Could The Black Eyed Penis Sell Out Any More?

[Mangle]

If you are a Black Eyed Peas fan, prepare to take even more of the corporate cock they've been poking at you since Elephunk. When bands tour, they're supposed to name their tours after something cool or relevant (like how on Almost Famous they name the tour No More Airplanes). Well, sinking to even more pathetic depths than I could've imagined two years ago, the Black Eyed Peas are about to embark on the Honda Civic Tour. Could they possibly sell out any more? How much more corporate cock can Fergie wedge in her humps?

[Cdn_Brdr]

Oh shit.... artists making money! What's the world coming to anyways!?!?

Get used to it kiddo... things are hardly gonna change. It's all about the paper.

[FeelGood]

well said Sean.

the bottom line is, it's all about tha ching ching chings $$$$

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by Cdn_Brdr

Oh shit.... artists making money! What's the world coming to anyways!?!?

You mean con artists. What is the world coming to when you can't admit that?

[decypher]

No more corporate then bands who participated in the Molson canadian rocks shows or the Rolling stone sponsered by Tommy Hilfiger tours. All the huge bands do that shit so that brandnames can permeate our culture.

I think the whole argument of this is cliche anyways. Look at even small club events who get sponsored. Same deal different scale.

[Cdn_Brdr]

Originally Posted by Mangle

You mean con artists. What is the world coming to when you can't admit that?

Oh please.... the whole 'selling out' term gets old fast. It's as stupid as some childish high school attitude when some kid doesn't like 'Band A' anymore because they're played on the radio and now everyone listens to them. The whole 'I liked them before they sold out' thing. It's completely laughable.

Why shouldn't they profit from what they've created? So they're sponsored.... whopp-dee-doo! How am I getting conned? If I bought a ticket I'd pay my money and go to the show. Sounds like a pretty good con to me.

Bottom line is I'm hardly gonna run out and buy a Civic because they're sponsoring the tour..... it's no different than advertising in any other forum available.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by decypher

No more corporate then...the Rolling stone sponsered by Tommy Hilfiger tours.

And the Rolling Stones are sell-out hacks. They've blown ass for 20 years but their fans are dumb enough to keep supporting them. "Oh, boy, let us go and take in the Racist Jeans Tour. Aren't we just so relevant. I'm hoping they can tattoo the Coke logo on my forehead there too."

[decypher]

So what's the argument here Mangle? It's not relevant in today's world.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by Cdn_Brdr

Oh please.... the whole 'selling out' term gets old fast. It's as stupid as some childish high school attitude when some kid doesn't like 'Band A' anymore because they're played on the radio and now everyone listens to them. The whole 'I liked them before they sold out' thing. It's completely laughable.

Read something.
http://www.fnk.ca/board/showthread.p...01#post1547601

Originally Posted by decypher

So what's the argument here Mangle? It's not relevant in today's world.

The fact is if you like the Black Eyed Peas and the Rolling Stones, you are a corporate whore too. Done and done. Enjoy your 1500 radio stations all playing the same unoriginal crap.

[Cdn_Brdr]

Oh snap Kam.... you hear that? We're corporate whores!

This is just too much to handle... how can I keep on living? My whole existance is useless.... all I do is make money, spend it on making others rich, and repeat. God, how did I not see this!?!?! Come on Kam, let's end our misery.... wanna hold my hand as we jump off the nearest tall building to end our wretched corporate whore lives?

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by Cdn_Brdr

Oh snap Kam.... you hear that? We're corporate whores!
This is just too much to handle... how can I keep on living? My whole existance is useless.... all I do is make money, spend it on making others rich, and repeat.

The sooner you stop lying to yourself, the better. Read my review. Read something.

[decypher]

lol yeh ok, how about a big fuck you Mangle.

Actually what i had to say about corporate branding of music was ideas from Naomi Klein, a writer about the interdepedance of global markets and unfair trade practices.

No i don't like BEP or Rolling Stones but that doesen't negate the fact that your argument is amateur and lame. Get over yourself, your style of music isn't the the measuring stick.

I'm probably someone with the widest variety of tastes you'll ever meet. So step off bitch.

[tiedye]

You know, all insulting aside, I agree with Mangle whole-heartedly. There WAS a time when music wasn't about getting a sponsor and making a multi-platinum record. You don't need to sell your soul to a devil in a nice suit just to put out your music, and yet time and time again you see bands throw away their integrity seemingly to make a buck or two. The worst part is you're seeing MASSIVE changes in bands, usually for the worse, once they sign on with a major record label. You know how many times in a lengthy conversation about music I can say "I really like their music up until this album" and then when you check out the album, you notice they signed onto some big record label for that album.

Major record labels put pressure on groups/artists to make their sound sell better. And it disgusts me. You can't say that's justifiable. Music is art and artistic creativity should, in NO way, be altered or affected by a corporation set out to distribute and market that art.

So get mad at guys like Mangle and I who bitch when talented musicians stop putting out good music because there's more money in the musical debris they've started to shove out their asses. It's doesn't make us wrong.

[Cdn_Brdr]

A 10x platinum album has approximately 10 million corporate whores telling you you're wrong.

We don't need to tell you :)

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by tiedye

Major record labels put pressure on groups/artists to make their sound sell better.

Did you know Canadian legend Neil Young was actually sued by his own label for making Everybody's Rockin' because it didn't sound like a Neil Young record? They can sue you for not being commercial enough.

[FeelGood]

this thread got quite interesting rather quickly.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by Cdn_Brdr

A 10x platinum album has approximately 10 million corporate whores telling you you're wrong.

Actually, no it doesn't. If you believe album sales figures, you have no idea how the industry works. No doubt there are millions of people dumb enough to buy this kind of music new (you do know every used CD shop will have many coppies of these albums, right) but these types of figures are all inflated. They figure out the sales by guessing the number of units major sellers order (like Future Shop). Labels, in turn, put pressure on buyers to buy as many as possible. This is why stores like Future Shop have thousands of these shitty CDs filling their stock room, most of which end up in sales at Christmas and even then they don't sell most of what they originally ordered.

By the way, there's no such thing as 10x Platinum. That's called Diamond.

[tiedye]

Originally Posted by Cdn_Brdr

A 10x platinum album has approximately 10 million corporate whores telling you you're wrong.

We don't need to tell you :)

You know how many soldiers were in the German army during WW2 by choice?

How many people in the world believe that we were created by some Omnipitent Ruler?

How many people in the world still believe in Santa Claus?

Just because there are numbers behind something doesn't make it true or right.

Originally Posted by Mangle

Did you know Canadian legend Neil Young was actually sued by his own label for making Everybody's Rockin' because it didn't sound like a Neil Young record? They can sue you for not being commercial enough.

I did know this, actually. He caught a lot of corporate flak for the three concept albums he put out. I'm a huge Neil Young fan.

[decypher]

lol, i never said i disagreed with Mangle. Actually i agree, i just think his argument sounds amateurish and cliche. It's almost impossible not to sell out.

I'm sure your favourite artist is going to the store and being shoes made in vietnam or eating beef from the rainforests which in turn feeds into the dominant core of the international political economy thus perpetuating the enslavement of the lower periphery.

Yeh, that's what i'd say if i wanted to get all marxist critical theory on you guys. With our interconnected world it's impossible to step outside your door without shafting someone in another country. So why have these self-wankery discussions about mainstream muscians when all it does is make you look like a 16 year old.

[matéo]

you can write pages and pages about the same old cycnical bullshit but the only ones who will agree are those who

A: Are awkward and don't really have much in common with the rest of us.
or
B: those who take popular music way too seriously.

Whos going to take the advice of some awkward self professed asshole who writes reviews for a website that obviously has a biased outlook on popular music. I personally think it shows a lack of confidence when you have to bash other music just to promote anothers. I also take these kind of reviews as a attack on my intellectual capacity. Am I an idiot for wanting to hear something simple and danceable? Do you think that everyone wants to sit around in their room decyphering the meaning to one of 12 hidden metaphors in the Aesop rock track they're listening to? NO, most people just want to hear a catchy hook with a simple message. "lets get retarded" is simple and to the point. It allows those of us who have put in 9 hours of our day to hard work a chance to release with fergie and friends. I can relate to lets get retarded. Why? Because after 9 hours of work on friday evening i want to get drunk and release and a song like this will help me along the way.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by matéo

after 9 hours of work on friday evening i want to get drunk and release and a song like this will help me along the way.

You and a billion other people. You are listening to this shitty music out of laziness. There is better music available (for your mind and for the world in general) but it's not on Much Music. You have to take some time to look for it. But, like you, most people are happy enough to just sit around and take what they want to sell you, running under the if they say it's popular, it must be good theory. That's fine and all, if you don't mind millionaire businessmen deciding your taste for you, but you are sheep. Enjoy being the same as everyone else.

Originally Posted by decypher

lol, i never said i disagreed with Mangle. Actually i agree, i just think his argument sounds amateurish and cliche. It's almost impossible not to sell out.

Moby says as soon as you charge money for anything, you're a sell out and the point then is to sell out ethically (like how he'd license a song to a car company and give the money to a foundation that attacks car companies). I eat at Subway every now and then and I shop at Safeway often. I know, it's almost impossible not to sell out in the literal sense. That's why you have to use your bullshit-o-meter and sift past the people who not only sell out but enjoy the whole process (people who love money for money's sake, bands like BEP who constantly sell songs to ads even though they don't need the money, pointless clothing lines and energy drinks). There's no reason why Catherine Zeta-Jones needs to do cell phone ads except that she's a greedy whore. Likewise, the Black Eyed Peas are not selling out ethically. They are just selling out ethics. Don't even start me on Bono.

[matéo]

are you serious? Some of my favourite artists are "underground" and probably get no exposure in comparison to another band like BEP. I spend hours everyday finding new music I like. But sometimes I need some pop to balance it out. Whats wrong with being like everyone else? I rather be a happy sheep than an angry old wolf.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by matéo

Whats wrong with being like everyone else?

It kinda defeats the purpose of this individuality God(s) put in each of us. If we were asexual, I'd agree with you, but we're different for a reason. Diversity is essential to our existance.

[matéo]

sure and if everyone listened to only the bands on your Ipod we'd all be different? I think it takes a little bit more than "what type of music do you listen to?" to actually measure one's individuality.

[Hot Karl]

a: mangle, bep "sold out"? you're at least 3 years, if not 10 years too late. remember that great single with timberlake? that shat was 3 years ago. and bep produced brian austin green's album, of 90210 fame. (credit the 90210 tidbit to cubed) got any titanic jokes you wanna drop on us?

b: music was about the music at some time i suppose, but everyone i've ever known who was in a serious band would practically break their backs to get another step up for their band.

c: there's nothing wrong with getting paid, but you can get paid without compromising yourself at every turn. hello bep at bestbuy opening?

d: whatever shitty music you like doesn't mean you are a shitty person. so even IF you do like bep, whatever it's not my place to shat on you.

e: this is just like people who bitch at what's on t.v. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT TURN IT THE FUCK OFF. i happen to listen to radio in the car and work, even though it blows. i'm a glutton for pain. but if you really can't stand it, and it gets you into a frothy spitting rage, then maybe just maybe YOU have the issues. it's easy to avoid bep, no radio or muchmusic. how fucking hard is that?

f: really not a good idea to broadly label people you don't know as "corporate whores", it really makes you seem as ignorant as the "masses" you're shatting on.