# Bands/Musicians that sold out... or did they? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415 "2013-10-28T04:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/61 "2013-10-31T23:48:26Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > They’ve always done Zep covers for as long as I can remember. But 5 of them? And after they were opened by a LZ cover band? ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/62 "2013-11-01T12:12:37Z")
I’d say KISS has to hold the record for selling out, although it raises the question of whether they were ever NOT sellouts. 1. Late seventies they go [disco](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_Made_for_Lovin%27_You). 2. After [The Wall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall) hit big, they and Bob Ezrin produced [this…thing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_from_the_elder). 3. Mid-eighties, they hop right on the [hair-metal](http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/52526889/Kiss+1985.jpg) bandwagon. 4. Early 90’s, they go [grunge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Souls:_The_Final_Sessions). It was actually refreshing when they turned into a nostalgia act. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/63 "2013-11-01T12:28:05Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > I’d say KISS has to hold the record for selling out, although it raises the question of whether they were ever NOT sellouts. Considering the success they achieved with their level of musical “talent” and songwriting “skill,” I would surmise their primary talents were brilliant showmanship and business acumen. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/64 "2013-11-01T15:15:13Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > I’d say KISS has to hold the record for selling out, although it raises the question of whether they were ever NOT sellouts. Yeah, ( **scabpicker**? somebody) mentioned upthread, you kind of have to have established integrity in order to sell out. KISS I respect because they turned what they do into an art. It’s fucking rock n’ roll - getting as much money and sex as you can for such emptiness is winning. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/65 "2013-11-01T16:01:14Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > So, did Heart sell out? Obviously their music and image changed drastically from when they started… but was this a genuine change because it’s what they wanted to do, or did they do it just to stay relevant, stay on the charts, and keep making money. This one is simple. The exact moment Heart sold out is [well-documented.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHsF4ondZVU&noredirect=1) > [@cochrane](#): > > The Who responded to allegations they sold out in licensing their songs to the CSI TV show franchise (CSI - “Who Are You?;” CSI: Miami - “Won’t Get Fooled Again;” CSI: NY - “Baba O’Riley”) by recording the song [“Mike Post Theme”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless_Wire_(The_Who_album)#Song_breakdown) about the prolific composer of such TV themes as “The Rockford Files,” “The A-Team,” “Hill Street Blues,” and “Magnum, P.I.” Which has nothing, really to do with their selling out. The real sellout is when Townshend and Daltrey decided to keep using the name “The Who” after John Entwhistle died. Sorry, but when half the band has died, the most you have left is a tribute band. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/66 "2013-11-01T16:40:37Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > This one is simple. The exact moment Heart sold out is [well-documented.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHsF4ondZVU&noredirect=1) > > Which has nothing, really to do with their selling out. The real sellout is when Townshend and Daltrey decided to keep using the name “The Who” after John Entwhistle died. Sorry, but when half the band has died, the most you have left is a tribute band. Probably the best concert I ever saw was a few months after Entwistle’s death at MSG. To suggest that TOWNSHEND and DALTREY (with replacements at bass and drums) should not call themselves THE WHO is bizarre! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/67 "2013-11-02T12:07:33Z")
Berlin was often considered sell-outs by many of their fans because ‘Take My Breath Away’ was very far from their previous fare and too much sappy-ballad. They didn’t do well after that but New Wave was already in decline. Depeche Mode fans who knew of the band in the 80’s got very pissed about _Violator_ when the band appeared on mainstream MTV with ‘Enjoy the Silence’. One can make a bunch of arguments about David Bowie either being a rock and roll chameleon or selling out to a trend. There were more than a few Progressive Rock bands that went Disco in the late 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/68 "2013-11-02T12:10:36Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I know the KTRU example you mentioned runs pretty close to the stereotype of a college music snob but that type of attitude has always bothered me. It drips of elitism and the attitude that knowledge of certain bands must be kept obscure and limited to only those in a exclusive hipster cult because informing the tasteless drooling morons who make up the general public about their existence will only result in the bands being contaminated by the throng. “What the best way to piss of an indie rock snob?” "I dunno, what? “actually enjoy music!” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/69 "2013-11-02T12:31:05Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > This one is simple. The exact moment Heart sold out is [well-documented.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHsF4ondZVU&noredirect=1) Wait. That’s Kurt Vonnegut at 0:05. That kills the ‘sell out’ argument right there. But what I really want to take issue with is the very idea of ‘selling out’. Bands, and people, mature. And that means change. And several people in this thread are seeing the sell out concept to mean angering fans with a different sound. That’s silly. Seriously, a band that came up playing songs aimed at a teen audience - as most metal bands do when their stuff hits the ‘alienated suburban teen male’ demo - is fine. But choosing to STILL aim at that demographic ten or more years later? That strikes me as more ‘selling out’ than changing and growing and experimenting. Either that or pitifully arrested development. Now, I speak as a long-term fan of Rush. That means I’ve seen so many changes in direction it’s lucky I don’t get whiplash. Ayn Rand? Done it. Peart takes to hip hop and Geddy tries doing a rap? Dear Lord, done it. Grunge? Folk? Synth pop? Metal? Power pop? Chinese influences? Ska influences? Jazz? Funk? It’s all there. But what keeps that from feeling like selling out is that it seems to go where they feel they want to and what the hell. Hell, I’ll take the bleak honesty of Pete Townsend telling a reporter - referring to a really kind of pointless US tour - that they were touring the US because they could make a lot of money doing it (no fooling, I once read that in a magazine) than any musician who claims to be all about the fans while raising ticket prices beyond what most kids can pay. If you’re about the money you can make then be and say so. It’s not a crime. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415/70 "2013-11-02T12:41:54Z")
I’m late to this thread but still have to say that if you accept that bands _can_ sell out, then you need look no further than the **Bee Gees**. They were actually a pretty fine ‘progressive’ group before 1973 (witness their first album, Odessa, et al). I don’t need to tell you what happened after that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-musicians-that-sold-out-or-did-they/672415.md?page=3)