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.
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 I never understood this. All that happened is that their music became more complex, melodious, and well thought out. Their older style was more direct and simple. To me, that's an improvement. Stylistically, they stayed the same, and they also remained pretty political.
They never sold out to begin with. They were a punk band in the beginning, and they're still a punk band now.
Changing music genres and still staying true to your style isn't selling out. - TheDarkOne_221b
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 musical quality (more complexity) and takes more talent and effort to create.
Just because One More Light was poppy doesn't make them sellouts. With that logic, every artist who tries a different sound is a sellout.
Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums), and Brad Whitford (guitar)... read more
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.
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 sellout. However, I don't see what makes them a "sellout."
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 Thrash metal was on a big low during the 1990s, with many bands disbanding and many albums being released that were deemed mediocre. Metalheads also grew tired of the sub-genre, moving on to death metal and black metal instead, while newcomer rock fans were more invested in grunge music.
Furthermore, all four of the Big Four tried something different during the 1990s. Megadeth also went soft with some ballads, Slayer experimented with nu-metal on Diabolus in Musica, and Anthrax paved the way for rap metal. Metallica actually did the best out of the four during the mid-late 90s. (Early 90s had Rust in Peace, Seasons in the Abyss, and Persistence of Time to argue.)
If Metallica is to be called a sellout for trying something different in the 90s, all of the Big Four would be victims of being called that anyway. The only reason Metallica was accused was simply for being the most popular metal band around (aside from Pantera).
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 were still awesome, they featured a more immature humor (which I personally like). He then restarted completely on "Recovery" because he felt the quality was decreasing, and others said the same. None of his old concepts are found there. He completely focused on lyrical quality.
Anthrax is an American thrash metal band from New York City, formed in 1981 by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the first to the last album and have always had well-thought-out writing, performances, and concepts. All of their albums had bigger ambitions than what the mainstream expects.
They were an emo band from start to finish. They never sold out at all.
No, each album having a different sound isn't selling out unless they completely turn from rock to pop.
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 They never sold out. They're still a rock band that has a passion for music, just like they always have.
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 and 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. They had passion for their music, and they certainly care about their fans.
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 still makes rock and metal. The TV shows and personalities are the fault of two things: his funny character and $haron.
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 from punk rock to pop-punk. They became punk rock again in the '90s, though.
Evan David Taubenfeld is an American singer and musician, best known for being Avril Lavigne's lead guitarist, music director and frequent collaborator.
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 Linkin Park, just because an artist tries a different sound doesn't make them a sellout.
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 I've never heard people saying they sold out.
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
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.
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
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 alternative rock. It's mostly their American fans who say they sold out. However, this change was actually a result of the band moving to the US during that time and getting 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.