The Meaning of the word "Sellout"
By jollylhama_drummer - 11.16.06

There is a particular word that represents what has been deemed as one of the lowest levels of integrity that can be achieved in rock music. Over the past 10 years, I've witnessed this term being tossed around lightly and in a variety of circumstances, but it seems to have been cheapened by the gratuitous usage that it received during the extremely influential point in my life when I was first exposed to it. That period of time was when I had just started to mature musically and was susceptible to outside criticism of my musical taste, when it never mattered to me before. That was during the period whenever Nu-Metal had reached its peak, and ANY musical discussion would inevitably contain that one hideous, condemning label that everybody dodged like the plague: "Sellout."

As a musician I've learned that creativity, at its core, is a means of personal expression more than anything else, no matter what kind of music you play or in what way you use that music.. In that sense, every single musician gets what they emotionally want from the music that they play, because they are putting a piece of themselves into it. The main factors in the equation though, are these questions: "What is the band trying to accomplish? What is it that gives the band satisfaction in making the music that they make?" I can tell you right now that different people are driven and stimulated by different interests and feelings, which is what makes people branch into different types of music and goals. Just because one musician is driven and stimulated by one vision does not mean that they are any less relevant than another. When you hear a person spout out "I'm all about the music and they're not" perhaps it needs to be understood that different people get different things out of their music for whatever personal reasons they have. I will try to give my personal views on how this works.

I will first take the stance of the heavy underground musician who may have a battle-cry of "I will not compromise my vision for anybody!". They base their sound on the pure untamed creativity of each individual member meshing together as one. They enjoy taking control of the one area of their lives where "the man" can not dictate what they can or can't do. These musicians derive their pleasure from knowing that they are playing music that is in the control of nobody other than themselves. In the end, they just want to make the music that they personally enjoy, and anybody that agrees with their vision is more than welcomed to take part in it. This creates a much more personal, almost "cult-like" bond for underground musicians and fans whenever they identify with each other. At the same time though, being at the rawest, most untamed form of music also means that these musicians are at the will of the unrelenting, ravenous crowd that they cater to. The bands are not in quite as much control as they thought. One of the unfortunate downsides to playing heavy music, is the fact that something heavier and more appealing will always come along. Bands are easily abandoned for straying from what originally garnered the fans' loyalty in the beginning. It's hard to determine the shelf-life of any given trend, but 99% of the time the success seems to be short-term in the grand scheme of things unless a band is willing to adapt and change, which will open them up to the risk of being labeled a sellout. Bands in this sort of genre are normally forced to move horizontally in their evolution rather than vertically. They must keep what originally established their sound, while also finding a way to make it sound different without losing the familiarity. That is not an easy task. When the music is mainly based on the pure, raw chemistry between the band members with no restraints, their initial style is usually embraced because of a specific quality that stands out based on the individuals within the band, but that quality also has a large chance of burning out and becoming repetitive if it doesn't change over time. This can be related to food in the sense that the richest and most unique food can easily burn somebody out if it's not eaten in moderation. A few changes in the ingredients will make a "new and improved" version, but that will only last so long before it becomes dull again. That is usually when a band reaches the point where they cannot alter that basic bond that they've created among the individual members and will end up having to break the bond entirely. Usually they will each have new projects and continue on in their own directions. Changing members is often the solution to changing the chemistry that creates the core sound of a heavier band of this type. Rather than altering the properties, they just change the combination of members around to create a new element all together. Depending on how relevant their style is during the particular point in time when the band forms, determines the reception of the band's sound. Even if they are extremely unique, there's a possibility that they could be ahead of their time, or behind the times. Still, the band will stay true to their personal vision, and therefor only a handful of bands will break into the mainstream because the time just happened to be right for the sound that they were creating.

On the other side of the spectrum, is the type of band that is labeled as "mainstream". I think that every band venturing into this category initially begins with the false hope that they can maintain everything that they've already established with their band without compromising anything, and it will be a hit. Usually they give a little here and there for the sake of improvement, and the music or image can quickly turn into something drastically different than what it originally was. It is often believed that this type of band has no integrity as musicians and is being controlled like puppets by the corporate higher-ups as a tool to rake in money. Again, it all comes down to what the musicians making the music want to get out of their creations and their situation though. Usually this type of band has it set in their mind that they want to make it into a career, so they have to put together a plan and strategy that allows room for change, which doesn't really apply in the same way to the heavy underground musician that usually has that unlimited unknown factor of "Who knows if this will ever turn into a career, but I'm gonna keep on anyway". No matter what type of music is being made, a band that writes their own music is going to be putting a piece of themselves into it, so that element of pride is still there even for the bands that adjust to fit to the role that is asked of them.. Lots of musicians enjoy playing many different types of music, and because of that characteristic, they don't mind swaying towards different styles quite as much as somebody who is staunch in their specific musical taste. Carpenters, architects, and artisans become skilled at their trade in order to use it as a means of providing what is asked of them to the end user. They take pride in finding validity in their job and knowing that their creations are being noticed and rewarded, thus allowing them to continue providing that work to the satisfied customers as long as they are able to use that gift that they have to provide what others can not. On one hand, they aren't free to completely do whatever they want with their art, but on the other hand, they are given parameters to work within, and they feel the satisfaction of knowing that they are able to provide that special something that is needed from them within their career, while still having the personal touch that only they can provide, and they will receive the backing support to expose their creations to a much broader audience than would have ever been reached otherwise. Some may consider this as selling out, but if you don't ever lock yourselves into one specific type of music, you can't ever really sell-out if you enjoy playing all different genres.. The only thing that I would personally consider selling out, is letting somebody else write the music for you. To me, it's fun and enjoyable to be given the challenge to "create something that will be a hit". I've always been interested in marketing, so it's just as much of a test of intuition, sociology, and thinking in the mind-set of people other than yourself, as it is just simply making music. It's challenging in a different way than pure musical speed, chops, or difficulty. Many of the mainstream bands actually have this abillity even if they don't openly flaunt it. The intuition that's needed to maintain the position as a credible mainstream band is something that isn't easily harnessed, and can't be mastered by hours of practice. It's more psychological than it appears to be. Using your skill as a tool to achieve goals that are set by a higher rank is satisfying to me, almost like being in the millitary and using your skill to complete a task under a general. I like using my creativity for things like that. It's tempting to take the gamble just to see if you can offer up what's needed in the business, and it's even more rewarding to see the droves of people eating up your creations, even if it's not quite a pure example of your raw untamed musicianship, but anybody that loves making all different types of music won't find it as evil as somebody who is strictly into a specific genre.

The last question is, how do you know WHEN somebody has "sold out"? In many cases, a band alters their sound in the BEGINNING and does whatever they can to grab attention at the start of their career. That's when they get scooped up and signed to a label, and the first fans of that style love the sound that the band has created. Then after the band is established, they may feel free to finally make the music that they, as musicians have always wanted to make now that they don't have to compromise as much. Perhaps they aren't selling out while making their later albums, but they are actually playing what they want to play even if it's not what the original listeners wanted to hear. Sooo even if the band is dong the opposite of selling out, the original fans are still going to scream and call them sellouts. The word itself is just way too easy to be interpreted in different ways, and that is why I have retired it and never personally use it in my musical discussions anymore.

*DISCLAIMER* Keep in mind that the examples that I gave of each type of band are not ABSOLUTE, and do not apply to EVERY band within that style. It's just a general assessment, and I know that there are exceptions to each one. I have actually participated in both styles, so perhaps I am just displaying my personal experience, but take it as you will.