What bands do you guys think "sold out"?  (I know the phrase has different meanings, so for our purposes we'll just say it's intentionally making music just for money and popularity.)

I'd like to nominate a band for the list of World's Biggest Sellouts.  That band would be Within Temptation - a band that came quite a long way from its gothic and symphonic roots.  Their popularity began with the second single from their second LP, Mother Earth.  The song, my friends, is none other than Ice Queen.  Upon listening, you'll instantly notice the choral effects in the background among the other symphonic instruments.  It almost sounds like a slightly lighter Nightwish.

Two albums later, we have The Heart of Everything.  Despite liking this band and album (I consider Within Temptation my favorite band), I had to admit this was one hell of a step down.

I'll let the single "What Have You Done" do the talking for me.

Yes, that is the same band.  Yes, they did get a thrash metal guest vocalist.  Yes, it sounds like a carbon copy of Evanescence.

So!  Because this is such an interesting subject, why don't you guys share who you think the World's Biggest Sellout is?

Metallica
1981 - 1989
RIP

The thing I don't really like about the word "sellout" is that it implies with its common usage that a band cannot make good music any more because they change their style. In Flames and Metallica are two really good examples here, both put out my favorite albums by them after their old fans said they "sold out" Load and Re-Load were amazing pieces of music, Reroute to Remain as well, and yet because a band decided to change their style and play what THEY wanted (regardless of the reason) everyone jumps up their asses. If a band decides to change their style in order to sell more records, they have a right to do that, THEY make the music, not the fans. If you don't like their new sound, don't buy their new albums, don't go see them in concert. Sit around and listen to their old stuff. Or you can listen to their new stuff and see what is good and bad about it when you aren't in a OMG H8 BANDSELLOUT111 mood.

Can I have your babies, please.


He is right though, For example, Avenged Sevenfold (hear me out, I don't like this band, but they are a perfect example) during their earlier days, they played more like the generic metalcore stuff (Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, Waking the Fallen, etc.), but then they put out City of Evil. Alot of there older fans called them sell-outs and some of the people who use to hate them loved their new stuff. Now, their new release (Self-Titled) made some of their new fans call them Sell-Outs, while others praised it. The thing not to many of their "fans" took into account was that the band themselves made City of Evil to depart from their Generic Metalcore sound and do something they wanted, and with Their Self-Titled (which was self produced with minimal label influence) was them trying to mature their sound because they wanted to control their music, and yet people again lashed at them for trying something different. Change is unavoidable. Bands change, and people need to accept that. Like jeff said, if you don't like their new stuff, don't listen to it. Why not spend that time you argue about why they sold out to listen to the stuff you do like.

Though at the same time,a lot of people think they sold out when they made the music video for One. Apparently, back in the day they said they werent going to make music videos. I know a lot of people think they sold out since they went back on their word.

Man I've heard this one from a few people, and I came to a conclusion once:

Compromising your artistic expression for the sake of keeping it true is just that, it's compromising your artistic expression.

I've come to realise the term SELLING OUT is misused a lot. Selling out has nothing to do with making music more or less available, really. It's about compromising your music for the purpose of wider reach. There's a huge difference between those two. If they'd made a song that was 80% chorus that anyone could sing to and scrap any plans for solos or interlude for the case of making it a huge hit, they'd be sellouts. I don't think Metallica ever really sold out, but they did make themselves a lot more available.

the mars volta lol