Top 10 Music Artists that are Falsely Accused of Being Sell Outs

Some music artists are called sell outs. What's a sell out you might ask? A sell out is someone that only makes music for money and doesn't make it with passion. Some artists have been falsely labeled this and it can get annoying.
The Top Ten
1 Green Day Green Day are an American pop punk/punk rock band formed in East Bay, California in 1987. The members include Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals and guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass), Tré Cool (drums) and Jason White (guitar). Green Day are associated with punk rock, pop punk and alternative rock. Some of their... read more

To avoid misconceptions, here is the definition from wiki:
"There are two distinct forms of "selling out" in terms of music.
First, there is the use of term "sell out" to refer to those who sign for major labels or to those who licence their music to companies for use in advertising that contradicts their apparent values.
Secondly, the expression can refer to those who sacrifice their musical integrity through a change in their musical sound, sometimes due to pressure from major labels or in order to gain profit by making their music more appealing to a mainstream audience."

2 Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American alternative rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The current members include Mike Shinoda (vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Brad Delson (guitar), Dave "Phoenix" Farrell (bass), Joe Hahn (DJ), and Rob Bourdon (drums). Linkin Park is associated with a mixture... read more

Not every artist that tries a different sound is a sellout by default.
It depends - if the different sound makes their music more appealing to a mainstream audience (poppier), this isn't good - it's the definition of selling out.
It's good if the new different sound has more music quality (more complex) and takes more talent/efforts to make.

I have no idea if they really sold out, but what I know is I didn't like their non-rock sound. They neither managed to maintain the rough emotional component that made them one of the definite bands of their generation, nor to sound like a real pop band, lacking the infectiousness and catchiness.

3 Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "the Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band".
4 Nirvana Nirvana was an American grunge band that was formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana disbanded after Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. The drummer of the band, David Grohl, went on to start the Foo-Fighters, an alternative rock band... read more

Kurt Cobain tried everything NOT to please the mainstream, like not playing their most popular song anymore.

5 Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English progressive rock band formed in 1965 in London, England. They achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. The band consisted of 5 members - David Gilmour (Vocals and Guitar), Syd Barrett (Vocals and Guitar), Nick Mason (Drums), Roger Waters... read more

I have heard people call this band a sell out however I don't see what makes them a "sell out"

6 Metallica Metallica is an American Heavy/Thrash Metal band formed in 1981. The original lineup was James Hetfield (Vocalist and Rhythm guitarist), Dave Mustaine (Lead Guitar), Lars Ulrich (Drums), Ron McGovney (Bassist). The group came into mainstream from their Self-Titled album and the hit single "Enter Sandman"... read more

Metallica did with the Black album. But only partly, not completely. They didn't abandon metal and the album isn't rap metal, nu metal or pop punk. And the album is very good. It's less heavy than their previous albums and this is a sign of selling out.
But there are 2 types of albums marking a sellout behaviour: good albums and bad albums. The Black album is good.
Then we have Megadeth's Risk. This is a bigger degree of selling out - Metallica at least didn't have pop and disco songs on the Black album. And Megadeth's Risk sucks.
Funny thing is, Megadeth fans claim Megadeth are better than Metallica because Metallica are sellouts whereas Megadeth aren't. Truth is, Megadeth did it even more, just their "selling out" albums sucked and Megadeth didn't become as popular as Metallica.
My point is: I agree Metallica partly sold out but stop accusing them more than Megadeth.

7 Eminem Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is an American rapper, actor and music producer born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri. Eminem has sold over 300 million records making him the bestselling hip-hop artist of all time. In addition to his solo career, he is a member of D12 and (with Royce... read more

Eminem was heavily on drugs during "Encore" and "Relapse", and while the albums still were awesome, he had a more immature humor (that I personally like). He then restarted competely on "Recovery" because he felt quality was decreasing, and that's what others said as well. None of his old concepts are found there, he completely focused on lyrical quality.

8 Anthrax Anthrax is an American thrash metal band from New York City, formed in 1981 by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker.
9 Dave Grohl David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and film director. He is best known as the former drummer of the hugely popular 90s grunge band Nirvana and the vocalist/guitarist for the alternative rock band Foo Fighters. He has sat behind the... read more

Just because he formed Foo Fighters doesn't make him a sellout.

10 Weezer Weezer is an American alternative rock/power pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1992, currently consisting of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar), Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner.
The Contenders
11 Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American pop punk band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley.

I love Fall Out Boy and respect all of their music. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that each of their albums gets even pop-ier that the last. Especially after their hiatus. Sorry, but they sold out big time.

They did sell out and they SOLD out hard.

12 Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian–French singer-songwriter and actress. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million.
13 Paramore Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro.
14 My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from Jersey City, New Jersey, active from 2001 to 2013, and again from 2019 to present day. For much of their career, the band consisted of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, bassist Mikey Way, and drummer Bob Bryar.

They kept their exact same style from first to last album, and have always had fairly thought out writing, performances and concepts. All of their albums had bigger ambitions than what the mainstream expects.

They were a emo band from start to finish. Never sold out at all.

Nah, each album having a different sound isn't selling out unless they completely turn from rock to pop

15 Three Days Grace Three Days Grace is a Canadian post-grunge/alternative rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1992 with a line-up consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer and backing vocalist Neil Sanderson, and bassist Brad Walst. Their original name was Groundswell until they changed it to... read more

I hate to write this comment since Three Days Grace is one of my favourite bands, but at the same time I agree with them on the list as they are definitely still a passionate band, I also somewhat disagree. No, I'm not saying they are sell-outs, but Adam himself had pretty much admitted to a majority of "Transit of Venus" not coming from the heart. Again though, I think they're still a great band with a lot of passion for their music, so this comment was in no way intended to bash or throw hate at them.

They never sold out they're still a rock band that has passion for music like they always have.

16 Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English hard rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement.

Yes they started out as a Metal band then switched their sound many times but in my opinion they aren't "Sellouts" the goal of Def Leppard was to be a household name just like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin so they had passion for their music and they certainly care about their fans.

17 Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne was born on December 3, 1948. He is also known as ''The Prince of Darkness''. Ozzy is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of the band Black Sabbath. Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath... read more

He IS a sellout. He did it in many different ways. He wrote pop songs with metal riffs, had his own reality show, stared in terrible kids' shows, I can go on and on!

He still makes rock and metal, and the T.V. shows and personalities are the fault of two things- his funny character and $haron

He isn't falsely accused. He did. Many times. In many different ways.

18 Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first band to define the punk rock sound.

They just went to pop-punk from punk-rock. They again became punk rock in 90s though.

19 Evan Taubenfeld Evan David Taubenfeld is an American singer and musician, best known for being Avril Lavigne's lead guitarist, music director and frequent collaborator.
20 Thirty Seconds To Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band currently consists of brothers Jared and Shannon Leto.

Like LP just because a artist tries a different sound doesn't make them a sellout.

21 Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin was an English hard rock band formed in London in 1968 as the New Yardbirds. The group consisted of Robert Plant (Vocal), Jimmy Page (Guitar), John Paul Jones (Bass, Keyboard) and John Bonham (Drums) and was very much the child of Jimmy Page who even financed their first tour. He had tasted... read more

Never heard people calling they sold out.

22 Theory of a Deadman Theory of a Deadman is a Canadian post-grunge band. Formed in 2001, the band is currently signed to Roadrunner Records as well as 604 Records. They were discovered by Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger. Theory of a Deadman has gone on to release eight studio albums. Their most well-known songs include... read more
23 Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold 20 million albums worldwide and more than 20 million singles, bringing her total sales to over 40 million records around the world.
24 Silbermond Silbermond is a German alternative rock band consisting of Stefanie Kloß (vocals), Thomas Stolle (guitar), Johannes Stolle (bass), Andreas Nowak (drums) that formed in 2000... read more
25 Tokio Hotel Tokio Hotel are a pop rock band from Magdeburg, Germany, consisting of Bill Kaulitz (singer), Tom Kaulitz (guitar), Gustav Schäfer (drums) and Georg Listing (keyboards, bass) that formed in 2001... read more

After their hiatus they came back with a more electronica based sound instead of their old emo-ish anternative rock. It's mostly their American fans who say they sold out. But this was actually a result of them having moved to the US in that time and got to know the American club scene better. Almost all German music critics (who weren't too friendly to Tokio Hotel before) saw this as a major improvement and it made the group more critically accepted.

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