For me, Black Eyed Peas wins.

I mean... 'From Bridging the Gap" to that electro-eurodance garbage...

Well basically any R&B artist from my goldeen teenage years who hopped in the ElectroShit bandwagon (Usher, Snoop Dogg...)...

I actually find myself congratulating Beyoncé for not surfing on that Eurodance trash with her latest realease...

David Bowie ranks high to... Okay, "Let's Dance" is a wonderful album, but predictable and not as innovative and experimental as his previous works...

Who do you consider worst sellout acts?

None.

Lionel Richie

thebanishedone said:

Lionel Richie

[Edited 7/9/11 17:21pm]

I'm with babybugz on this.

In b4 Whitney Houston.

FrenchGuy said:

For me, Black Eyed Peas wins.

I mean... 'From Bridging the Gap" to that electro-eurodance garbage...

When is combining genres considered 'selling out?'

They were good back in the early 1970's when this was recorded, but they shouldn't have done the songs in that movie a few years ago (or the movie itself ).

what's a "sellout"?

tritoncin said:

what's a "sellout"?

Someone who sells out a concert ticket and an album sale.

Shakira.

Timmy84 said:

tritoncin said:

what's a "sellout"?

Someone who sells out a concert ticket and an album sale.

Preach it Timmy

Timmy84 said:

tritoncin said:

what's a "sellout"?

Someone who sells out a concert ticket and an album sale.

A. Men.

I don't know if he is the "worst" sellout but the one that most disappoints me is probably Rod Stewart. If you listen to albums like Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story and Never a Dull Moment and compare them to what he did from the late '70s-present it's very sad. He had such a fantastic sound on those albums. Along with Mick Jagger he was arguably the greatest rock vocalist of his generation and he threw it all away so he could be a pop star with the stereotypical actress/model wife. I don't necessarily have a problem with the type of music he has been doing for the last thirty years but so much of that material is mediocre and below him. It just feels like he stopped pushing himself as an artist and was content to take the easy road. In the early '70s he was just getting warmed up and I strongly believe that his best work was ahead of him.

Iggy Pop... He sells car insurance now. I was never a big fan but it's still kinda tragic.

Usher.

Something is very wrong when you go from "U Got It Bad" to Taio Cruz/Gaga shit like "DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again."

tritoncin said:

what's a "sellout"?

I was thinking of asking that question as well. I always thought it was someone who did a certain genre of music for a long period of time and then they gradually or suddenly started doing something else (that everyone eles is doing) just so they can sell more records and up their sales. They jumped on a "everyone is doing this" type of bandwagon instead of doing what they have been know for. Something like that, anyway. LOL. I'm not sure, really. However, if that is what it is, I cannot name anyone. An artists should be able to do what they want to do artistically whether it does them good financially or not.

[Edited 7/10/11 7:11am]

I've always thought that a sell out was someone who built themselves up as one thing but then become someone would do absolutely anything as long as the price was right. Even if it meant demeaning themselves or their image. Such as "Suggs" from Madness or Ozzy Osbourne.

leecappella said:

An artist should be able to do what they want to do artistically whether it does them good financially or not.

[Edited 7/10/11 7:11am]

Word.

The term "sell out" to me means that an artist, instead of doing their craft from their heart (which may not be or no longer successful), starts doing what everybody else is doing just to become or remain successful. Not being sincere and only in it for the money.

[Edited 7/10/11 10:34am]

missfee said:

The term "sell out" to me means that an artist, instead of doing their craft from their heart (which may not be or no longer successful), starts doing what everybody else is doing just to become or remain successful. Not being sincere and only in it for the money.

[Edited 7/10/11 10:34am]

Well, shit. That's almost everybody out there today. But I can't say that that's entirely the artists' fault. It's mainly the record labels.

Tone it down Shitney. You sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?

thebanishedone said:

Lionel Richie

That's true but there was still no shortage of funk being made by other artists after he sold out. In other words, he didn't influence too many other groups to do the same after he sold out. Now Shitney on the other hand, influenced loads of people.

rialb said:

I don't know if he is the "worst" sellout but the one that most disappoints me is probably Rod Stewart. If you listen to albums like Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story and Never a Dull Moment and compare them to what he did from the late '70s-present it's very sad. He had such a fantastic sound on those albums. Along with Mick Jagger he was arguably the greatest rock vocalist of his generation and he threw it all away so he could be a pop star with the stereotypical actress/model wife. I don't necessarily have a problem with the type of music he has been doing for the last thirty years but so much of that material is mediocre and below him. It just feels like he stopped pushing himself as an artist and was content to take the easy road. In the early '70s he was just getting warmed up and I strongly believe that his best work was ahead of him.

I love the transition he made beginning with "Hot Legs" through "Infatuation" but I hated the mid to late 1980s transition he made doing adult contemporary stuff like "Downtown Train".

vainandy said:

Tone it down Shitney. You sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?

I KNEW IT!

vainandy said:

Tone it down Shitney. You sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?

Hmm, I'm not sure if Whitney qualifies. It's not as if she was a gritty soul singer on her first album and then went pop. She was pretty much a pop artist right out of the gate.

smoothcriminal12 said:

vainandy said:

Tone it down Shitney. You sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?

I KNEW IT!

That was old Clive Davis talking with his old silver balls. Silver, as in gray hairs hanging from his balls looking like tinsel hanging from Christmas tree ornamants. I don't know why he was so hellbount on getting her to sing adult contemporary. Since he's got those silver balls, I would think he'd lean more towards disco since his balls resemble disco balls.

I lot of folks say I should blame him rather than her but she was a grown woman. She has a mind of her own and doesn't have to listen to someone if she doesn't want to. And it's not like she was desperate because she comes from a musical family with Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin that could probably have kept her record deal for her if she defied old silver balls. And after hearing from people lately that she was ghetto as hell and not the little Barbie doll goodie two shoes that old silver balls turned her into, I see her as even a bigger sellout.

rialb said:

vainandy said:

Tone it down Shitney. You sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?

Hmm, I'm not sure if Whitney qualifies. It's not as if she was a gritty soul singer on her first album and then went pop. She was pretty much a pop artist right out of the gate.

She never got a chance to be anything else because old silver balls told her to tone it down at the very beginning of her career.

Every recording artist that had to deal with Clive Davis OR Jimmy Iovine as their executive producer are the biggest freaking sell-outs of the last 25+ years.

There is no getting around this fact. Sometimes, some artists have to sellout musically in order to satisfy these major record label bigwigs.