10 artists who sold out the right way
No two words are scarier for a rock fan than “sell-out”. When fans have been dedicated to a certain artist for years, seeing them take the money and cash in on the latest trends is the worst feeling in the world. Then again, not every single sell-out has to have diminishing returns…just ask acts like Queen or David Bowie.
Despite being terrible ideas at the time, these sell-out albums actually worked out a lot better than expected, with bands going for a much different sound and sticking the landing more often than not. Although there might have been some time to adjust, fans got much more comfortable listening to these records, holding them up as undiscovered gems in the artist’s discography.
There was definitely an adjustment period that was a bit too much to take in at once, with most fans swearing off their favourite acts for going pop too quickly. For those who decided to stick around, every act aimed for something much bigger than a big radio single.
Sometimes the sell-out works a little too well too, carving out a new path for the band to go down that doesn’t have to be tied to traditional rock and roll. As much as these albums might have looked like career suicide when they first launched, it wasn’t about continuing down the road of rock and roll. This was about discovering talent that artists didn’t even know they had.
10 artists who sold out the right way
10. All Hope is Gone – Slipknot
Slipknot isn’t a band that should flirt with the charts all that often. Considering their album Iowa remains one of the most disturbing listens in all of metal, there isn’t really a way to get songs like that on the Hot 100. As the 2000s turned a corner, Slipknot found themselves on the hit parade right alongside the Black Eyed Peas.
Although All Hope is Gone is still a Slipknot record, the band took a lot of inspiration from the radio-friendly songs off of Vol. III. Since ‘Before I Forget’ won them a Grammy, tracks like ‘Dead Memories’ and ‘Sulfur’ sound like they’re trying to capture that same type of energy, balancing Corey Taylor’s screaming with crooning sections. ‘Before I Forget’ was still a good song, and these more radio-friendly tracks balance out with the heavy side of the record, like the kick to the face that happens on the title track or Taylor’s vicious takedown of American politics on ‘Gematria’.
Although ‘Snuff’ has become a bit of a sour spot for people who like Slipknot’s heavier side, this is still one of the best songs they would ever write, tapping into that loneliness that’s usually at the centre of all their anger. There’s definitely more songs with hit potential on this album, but there’s probably no other Slipknot album that goes from ‘Snuff’ to ‘Psychosocial’ so quickly.
9. Heaven and Hell – Black Sabbath
There was a good chance that no replacement in Black Sabbath would have made people forget about Ozzy Osbourne. ‘The Prince of Darkness’ had turned Sabbath into a global force with his gutteral howls, and bringing in Ronnie James Dio was going to be a major change of scenery. The goal wasn’t to get another Osbourne clone, though. Sabbath were going to go into the next generation with ease.
Although Heaven and Hell still checks all the boxes for a Sabbath record, there are more than a few riffs that feel indebted to a new wave of British heavy metal acts like Mercyful Fate and Diamond Head. While Sabbath might have been trying to compete with the Iron Maidens of the world, Dio was the perfect singer to bridge that gap. Having honed his craft as one of the most powerful hard rock singers in the world, there’s a certain scope to these songs that isn’t present get on the Ozzy-era records, like the epic tale going on in the title track or piling on the melodrama on the ballad ‘Children of the Sea’.
Tony Iommi also steps up his game, tuning down on a handful of songs and giving the riffs some real teeth on ‘Neon Knights’. Sabbath were the first metal band of their kind, but no matter what generation they found themselves in, Iommi could still write the most menacing riffs of them all.
8. Signals – Rush
It’s hard to think of a band like Rush selling out. The Canadian icons have carved out a niche far apart from the mainstream, and everything they do is because they want to do it rather than get a hit on the radio. While Rush’s path crossed with the mainstream a few times, fans were thinking they were getting a little too en vogue during the ‘80s.
Kicking off the major synth period, Signals is one of the first times the band fully committed to the synths, with lead single ‘Subdivisions’ being filled with the squelchy sounds of a Casio. Although the band may have lost a few of their prog fans in the shuffle, this is far from a sell-out fest, with Neil Peart writing some of his most interesting lyrics of the decade on songs like ‘Subdivisions’ and ‘Losing It’, which have more to do with the average man on the street.
And while Alex Lifeson ended up burnt out on the group’s synth period as the ‘80s wore on, his fretboard tricks haven’t gone anywhere, turning in one of his nastiest solos on ‘Analog Kid’ and taking influence from Andy Summers of The Police on the track ‘New World Man’. While the band aren’t as comfortable with the synths as they would be on future projects, this was the beginning of Rush slowly toying with what makes them progressive.
7. The La’s – The La’s
So…how does one make a sell-out album if the group only has one record? Since The La’s’ debut has gone down as a classic indie rock release, most people would argue that it’s the best the band has to offer. If Lee Mavers had his way, fans might not have gotten this record at all.
After spending years trying to capture a specific sound in the studio, Mavers scrapped his debut record more than a few times. While the initial complaints were that it didn’t sound right, Mavers’s attention to detail became so bad that the label demanded that they give them some product to work with by a deadline. Almost to troll his higher-ups, Mavers set out to make the most ramshackle version of the record that he could, only for the label to not get the joke and release it anyway.
Before the album was a year old, Mavers was already bad-mouthing it, saying that the band could have done so much better. What he was slagging off has been affecting the British music scene for years, serving as the bridge between the indie sounds of the Smiths and what we would be seeing years later when the Britpop movement gained traction with Cast and Oasis, the former of which had a former member of the La’s. This might have been the definition of cashing in to fulfil a contract, but sometimes artists end up making a classic purely by accident.
6. Paramore – Paramore
Paramore could’ve been justified in breaking up at the end of the ‘00s. After the Farro Brothers both left the group, the band had already put out a stellar album in Brand New Eyes, and Hayley Williams could have easily spun everything into a solo career. Instead of breaking things off, the band carried on as a power trio and dove headfirst into pop stylings.
Although the core foundation of Paramore is still present on this record, the tone is decidedly more lighthearted, embracing pieces of ska on songs like ‘Still Into You’ to create a vibe that wouldn’t feel out of place on a No Doubt record. The common factor here is William’s voice, always having the powerhouse vocals to sell any song, be it one of the tender ballads like ‘Hate To See Your Heart Break’ or the bombastic presence on ‘Ain’t It Fun’.
Taylor York also steps up to the plate on this record, rounding out every song with the right guitar part, whether it’s the jagged edge of hard rock on songs like ‘Now’ or the bouncy fills on the pop material, which would set him up for the retro stylings the band would make during the next album After Laughter. The days of pop-punk may have been over after this record, but getting a new power pop titan out of the deal was definitely a fair trade.
5. Permanent Vacation – Aerosmith
When a rock band is cutting a new album, the words ‘professional songwriters’ might be the kiss of death. Although the audience might want to hear a group of guys in the studio with their own material, bringing in people to doctor the tunes up into being pop hits is the stuff of nightmares for die-hard fans. There are moments when professional songwriters can help the process, and Aerosmith got the right people for the job on Permanent Vacation.
Riding off the success of the remix version of ‘Walk This Way’ with RunDMC, Aerosmith were looking to bring themselves back into the ‘80s properly, making a collection of tunes that were in tune with the party vibe of Toys in the Attic. Though songs like ‘Magic Touch’ may have sounded a little too close to a Bon Jovi tune in some spots, the best moments on the record were when the band started to incorporate people like Desmond Child in the mix. Although Child had produced songs like ‘I Was Made For Lovin You’ for KISS, songs like ‘Angel’ were given proper treatment, with Steven Tyler screaming his guts out and having that sleazy vibe present on all Aerosmith tracks.
There are even a few moments where the album gets to spread its wings a little bit, like the closer ‘The Movie’ sounding like the soundtrack to some B-rate horror film or having them tap into their bluesy roots on songs like ‘St. John’ and ‘Hangman Jury’. The biggest bands might have been Motley Crue and Guns N Roses, but Aerosmith could still hold their own against the new kids.
4. Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac
Discussing the different eras of Fleetwood Mac tends to feel like talking about four separate bands at once. After being hailed as one of the greatest blues acts to come out of the ‘60s British music scene, their time with Bob Welsh gave them a jazz flavour, making songs that were slightly more mellow than their bluesy foundation. Once Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks came into the mix, all blues seemed to be scrubbed from their DNA on their self-titled White Album.
Although there are no blues to speak of here, that’s not a bad thing at all, with the band trading in their roots for something more folksy, as Buckingham and Nicks tap into their melodic sensibilities on ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Blue Letter’. Even Christine McVie’s songs have a pop flair now, with ‘Say You Love Me’ being one of the first major hits they had on the pop charts with the lineup.
Whereas the band usually flirted with the blues throughout their career, this album incentivised them to go even bigger on future releases, with Rumours standing as one of the biggest moments of their career one album later. The blues may have paid the bills for a while, but Nicks and Buckingham gave the band the shot in the arm they needed to survive the ‘70s.
3. London Town – Wings
In the aftermath of the Beatles’ breakup, Paul McCartney was starting to become known as the stuck-up Beatle. Aside from the dozens of classics he had written with John Lennon, Macca’s knack for melody had made him look like a laughing stock for the first part of his solo career, until Wings set him back on the right track. Now that the band was filling stadiums around the world, McCartney’s next decision was that the band needed a healthy dose of yacht rock. Quite seriously too.
Recorded mostly on a yacht in the Virgin Islands, London Town is the poppiest record that McCartney had ever put out with Wings, sounding like he’s banking on the disco trend more than a few times on here. While fans who came to Wings for ‘Jet’ were disappointed, the softer moments have their fair share of bright spots as well. Sticking to pop-rock, songs like ‘Girlfriend’ have some of McCartney’s most delicate vocals, originally written for Michael Jackson to sing. Aside from the smash single ‘With a Little Luck’, tracks like ‘I’m Carrying’ and ‘Cafe On the Left Bank’ have a certain laid-back quality, like being dropped out onto a boat with a margarita in one’s hand.
The hard side of Macca isn’t completely lost, though, with ‘I’ve Had Enough’ getting the energy going and bringing everything to a screaming finish on ‘Morse Moose and the Grey Goose’. Rock and roll might have been too passe for Wings, but there’s nothing wrong with putting some pop in one’s diet.
2. The Game – Queen
Queen were never snobs about playing music that people enjoyed. Although Freddie Mercury reveled in the theatricality of rock and roll, that sense of song always drove him to new genres, from prog rock to full-on operatic tracks. As the ‘80s began, Queen let go of their inhibitions and began writing songs that were destined to become classics. While The Game isn’t the most thoughtful Queen album of all time, it’s home to some of their most celebrated radio hits.
Although it’s easy to hear the old Queen on the title track or on the stomp of ‘Dragon Attack’, the name of the game here is hits, like Mercury channelling heartland rock on ‘Need Your Loving Tonight’. Even though the tunes are still meant to be Queen tracks, each of them were looked at as a new creative endeavour, like when Freddie tries on his best Elvis Presley impression on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ or Roger Taylor going back to ‘50s rock and roll on ‘Prime Jive’.
The biggest track on this record though came across by accident, with Michael Jackson suggesting the band flesh out an amazing bass line that would turn into ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. Granted, the success of that song would come back to bite them in the ass, trading in their creative energy for some of the most flaccid dance tunes imaginable on Hot Space. That was a few years away, and for now, Queen was looking to cut loose in the studio and have a good time.
1. Let’s Dance – David Bowie
David Bowie selling out is almost an oxymoron. From the minute that ‘The Starman’ crash-landed on the pop charts, he was looking to serve his muse no matter what, going from the sounds of glam rock to blue-eyed soul to krautrock within the span of a decade. After the ‘70s blew over, Bowie was the archetype for a superstar once MTV kicked in.
Working with Nile Rodgers for the first time on production, most of Let’s Dance is Bowie trying to write the catchiest songs of his career, bringing in giants like Stevie Ray Vaughan to add some fire behind the title track. While there are definitely songs that are a product of their time, they reflect a lot better on the time they came from. Although something like ‘Modern Love’ might have the year 1983 pre-stamped on it, the horn solo in the outro might be one of the best instrumental breaks in Bowie’s entire discography.
This might have been the big break into the mainstream again, but everyone knew Bowie wouldn’t stay here for long. Before the decade ended, he was already making bold changes on Black Tie White Noise and would continue to flirt with drum and bass, art rock, and eventually jazz territory on his final album Blackstar. Pop may have been the name of the game on this album, but for Bowie, it was just another musical tool in his arsenal.
