Sell out with me tonight

Commercialism: the bane of all that is pure in the world and the antithesis of good music. Once-loyal fans run away in droves when marketability first peers East from the coast of sunshine and glamour. Make music and worship your fans, but you sure as hell better not sell out.\nBack in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Seattle lushed into the grunge lifestyle with Sub Pop, Mother Love Bone and a greasy haired kid from some redneck town down the way. Add David Grohl and Krist Novoselic, and you have the trio that changed the rocking world with flannel and power chords. They were about punk -- doing it yourself in the face of the man. \nBut when the band caught on and the Seattle sound became the favored baby in the eye of record moguls everywhere, the real kids of the scene started the onslaught. Nirvana had sold out. The three guys who lived the depression and soul of that music were regarded as part of the system by some of their first fans.\nRegardless, the band continued to do what it loved to do (play quality, meaningful music) until its leader's death in 1994.\nIn another bout with fortune and loyalty in the spring, The Dave Matthews Band released its newest studio album, the anxiously-awaited Everyday. I was a member of the masses to rush to an album store on Kirkwood that ill-fated Tuesday. When I heard the first four-minute pop wonder track through my headphones in Ballantine Hall, I was disgusted. Here it was, the newest release from not only Dave but Carter Beauford and Boyd Tinsley, some of the most wicked musicians and soloists of the day, and it sounded fit to blare out the windows of some yuppie's new SUV instead of from the stage at Deer Creek (hmm... selling out -- now Verizon Wireless Amphitheater?). The album seemed targeted to appeal even more to the Abercrombie and Fitchers he already had by the collar. I took my DMB poster down from the wall. They had sold out.\nBut the real story needs reconsideration. While some music magazines praised the disc as a new step forward for the band, there was also a hidden story behind this wonderless Everyday. There was to be another album, near completion, with Steve Lillywhite, the somewhat revered digital mind behind DMB's previous studio works. Yet this album was scrapped in favor of working with producer Glen Ballard -- best known for working with Alanis Morrisette. Everyday was written in only a few weeks -- perhaps the album was made to thwart the evils of production and prove that these musicians are what they should be: masters of music. If they want to write a pop album, they can. \nIt's not always necessary to pounce on the first song a band spins on the radio. You don't have to dump kerosene on your record collection the next time a band plays on MTV. Undoubtedly, MTV sucks and the radio is not largely representative of good music, but fame is also not one of the seven deadly sins. Sometimes, although perhaps not in the case of Lars Ulrich, second chances are deserved. \nMusic is not only being true to a scene, it's being true to yourself. If a musician wants to go in a new direction, by all means he or she should. If grunge happens to catch on, this shouldn\'t be a reason to hate it. Radiohead wasn't considered a sellout when the band metamorphosized from guitar rock to the electronic anthem of the millions. \nPerhaps there is no real definition to selling out. If you are in the business for the money, fame or chicks, you definitely shouldn\'t be. Having a commercial deal with Pepsi or Coca-Cola, for instance, doesn\'t speak well to the soul behind your music. But if you find that you can play well and other people actually like to listen to it, you shouldn\'t be banned from all purist ears. \nBy definition: not everyone gives in to fame. Real sellouts were never in it for the music in the first place.