True,
But changing your style and sound purely to sell records is definitely selling out. Pendulum did it- no longer welcome in DnB circles, someone's already mentioned the Black Eyed Peas as having done it, lots of bands and singers have done so.

Where there's a difference is when a band or artist that have been plugging away for years find themselves massively popular, without having changed a thing, like Pulp in the 90s. To use snow Patrol as an example, they were just another middling indie band that started off well (labelmates with Mogwai) but went anthemic to capture that bit of the market. Utter utter pish. To damn with faint praise indeed, they are a poor man's Coldplay.

And the Manics can be excused the portaloo thing. Right from the start they always said that they reserved the right to become Prima Donnas.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Tue 9 Feb 2010, 17:20, 1 reply)

then
it boils down to Ritchie, how much of his influence drove the band musically and stylistically? with that gone they have never quite been the same. some bands simply don't have the talent to continually innovate and re-invent themselves and settle into a sound and vibe they are comfortable in, don't forget, first and foremost these people put in the blood sweat and tears to write songs for themselves so there must be a point of "this is what we want to do, if people like it then more power to our elbows" in being of a certain sound.

(the same with Metallica, they have written about 6 decent songs since Cliff Burton died)
(Halfy By light alone, Tue 9 Feb 2010, 17:24, closed)