Gator McKlusky wrote:Just about shit my pants the other day when I heard the Gang of Four in (I think it was) an X-Box commercial. Now that is the ultimate sell-out.
Gaming can be very lucrative for bands. And I'm not even talking the rockband/guitarhero games. I don't know if it is still this way, but some bands were getting songs to the public the first time through Madden and some other sports games.
Music is usually aimed at a younger generation, and generations change. There, I said it. Start dealing with the modern world you old farts.
Gator McKlusky wrote:Just about shit my pants the other day when I heard the Gang of Four in (I think it was) an X-Box commercial. Now that is the ultimate sell-out.
Gaming can be very lucrative for bands. And I'm not even talking the rockband/guitarhero games. I don't know if it is still this way, but some bands were getting songs to the public the first time through Madden and some other sports games.
Music is usually aimed at a younger generation, and generations change. There, I said it. Start dealing with the modern world you old farts.
I am referring to what Gang of Four stood for (not that it is for X-Box) Lyrics from the song:
Sell out, maintain the interest Ideal love a new purchase A market of the senses Dream of the perfect life Economic circumstances Ideal love a new purchase A market of the senses Remember Lot's wife Renounce all sin and vice Dream of the bourgeois life This heaven gives me migraine
Pretty ironic I'd say.
Looks like a bunch of little whiny fucksticks to me
Gator McKlusky wrote:Just about shit my pants the other day when I heard the Gang of Four in (I think it was) an X-Box commercial. Now that is the ultimate sell-out.
Gaming can be very lucrative for bands. And I'm not even talking the rockband/guitarhero games. I don't know if it is still this way, but some bands were getting songs to the public the first time through Madden and some other sports games.
Music is usually aimed at a younger generation, and generations change. There, I said it. Start dealing with the modern world you old farts.
Hearing the song in a game would be one thing, hearing it in a commercial for a game is another. I just heard this monstrosity for the second time and it pissed me off all over, more than any such thing since I heard "Love, Reign O'er Me" in a soda commercial back in '85 or so.
Gator McKlusky wrote:I am referring to what Gang of Four stood for (not that it is for X-Box) Lyrics from the song:
Sell out, maintain the interest Ideal love a new purchase A market of the senses Dream of the perfect life Economic circumstances Ideal love a new purchase A market of the senses Remember Lot's wife Renounce all sin and vice Dream of the bourgeois life This heaven gives me migraine
Pretty ironic I'd say.
In the commercial, the music stops right as the lyrics are about to start with:
The problem of leisure What to do for pleasure
In that painfully ironic (and weren't they foresightful when they wrote this?) way, it's appropriate and badly inappropriate, all at the same goddam time.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be
scotto wrote:Now, I'll admit I still get annoyed when a song or band I like suddenly becomes over exposed through a commercial, but that's because I'm selfish about my likes and dislikes and want my hip little corner of the world to stay that way.
Well this is probably at the heart of it for me and, I'd dare say, most of us. It's sort of selfish but calling anyone a "sellout" is selfish on it's face. Also I'm not big on change.
scotto wrote:If I had a band, I'd probably want as many people to hear it as possible.
I honestly don't remember if I felt this way or not when I was in bands. I wanted to be cool and I wanted the cool people to like me and my music, but I don't know I felt that way to the exclusion of others.
I had a lot to say about this topic way back when and thought it was only fair to bring some of my comments back to the fore in light of Cooley's STP commercials. I've always had mixed feelings about this stuff and I probably always will but when people I respect as much as DBT and Cooley decide this us a way to feed their families and get some exposure in the process I support them 100%. It's easy to be on the fence in the abstract and as I said in the quote above calling someone a sellout is selfish on it's face
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved
Once you get past the theoretical, the real "risk" here is the overexposure that scotto mentions. I'd hate it if i was at a rock show and groaned when i heard the first notes of "Devil" because I associated it w/ a commercial*. But the only place i've seen the commercial(s) so far is here on 3dd, so I'm hoping it's pretty low risk.
*Or if, say, as the band went into the intro, an STP banner unfurled behind EZB
All opinions and commentary in my posts are solely my own and are made in my personal capacity.
Aerosmith--If they broke up after Draw The Line they would have been legendary. Instead the got clean (good for them), and proceeded to put out slop (bad for them).
ZZ Top--they have released some really bad horrible stuff. Should have called it quits after Deguello.
PeterJ wrote:Metallica on the Load and Reload albums. Granted, James has blamed the massive amounts of drugs done by Lars and Kirk, but those albums definitely tried to fit into the metal of the mid-late 90's. Back to their sound w/Death Magnetic though.
Personally, I think their sell out came on the Black album. Load was only a stylistic change from the Black Album. Re-Load was just unforgivably bad. And while Death Magnetic wasn't bad, I haven't had any desire to listen to it again after it had been out for a month.
I don't find selling songs for commercial appeal to be selling out. I do find it to be disappointing. As a fan of the music, once you've heard it on a commercial, it takes on an entirely different meaning. So to me, it's not a sell out, but it is disappointing.
That being said, it's more of a disappointment if it's an established band that is living comfortably, than a new one that is just scraping by and a chunk of money and exposure can open doors for them.
And yes, I realize the songs belong to the artists, and take no issue with them doing what they want with them. This is just my reaction to it as a fan.
John Lennon, who would have turned a cracking 72 next week, cut these five radio promotional spots for Tobias Casual Sportswear, in 1974, while living in L.A. during his ‘Lost Weekend‘. One wonders – was Nilsson in tow, and if so, was he lingering outside the vocal booth with a frothy pitcher of Brandy Alexanders in hand? Sardonic, mercurial and subversive, these are pure Lennon. Lost weekend, indeed.
One of the assistants just told me that her sister's band got $20,000 for their song to be used in a commercial. And I felt really, really happy for her!
Am I a sellout?
Matt playing like an evil motherfucker w/ rhythm with a capital MPLAEMWR.
one belt loop wrote:One of the assistants just told me that her sister's band got $20,000 for their song to be used in a commercial. And I felt really, really happy for her!
There is a great documentary about soul / folk singer Bill Withers and in it he is talking to two know - it - all talking head types. And they start to praise him for making music on his own terms and never selling out. Bill Withers looks at these two dudes and says, “We’re all entrepreneurs. To me, I don’t care whether you own a furniture store or whatever, the best sign you can put up is ‘sold out.’ ”
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life
sg207 wrote:I don't find selling songs for commercial appeal to be selling out. I do find it to be disappointing. As a fan of the music, once you've heard it on a commercial, it takes on an entirely different meaning. So to me, it's not a sell out, but it is disappointing.
"I'd totally sell out if I could. Make me an offer! There's no one to sell out to!" -Bobby Bare, Jr.
Wondering if this is true for most artists to an extent, especially after the initial grind and you've proven you're "authentic". Who doesn't want financial stability for life?
Penny Lane wrote:Who doesn't want financial stability for life?
Guess I don't see selling out and financial stability as necessarily having anything to do with each other.
In my interpretation you can sell out and never make more than a quick buck, here and there…
And/Or
You could make gobs of cash and still maintain your dignity, artistic and otherwise.
There are sorts of ways to sell out and not all of them are bad. Getting song placements in movies or TV has always seemed to be an acceptable route while commercials are seen as unacceptable. To me they're really the same and both can be done badly and both can be done well. If your song about real emotion and the loves of your life has the lyrics changed to promote a dish rag with greater absorbency you most likely have done it wrong. If your song plays in a beer commercial while beautiful horses march across the countryside if your song was already good, it probably still is.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved