Sell Out??!

[Hannibal]

People use that phrase all the time...and I really dont get it. Especially in the music industry. Take Limp Bizkit or even Metallica....they both started out small. And as soon as they got any fame whatsoever...their fans started calling them sell outs???! WTF??!

You get a group together to make money doing something that you love. Then when you have success you are a sell out. I mean are these artists supposed to scrape by and play nothing but coffee shops and bars to "keep it real"? That makes no since whatsoever.

Why is a professional athlete not considered a sell out? He started out playing for free....got some success and now he is getting paid. He is doing exactly the same thing. Maybe even more so because he is endorsing anything and everything that he can get his name on.

...someone explain this to me like I'm 4 years old. I dont get it

 

[HappyScrappy]

personally, the best said IMO is "hooker with a penis" - tool:

"well now I've got
some advice for you, little buddy
before you point the finger
you should know that I'm the man
if I'm the man, then you're the man
and he's the man as well so you
can point that fuckin' finger up your ass

all you know about me is what I've sold
you dumb fuck
I sold out long before
you ever even heard my name
I sold my soul to make a record
dip shit, and you bought one"

 

[Hannibal]

personally, the best said IMO is "hooker with a penis" - tool:

"all you know about me is what I've sold
you dumb fuck
I sold out long before
you ever even heard my name
I sold my soul to make a record
dip shit, and you bought one"

Maynard puts it into perspective.....however, how is "playing a part"...putting on an act to sell records any different than an actor in Holywood. Keanu CANNOT dodge bullets....but in Matrix he did and I bought a ticket to see it.

 

[HappyScrappy]

and some would argue that he has sold out in comparison to those "keepin it real" on broadway or even local theater. movies are true acting to those that study it.
all in the same way that "real" music is from the struggling artist, not the corporate filtered distribution system.

I personally don't care one way or the other - we all need the money - but what I said above is generally why people talk like that.
I think given the opportunity, most of us would "sell out" in many respects in our daily lives. it is easy to say now you wouldn't, but you don't have it sitting in front of you.
I know I would.

 

[strongchick]

I mentioned the phrase 'sell-out' in reference to Spike Lee's film, Bamboozled, in another thread.

Sell-out, to me, means that you do not remain true to your art and sell a compromised form of it to the highest bidder.

When artists run out of things to say, they start regurgitating their own crap - that is selling out.

When artists put down their own heritage/culture/roots, that is selling out.

When your art is all about money, and not the art itself, you are selling out.

It is of course, a subjective concept. What is selling out to one person is not selling out to another.

We all have our price, I suppose.

I just love it when black comedians talk about the white man as they move up the ladder, then when they get to the top, they let the white man control their content/show/whatever. I mean, if you are going to be so brazen, then be consistent. Unless of course, you were just full of it all along.

If indeed, a group of people with similar values control the distribution of your product, and that product is your livelihood, you have sold out from the get go, to some extent.

Or maybe now we're just getting down to what capitalism really is....

oh boy...

 

[Jimsbbc]

to me a "sell out" in the music industry is one who changes the music or lyrical content to suit a "target audience"-one with the highest profit margin.

Some people use Metallica as an example bc of how different the black album was and it's unprecedented success for the band. The groups "sound" changed, but also, it was the album they had put monumental effort into (that was why it was so bad ass).

*side note- look how many of these scoffing idiots bought it and listened to it over and over again.

 

[Hannibal]

If indeed, a group of people with similar values control the distribution of your product, and that product is your livelihood, you have sold out from the get go, to some extent.

Or maybe now we're just getting down to what capitalism really is....

oh boy...

I think that was more of what I was getting at. People talk about entertainers being sell outs. But that never seems to be said about athletes. If a baseball player plays for the Reds.....they can have no facial hair. If you get traded to that team you have to shave it off......is that selling out? You have to play by their rules to make the "mad money"

 

[The Dude]

People who hurl that label at others are jealous of their success. Or they feel left behind. "Sell outs" are the successful people of our society, regardless of their occupation.

 

[strongchick]

People who hurl that label at others are jealous of their success. Or they feel left behind. "Sell outs" are the successful people of our society, regardless of their occupation.

I dunno. I've been called a 'sell out' before.

Different value systems exist among different people....the label could mean that money shouldn't be the measure of success, but staying true to who you are should be. But then, only the person doing the 'selling out' would know.

Confusing.

 

[Hannibal]

to me a "sell out" in the music industry is one who changes the music or lyrical content to suit a "target audience"-one with the highest profit margin.

Yes, but isnt that part of the American Dream. To be rich....wanna be a Rock Star?

I mean look at Limp Bizkit and KoRn. Their sounds has progressed, or regressed, depeniding on how you look at it. But so have alot of other bands from that musical genre. Is that sellin out....or is that just the way the musical industry is headed.

*side note--KoRn and LB's first albums were there best. doesnt make them sellouts...just means they are headed in the wrong direction for my tastes*

 

[strongchick]

I typed in the phrase 'sell out' into Google.

Napster came up. That makes me think that selling out can be commonly defined as when you change your fundamental purpose to make money. hmmm.


So shaving beard to join a baseball team isn't really changing your purpose, but changing your hard rock band to disco is.

 

[Jimsbbc]

Strongchick-


Fans of a group that changes for what they consider to be the worse of the two have to express their dissent somehow.

 

[Hannibal]

So shaving beard to join a baseball team isn't really changing your purpose, but changing your hard rock band to disco is.

Yes but it is misrespresenting yourself to some extent....of course that is digging kinda deep I suppose.

 

[strongchick]

Yes, but isnt that part of the American Dream. To be rich....wanna be a Rock Star?

You imply that all Americans believe boatloads of money is a positive goal.

 

[HappyScrappy]

You imply that all Americans believe boatloads of money is a positive goal.

many sure as hell do