Selling out

Selling out is a common slang phrase. Broadly speaking, it refers to the compromising of one's integrity, morality and principles in exchange for money, success or other personal gain. It is commonly associated with attempts to increase mass appeal or acceptability to mainstream society. A person who does this is labeled a sellout. Selling out may be seen as gaining success at the cost of credibility. Though generally associated with the entertainment industry, regular individuals who similarly compromise their ideals (e.g. a Bohemian individual who suddenly switches to a socially conservative lifestyle) could also be considered sellouts.

In regard to theater shows, musicals, concerts and other performances, a "sell out" show is simply a show so popular that all tickets are sold out, and is generally considered as a milestone in terms of success.

History

Urban legends and myths were often created around American jazz musicians in the early 20th century to add to the artist's mystique. One popular myth was that the blues musician Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in order to become successful. It's thought that the modern idea of selling out is a natural progression of this idea.

In the 1990s, comedian Bill Hicks coined the term "sucking Satan's cock", which he used to describe musical acts who make bland music to maximise sales, or allow their music to be used in advertising.

Reinforcing this meaning is the literal sense of "selling out" in finance to mean divestment. For example, selling out of a company means selling all the stock one holds in a corporation. Selling out of an investment brings direct financial gain with a relinquish of responsibility for the content or service provided by the company.

Criticism of the term

An artist may also be accused of selling out after changes in artistic direction. This conclusion is often due to the perception that the reason that artist changed artistic style or direction was simply due to potential material gain. This ignores other causes of natural artistic development, which may lead an artist in new directions from those that attracted their original fans. Artists' improvements in musical skill or taste may also account for the change. For example, Bob Dylan was accused of selling out when he added electric instruments to his performances, but was not accused of selling out when he later went to Nashville to record country and western music.

Comedy

Although rare, stand-up comedians face criticism of selling out. Comedians who start out in comedy clubs might often use foul language and blue humor in their routines. A comic who alters his routine by "sugar-coating" his language and using less-offensive material to obtain mainstream success may be accused of selling out. Some might also argue that comedians who decide to enter the film industry with comedy movies are selling out, depending on the quality and content of their movies. For example, some may accuse Adam Sandler of selling out by making movies in his now-trademark "goofball" style (though his starring role in Punch-Drunk Love is an exception).

One comic who has been labeled a sell-out is the ground-breaking George Carlin, who had changed the original title of his album and special, Complaints and Grievances. The original title was I Like it When A Lot of People Die. In light of the September 11th attacks in NYC, he changed the name and altered some of the material in this routine. Despite his angry, profane rants against advertising and children, Carlin appeared in television commercials for a long-distance service and hosted the children's television show, Shining Time Station. Although Carlin admits this in those particular rants, he makes no attempt to reconcile his words with his actions.

Music

The phrase is frequently heard in the musical community, where it is used to imply that an artist has compromised their artistic integrity in order to gain radio airplay or obtain a recording contract, especially with a major label, such as when Chumbawumba signed to EMI after years of viciously attacking the organisation. Often, the label will force a particular record producer on the performer, insist on the inclusion of songs by commercial songwriters, or the label may even refuse to release an album, deeming it uncommercial.

The classic example of an artist being accused of "selling out" by their fans was Bob Dylan's well-documented "electrification". Dylan outraged folk music purists by, in their view, selling out their favorite music for rock and roll when he first played an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. One fan's exasperated cry of "Judas!" is immortalised on the album The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert. Most modern critics, however, view Dylan's move to electric as part of a creative progression, and his 1965 and 1966 albums Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde are viewed as some of his better albums.

Phil Collins has also been regarded by many as a sell-out. Although he is widely known for his large catalog of enormously successful, commercial pop & dance hits he began his musical career playing highly anti-commercial, intricate, progressive rock in early Genesis and Brand X.

Many songs have been written about selling out (See List of songs about selling out). These songs range in approach to the term "selling out"; from declarations that the band will never sell out, to aggressive messages towards fans accusing bands of "selling out".

Nirvana made repeated references to the act of selling out (including, clearly ironically, thanking their audiences for "pretending we're still punks"). One popular T-shirt produced by the band features the slogan "Flower Sniffin', Kitty Pettin', Baby Kissin' Corporate Rock Whores". Frontman Kurt Cobain also proposed the titles Verse Chorus Verse (in reference to the formulaic structure fans had come to expect of their songs) and Radio Friendly Unit Shifters as possible titles for the album that eventually became In Utero ^{[citation needed]}. Cobain further lampooned ideas of Nirvana's new commercial appeal by appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine wearing a T-shirt reading "Corporate Magazines Still Suck"^[1]. The first Nirvana item to be released following Cobain's death was the perhaps sarcastically titled VHS tape "Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!".

The Who Sell Out is an album by The Who with mock endorsement advertisements on the cover. The album pretends to represent a radio station that plays nothing but Who music, including mock commercials and radio-station promotions. The Who became very prolific at selling their work by the end of the 1990s, including "Love Reign O'er Me" for 7-Up, "Bargain" for Nissan, "Overture" for Claritin, "Happy Jack" for Hummer, "Baba O'Riley" for Hewlett Packard, and "I Can See for Miles" for Sylvania Silverstar headlights. More recently, their songs have been used as themes for all three CSI series.

Selling out is a controversial topic within both hip hop music and hip hop culture, with two wholly opposite views on the matter. Traditional "underground" hip hop artists and fans decry "selling out", and heavily criticize artists who change their style just to reach the top. The hip-hop community also considers a performer to be a "sell-out" when they shun hip-hop's traditional African-American and Latino communities and appear to be pandering to a mainstream (usually white) audience. For example, Kurtis Blow was considered a sell-out in the 1980s, MC Hammer was accused as being a sell-out during the 1990s, and 50 Cent during the 2000s.

Mainstream hip-hop music, on the other hand, is stereotyped as embracing materialism and a "bling-bling" mentality. Such visual representations of wealth are seen as status symbols and things to be aspired to, as opposed to the attitude of traditional "hip hop heads" and punk or metal artists. Mainstream artists such as Master P and P Diddy have achieved vast personal fortunes and business empires, and often revel in their affluence in their music.

Hip-hop's lyrical content has changed very much as well. As mentioned in the above paragraph, new hip-hop is now much more popular and the artists are wealthier. Today the lyrics in hip-hop seem to reference more the wealth and "high life" of the rappers, where as in older hip-hop the lyrical content was more about "the ghetto" and were anti-establishment. Long time hip-hop fans express dissatisfaction with this change.

Mainstream hip hop music's fixation on bling bling and other material and luxury goods has led to much criticism from media pundits, musical critics, and the non-mainstream hip-hop community. They charge that the phenomenon promotes consumerism and materialism, and strengthens racist arguments that young African American men are incapable of higher or more virtuous or spiritual goals than material gain.

Movies

The term selling out is used in a similar sense when discussing the movie industry, in particular its directors.

George Lucas has often received heavy criticism from Star Wars fans about selling out. On a more general level, Lucas has also been criticized for the mass-marketing of Star Wars merchandise such as toys, cartoons, lunchboxes, etc. This has been pejoratively referred to as "milking the Star Wars franchise for money."

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson began his career directing b-grade cult horror films such as Dead Alive, Bad Taste, and Meet the Feebles. Jackson's skill as a director, his over-the-top use of violence, and non-commercial yet highly ambitious plots filmed on tiny budgets earned him a prominent place in the cult horror community. His two films following Meet the Feebles strayed from his extreme style, but it wasn't until he signed onto the Lord of the Rings trilogy that accusations of selling out arose; outside the horror community improved critical reception rather than just monetary success accompanied these movies.

Kevin Smith achieved a cult following with his low budget independent film Clerks, but has subsequently been labelled a sellout on numerous occasions, particularly by people who saw the cheaply-made style of Clerks as a mark of artistic integrity, rather than a financial decision. The accusations began with his second film, Mallrats, in which he made many changes to the screenplay to appease studio executives. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert recalled, in his review of the movie, acting as chairman for a discussion panel of independent filmmakers at the Cannes film festival. One of the filmmakers was Smith, and whilst the other filmmakers discussed measures they could take to avoid excessive studio interference with their work, Smith said that he would do anything to get the movie greenlit. At the time Ebert thought he was joking, but in his opinion with Mallrats, Smith did just that.

For his part, Smith has taken to applying the phrase to himself with self-deprecating enthusiasm, for example, saying in an interview, "I've been saying I sold out for years. When Miramax bought the first movie (Clerks.), that was a sellout. And you know, we followed up with Mallrats. We sell so much damn merchandise on our Web site that it's kind of become a joke that I like to make money." Smith has also mocked this by wearing shirts that jokingly say "SELL-OUT" and "INDIE" on them, as seen in making of footage for Clerks 2.

External links

The Art of Selling Out: Compromising the Music
The Balancing Act Between Art and Commerce (article about musicians "Selling Out")
'Selling Out': The New Radicals and Natasha Bedingfield (article explaining why 'selling out' is so confusing)
Paul McCartney? Is That You?: What he's doing in that Fidelity ad. (commentary)
Tangled Up in Boobs: What's Bob Dylan doing in a Victoria's Secret ad? (commentary)
The Problem With Music Legendary "producer," Steve Albini's take on "going major."