Revolution said:

Everlast thats right.
Do you consider "selling-out" changing genre's for a more popular
one in order to make more money?Take that dude from Ministry.
In the early 80's kind of like a Soft Cell sound to them.
Then came back with some hardcore trash,speed sound and
got really popular.

Luv4oneanotha said:

I'm just really sick of him as he's been EVERYWHERE, collaborating with everyone/anyone who's the flavor of the moment. I always have to laugh because it seems he's the guest performer or headliner for every awards show and benefit gala out there for at least the past 5 years.

".....and ladies and gentleman, Sting will be performing tonight!"





[This message was edited Sun May 16 3:05:44 2004 by minneapolisgenius]

Lenny Kravitz, he sucks to begin with and now I heard he has Jay-Z (another one!) babbling on his new record.....

abierman said:

with his fucking Prince-hairdo!

SENSHY said:

..not really their intial beginning..Bizkit used to be a pretty amazing band..I used to go to their shows at the Milk Bar in Jax, Fl....but Durst changed things up and sold out big time...even the cover of "Faith" was more true to their original sound than the crap that has come out recently...

By the way, I dont believe a change in musical direction means an artist or group has sold out...I think its the intentions behind the change...

Lionel new album debuted at 50 this week. That wouldn't be so bad if Patti's didn't debut at number 18 (or something like that) and they were on similar labels and did about the same promotion (in fact, he probably got more press with his divorce). Guess it doesn't pay to sell out!

With this definition of sell out, Prince definitely fits the bill. Unlike these other artists though he puts out an album every year, so after Rave we got TRC really soon and everything was cool. As for Stevie, he never sold out. With age inspiration and new ideas aren't as forthcoming, that's all.

Kool and the Gang are the biggest sell-outs in the history of music. Going from songs like Jungle Boogie, Summer Madness, and Hollywood Swingin' to songs like Joanna and She's Fresh (or whatever the name is) is the biggest 180 I've seen. It's obvious they were going for some mainstream play. That's fine and all if that's what they want to do but according to this definition it's a sell out.

Personally I feel the only person you can sell out is yourself. So if you're making music you don't feel and aren't doing what you know you should because you think it's the only way you can make money then you're selling out. In this respect, I don't think Lionel Richie qualifies. He was always a ballad writer. Brick house wasn't his thing from what I could tell. He wrote songs like Three Times a Lady and Endless Love. Penny Lover and Stuck on You are just slightly updated versions of Sail On. Anything after the Can't Slow Down album, I chalk up to lack of good material not selling out.

No Doubt.

SENSHY said:

Nothing wrong with that. A lot of bands used covers to break through. They did a good job with it, and the album overall was pretty hot.

minneapolisgenius said:

Sting is everywhere...guest appearance with Puff Daddy was probably his lowpoint.
But then I see him and that awful Desert Rose song on a car commercial...
I went to the Detroit Science Center and saw an Imax movie, Dolphins, who's doing
the soundtrack??? Yep, STING...corny ass stuff too. Yanni-ish.
I guess I expect my musicians to make inspired music, trying to be cutting edge, trying
to make something different. Sting has turned into a session player.

Shakira.

For turning blonde and Britney and for becoming annoying.

VoicesCarry said:

wasn't she always??? (britney)

HardcoreJollies said:

As much as I hate to admit it I have to agree with you about Stevie Wonder. Whenever I hear people gripe about Prince falling off I always ask what about Stevie post-1970's. His output after Hotter Than July is very underwhelming. Moreover, I can't believe he put out a lame ass song like Ebony and Ivory, can you believe that two of the greatest composers in the history of music sang a duet on this drivel? E & I and I Just Called to Say I Love You are embarrassing. I bought the In Square Cirle album for the song Overjoyed and I could not believe that Stevie had fallen off so much on that album. Part-time Lover and Aparthied (It's Wrong)(I like the message) should be deleted from his catalouge.I knew he had really "sold out" when he did a duet with 98 degrees in the late 1990's. He even stated that they were a great band, or something to that effect in an interview.
[This message was edited Sun May 16 19:27:00 2004 by DorothyParkerWasCool]

Luv4oneanotha said:

No, she was much better before she went English and blonde. Listen to her Spanish-language material.

While it may be true that Kool and The Gang's music changed after 1978,I still like alot of their stuff from this period...

Ladies' Night (1979)
Too Hot (1979)
Jones Vs Jones (1980)
Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It) (1981)
Get Down On It (1981)
Steppin Out (1981)
No Show (1981)
Joanna (1983)
Tonight (1983)
Misled (1984)
Stone Love (1986)

Many R&B/funk bands from the 70s changed their music when the 80s arrived,to fit in with the whole new synthesized sound.Yeah,that was disappointing,but these bands still continued to make great music.

agreed about Kool and the Gang. I hated the years they dominated the Grammys. Every dayum YEAR it was Kool and the Gang, and they beat some bad bands in the day with that skip-VH1-straight-to-elevator-rotation-music! I can't believe Jungle boogie and summertime madness was done by the same band as Cherish and Too hot.

George Benson, whatever happened to him:???

Lionel Ritchie, the author of the Black anthem booty call song, Brick House... well I know what happened to him, Diane, and she finishing the job now... .

1999 was one of the better albums.

Where is the line drawn between sell-out and sound business decision? To live as an artist, you have to get paid. Just because someone was formerly only marginally popular and then becomes "mainstream" popular doesn't really mean they sold out. I feel like I hear that phrase all too often. Not to say it doesn't happen. It just seems like every time an artist changes in a direction someone doesn't like they get accused of selling out.

CarrieMpls said:

SENSHY said:

but can you define that for a person.....no...you can't....

Everytime I hear a song on a commercial I think "Did those guys REALLY need the money?"
The list is too long to remember but when I hear Zeppelin selling Cadillac it hurts my soul.

Rod Stewart probably should have a place on the list.

He went from being the voice of the great Jeff Beck Group


To a promising songwriter with The Faces


To his original late '70s sellout as a solo artist (the "Do you think i'm Sexy?" era)


To his current incarnation as a crooner of standards
(complete with late night commercial)


Never lost his penchant for Amazonian blond women though:


Tribal Disorder

rod stewart - went from absolute cool in the 60's and 70's, to.....

absolute fool in the 80's and 90's !!! i will 4give him the blondes though


stevie wonder genius gone pop !

me

(i could do with the money - i'm so wiped out with things as they are)

Madonna....hello?

crazyhorse said:

DJ Lethal... He's that hip hop flunky who went from House Of Pain to Limp Dick-shit...
Everlast was the rapper...

Neversin.

Slave2daGroove said:

I KNOW! I just flew into the U.S. yesterday and I saw that commercial for the first time.



Although they are using Hendrix's "Easy Rider" in a European ad on TV right now as well. I think it's a car ad as well.

oh man, you hurt me by putting EWF in there, but mainly cause it's true

I like to think that Stevie just burnt out rather than sold out.

As for those who say Prince, he has definitely had his "sell out" moments. D&P, Batman, Rave. hell, Purple Rain was extremely calculated to be full of hits.. Still I cut him some slack since he still has a habit of following his muse and releasing stuff that's very non-commercial (NEWS, Rainbow Children).

CarrieMpls said:

That is the line. When you let business decisions influence your work you've sold yourself out. Any good artist changes direction, but it should be done for artistic reasons. A good artist is usually going to get paid and will do it for free if they have to.

DavidEye said:

Don't get me wrong. I like some of these songs. I don't begrudge them their success with them either, but it's a far cry from Summer Madness. I know there was some turnover in the band so maybe that's the kind of music they really wanted to make. I was just calling them out based on the definition typically used for selling out.