I remember some 20-30 years ago you would sometimes hear about an artist (usually musician, or a group thereof) being sellouts, or having sold out. This of course in a pejorative way, as this was the most heinous of crimes an artist could ever commit against their fan base.
However, I can’t recall having heard this term for at least a couple of decades. Has the term been replaced with something else? Is it more accepted? Or is it simply so hard to make it nowadays that the concept of “selling out” is basically just synonymous with making a living?
Are there any modern examples of this and I simply missed the online chatter about it?
Not a direct answer to your question, but I heard a cool story on a podcast recently about Chumbawamba that feels related. Turns out they were punk as fuck.
Part one
Part two
Loved hearing that story. Margaret Killjoy is a treasure, and as it turns out so is Chumbawamba.
She sure is! Have you read the Sapling Cage? I just finished it a week ago. Incredible.
I haven’t read that yet, but I read the two Danielle Cain novellas in a day each.
I keep meaning to check those out. 10/10 recommend the Sapling Cage though. Her ‘How to Survive the Dino Wars’ series has been helping to keep me sane the last few months.
From what little I know about them, that tracks. They just happen to have a song that was pretty in line with what was (became) popular at the time and made it big. Everything else by them is A LOT more punkish.