Pixies reunion is not any different than most reunions nowadays... it's just that they're honest about it. I mean, do you really think Pavement reuniting, releasing a best-of and going on a tour (isn't it called Goodbye Tour?) playing all their hits is any better? Even Atari Teenage Riot reunited, while they've been saying for seven years they wouldn't in respect for Carl Crack...
Not to say ALL of them made it for money purpose only (in the case of ATR especially, seeing their political views and how their new shows aren't expensive at all), of course, but Pixies clearly aren't the only ones. Dinosaur Jr also said they reunited for money, and they also hated each other.
Also, not to say the Pixies reunion was good (though some liked it. to each their own, i guess)

I wouldn't have had Godspeed down as the types to do the now-established ATP-sponsored cash-in as per the Pixies, MBV & Pavement, but there you go..

it has never been the same since stevie wonder and paul mc cartney recored ebony and ivory..........

DDD I like you but I don't like this reply.

People make music because they want to. because they like it. People sell their music to make money. kk? If you make money selling yer msuic that's all groovey. But I believe selling out means selling your artistic freedom. If you happen to become famous on the music you make...I think that's fine, but once you start making music only to make big bucks and being really popular....I believe one loses credibility.

I agree with you on the part that people make music because they want to - except in certain cases, obviously.
However, who cares about credibility? It's all about music. If I happen to like some corporate pop artist, should I refrain myself from listening to them just because they are making music for money?

but thats exactly the point. selling out is when you try to make even a little bit of money for something you have little or no passion for..

[quote=Toilet & Bowels]black eyed peas went from being an mediocre underground hiphop group to the most corporately tied in group on the planet.
perfect example.

Ok, yeah I know what you're saying. The replies to this thread are different than I thought they would be, probably because people who know what they're talking about are replying to it. There is a whole other side to the term "selling out", and usually it's just whiney. But, maybe that's what has changed (what I was saying in my second reply)....

Nice job on spelling sacred, I know..

This is what I meant

those whining definitions are not necessarily selling out as much as artists growing or changing direction, but often times money can be involved. There are varying degrees in this, you can be both authentically growing and progressing as an artist but also merging selling out into as you gain mainstream following..

generally, the passion is the key. if folks make money at being passionate and artistic, no doubt, let it be blessed, so long as they let the art make the money, and not the money make the art. personally, I prefer art that is free and less corrupted by money, though in the end it is always about money isn't it...

well to me it's a certain type of exploitation. I don't dig that. I wouldn't bash anyone who listens to said corporate mainstream band....but I myself prefer music that's made for reason beyond money.

I tend to agree with the above, except to say that I'm not even sure what making music for money really means. It's relatively easy to point to someone like Status Quo or the Stones and say they're just going through the motions for the money, but I wouldn't presume to know their minds. Someone like Nickelback - who are awful, obviously - probably 'seriously believe' in their artistry. I've seen very, very low-level bands making incredibly hackneyed, ten-a-penny music who seriously think they're entirely groundbreaking - musicians are a deluded bunch, and the more popular ones even moreso, I'd suggest.

For myself, I far prefer BEP after their 'credible' period. It's not the greatest music ever made, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. Doesn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying something independent made for a financial loss - I saw Adam Bohman a few weeks ago, and he was awesome, in an entirely different way to 'I gotta feeling'.

I think sometimes we forget that music isn't always considered "art". It's also a form of entertainment, sometimes more so. And I don't think that's a bad thing, necessarily.

I wasn't refering to artists being whiney. I meant the listeners. But, whatever, I know what you're saying and I agree.

I know what you mean but when they changed direction with Tub Thumping I don't think it was so much a case of them selling out as a calculated effort to change tactics. To be fair to them, they probably drew more attention to their numerous causes as a result of being invited onto the Brits and appearing on TotP, as well as being interviewed by the mainstream press than they would have received, churning out the same message, in the same style to the same half a dozen already converted disciples they'd managed to accumulate throughout the 80s.

as was i.