Artists That Have Sold Out To Mainstream

[Aeon Mathix]

If a thread like this has been done I apologize in advance for it, but what are some bands/artists that you think have sold out to the mainstream?

Alright ready for my pick? Ready to shit all over me for it? Well I am and my pick is

Eminem

I loved this guy when I was in middle school I was listening to all of his music when my friends had never heard of him or anything like that, then I buy this new album he puts out called "Recovery" and im like awesome ill check it out! I get it and hear rihanna and lil wayne on there and im like FUCK why eminem why?! Plus I hate when people hear that one song of rihanna and think "omg i love eminem OMG!" That same shit happened when that kanye released that song with daft punk, again daft punk another band I had been listening to for years and they get featured on a track of one of the most annoying artists ive ever heard and everyone instantly loves daft punk. im so sick of it.

 

[Goliath Uterus]

Lil Wayne is one that comes to mind, I loved his stuff as a member of the Hot Boyz, and his solo albums before the "Carter" series (Tha Block is Hot, Lights Out, and 500 Degreez) were all quite good. Now he raps about popping pussy in a auto tuned voice, and has seemingly lost all the skills he had as a 16 year old.

Another guy is Snoop Dogg, once one of the best rappers in the game, is now making irrelavent pop songs that no one listens to or cares about. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have sort of "sold out" by turning to a more pop orientated sound, as opposed to their old, funkier sound.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I'm going to have to go with Ludacris. When I was younger, I used to love this guy, but over the years, his selling out to the mainstream world has been painful to watch. It started with Release Therapy, and he hasn't looked back ever since. The only song I really liked on Release Therapy was "Grew Up A Screw Up" with Young Jeezy. All of his albums ever since this one have been full of pop style hip hop. His most recent album(Battle of the sexes) is also bad. The album is filled with these sexed-up/party songs. It's just terrible. The only song I can stand to listen to is "My Chick Bad" with Nicki Minaj.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Depends on how you define selling out, by the last 2 standards the last 2 replies have set I have to agree about Snoop Dog. From Doggystyle to California Girls.

However when people define selling out as going mainstream and living a dream of playing music and being rich because of it, while they did not change there music at all. I want to hit someone.

 

[Remy LaCroix]

Simple answer so I can place some 2 cents in here: Metallica.

If you become pop-oriented to get a bigger audience, you sold out, plain and simple. Blah blah, something about musical integrity and whatnot. As a musician, I'd appreciate my fans from before I sold out instead of the ones who love their new ringtone, eh, my song I mean. It's an elitist mindset, but it's perfectly normal and justified if you're in the right shoes. If I wanted to make ringtone songs, I'd start under a different moniker instead of tarnishing my legacy and alienating my true fans from the before times.

 

[Tim]

A lot of the artists that are seen as "selling out" might not have really sold out. The only way you really know if an artist has sold out is if they say so themselves, otherwise you're just speculating. How do you know what type of music they want to write and play? Maybe they like the idea of getting more pop hooks in, or having more fun with their music, and that's allowed. Maybe an artist decides to try something completely different, and that's fine too, but doesn't make them a sell out.

One of the big ones I can think of that has sold out though, and one that lots of people agree has sold out, is KISS. Sure, this is sort of stating the obvious, but KISS action figures? REALLY? KISS in the end did it for the money, sure maybe they enjoyed the music they were making, and enjoyed performing, but in the end they sold out with all the merchandising just to earn an extra buck.

 

[Twiztid Rodimus]

I hate when people mention metallica, I really do, but hey, I don't judge peoples opinions too harshly, even when I disagree. They did NOT do things for the money (well, not 100% for the money). Kill em all, Ride the lightning, master of puppets and and justice for all are considered they're masterpieces, and I do not disagree. But people who diss the Black album need to get they're heads checked sometimes. They're may not be 8 minute epics on there. But they're is old school M' sprinkled throughout.

Load, and Reload I will say KIND of support the sell out claim, but I look at those as experiments that failed, and they were getting older. So they slowed down. And they learned that that was a mistake. Then we got St ANger.

A return to form (or was suppose to be) but they admitted that that album was a cluster junk of an album due to losing Newstead, and the thearapy thing.

Listen to Death magnetic and you will hear the album St anger was SUPPOSE to be. And it proves that Metallica are STILL relevant, and are back on their game.

Okay. Intelligent rant over lol

My pick for the sell out category

Korn...

Theres many reasons why I say this.

Many times all the members have said that without each other, they wouldnt work, and that they wouldnt want to continue without all the original members...WRONG.

They did continue and reeked of BAD since Head and Silveria left. From self titled to Take a look in the mirror, Korn was a great band for the genre they helped build. Even though Deftones were the better band, Korn stood out and gained the notoriety over all the Nu metal era. But then they lost two of the founding members and it all went downhill from there.

I could use the twisted transistor video as an example, but the inclusion of Lil jon, xzibit, david banner and snoop just goes with they're love for hip hop that they always showed. My reasoning's are within the sound itself, and the lyrical content.

The fact that Korns lyrics sounded angst y and juvenile made critics not take them as seriously, but for fans, metaphors and very deep meanings weren't needed, It was what they meant to each fan that mattered...Until. See you on the other side. The fact that Jon hardly wrote any of the lyrics is insulting enough, but the songs didn't make much sense. And the emotion sounded forced.

And forced emotions is the trend of their most recent album, Korn III, The fact that he's a millioanire married to a pornstar and has healthy kids, I doubt he's tormented. It was a ploy to win back the old school fans that they crapped on with two horrible albums, after abandoning their sound. They tried to live in their past. And failed...Again.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

A good example of selling out to mainstream is the band Nickelback. I stated in another forum about them. I read in article in playboy a while back with the lead singer of nickelback being interviewed and he said that they write the cheesey love songs because they know that they will be hits as in they adjusted their music to what the fans want to hear. I really didnt care for nickelback before then but didnt despise them. Now granted, I do understand that bands HAVE to make music for a money, and I know several bands who would do it for free if this was a perfect world. But its not and no matter what band says its art and for the passion, money has to play a factor. Im going to use an example the lead singer of 3 doors down (one of my favorite bands dont hate please) has said before. He once said in a dvd "A lot of artists nowadays, they get to greedy and start charging like a hundred bucks for a ticket and I wouldnt pay 100 dollars to see nobody. Elvis maybe, the original lynryd skynryd or something like that, but i wouldnt pay 100 dollars to see myself thats for sure". Despite some critism 3 doors down get they are the most down to earth band I listen to and people who know the kind of people they are outside their music would agree. The lead singer has also stated one tour bus they drive around the country costs around 600 dollars a day to fill up on gas. The point i am trying to make here is artists do what they do because they love it but also have to make a living I understand that, but unlike nickelback if i were in a band and was famous i would want to play music i love to play and is a way for my emotions to get out, not write songs people would like to hear.

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

I'll give an example of a little known Electronic artist that made it big, and totally sold out to the main stream. The artist is MSTRKRFT, and they found success by releasing an amazing rookie album. The beats where original, the sound was fresh and new, they took the heavy Euro sound and dialed it down and mellowed it out like no one else had been able to do.

Here is a little taste of the before product, just listen to how original and catchy these tracks are.

Spoiler

There second album was such shit in my mind that I really don't want to talk that much about it, everything was dialed back, and their sound totally regressed; but that's not what gets me, it the 7 collaborations with mainstream artist compared to the only 3 original tracks on their second album. There sound was dialed back so you could really hear that main steam sound, and it sucked donkey nuts. Though there is still hope that they can produce a brilliant third album and leave that sophomore slump in that, well one can hope anyways.

 

[The Crock]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have sort of "sold out" by turning to a more pop orientated sound, as opposed to their old, funkier sound.

Quite to the contrary bro. They evolved as artists. By The Way wasn't a commercial success but that is the kind of music they put out. Their next album is supposed to go funky again. It's not that they sold out, but when you've been around that long you change as an artist. Plus, their funkiest time was with Hillel Slovak or John Frusciante (Pre-Drug Rehab). Once John got out of rehab he was diverting to his solo music more and it reflected on their albums. If you listen to Flea his bass lines are still as funky as they were on Uplift Mofo or Blood Sugar Sex Magic. Hell, Chad was never funky... he always had a more heavy driven type of beat. Anthony still likes to spit like he used to on old tracks, but he does it less. Even though the new guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer, records a lot of tracks with John Frusciante (As a band called Ataxia) he's still gonna go somewhat funky on this album... At least that is what he says. "Pop oriented" sound isn't what sells tracks, hell they still swear a shit ton in all their songs, some people don't like that... the day the Chili Peppers cover a Justin Bieber song is the day that they sell out. Trust me, that will NEVER happen.

 

[X]

One of the big ones I can think of that has sold out though, and one that lots of people agree has sold out, is KISS. Sure, this is sort of stating the obvious, but KISS action figures? REALLY? KISS in the end did it for the money, sure maybe they enjoyed the music they were making, and enjoyed performing, but in the end they sold out with all the merchandising just to earn an extra buck.

Funny, I addressed this same point in a different music thread about a week ago about KISS not being sell outs.

Do you know what a sell out actually is? It's someone who sells out their principle ideals or beliefs in order to make a buck. That does not apply to KISS, because they were ALWAYS about the money from day one, always. How do you sell out when your main goal is to make money? They didn't sell-out or backtrack on any previous ideals or beliefs, they did exactly what they intended to. Not sell-outs.

I get the feeling most of the people in this thread won't actually be sell-outs.

 

[Tim]

Funny, I addressed this same point in a different music thread about a week ago about KISS not being sell outs.

Do you know what a sell out actually is? It's someone who sells out their principle ideals or beliefs in order to make a buck. That does not apply to KISS, because they were ALWAYS about the money from day one, always. How do you sell out when your main goal is to make money? They didn't sell-out or backtrack on any previous ideals or beliefs, they did exactly what they intended to. Not sell-outs.

I get the feeling most of the people in this thread won't actually be sell-outs.

To be honest X, I actually saw that post a day or two after I posted this and thought to myself, "Yeah, this guy's right." I just think my hatred for KISS and the fact that they became successful not because they loved the music but because they just wanted the money, sort of made me not think about what the topic actually was.

Using that definition of being a sell-out, you'd be hard pressed to actually find one, unless the artists themselves actually told you. Most of the bands that became "radio friendly" or "mainstream" and have been labeled sell outs probably just changed their sound because that was the direction they wanted to go in musically. Bands like Metallica, because they changed their sound for St. Anger and it wasn't accepted by many, or Nickelback, who supposedly write the same song over and over again just to make money, do enjoy the music they write, and same goes for Metallica. If they didn't enjoy their own songs, there is no way they could force themselves to spend weeks in a recording studio, and then spend months touring, playing these songs over and over again.

 

[LigerBomb]

Simple answer so I can place some 2 cents in here: Metallica.

If you become pop-oriented to get a bigger audience, you sold out, plain and simple.

Keep the pennies. What if you're just tired of being shackled to one specific musical genre and you therefore get tired of the SAME OLD SHIT?

Blah blah, something about musical integrity and whatnot. As a musician, I'd appreciate my fans from before I sold out instead of the ones who love their new ringtone, eh, my song I mean.

As a musician I'd appreciate any and all of my fans for spending their hard earned money on my music regardless of how long they've been fans and when they first discovered my work, or which parts of my collected works they personally prefer. I'd especially appreciate the fans that wish me success no matter what I'm doing, as they like me for who I am, what I've done, and what I'm trying to do rather than try and crucify me for stepping outside the lines of some self-righteous narrowly defined style of music.

It's an elitist mindset, but it's perfectly normal and justified if you're in the right shoes.

It's an asshole mindset but then again what's the diff, amiright? Elitist/Asshole, tomAto/tomato. And I wonder who's shoes exactly?

If I wanted to make ringtone songs, I'd start under a different moniker instead of tarnishing my legacy and alienating my true fans from the before times.

Says the 19 year old—born post Black album—talking about Metallica, who's "true fans" therefore must only be the one's around for Kill 'Em All (or is that too late? Perhaps their only "true fans" are the people who heard them on the early 1982 Metal Massacre I compilation tape?). Whatever man; as a "true fan" of just about all their albums, and the people themselves, I can honestly say you simply don't "get it".