I've had this argument drunk, straight, and faded; At what point does a band sell-out?  What is selling out anyway?  To me, it's winning those bullshit awards on MTV and thanking your fucking producers first, forget about the fans.  I may be going out on a limb here, but letting rappers take your "beat." also fits the bill.  Not to say that there is not good rap, but it hurts me to the core to hear Crazy Train as a dub in a rap album.  Anyone care to enlighten me on "selling out"?

Quoted from infanpunk I may be going out on a limb here, but letting rappers take your "beat." also fits the bill.  Not to say that there is not good rap, but it hurts me to the core to hear Crazy Train as a dub in a rap album.  Anyone care to enlighten me on "selling out"?

This part we truely believe!

Sell out... That's tough! We think selling out is when the fan gives up on the band! We don't mean to turn this around and pin it on the fans, but don't you want to see your favorite band succeed? Going mainstream and appealing to a broader audience is success in this industry. As long as the band maintains it's right to create the music that got them to a mainstream or popular sound, we think that's not selling out. Bands that give in and reliquishing the credits to write, produce and engineer their own work are sell outs. At that point it makes us think they no longer wish to make music on their own terms. That's selling out!

That's a damn good point.  I've never thought of it that way.  I guess the only reason why the term "mainstream" brings feelings of disgust is that many songs that I have listened to and enjoyed in the past gets overplayed by a considerable amount of radio stations.  At that point I stop listening, which really pisses me off.  This is one of the main reasons why I chose to listen to the hussieskunk more than anything else.  

Good to hear we provide some variety! That's the whole point...alternative variety!! How's that for a catch-phrase!

We make an effort to play every song on a release that we like. We don't wish to limit and artist to whichever song is the most popular or most played from them. There is more to an album and to the band when you play the entire release.

We feel that you are right, the word "mainstream" is basically a critical mass point, when the band no longer belongs to you. You found them, you nurtured them, you promoted them, you told your friends about them...and now...they're so huge they don't need you any more, that's the feeling a lot of people get when a band goes "mainstream".

That feeling of abandonment is probably what drives most people away from bands who hit the "mainstream" and become successful.

At some point, the band has to come back to the fanbase.  Taking a hiatus from the fanbase to go studio could be a diasterous venture (unless you are Axel Rose, then your 12 year break becomes an "unsolved mystery").  Not to say that it is in general, just some bands have experienced the studio flop.  I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Kurt Cobain had lived.  Would Nirvana, in their plateau of mainstream, have given the same sense of "abandoment" as you guys nailed it?  I do have to agree that bands like Greenday, Fallout boy, AFI, NOFX whom have worked hard for their success should be given the benefit of the doubt when we label them as mainstream.  

Quoted from hussieskunk This part we truely believe! Sell out... That's tough! We think selling out is when the fan gives up on the band! We don't mean to turn this around and pin it on the fans, but don't you want to see your favorite band succeed? Going mainstream and appealing to a broader audience is success in this industry. As long as the band maintains it's right to create the music that got them to a mainstream or popular sound, we think that's not selling out. Bands that give in and reliquishing the credits to write, produce and engineer their own work are sell outs. At that point it makes us think they no longer wish to make music on their own terms. That's selling out!

I think a sell out is a band that is basically like Greenday or Linkin Park where they pretty much sell themselves to mtv, and make everything of themselves from shirts to notebooks to their own cartoon show or something. I also think it is just another word for an over-rated band, that barely even tries in writing songs, and some how sells millions of records before they even finish a song. Well now I think any mainstream band kind of stops trying once they hit that point. A perfect example is of course Greenday look at them, they basically started with crappy pawnshop guitars and somehow sounded pretty good and wrote decent songs. Now they have 5,000 dollar drumsets and barely even write a halfway decent song, and everything is done in a half-assed manner now.