# Artists who have "sold out" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424 "2000-03-29T02:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/1 "2000-03-29T02:02:00Z")
And you don’t have to stick with just R&R artists here, but the ones that come to my mind are: Rock and Roll: Bob Seeger to Ford ( Like A Rock) Rolling Stones microsoft (Start Me Up) Movies: Gene Hackman (to United Airlines among others.) ## TV: William Shatner ( to [priceline.com](http://priceline.com)) And Bill, I hope they paid you handsomely for that bit of embarrassing work.) Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/2 "2000-03-29T02:07:00Z")
U2. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/3 "2000-03-29T02:39:00Z")
if we are using the term ‘sold out’ in the sense that they sold a song to a corporation for whatever use, then ani difranco (NFL, with 32 flavours) * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/4 "2000-03-29T02:54:00Z")
Queen. If I have to see that farkin’ Mountain Dew commercial one more time… And my husband likes to tell about how the Doors sold out years ago. The commercial never aired, and Jim Morrison was just a little peeved when he found out. ---
**Author:** ![quadell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/b9bd4f/32.png) [@quadell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quadell)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/5 "2000-03-29T03:01:00Z")
Even Bob Dylan, when a Canadian bank used “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. Changin’ indeed! Your Quadell ---
**Author:** ![crisantemi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@crisantemi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crisantemi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/6 "2000-03-29T03:09:00Z")
Bruce Springsteen has not sold out… has he? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/7 "2000-03-29T03:50:00Z")
What is all the “selling out” hoo rah? These are people who make their living by performing. That means that people pay them to perform. Where is the “sell out”? If I were to consider “selling out” as a valid criticism, then I would look for someone who allowed a sponsor to dictate the terms of the material they produced. Perhaps when Rembrandt accepted fees for painting portraits or when Michelangelo or Leonardo permitted various rulers to assign them their next projects they were selling out? If you can show that a specific artist deliberately stopped developing his or her craft at the behest of a corporate sponsor (the usual charge leveled against “corporate rock”–although I don’t know how valid the charge is) then you can accuse them of “selling out.” Laying the charge of “selling out” on a person who sells copies of their 20-year-old music to a group willing to pay them money seems a bit arbitrary. Laying a similar charge on an actor for acting, seems similarly arbitrary. (And in the case of Shatner, what _art_ is _he_ selling out? He’s having fun turning his wooden delivery into a parody of itself and getting paid.) (Seeger’s client was Chevy, BTW.) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/8 "2000-03-29T04:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by quadell: > \*\*Even Bob Dylan, when a Canadian bank used “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. > > Changin’ indeed! > Your Quadell\*\* The bank was mbanx. (Bank of Montreal.) And IIRC, Dylan sold that song to someone looooooong ago. The people who bought it from Dylan are the ones who sold it to mbanx. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/9 "2000-03-29T04:11:00Z")
Wow, 8 whole posts and nobody has mentioned Metallica yet? _GAG_ They **used** to be cool… * * * ## If you say it, mean it. If you mean it, do it. If you do it, live it. If you live it, say it. Joe Cool ---
**Author:** ![Pooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dbc845/32.png) [@Pooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pooch)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/10 "2000-03-29T04:25:00Z")
I’ve never paid much attention to the sell out referring to advertising. My version of sell out is the artist that starts pumping out work on an assembly line. Maybe they are laughing all the way to the bank–good for them–but not with my money. Willie Nelson comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![brdrcolle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@brdrcolle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brdrcolle)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/11 "2000-03-29T04:30:00Z")
What about the selling of the Beatles tune “Come together” for that internet (I think, correct me if I am wrong) company. Was that one of those that Michael Jackson (gag!!!) owned, or did McCartney? Just whom is the sell out here? * * * “My, my. Such a lot of guns around here and so few brains.” ~Humphrey Bogart ---
**Author:** ![chief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@chief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chief)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/12 "2000-03-29T08:26:00Z")
the Who has used their music in commercials Hendrix also, but artistically he never “sold out” * * * Check out my site: [Chief’s Domain](http://qfg.tierranet.com) ---
**Author:** ![billehunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@billehunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billehunt)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/13 "2000-03-29T08:58:00Z")
I feel compelled to ask if Aha has sold out. And I feel compelled to defend William Shatner. Anything he touches is cool, and those priceline commercials are no exception. Stupid idea for a company, but what a great choice for a spokesman. Now I feel compelled to press the “Submit Reply” button. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/14 "2000-03-29T09:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I feel compelled to ask if Aha has sold out. The SDMB poster or the 80’s band that sang “Take on Me”? * * * `They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety’ - Benjamin Franklin - ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/15 "2000-03-29T13:50:00Z")
Salvadore Dali designed the logo for Chuba Chuba lollypops. But somehow I don’t think he sold out. ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/16 "2000-03-29T13:53:00Z")
David Bowie * * * “I thought: opera, how hard can it be? Songs. Pretty girls dancing. Nice scenery. Lots of people handing over cash. Got to be better than the cut-throat world of yoghurt, I thought.” - Seldom Bucket ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/17 "2000-03-29T14:09:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by tomndebb: > \*\*What is all the “selling out” hoo rah? These are people who make their living by performing. That means that people pay them to perform. Where is the “sell out”? ## tomndebb I completely agree. I used the “pop culture” venacular when I said sold out. The term bothers me too. Artists have to make a living and none of us know what we would do until we had to do it. Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![idiotboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@idiotboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotboy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/18 "2000-03-29T14:11:00Z")
I wish I could sell out. Anyone wanna buy a song? * * * Roots&Radicals, -ldiot8oy [JerkWaterJive](http://mp3.com/jerkwaterjive) …Ska and Punk never tasted so good together! * * * “You wanna know what I think about assholes and opinions?..I don’t wanna hear your’s!” - some comedian we saw when I met Satan ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/19 "2000-03-29T14:42:00Z")
Related note-- there’s a bunch of commercials running now in New York (and I’d assume the surrounding areas) for Kohl’s department stores. The female singer (we don’t see her) sounds like she’s doing her damndest to immitate Natalie Merchant… first time I heard it, I thought it _was_ Merchant. I’m not a big fan, but found the idea of her promoting a lovely shopping experience pretty surprising. * * * Gamera is really neat, he is full of turtle meat, we’ve been eating Gam-er-aaaa… ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424/20 "2000-03-29T14:44:00Z")
I just saw a Jaguar commercial today featuring Sting singing one of his songs (must be a new one because I don’t recognize it). I always thought Sting was the kind of artist who would never sell out, but I guess a guy has to earn a living somehow. I have heard that a lot of American artists (musicians, movie and TV stars, etc) refuse to do TV commercials in the United States, but have no problem hawking products in Japan and Europe. For example, Leonardo DiCaprio has done a number of commercials that are shown only in Japan. So has Sylvester Stallone. I guess they must pay better over there or something. * * * Shadowfox “The dead have risen, and they’re voting Republican!” - Bart Simpson [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-have-sold-out/15424.md?page=2)