SELLING OUT Page 5

What Then is Selling Out?

If these acts were just doing what they needed to do in order to be heard in a corporate dominated world, what then is selling out? The main component of selling out comes when an act readily compromises their musical or artistic integrity to be heard. "Musical integrity" is more of a concept than a definable term. Basically, one compromises one's musical integrity when one changes their music or image to cater to a mainstream to which they have no direct relation to. In other words, there is a difference between falling into the mainstream and changing your vision just so you can be in the mainstream.

Change is an important part of understanding musical integrity and can easily be misunderstood. Change and diversity are key components to many artists' vitality. If artists such as Taj Mahal or Neil Young stuck to only one format for their entire career and didn't allow for change, their influence wouldn't be nearly what it is today. Artists need the leeway to be able to change, grow, and experiment.

This type of change is different, however, than that of a group such as Sugar Ray. Sugar Ray hit it big when "Fly", an up-tempo acoustic number off an album that was otherwise surrounded by harder metal-influenced tunes. More than coincidentally, their next album featured a new, more clean-cut Sugar Ray playing all songs that sounded strikingly similar to "Fly".

The GooGoo Dolls followed a similar path. Hard working class punk rockers to pretty-boy ballad singers after they found their formula with the radio hit, "Name". "Name" was an acoustic ballad found on an album of full of punk songs. Their next album, "A Boy Named Goo", was a departure that represented conformity rather than artistic growth.

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