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Selling out vs evolution
Opinion: What does selling out mean in the music industry?
The media processed term 'selling out'. What does it mean? To sell one’s self to a particular crowd that will endorse you if you do what they tell you, to sell one’s soul to the proverbial devil in order to catch a break in the music business?
'Selling out' is used by music critics, who haven't the slightest clue how to use the word, or young teens who listen to trends and copy those critics. It's quickly becoming an over-used phrase in society today, especially in the music industry. Every critic or musician wants to throw their two cents in, so the world will love them just that little bit more.
Bands were generally accepted as they were before. They would play their music as best way they thought and that was good. Bands could plan their whole careers and never push the barrier; indeed today some still do. Yet these days, people see that the more progressive a person is the more sounds they can create. Musical lego if you will. I'm not just talking about Progressive Rock as a genre, I'm also talking about bands that seem to emerge from absolutely nowhere these days.
One of the first I noticed was Trivium. A heavy metal band from Florida; they emerged on the scene worldwide with a debut album called Ascendancy. Full of angst and power, the vocals were maniac screams and featured heavy harmonies from both guitars and bass. They soon followed this up with The Crusade. A groundbreaking album in their progression, but this was not seen by listeners. The new sound was unwelcome to many critics and fans. Matt Heafy was accused of copying his idol James Hetfield’s voice. Now this is what I don't get! From day one, Trivium have been advancing. Ember To Inferno was very different to Ascendancy in many ways and The Crusade had changed their sound even more.
Now they have released their fourth album Shotgun, and it has combined both early and later day Trivium. There are no complaints from me. Yet I’m surprised that I've only seen good reviews. The once again different sound has both beautifully soft harmonies and roaring screams and they meshed together to form pure molten heavy metal!!
Something I did not know until recently was that before Greenday became famous they were a progressive rock metal band. Watching an interview with the front man, I was awestruck for him to reveal not only this but that he and his fellow musicians 'packed in’ what they originally enjoyed playing, because they had information which suggested a certain manager was looking for a punk band.
Thinking it was worth a shot, they became a punk band and hit stardom. This paved the way for many modern day punks wearing eyeliner, with outrageous hair and making monotonous music far from the skill or ingenuity of such gods as The Sex Pistols or The Ramones. Greenday sold out - but I use this term for lack of a better one. And it has to be argued, did they actually sell out?
I wrote this article with the vision of starting off a debate between those who believe in using the term 'sell out' and those who, like me feel music creation is more of a progression generally bar those few cases when a band actually isn't experimenting and is quite obviously in it just for the money.
Now, I want your opinion! Who do you think has sold out? Who do you think hasn't?
What’s your opinion on the term, the music industry, the critics who have coined it as THE phrase to use in a review today? Let me know!
By: Scruffy_Joe
The forum is a great place for discussion or you could always challenge my theory in a reply!
