When Musicians Sell Out

Oh hey, it’s a guest post from Gill. But before she begins, I must disagree with her or at the very least pose a question. At what point did Hedley rock? I must have missed that.

If you are watching the Gray Cup this rather cold day you might notice who the halftime performers are. Headly. A band who once rocked, but now has sold out and is performing Yuck Pop.

Why do bands do this? Ms. Gillie’s theory is this. They long to get a wider audience, and sometimes that means changing their style of performance, or even the type of music they perform.

Why can’t they just follow the advice my mom gave me many times to just be myself? It’s all about the dollars. They don’t just perform to make audiences cheer, but the dollar signs dance as well.

Bye for now friends.

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4 Comments

  1. I haven’t heard much of Hedley, but the one or two songs I’ve heard weren’t *too* bad. I mean I’d take them over Alanis Marmaset, if we’re bein’ honest like.

  2. You know what, Gill? I believe Headley followed your advice to a t. You exhorted them to be themselves, so they were terrible. As they have always been.
    But please clarify for us who Ms. Gillie is. And why are her supremely obvious statements relevant here?
    A more interesting musical question to consider may be why bands decide to completely change direction, a la Muse, over a career. I’m not talking about introducing a few more soft pop elements, I’m talking about total 180s in musical style. From Rock to dubstep, or easy-listening to opera. It’s all been done. Favourite examples? I’ve often wondered what drives that sort of shift. Evolving musical preference? Life experience? Boredom with the status quo? I genuinely don’t consider it selling out because such drastic shifts run the very real risk of alienating the core audience and mitigating that all-important financial factor mentioned here.

    1. I think I mostly agree with that, but there have been times when a band has completely changed its sound to the point where it’s unrecognizable and even though it’s alienated the original fan base, it doesn’t matter in the end because making music that’s more mainstream and dare I say pedestrian gains them hundreds or thousands of times the number of fans they’d have had were they to stick with what they were doing. There’s a lot to be said for experimentation for experimentation’s sake, but there is a difference between doing it for the art of it and changing because you’re sick of not making bank and a half whenever you release and tour something.

      On another note, I’m sorry you had to see that halftime show. I was able to mostly escape it by doing the supper thing in the kitchen, but what sounds did make it my way were not the most pleasant. But I’m sure it was a step or 6 up from last year’s Justin Bieber thing.

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