Viewing Thread:
"Question!"

Ok, I've seen a few posts from people saying things like "Oh, these bands aren't proper punk." Or, "Oh, they've sold out to the industry" etc.

So, here's a question for you:

What if you really liked an unknown band. You thought they were fantastic, and then one of their songs was used on an advert, and they became really big.

They still did the same style of music, but are now playing to Wembly and charging £30 a ticket.

Would you think they'd "sold out" to the industry. Would you think that now they were succesful they were no longer "Proper "?

I'm interested, please tell.

Ok, I've seen a few posts from people saying things like "Oh, these bands aren't proper punk." Or, "Oh, they've sold out to the industry" etc.

So, here's a question for you:

What if you really liked an unknown band. You thought they were fantastic, and then one of their songs was used on an advert, and they became really big.

They still did the same style of music, but are now playing to Wembly and charging £30 a ticket.

Would you think they'd "sold out" to the industry. Would you think that now they were succesful they were no longer "Proper "?

I'm interested, please tell.

POP!

Come on, I want answers to this, or are you all too scared or something?

Okay - it's all elitist rubbish - I wouldn't care.

But then as I was the one making the comments you were refering to I doubt you were that interested in my reply, but I don't want you getting ignored.

I said the same thing in another topic.

Kinda.

I'm guilty of not liking someone coz they end up getting populer - I bought the Dido album in 1998, after I heard 'Thankyou' on Sliding Doors.

Now I've heard some of the singles, i've gone off her a bit.

It really depends on the genre. Punk music is a type of music generally assosciated with rebelling against the corporates who (nowadays) have so much power that they can control lives with a seemingly miniscule change, and all other powerful establishments which the band/artist or whatever believes has misused the power. When a 'punk' band starts getting paid by these same corporations that their chosen lifestyle is supposed to be against, any lyrics that may have had some meaning before kinda lose their punch and the band/artist looks like a bit of a hypocrite. But nowadays 'punk' bands (I'm using a loose term here cos there are people who won't consider these bands as punk) may not sing about anything like the 'evil' corporations, etc. and they may just like the music itself of punk rock alone and not the views that many of the first punk bands had. These bands may not be considered 'punk' by many people, but others may believe them to be 'punk' even though they don't hold the same values that the 'original' punk bands had, just because of their style of music. Everyone will have their own ideas on what is and isn't 'selling out'. In punk music though its' really a case of whether you believe punk is purely about the 'genre' of noise you make or if it is something more than just your sound but the bands content, like what they believe, what they sing about, etc.

Bands like Blink182 are kinda hard to tell whether they are 'punk' cos they don't tend to sing about their views, they sing about stuff that sounds funny, and wierd love songs, etc. so u can say if they sound like a punk band but not whether they have the 'punk' views. Anyways selling out musically is (I think anyways) changing musical style to get more recognition/ popularity. If a band is naturally progressing and therefore changing that's OK but if it just changes style to sell more it is selling out. I don't think you can really tell WHY a band has changed their sound. Only the band will actually know. But you can also do stuff that others of your community would frown upon, eg. in Punk music it isn't considered to be 'punk' to be on a major label but that doesn't instantly make you a sell out if you are. Being sponsered (as Blink182 have been) by big corporations and displaying their logos isn't considered punk, because even if Blink182 don't hold 'punk' views they shouldn't make all the kids think that this product or that company are 'cool' because they are associated with Blink, all that acheives is helping the corporation exploit their fan base.

Anyways thats about all I have to say on the matter. For more stuff about Punk Rock come visit (and maybe even post) on my 'Its my job to keep punk rock elite' topic.

Thanks 4 reading (hope u didn't get 2 bored)

i have a question too...
whats classed as "old Skool" and "new skool"?

oh and leave blink182 alone
i like them dont make me start mauling people

Old Skool rap, like Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the furious five. But your probably not talking about that kind of Old Skool. So ummm I will shutup.

I've likd Greenday since they released Dookie, but they've gone more mainstream with Warning - Bit like Blink182. But I still like Greenday. Warning was a good album. So what if little kiddies are now spending thier pokcet money on Greenday albums? They won't like them and it gives Billy-Joe et al more money to give us more songs. Soon the pop kiddies will tire of it, go back to the usual punk-pop crap they listen to (Blink) and peace will be restored. And if they don't? So what, I like the music. I listen to punk rock most of the time, but I accasionally listen to some softer stuff - Blur, Travis, even Toploader or Dido on occasions. Does this make me a sell-out because they became popular? Er, yes Gaz, shut up now. OK...

When bands go mainstream people will dismiss them for it because it's not elite enough anymore.

Sad, sorry state of affairs.

There is a fine line between selling out and developing your style so more people like it. Many people get it wrong.

yeah, people have to realise that some bands just change sound by naturally progressing, but some people do feel abandoned when they have liked and supported the band since the start, and then the band changes their sound so a broader audience will like them but that 'hardcore' fan doesn't like the change.

On the other hand if a band just stays the same people accuse them of using a tired, old style, and not progressing at all, or just milking the tried and tested formula for all it's worth.

Geez, now that u think about it it's pretty hard to keep all the fans happy AND expand your fan base without annoying existing fans.