Selling Out or Getting In?

For a number of years rock stars have known the type of life that others can only dream about. This rich living has seemingly gone hand-in-hand with being a capitalist in the music industry. From extraordinary adventures on the road to late-night parties back home, everything about the lifestyle has revolved around the extravagant spending of money.

However, criticism has fallen onto artists who have become successful in the music biz. Many artists that were once adored by fans across the nation end up having a crowd of backs turned to them once a major label propels them into the life that the masses once longed for. It makes one wonder if living the rock-and-roll lifestyle is all that it’s cracked up to be.

For instance, take into accounts bands such as Green Day. Millions of Americans accuse Billie Joe Armstrong and the rest of the Green Day crew of selling out to ‘the man’ on a daily basis. The reason for this is that Green Day has experienced rocket-powered success and net sales on their latest CD ‘American Idiot’, which has generated at the moment 3 hit singles and countless music award nominations for the band.

Due to all of this success, Green Day has come into much broader financial options, as well as countless opportunites to do promotions and product endoresements. The supposed “sellouts” of punk-rock may have riches beyond the working Joe’s imagination now, but I have yet to see a single commercial featureing Billie Joe Armstrong telling me what cereal to eat. In fact, when I do see Green Day on the television, they are very modest and sometimes downright somber. Selling out? Hardly.

Looks more like an inlet into the fabled rock-and-roll lifestyle. While I am not the biggest fan of Green Day, I will admit to the fact that they have released a phenomenal album, and they deserve all the recognition they get. The same would apply to any musician in any genre. Hard work and ingenuity makes dreams a reality. From the next aspiring trap star in Atlanta to the biggest hit straight from ‘American Idol’, if the fame is achieved through talent and originality, then it is well earned. To those artists who stick to this formula I say, “Welcome to sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.”