If It Didn't Suck....

I find it interesting that when some people hear a song they like, that isn’t exactly top 40 material, they feel the need to share it with others, and get them to appreciate the song as well. I find myself guilty of this at times. However, soon, the band/group/artist is crossing over, and being played on the radio. Now they made it big, and the small niche of loyal fans that feel that they discovered the music now feel cheated and feel that the band/artist/group has sold out. I never really subscribed to that way of thinking that is until Metallica decided to sue their fans.

They were angered that fans were passing along their music freely without them reaping the benefits of royalties. Now this is ironic since the band used to hand out demos to fans at shows at such places as Lamour (the one and only rock capital of Brooklyn) and others. Now I guess there is a time to cut your hair and face the fact you are getting older but do you have to turn against your fans.

Success is not selling out. Though there is something that happens, not to everyone, sort of what would be called a paradigm shift of sorts. I hate to admit but success does inevitable change the once raw and frenetic hunger a band/group/artist once had. As I sat to write this, I was surfing through On Demand on my tv an scrolled through the music stations and came across a band I had great love for, but haven’t really listened to in quite a while. As the song played there were clips from the Adam Sandler film, “50 First Dates,” interspersed throughout,

Don’t get me wrong, the song was good. It was the main love song from the movie and I believe it was called Love Song. It sounded like one of the 100 or so bands out there that do this type of music. When I saw them singing it, Or when I saw Nick Hexum sing it, I wondered what happened to the 311 I once knew.

311’s first album was called Music and it came out in 1993, and at that time it was hard to find in mainstream music stores like the Wiz because their music was an infusion of rock, reggae blues, ska, hip hop and rap. And their sound was unique and eclectic and awesome. Soon they began to get a wider audience, and when their album, Soundsystem came out years later, I felt that they hit their peak, and I stopped following them for a while. And then I saw that video. I was horrified. .

Wendy O. Williams committed suicide because of a lot of issues, but the reason she voiced was the depression of the image of an aged rocker on stage. She didn’t want to be that. So she killed herself, forever being the Wendy we all know and remember tearing up the stage, and other things, with the Plasmatics.

Now that’s a bit extreme but all in all we should all know when we are stagnating. There is time for a change, but the change should not come at the expense of the fans. Remember who had faith in you and who got you to where you are, your hard work did most of it, but the fans pay your bills. Without us, you are nothing. I am not asking for profit sharing, but please, don’t change the very fabric of what made you great.