Bands which sold out

But is selling out really a bad word? When a band decides to make a turn towards more commercial music, the criticism of their intentions comes down to whether the music that they make is up to the same standard they set for themselves before they got famous. Sometimes it works out for the better, and sometimes it's a look towards darker days for these acts.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest pariahs of the hard rock scene and see if their "sell-out" period is a massive home run or the death knell in their discography. Alice Cooper is one of the royal leaders of hard rock and heavy metal. His live shows have gone down in legend as some of the most raucous onstage performances ever created, and his albums of horror-themed rock has given him the official title of the King of Shock Rock.

Though Cooper always had a bit of melodic passages intertwined throughout his records, his music took on a different tinge once he went out on his own.

As they fought to secure their independence, fists were raised and spikes were drawn. Punk imposed an unofficial set of rules on itself and was unkind to those who broke them.

They risked being banished, ostracized, or forever branded as sellouts. The most ardent defenders of the underground grew militant toward those bold enough to break out of the communities that had birthed them. For others, it meant being barred from their favorite clubs and being threatened with physical violence. For as long as people have been offered the chance to profit in exchange for compromising their ideals and morals, cynics have been there to call them out for it.

But the loaded term gained traction during this period as major labels began waving dollar signs in the faces of young musicians. Whether a band had gone major or stayed true to their indie roots became a defining characteristic in how they were perceived by their peers. This book captures the stories of 11 bands at the pivotal moment in each of their careers when they signed with a major label—how they arrived there, why they decided to go for it, and what it did to their career.

A few of these bands saw their gamble pay off and were rewarded with Grammy statues and platinum records. But for every success story, there were dozens of bands that collapsed under the pressure, leaving members beating the shit out of each other on the side of the highway. This is not an attempt to pick winners and losers, though.

Quite the contrary. In no way is this book a comprehensive history of every punk band that made the jump. Plenty of bands with interesting major-label experiences had to be omitted.

The 11 bands documented here were chosen because they were integral in shaping the trends that propelled the post-Nirvana alternative music boom forward. Each of them helped drive commercial interest into new territories, and thanks to their efforts, the genre had room to adapt and broaden its scope, far surpassing the limits it had reached in the 70s.

Punk mutated and took on new forms as the sonics and geography of it shifted, from the Bay Area pop-punk sound to the hardcore screams emanating from the basements of New Brunswick, New Jersey, to a new wave of emo that existed not so much in any regional location as on the internet. This is a book that explores the gray areas found where finance and artistry clash, and where opportunity and integrity collide.

And it all started as the sun was setting over San Francisco one evening and three punk kids turned up at the office of their independent record label, ready to take a leap of faith.

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature. By Dan Ozzi. The minute a band progresses in any way shape or form, someone who liked their first demo — or even a non-fan looking for a way to vent about their own shitty life — will claim that the artist in question is just in it for the big bucks. Meanwhile, selling out varies from genre to genre, with underground extreme metal bands getting called out for doing interviews at all.

And while plenty of bands have done that to a certain extent, there are a handful of acts who have made their bank on staying true to what they believe in. Here are 12 legendary bands who answer to no-one but themselves…. The kings. Say what you want about Nirvana, but you can never claim that they danced for the man.

No, Tool have always done things their way, laughing at their own fanbase for being sour over them not playing the game. Instead, they remained true to their weirdo vision, resulting in even their between-song interludes becoming chart-toppers. By the time the Washington, D.

But like many bands on this list, Fugazi knew that their success was only as strong as their word, and shunned mainstream recognition in exchange for the satisfaction of a job well done. Better to stay in the waiting room than swallow the pill.