Sometimes Selling Out is Giving Up.

About two years ago, during the time when i played thousands of hours of CoD2 and ate a shitload of chinese food, I had almost no taste in music at all. pretty much the only things i listened to were things i absorbed from my family and friends, Johnny Cash, the occasional Linkin Park song, Nickel Back, and a few rap songs. It wasnt until about a year or so ago when i discovered what would eventually consume my entire music collection. It started out with pretty basic mainstream stuff, Greenday (back in the dookie days),

About two years ago, during the time when i played thousands of hours of CoD2 and ate a shitload of chinese food, I had almost no taste in music at all. pretty much the only things i listened to were things i absorbed from my family and friends, Johnny Cash, the occasional Linkin Park song, Nickel Back, and a few rap songs. It wasnt until about a year or so ago when i discovered what would eventually consume my entire music collection. It started out with pretty basic mainstream stuff, Greenday (back in the dookie days),

Well, you do make some good points, but I just think you're looking at it wrong.

Yes I also used to listen to bad religion, blink 182, greenday, and even Korn and Limp Bizkit. Why? Because that was the only thing I was offered from the radio (my friends didn't care for music or didn't know much about music themselves and the internent wasn't around back then to distribute lesser known music to my ears). So of course when I started to grow up and the internet was more loose in getting the music word around, I got to know more bands that wasn't on the radio.

And just like you, when I heard about the bands I like now, a whole new world opened up to me. But it wasn't the artist that was doing the selling out; it was me. I realised, that all those other music I was listening to, I liked as a place holder because I like music in general. But those bands are like the nintendo Wii of the world. They cater to the most common denominator, and if music/gaming is really that important to you, you move on to the PS3 or 360 just like you have moved on to bands like Rise against.

No band really sells out unless you hear them suddenly change their sound and then they got famous. We are the ones that are selling out, by saying we will buy what the record company is selling to us. Of course you want to not isolate yourself too much in the music world and at least know who the Jonas brothers are even if its just to keep in touch with what the rest of the world is up to. Its the people that only listen to nothing but what the radio plays that are the true sell outs. They are the crowd that the elitist are hating, because they aren't expanding their horizons to really test and see what kind of music they actually like. They are just sheep. Of course its just easier to label the bands sell outs rather than the people. A sellout term used on the band is so loose, it could mean any band that is essentially on the radio.

I still say I like Greenday and Bad Religion, but I have also gone beyond the radio and listen to In flames, Mastodon, and Mindless Self Indulgence. Because I like more than just what the radio is offering me, I am not a sell out.

"Well, you do make some good points, but I just think you're looking at it wrong.

Yes I also used to listen to bad religion, blink 182, greenday, and even Korn and Limp Bizkit. Why? Because that was the only thing I was offered from the radio (my friends didn't care for music or didn't know much about music themselves and the internent wasn't around back then to distribute lesser known music to my ears). So of course when I started to grow up and the internet was more loose in getting the music word around, I got to know more bands that wasn't on the radio.

And just like you, when I heard about the bands I like now, a whole new world opened up to me. But it wasn't the artist that was doing the selling out; it was me. I realised, that all those other music I was listening to, I liked as a place holder because I like music in general. But those bands are like the nintendo Wii of the world. They cater to the most common denominator, and if music/gaming is really that important to you, you move on to the PS3 or 360 just like you have moved on to bands like Rise against.

No band really sells out unless you hear them suddenly change their sound and then they got famous. We are the ones that are selling out, by saying we will buy what the record company is selling to us. Of course you want to not isolate yourself too much in the music world and at least know who the Jonas brothers are even if its just to keep in touch with what the rest of the world is up to. Its the people that only listen to nothing but what the radio plays that are the true sell outs. They are the crowd that the elitist are hating, because they aren't expanding their horizons to really test and see what kind of music they actually like. They are just sheep. Of course its just easier to label the bands sell outs rather than the people. A sellout term used on the band is so loose, it could mean any band that is essentially on the radio.

I still say I like Greenday and Bad Religion, but I have also gone beyond the radio and listen to In flames, Mastodon, and Mindless Self Indulgence. Because I like more than just what the radio is offering me, I am not a sell out."

Personally I like music that sounds good to me. I'm listening to Beethoven right now. Next up? Who knows (on last.FM), might be Iron Maiden. Most people are elitist about music, I don't believe there is a correct standard about what is or is not good.

(Actually it was Manowar that came next.)

*ugh*  This "sell-out" bullshit again...when will people learn?

Actually jakob187, if you really want to get technical on what a sellout means (despite the fact that I just turned it around and called the consumers sellouts and not the artist, and that Gunner probably mentioned itunes because that is where he buys his music as opposed to a record store)


This applies to everything, not just music.

But a sellout is someone that would alter their own work or beliefs because there is a big financial gain to be made from it.

One example would be the oil companies paying artist to promote oil despite the fact that the artist hates oil companies, yet the artist accepts the money (selling out).

Now in the music world, that definition just almost never applies. Like you said jakob, the artist themselves could change and we wouldn't know it unless we lived thier lives. A true situation of what a sellout would be is if say Rage against the Machine released their next album out and it praised the government and loved 'the man'; a complete 180 from everything they said before and we found out that the American government had literally paid them to sing it. That would be selling out.

All the bands you listed that did change, they change because they are human beings and human beings grow up and move on. I could totally understand the evolution of all their music. But a big distinction between they change because they want to try out new things versus, somebody is literally paying me to play this way and the only way I can get money is if I follow their instructions. That literally never happens. Well Haze from Korn, I stand corrected (but he really could just like the game so much that he must hit up that shit... lols.)

Remember, we are the posers/sellouts for just accepting what is played to us and not actually searching out bands that we like.

In case no one noticed, the title =/= actual topic. Its and old Rise Against song from their first album and thought it would be worth some shits and giggles to put it as the title.

But Jakob... I think your getting me all wrong here. I am completely against the term "sellouts" or "posers" I listen to whatever the fuck i want and this whole blog is just about that. i hate all of the people who call me a poser for listening to greenday or hell even some AFI or brand new every now and again. Just because its popular doesnt make it bad and i think all the elitists should get their heads out of their asses and realise that everything that they do boils down to the fact that everyone in the music industry loves music. 

I brought up the iTunes thing because it is one of the most if not THE most popular online music store in the world. If you notice they never show any Bad Brains albums or Black flag songs on their promoted list, they just show the most popular music so they can sell more music in a shorter amount of time. Im not saying the stuff they have on the main page is bad or anything im just saying that people need to expand their music collection beyond "i kissed a girl and i liked it" or a couple of The KIllers' songs. I dont mind iTunes at all, i buy a lot of music from that program, of corse due to my unique taste in music they dont have everything that i like some sometimes i have to look for other sources. Everything else though i get from iTunes.

I also listen to some punk rock, and I completely agree with your sentiments on the elitism that takes place in that genre, as well as in metal. The terms "sellout" and "pretentious" are thrown around way too often in the music world, especially when they're applied to fans. I like Radiohead, so I'm pretentious? How? I like At the Drive-In, so I'm a sellout? How the fuck did I sell out? How the fuck are At the Drive-In sellouts?