It's called the Music INDUSTRY
The aim of all artists is to sell records.

They do what they think people will buy. Otherwise they wouldn't sell their records, they'd give them away.

Punk rock was just another fashion phase. Nothing more. They sold the idea of anarchy, using capitalism.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 13:41, 1 reply)

Utter bollocks
Not all artists work with record sales as their primary objective - what an insult.

I suggest you read 'Keep it Together' by Rich Deakin. There are plenty of musicians who write and perform music because they love it, and they're not prepared to whore themselves to the vagaries of fashion simply to get money.

Also 'they wouldn't sell their records, they'd give them away'. For a start, there have been bands who have indeed encouraged people to nick their records - Gong, for example, and plenty of acts who encouraged bootlegging (The Grateful Dead being a famous example) just to get their music out there.

But even if this were not the case, you can sell records and be successful without compromising artistic integrity. Your point, if you can call it that, is entirely specious.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 13:46, closed)

Erm ... so the musicians who write and perform ... for money ... don't do it ... for money.
OK - ego then. And the money's just a nice perk.

I see.

And, yes - punk was just a fashion. Sex was a shop, the Pistols a gimmick, the Clash hippies and Strummer a merchant.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 13:50, closed)

Well done! Money is necessary and indeed very nice,
...but completely changing your sound and ditching your back catalogue in an attempt to be popular makes you a cunt.

You really are trying to claim that there have never been bands who just did it for the love of it all - they've ALL been commercially-driven cynics just like Bowie - aren't you?

For every Bowie there's a Pink Fairies. If you're really that staggeringly ignorant of this subject you really would do well to minimise the humiliation and stop digging yourself in deeper.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 14:00, closed)

Well I would have thought anyone employed as a professional musician is doing as their
profession.

So yes.

I don't really see what the problem is with trying to be popular as a musician.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 14:16, closed)

People are in the music industry for one of two reasons..
1. To help them create their 'art'.
2. To make money.

I have no problem with those in either camp but the real hypocrisy belongs to those who claim to be of the former but are patently obvious in their quest to achieve the latter.

Bowie is a fine example, as are U2.
(Tugnut I got them all..., Thu 4 Feb 2010, 14:42, closed)

... and anyone who points to one band doing it and not the other.

All "artists" want to create their art, and to make money.

Just as one doesn't say to someone one fancies "I find you physically attractive, and am not interested in your mind", you say "You have beautiful eyes", a musician says "I'm all about the music" not "Give me your money."

All artists. To what degree you buy into this is up to you, but to slate one over the other is simply ridiculous.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 15:12, closed)

The Clash did some pretty fucking stupid things though
Like the disappearing act the drummer did for a few days? Didn't really earn them many friends or fans, did it?

/Edit

I quite like Bowie too, but it's just a matter of personal taste.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Thu 4 Feb 2010, 14:04, closed)

The Clash were shit
and a bunch of cunts.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 14:05, closed)

They sold quite well though.
And have done very well for themselves. I see no problem in that, and their tunes are quite catchy, even if they're a bunch of shitcunts.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Thu 4 Feb 2010, 14:32, closed)