They said that about "Greenday." About how they sold out the punk scene and went mainstream. There are a lot of bands that have a cult following. When these bands try something new and it catches on everybody starts bitching. I remember when it was sooo cool to listen to "Alternative" music. Then everybody started listening to it and they were alternative in name only. I guess they sold out or something because everybody started liking it. I heard the same thing about Metallica when they broke big. They sold out the whole metal scene, (eyes rolling) I don't know why people have a problem with other people's success. Fans have been complaining about selling out even before Dylan went electric. Go figure.

Every band is a sellout as soon as they sign a contract.

Until that time they're guiding their own music, but as soon as they're signed, they have a producer. Once the producer takes over, there's no telling what will happen. Especially with a relatively new group.

Aside from that, I'd "sell out" in a heartbeat. You get to have a career in music. You get to play and write and perform. You get paid for it! The ONLY reason it's "about the fans" is to keep them buying your stuff. Much like anything else, if it doesn't change it gets stale. Changing your style means you may lose some fans, but will pick up others in their stead.

Think of it like cars. Many of you are probably too young to remember the Mustang II. Mustang lovers HATED that car, even though it was still a Mustang. It wasn't the same. Sure they realized it was a bomb and went back to making something more recognizeable, but there's little difference. Things need to change to stay noticed.

So I guess that makes everyone else in the entire world a sell out who has to work and pay bills. Funk that. I am so sick of hearing that B.S. Now that I am getting up there, 30, I would love to have a contract, doing studio work. I'd have to learn the studio and probably get a degree. But I guess I would be selling out as well. I would do anything they wanted out of a studio musician.

"Selling out" is just a way of saying, "I don't like them any more and they must have 'sold out' to the establishment because their music is far more 'mainstream' than it used to be."

I've never heard of any group that wasn't accused of "selling out" by someone when their music evolves into something a fan doesn't like. It's more of a "lemming echo" than a thought out evaluation. "Well, my buddy John says they sold out, because his buddy Frank said they sold out, because his wife Bertha says they sold out, because her uncle Rufus, who knows the nephew of someone who's great uncle, 4 times removed, is in the music business, (meaning he owns or manages a dive in south Texas,) and he says that this guy he knows, (the drunk at the end of the bar,) thinks their new album was just slapped together because the contract says they need to put out 2 albums a year, so they just recorded whatever they had hanging around because they had to." Meaning they "sold out" because of their contract.

Now, that was a mouthful!!! I think that if they even knew half of the process, it might change their tune.

I think the term "sellout" is highly overused. In my opinion, selling out would be if Metallica started recording songs written by Britney Spears. Completely abandoning you sound and image to please a label/producer/demographic. Jewel sold out. Look at the "Pieces of You" album in comparison to the album with that "Intuition" song on it. She went from doing her own thing to doing what other people told her to, and that's is selling out. More often than not, you see artists who do the exact opposite. They start off doing what the label tells them because they want to get famous fast or they are too young to know any better, then they grow up and start doing music their way (can be termed as "selling in", I suppose). Cases in point: Mandy Moore and Kelly Clarkson. Both started off with the candy coated American Idol pop crap, and both have grown into decent songwriters and performers. I'm rambling.

most deffinently sell-out is overused

it doesn't really happen that much

Ah yes, the lovely "sell-out" statement that is meant to say more about the person using it than the band itself.

The lovely individual uttering this phrase is telling you one of two things:

a. I used to listen to them but no longer find their music 'hardcore enough' for me. I believe my tastes in music have either evolved or are strongly tied to the misconception in my mind that all artists must suffer in order to remain true to themselves.

b. You are behind the times and the experience around their new music is nothing like it was when they had $200 amps and beat up guitars. At least, that is how I see it since they are no longer accessible to me since they no longer play the dive bars I used to pay $5 covers to get into. (p.s. love the dives)

From wikipedia: refers to the compromising of one's integrity, morality and principles in exchange for money, 'success' or other personal gain. It is commonly associated with attempts to increase mass appeal or acceptability to mainstream society. A person who does this, as opposed to following the original path s/he laid (or claimed to lay) out for him/herself, is labeled a sellout and regarded with disgust and immediate loss of respect. Selling out is seen as gaining success at the cost of credibility.

1. Following the original path I laid in 5th grade would have me teaching break dancing lessons in a 5 story apartment complex with three guys in the same gym my buddy Rocco would be helping bodybuilders improve. (& I can assume single with no awesome little son.)

2. Credibility is subjective which is why I go back to uttering the phrase 'sellout' says more about the person stating it than the object of the conversation.

I must be the ultimate sell-out. I joined the army to pay for college and got a 10k signing bonus, 20k to pay off student loans, and a guaranteed 600/mo for any school I attend in the future.

All I had to do was not have a life for a year, learn to be a ruthless killer (and then re-learn how to be "normal" again...), and be ready to go fight a war for men in suits who aren't willing to put on the uniform themselves, and yet somehow run the show.