quote:

SAtown_punk wrote on 02-07-2004 03:59 PM:
You have no right to criticize Green Day or any other band that decides they need to sign to a major label to accomplish what they want to creatively. Green Day had to wrestle with the idea or signing to a major label and they didn't want to do it because they knew they would be branded as "sell-outs". I personally don't believe they sold out. When they signed to a major label it was for creative purposes solely. It's not their fauly the majority loved them and decided to buy their CD's. Old Green Day has made them more famous now, and has made them more money. It just took widespread play to get them to where they wanted to be and they couldn't do that on Lookout! records. BTW...Lookout ws going out business when Green Day left. They have since recovered and began releasing more bands. Why? Becuase The sell of 39/Smooth and Kerplunk got them money. If a band signs to a major label to accomplish what they want to do musically and creatively, I don't see that as selling out...I see that as being the great musicians that they are. They wee a great band, and they still are...although Warning was a horrible album.

quote:

Signing to a major label does not make you a sell out. If somebody is going to pay you alot of money for what you do anyway.......go for it. The Sex Pistols were signed to 3 major labels..........here's the difference.....they didn't change their style of music to suit what the label wanted.

A record label spends alot of money promoting a band. They spend money on press, music videos, etc. For the record company to make their money back.........the band must sell alot of records. Here's where the sell out portion comes in. The record company then tells (Green Day or most any other band) "you have to sell ___million albums so we can make all of our money back plus make a profit"..............to sell millions of albums, the band must appeal to millions of people. This means the band must then begin making "popular" music......music that appeals to alot of people. They can no longer make their punk music they were making on ______ label (Lookout or whichever Indy label you wish to place here).........they can't make enough money for the record company if only 20,000 people buy their records, they have to sell millions of records. They have to change their music..........and Green Day did, a fact that they do not deny.

I don't know what you've been smoking while reading any of my comments........but I have never stated once that signing to a major record label makes you a sell out. As I said, my favorite band of all time...The Sex Pistols...signed to three of them. If a band can continue making the good punk music they have always made....but get paid alot of money for it......good for them. I'm behind them 100%. If a band changes their music style so they can sell more records (pop albums sell alot more copies than punk albums) so their record company can make more money.......they are a sell out.

Billy Joe Armstrong himself has said that the band started making popular music, not punk..........he didn't really care anymore about being labeled a sellout for it. He used to care......he used to get upset when punks would spit at him........now he doesn't care anymore because he isn't around those punks anymore. I don't know about you.....but that is the very definition of a sell out. He basically said, "I don't care what all my old fans think.....because I wouldn't even lower myself now to hang around in the same places that my old fans hang out in"

The reason there have been very few mainstream punk bands is the simple fact that for a band to get signed......the label makes them change their music to become popular so they will sell more albums......basically, the label makes them sell out. A record label doesn't care if 1 million punks get pissed because they have 10 million pop fans to take their place. There are very few exceptions to this.......most notably are The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Misfits. All became very popular and attained large fan bases without ever having to change their music .......without ever having to sell out.

quote:

Author Message
SAtown_punk
Junior Member



Registered: Feb 2004
Re: your "punk"
no, no, no...Green day signed to the major label because what they wanted to do creatively could not be offered by lookout! records. The label they picked was ultimately a decision for the music, not the money. They became quasi-famous while still on lookout, and when they signed to a major label, they continued to play what they wanted to. The label did not make them change. Their sound really did not change much at all until the release of Warning, and I have no idea what the hell happened to that. It's true that a lot of labels will make the bands change their sound in order to make a profit. AFI signed to Dreamworks for the very same reason Green Day signed to a Major Label...to further their creative talents and see their ambitions become reality. AFI is now extremely famous, and they are playing the music they want to. Rancid is on Warner Bros. but still made a bad ass CD in Indestructible. Indy labels still are, and will forever be, the greatest labels to release CD's by punk bands, but we both agree that there is nothing wrong with signing to a major label as long as it is for the good of the music.


Today 12:08 AM