Weekend Guide: Sellout
with me tonight
The record company's gonna give me lots of money and everything's gonna be alright.
Selling out is an antiquated idea in the entertainment world. Culture is now fully at peace with the cross-section of art and commerce. No more bristling. No more Fugazi.
Everyone is, unapologetically, out to get the bag. As much as people want to deride capitalism as a failed economic system — money is what we’re all after. We all play our part. Sure, the desire for cash exists in varying degrees. But the core concept holds. Greed is good.
It wasn’t always like this. Rewind thirty years and we’re living in a world where bands were vocal about their principles. Art over commerce at all costs. Remaining indie. Fucking the man!
The idea of selling out and signing with a major label was basically the most uncool move a band could make. It signaled the death knell of creativity, the shunning of a scene and worst of all, the first step into the grave for any band who had the gall.
In retrospect it’s hard to fathom this being the climate. Truth be told, it’s hard to imagine a world where anyone cares about anything but themselves. But, this was reality.
For example, people in the Bay Area were very mad at Green Day for signing a major label deal. So mad, that they were banned from Gilman Street, their home venue. The place where they became a band and cultivated a fanbase. Their story of being shunned as sellouts has been told ad nauseam, but it’s a perfect case study.
One of eleven that can be found in Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo and Hardcore 1994-2007 by Dan Ozzi. You’ve got chapters on the following bands sellout moves — how they got to the point of selling out, and what actually pushed them over the ledge:
Green Day*
Jawbreaker*
Jimmy Eat World
Blink 182*
At The Drive In*
The Donnas
Thursday*
The Distillers
My Chemical Romance
Rise Against
Against Me!
*denotes that I was interested in reading the chapter
This is pretty niche, but if you are 30+ years old, and were into punk, emo or hardcore — this one may hit for you.
Truthfully, reading about The Donnas, Rise Against, and Against Me! was especially difficult, but feel free to fast forward. Actually, let me take it a step further, if you actually enjoy Rise Against, you definitely do not have good taste, or you are just a woefully misguided human!
I am nostalgic for people caring about bands.. a lot. But am I mad at Green Day for selling out? No fucking way!
HOW YOU DOING ALL YOU RICH MOTHERFUCKERS?!?