KINGS_OF

Blog Entry For ScruffyJoe

Selling Out vs Evolution

Thursday, February 12, 2009 - 12:29 pm - ScruffyJoe

Selling Out Vs Evolution

The media processed term ‘Selling out’. To sell one’s self to a particular crowd who will endorse you if you do what they tell you, to sell one’s soul to the proverbial devil in order to catch a break in the music business. Used generally by music critics who haven’t the slightest clue hoe to use the word, or young teens who listen to trends and copy those critics.
Selling out. It’s quickly becoming an over used phrase in society today, especially in the music industry. Every critic or musician wants to throw their two cents in so the world will love them just that little bit more. Bands were generally accepted before as they were, they would play their music the best way they thought, and then that was good. Bands could pan their whole careers and never push the barriers indeed today some still. Yet these days, there’s so many more influences in music that people see that the more progressive a person is the more sounds they can create. Musical Lego if you will. I’m not even talking about Progressive Rock as a genre, I’m also talking about these bands that seem to emerge from absolutely nowhere these days.

One of the first I noticed was Trivium. A heavy metal band from Florida they emerged on the scene worldwide with a debut album called ‘Ascendancy’. Full of angst and power, the vocals were maniac screams and heavy harmonies from both guitars and bass. They soon followed this with ‘The Crusade’. A groundbreaking album in their progression, but this was not seen. The new sound was unwelcome to many critics and fans, Matt Heafy was accused of copying his idols voice James Hetfield.

Now this is what I don’t get! From day one Trivium have been advancing. Ember To Inferno was very different to The Ascendancy in many ways and even more so The Crusade had changed there sound. Now they have released their 4th album Shogun, and it has combined both early and latter day Trivium and there are no complaints from me as usual yet I am surprised that it has only gotten good reviews from where I am looking. The once again different sound has both beautifully soft harmonies and roaring screams and they meld together to form pure molten Heavy Metal!!

I would like to state before I continue that these examples of musicians or bands are purely my own examples, they are in no way biased and are all based on facts. Something I did not know until recently was that before ‘Greenday’ became famous they were indeed a Progressive Rock/Metal band. Watching an interview with front man I was awestruck for him to reveal not only this but that he and his fellow musicians packed in what they originally enjoyed to play, because they had info which suggested a certain manager was looking for a punk band.

Thinking it was worth a shot, they became a punk band and shot to stardom paving the way and inspiring many modern day punks to wear eyeliner, have outrageous hair and make monotonous music far from the skill or ingenuity of such gods as ‘The Sex Pistols’ or ‘The Ramones’. They ‘sold out’ and I use this term for lack of a better , well before they were very big at all. Which then allowed it to be argued did they actually sell out.

I wrote this article with the vision of starting off a debate between those who believe in using the term and those who, like me feel it’s more of a progression generally bar those few cases when a band actually isn’t experimenting and is quite obviously in it just for the money.

Now, I want your opinion! Who do you think has sold out? Who do you think hasn’t? What’s your opinion on the term, the music industry, the critics who have coined it as THE phrase to use in a review today. Let me know! The forum is a great place for discussion or you could always challenge my theory in a reply!

3 Comments

Prespectives

Friday, February 13, 2009 - 1:18 pm - GretaGarboSuperga

Ok, I now totally understood your opinion, and I, of course, agree.
It would be interesting to see someone who disagrees... maybe you should start a thread in the forum...

stir the masses

Thursday, February 12, 2009 - 5:19 pm - ScruffyJoe

its why i write greta and your right, you are actually enforcing my ideals in your post! as caleb said in an interview y'know

'were not the pocket band anymore...were the ones who are pretty big now, sell outs, y'know, were millionaires, we hate eachother'

its all justa frame of mind for those who like to be paart of a trend

uhm

Thursday, February 12, 2009 - 3:06 pm - GretaGarboSuperga

I haven't totally got your point, maybe for my still-not-good-enough knowledge of English or the fact that I don't read many articles about music because I don't care much about what critics say, I believe that I like what I like, despite critics or fans' opinions. But I also believe that musicians who have committement to their work, experiment, still enjoy making music even after some years deserve to sell out. In the sense that they deserve to have sucess because that is their work, they worked hard to get to the top and they deserve and need the money and the fame.
For instance, I am a big Muse fan and I love the way they still have a lot of fun playing because creating music is what they want and like doing. And for this reason they tour all around the world, pleasing fans from almost all countries, and give all they have to create something beautiful that they like. Or, to make another example and getting better to the point, I have liked The Killers for quite a long time and I am happy to see that even here in Italy they're getting a lot of attention because that would mean they are earning more deserved money and, selfishly, that they will probably tour more here.
But no, I don't like seeing bands or artists raised and created by producers just to be big sell outs and make a lot of money. That is not how art should be. Art should come from a creative impulse, bands should be formed beacuse there are some friends or people who enjoy playing together and, maybe, create something together. However, if it's the band decide to have a bigger sound that would attract more people, it's their decision and should not be blamed too heavily, like how it happened for KOL.
Anyway, I was long enough and I'm not certain you can get my point because I tend to say to much and nobody understands what I really want to say.
I like your idea of making blogs to discuss ideas and not to tell strangers about your life!

You must be logged in to post.