Worst sell out?

[Paul Wesley 3,289]

Prompted by the L'eggs commercial that was referenced in the ZZ Top thread...

Worst sell out?   ... and I don't think it's enough to just be a shitty band or a "band" that was from the beginning just a creation of a promoter or record label.

The nominees have to be either a great band that sold out to some lame Madison Avenue bullshit commercial *OR* a band that could have made kick-ass music, but instead chose mediocrity and sweet, sweet money.  

 

I suppose we could debate whether Aerosmith was still capable of making good music when they made this in 1998...

 

 

From the band that made "Crazy On You" and  "Barracuda"

 

[Paul Wesley 3,289]

Obligatory Bill Hicks reference...

 

 

 

[shakahorn 1,645]

Peter Cetera. With Rod Stewart a close second. Both guys were awesome rock singers that opted for sickly sweet pop ballads.

[ztejas 43,533]

Stones weren't even in their prime yet in '64 so I wouldn't really count that one. Also I think most of Aerosmith's catalog sucks so I'm not really sure what they were "selling out" when they did that in '98 (and I don't think it's that bad of a song). But maybe you're a big Aerosmith fan. 

There's a ton of artists that had a good first couple of albums then got increasingly mainstream. I'd have to think on it a bit more and get back to you but off the top of my head I've always thrown Fall Out Boy into this category. They were a pretty damn good pop-punk/alternative rock band and then went super poppy, radio-friendly, stadium-rocky bullshit after their 2nd album. 

From this (1st and 2nd album respectively):

To shit like this (3rd album):

 

[Guest Lobo]

Yeah, I can't fault the Stones for licensing that song way back then.   They were still very young and just getting started.  For all I know, they took that money and bought the drugs and studio time that gave us 1965's "Out of Our Heads" (IMO, their first great all-around record...first of many).  

I can't find a video of it, but this one wasn't so much a sell-out as it was a massive head-scratcher...when Iggy Pop & David Bowie allowed Bank of America to use "Lust for Life" in their late 90's/early 00's ad campaign.  I remember thinking how strange it was to see rockers like that going into business with banks, of all industries.  Cars?  Beer?  Shoes?  I get all those even if they're corporate-y and pro-establishment.  But banks?  And I also found it incredibly strange that Bank of America wanted that song, and likely paid a pretty penny for it, because it's about Heroin.  

But as we discussed in the other thread, you don't always have control over how your published material gets licensed.  

[66BUFF 2,565]

Not sure if I would call it selling out but Metallica' first 4 albums are amazing and everything after Justice is like a whole new band.

[Deej 76,903]

Snoop Dog.

[BrickHorn 18,284]

1 hour ago, 66BUFF said:

Not sure if I would call it selling out but Metallica' first 4 albums are amazing and everything after Justice is like a whole new band.

Metallica post-Lightning suuuuucks.

I also think most of Use Your Illusion is crap. But up to that point, GnR had a pretty short track record of awesome music. 

[Al_4_ISU 12,483]

The Faces and early Rod Stewart solo albums are some of the greatest rock and roll ever made.  Post 1980-Rod Stewart is some of the worst shit I've ever heard.  Truly unredeemable.

The Who/CSI deal if you're looking at using music in a licensing situation.

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

Yeah, I can't fault the Stones for licensing that song way back then.   They were still very young and just getting started.  For all I know, they took that money and bought the drugs and studio time that gave us 1965's "Out of Our Heads" (IMO, their first great all-around record...first of many).  

I can't find a video of it, but this one wasn't so much a sell-out as it was a massive head-scratcher...when Iggy Pop & David Bowie allowed Bank of America to use "Lust for Life" in their late 90's/early 00's ad campaign.  I remember thinking how strange it was to see rockers like that going into business with banks, of all industries.  Cars?  Beer?  Shoes?  I get all those even if they're corporate-y and pro-establishment.  But banks?  And I also found it incredibly strange that Bank of America wanted that song, and likely paid a pretty penny for it, because it's about Heroin.  

But as we discussed in the other thread, you don't always have control over how your published material gets licensed.  

But it's just so fucking peppy.

[Guest Lobo]

Peppy?  Really?  I found heroin to be quite sullenly dour.

[Al_4_ISU 12,483]

1 minute ago, Lobo said:

Peppy?  Really?  I found heroin to be quite sullenly dour.

Nothing dour about that drum intro.

[Guest Lobo]

I was talking about the drug. 

Yes, that drum intro kicks much ass.  One of the first ones I learned to play.  It's rather rudimentary but the footwork is a killer to get down, at least if you wanna play it the requisite force.  

As for G'nR...I wouldn't call them sellouts, so much as flameouts.  They stayed a little too hard core loyal to their rock 'n roll persona there for awhile.  It was great to see them back in form though at ACL 2-3 years ago.  Helluva great show.  I hope they get around to making some more original content.  Good hard rock is damn hard to come by these days.  

[ohchaucer 1,443]

I work in the ad industry (again, cue Bill Hicks) and have licensed countless tracks and been involved in some pretty wild negotiations and conflicts.

The only one that I would have bordered on regretting was with the Prince estate (the first licensing of his music ever done). But what we made was kickass and was done as a tribute and then we released the license after it aired. It was a two minute spot for the google pixel phone where we had people all over the country record (on their pixel phones of course) covers of “Nothing Compares 2 U” and then we edited it into a music video that we aired (unbranded) on the Grammys right after he died.


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[GhostOfTomJoad 9,350]

 

It's actually a very artistic commercial, and lord news Lou never made anywhere near the money as his contemporaries. But the sight of him sitting on a cherry red Honda scooter at the end is so 100% against his image that I can't help but burst into laughter. Heroin? The Blue Mask? Sheeee-it.

But give Honda credit. They also tapped Miles Davis, Devo, Grace Jones and Adam Ant for their scooter campaign.

[WhatTheBuck 28,798]

[UTCzech III 2,907]

It is Elton though, so not sure how much of a sellout this is, pretty campy...

 

 

[UTCzech III 2,907]

 

[WhatTheBuck 28,798]

 

[Celery Man 20,996]

12 hours ago, ztejas said:

Stones weren't even in their prime yet in '64 so I wouldn't really count that one. Also I think most of Aerosmith's catalog sucks so I'm not really sure what they were "selling out" when they did that in '98 (and I don't think it's that bad of a song). But maybe you're a big Aerosmith fan. 

There's a ton of artists that had a good first couple of albums then got increasingly mainstream. I'd have to think on it a bit more and get back to you but off the top of my head I've always thrown Fall Out Boy into this category. They were a pretty damn good pop-punk/alternative rock band and then went super poppy, radio-friendly, stadium-rocky bullshit after their 2nd album. 

From this (1st and 2nd album respectively):

in that realm of band, it always cracks me up that this dude married Nicole Richie

 

I'm not going to venture too much into what is selling out, but from New York Dolls to Buster Poindexter and from Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship are two interesting metamorphoses.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Celery Man

[BERT 4,381]

7 hours ago, BrickHorn said:

Metallica post-Lightning suuuuucks.

I also think most of Use Your Illusion is crap. But up to that point, GnR had a pretty short track record of awesome music. 

Sorry, dude, i can't hear you while you're stuck way back in the 80's

[Surly Bevo 25,145]

The people who brought you this

 

Later brought you this

 

[Surly Bevo 25,145]

And since it's the season...this right fucking here

 

 

[Deej 76,903]

23 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

from New York Dolls to Buster Poindexter

 

[Paul Wesley 3,289]

I've heard McCartney defend himself in interviews (this was decades ago).... paraphrasing "Everything I do isn't going to be better than the last thing I did.  Some things will hit and some will miss."

That said...

 

[ztejas 43,533]

6 hours ago, ohchaucer said:

I work in the ad industry (again, cue Bill Hicks) and have licensed countless tracks and been involved in some pretty wild negotiations and conflicts.

The only one that I would have bordered on regretting was with the Prince estate (the first licensing of his music ever done). But what we made was kickass and was done as a tribute and then we released the license after it aired. It was a two minute spot for the google pixel phone where we had people all over the country record (on their pixel phones of course) covers of “Nothing Compares 2 U” and then we edited it into a music video that we aired (unbranded) on the Grammys right after he died.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats an interesting one because Prince doesn't have the most famous/popular version. I feel like the "sell out" aspect is diminished a bit when that's the case. 

[ohchaucer 1,443]

Thats an interesting one because Prince doesn't have the most famous/popular version. I feel like the "sell out" aspect is diminished a bit when that's the case. 

That’s an interesting point. And yeah that it was a lesser known song as a Prince song was part of what we liked (that and then that nothing compared to Prince, etc).


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[ztejas 43,533]

14 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

That’s an interesting point. And yeah that it was a lesser known song as a Prince song was part of what we liked (that and then that nothing compared to Prince, etc).


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Dare I say there are/were Prince fans that weren't even familiar with that track. It wasn't on any "Prince" release as it was released under the side project "The Family" (I actually had to look that up because I knew it wasn't on any Prince album).

Sounds like y'all had the right intentions and did a good job. 

[qwertyu1234 496]

11 hours ago, BrickHorn said:

Metallica post-Lightning suuuuucks.

I also think most of Use Your Illusion is crap. But up to that point, GnR had a pretty short track record of awesome music. 

Wait, what's wrong with Master of Puppets? AKA the best thing they ever did and came after Lightning.

[BrickHorn 18,284]

1 minute ago, qwertyu1234 said:

Wait, what's wrong with Master of Puppets? AKA the best thing they ever did and came after Lightning.

Damn, I really fucked that up. Meant to say “post-Justice.” 

That’s what I get for posting on no sleep and no coffee.

[utee94 15,860]

18 hours ago, ztejas said:

Stones weren't even in their prime yet in '64 so I wouldn't really count that one.

 

14 hours ago, Lobo said:

Yeah, I can't fault the Stones for licensing that song way back then.   They were still very young and just getting started. 

So, we label bands as sellouts or shills when they sell their art in exchange for cheap advertising money-- unless we like them and/or think they might have needed the money, and then it's just fine.

I'm just playing around, mostly, but this is very much a case of the surl's gonna surl.  Everybody's good at rationalizing something.

[Guest Lobo]

Uh, I liked them.  I still like them.  My point was pretty obvious---a band 18 months into its very existence can hardly be held to the "sellout" standard of the industry.  I'm glad they did it like I said, probably got them a leg up on getting their next few records out.  Coulda gone way worse, the Barry Gourdy or Brian Epstein route.  Nobody's judging here the Stones here, man.  

Now there are plenty of examples of bands that were already well on their way that just went the d-bag route.  

[jimmyjazz 46,118]

The best examples have been taken, but this band always confused me.  It wasn't so much a matter of selling out as it was letting Dennis DeYoung take the lead on way too many songs.  I don't know the guy personally, but he just screams closeted cuck to me, and you've got Tommy Shaw and James Young on board, so why exactly are you letting this cheeseball Broadway keyboard wannabe asshat do ANYTHING but play keys?

Check the guitar lead:

 

and then listen to this horrific, embarrassing dreck.  No wonder they finally told the guy to pound sand.

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by jimmyjazz

[Herpa Derpa 6,130]

Gilman Street to Broadway

 

 

[trza-hawk 269]

The whole concept of "selling out" is a relic of the past decades in music history. Just a real brief moment in the history of music where musicians actually made life changing money and could afford to say no to having their music licensed to something like an ad for cigarettes in South America. When you look at the artists in this thread, its mostly baby boomers and gen-x time period bands, and the social values associated with their aging fanbases.

[Gil Bang 26,005]

On 12/23/2021 at 5:34 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

The Faces and early Rod Stewart solo albums are some of the greatest rock and roll ever made.  Post 1980-Rod Stewart is some of the worst shit I've ever heard.  Truly unredeemable.

The Who/CSI deal if you're looking at using music in a licensing situation.

But it's just so fucking peppy.

Oh, indeed.  

Just fucking raunchy, dirty, perfect. 

[Buzzrock 14,937]

I’m gonna go Kings of Leon. Their first three albums are outstanding but it always bothered Caleb that they weren’t more popular in America, so they smoothed out their sound and started writing arena dreck like Sex on Fire. They got the fame he wanted but the music sucked.

Middle of the afternoon at Bonnaroo KoL was way better than headlining Bonnaroo KoL.

[jimmyjazz 46,118]

OU Sooner supporting KoL sucked balls, always.

[Deej 76,903]

[Buzzrock 14,937]

42 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

OU Sooner supporting KoL sucked balls, always.

I get the OU thing. They can’t all have good taste. But they were awesome back when they were drunk and unintelligible and rocked:

 

[closetohumping 17,462]

 

[closetohumping 17,462]

2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

 

Want to add if I watched this I would think this commercial featured the Backstreet Boys and not Chance the rapper

[Rimbo 26,067]

Really?

We're doing this?

And I'm the first one to bring this up?

I met a boy wearing vans, 501s, and a
Dope beastie t, nipple rings, and
New tattoos that claimed that he
Was ogt,
From '92,
The first ep

And in between
Sips of coke
He told me that
He thought
We were sellin' out
Layin' down,
Suckin' up
To the man

Well now I've got some
A-dvice for you, little buddy
Before you point the finger
You should know that
I'm the man

And if I'm the man

Then you're the man, and
He's the man as well so you can
Point that fuckin' finger up your ass.

All you know about me is what I've sold you
Dumb fuck
I sold out long before you ever heard my name

I sold my soul to make a record
Dip shit
And you bought one

So I've got some
Advice for you, little buddy
Before you point your finger
You should know that
I'm the man

If I'm the fuckin' man
Then you're the fuckin' man as well
So you can
Point that fuckin' finger up your ass.

All you know about me is what I've sold you
Dumb fuck
I sold out long before you ever heard my name

I sold my soul to make a record
Dip shit
And you bought one

All you read and
Wear or see and
Hear on tv
Is a product
Begging for your
Fatass dirty
Dollar

So, shut up and

Buy my new record
Send more money
Fuck you, buddy
Fuck you, buddy
Fuck you, buddy
Fuck you, buddy

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

On 12/23/2021 at 2:17 PM, Celery Man said:

in that realm of band, it always cracks me up that this dude married Nicole Richie

I just went down a rabbit hole and had no idea Nicole Richie was adopted.  For some reason I always thought I could see a resemblance between her and Lionel. 

[hullabelew 3,724]

Previously mentioned Heart in the big hair, Sue Ennis, Diane Warren phase.
REO Speedwagon when they let Kevin Cronin pussify the band and move Gary Richrath to the background. Fuck Cronan and his power ballad fuckery.

I don't mind the commercial licensing stuff...,.people have to pay the bills, but Heart and REO just made me sad.

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[tbone_ 14,157]

I was just going to mention REO. From roll with the changes to I can’t fight this feeling. Jesus shitdicks why would you want to turn into air fucking supply.

[Goredho 17,419]

3/4 of Rage Against the Machine devolving to Audioslave.

[tbone_ 14,157]

Idk I thought show me how to live was a pretty good tune.

[jimmyjazz 46,118]

REO Speedwagon and Styx and Journey and Chicago are all part of the long legacy of established bands eventually letting one cheesedick gain too much power because his songs sell well.  I don't include The Doobie Brothers in that pantheon because Michael McDonald is a helluva songwriter and a helluva good guy, so their shift towards his R&B roots was understandable (not to mention the fact that Tom Johnston was not around to act as a foil).

[NWBuck 8,585]

1 hour ago, Goredho said:

3/4 of Rage Against the Machine devolving to Audioslave.

I feel this in my soul, but also appreciate any opportunity to hear Cornell sing.

Plus, it's not like Zack gave them a lot of options if they wanted to keep playing together.

[NWBuck 8,585]

11 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

REO Speedwagon and Styx and Journey and Chicago are all part of the long legacy of established bands eventually letting one cheesedick gain too much power because his songs sell well.  I don't include The Doobie Brothers in that pantheon because Michael McDonald is a helluva songwriter and a helluva good guy, so their shift towards his R&B roots was understandable (not to mention the fact that Tom Johnston was not around to act as a foil).

I agree with much of this, but wasn't Chicago's situation put in motion by Kath's death?