Sellout Bands

[Eagles_Arrows]

I want to start this topic off by talking (ranting) about these guys:



Here's a band that could have been great had they not compromised their musical integrity for financial gain.

Many of you may have known them since the release of their first hit album Elephunk, but apparently they existed way back when female memeber Fergie was not around; back when one of their members, Will.i.am, recorded a song for Dexter's Lab called Secret Formula.

Their debut album, Behind the Front, was released in 1998 and featured a live band, which they don't use anymore, sadly.  It was a good debut; not a masterpiece, but showed promise for this group.  I stumbled upon this album a while ago and enjoyed it a lot.

Here's a single from said album called Joints and Jams.  Nice beat, pretty jazzy; it got me bobbing my head for the whole song.  You can see the live band playing in the last minute or so.

The whole album is uploaded track-by-track on Youtube, for those of you who like hiphop.

More early-BEP goodness

As seen in this video, they looked down upon the mainstream world and wanted to bring back true hiphop to the masses.  For instance, here's an excerpt from their lyrics for Bringin' It Back, a song from their second album, Bridging the Gap:

"I know I'm not the only one that's filling the void
Creatively hip-hop is being destroyed
A lot of rappers really need to be unemployed
because the topics that them talk about has got me annoyed
You see I heard it all before, there's no need to repeat it
The forms I vacated, might as well delete it
Put your program in and open a new file
You shoulda took your record advance and bought a style
We the only crew that came original
while a lot of other brothers just mimic the pile
The pile that's only designed for pop charts
that contradicts thought, that's the reason we brought
it back cause honestly it lacks
talent and creativity, in fact"

Now look where they stand.
Just look.

Compare those two with Joints and Jams and see which is better.  They showed so much potential and threw it all away.

Okay, I'm ending my talk (rant) here.  Don't wanna bore you guys, so I'd like to hear some other sellout bands that you enjoyed when they were still underground, and, if you can, give some examples of their earlier and newer works.

[The Geologist]

Still thinking over bands that I'd consider sellout.  But that question brought me to another.

Why shouldn't they sell out?  And on that note, what is "selling out"?  Is it a matter of money, or a matter of the band not sounding how you like anymore?

Not really "you" as though I'm directing this question at anyone. 

[F4||3N]

Fall Out Boy. 'Nuff said!

[GSx_Major]

Now look where they stand.

I've been trying to stay as far away from them since that damn Where's the love? piece of crap, but wow... This really is terrible.

[Wraithlike]

This only applies to the original Punk music (Sex Pistols, Clash, etc, but you've sold out when you believe that "maybe it's better to be 'the man' than it is to fight 'the man'."

It's kind of an eclectic answer, but basically I mean that once you've abandoned the ideas that you've built yourself on, you've sold out.

[F4||3N]

When a band changes their style of music, to bring in a larger group (generally most bands moves to pop), they've sold out.

Sometimes it's not the bands fault. You get some stupid record company, or music producer coming in f_cking up good music!

[VijchtiDoodah]

Yep. When producers put their grubby hands on niche music and water it down for the masses -- they make more money and bring popularity to the band, but alienate the original fans who appreciated unique euphony.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

And on that note, what is "selling out"?  Is it a matter of money, or a matter of the band not sounding how you like anymore?

The former.  Art is art because it's personal.  You express yourself, and if people like it, great.  When you sell out, you're corrupting your personal vision in order to make something that more people will like, with the desired result being money, not expression.

Of course, there's the reverse sellout too.  You make music or art to appeal to a niche, and then once you've got fans, you start taking things where you want to take them, hoping but not relying on your fans following that.

[Hair|Trigger]

I like the earlier Black Eyed Peas stuff too, but holy shit they suck now.  I agree with you, they were okay to start with but imo "The E.N.D" is one of the worst albums of current mainstream music, not that I can even stand to listen to half the songs. 

I dont really mind will.i.am by himself though.  Dr. Dre is my favourite rapper by far.

@thread, Green Day's 90s stuff was Punk, but then they turned into alt Rock/punk with American Idiot.  I kinda like it though.  I dont know much about punk to be honest but their newest album, 21st Century breakdown doesn't sound like it, which is bad because it doesnt have much American Idiot in it either.  Overall the album is pretty crappy imo (with some exceptions).  Gets played a lot on radio here, especially this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVL-f_5PYSE

I think it sounds a little bit punk-ish, not too good IMO.

[Demonic]

There are some odd exceptions, like Chumbawamba, who put the money they made by selling out into squats and smaller labels. There's the story of the KLF who hacked their way into being millionaires, burned much of the cash and showed up at the brit awards with Extreme Noise Terror backing them up.

Outside of core punk this can be noticed when the band sticks together only for the cash: 'best of' albums are typical symptoms. Nirvana had an arguable drop in quality after they got big (Bleach is awesome), Green Day, Fallout Boy, My Chemical Romance and this faux emo / pop-punk shit that's been big a couple of years ago, System of a Down's early material and utter crap rocketing from Mesmerise, etc. The White Stripes' pre-Elephant period is worth checking out too, along with their live recordings, as it's often much better than the studio stuff.

But nice find with the Black Eyes Peas E_A. (:

[LtKillroy]

Metallica. Except its not their fault 'cuz Cliff Burton died.

[a-4-year-old]

Autotune + jackass = millions of dollars

Appealing to shitheads who missed out on 90's punk will also get you truckloads of cash.

[Dascoo]

I guess they were sick of not making potentially millions of dollars.

What a bunch of losers.

[Demonic]

I guess they were sick of not making potentially millions of dollars.

What a bunch of losers.

True on that side too.

I know a fellow, him and his mates used to play anarcho-punk a couple of years ago. They kind of got ahead of the local trend in fashion, dressing up like the US scene kids before the thing hit our continent - and the next thing I know, they're on TV, playing awful music.

Said they got a really big offer, something I wouldn't have refused either. They say once the contract is terminated, they'll go back to what they want to do, and until then... well, they're standing up to trolls calling them faggots and swarms of thirteen year old gruppies.

Go figure.

[Eagles_Arrows]

I guess they were sick of not making potentially millions of dollars.

What a bunch of losers.

The thing is that BEP already made millions off of Elephunk.  They could have gone back to their original sound now that they had a wider audience, but they just kept following trend after trend with Monkey Business and The E.N.D. in hopes of gaining even more popularity and money, when they were clearly against doing so in the first place.

That is blatant selling out.  They acknowledge it themselves and have no problem with it.  I guess they'll continue to be mainstream for the rest of eternity.
Letting corporations like Apple use your songs for their ads in order to gain more exposure doesn't help with your credibility, either.

[PANZERCATWAGON]

i like their new album. if they hadnt chose this direction they probably wouldnt have been able to afford that level of production quality

but i dont give a f**k about the band themselves of whether or not they 'sold out'. its not like i actually payed for their or anyone elses music. ever

[Dascoo]

I guess they were sick of not making potentially millions of dollars.

What a bunch of losers.

The thing is that BEP already made millions off of Elephunk.  They could have gone back to their original sound now that they had a wider audience, but they just kept following trend after trend with Monkey Business and The E.N.D. in hopes of gaining even more popularity and money, when they were clearly against doing so in the first place.

That is blatant selling out.  They acknowledge it themselves and have no problem with it.  I guess they'll continue to be mainstream for the rest of eternity.
Letting corporations like Apple use your songs for their ads in order to gain more exposure doesn't help with your credibility, either.

I know man these "Black eyed peas" are a bunch of homos who like money, and money is gay! Mainstream is not for non-conformists like me!