June 27th, 2002 by Ken Fans: Farewell to Fairweather

What do Green Day, Metallica, The Offspring, Weezer, and Eminem all have in common? Fans. Yes fans. Not that they all have fans, but that they have all at one point had a group of fans that has turned their back on them. Every one of those artists has had to or still does deal with the “sellout” label. I’m quite sick of whiny fans and bands alike calling the successful bands sellouts. The fans do it because that is the point where it's not “their” band anymore, it's every ones band. Well I say share you greedy fuck! The band isn’t there just for YOUR entertainment! They don’t do what YOU tell them to do. They do what they want to do, and that’s the way it should be. That’s why I applaud bands like Weezer and Metallica for doing what they do, making their own music on their own terms. They aren’t afraid of doing what they want to do. They don’t let a few pin-headed fans tell them what they can and can’t do musically. God forbid there should be musical experimentation. God forbid a metal band should do something with an acoustic guitar. God forbid Rivers Cuomo write something meaningful instead of that same old shit all of the time. I say if you label a band a sellout, then fuck you, you don’t deserve to have that band anymore. I see it being harshest in punk rock when Green Day signed on the dotted line. Billie Joe Armstrong made a decision about his band. It didn’t concern any of you whiny punks who thought you owned the band. Yeah you did buy their albums before they got big, so why stop after that? Just because they have money and they are popular? Just because other people actually know who the fuck you are talking about when you say Green Day or Metallica? A true musician makes music for himself and himself only. Anyone who tells you they are in this strictly for the fans is a fucking LIAR. If they are doing it for the fans, that’s a sellout! They aren’t being true to themselves. And just because the “My Name Is” and the “Enter Sandmans” and the “Brain Stews” of the world hit home with a lot of people, that means that the music is doing it's job, helping any and all individuals who listen to it in one way or another. If you choose to not let it help you because you cant get past a fucking label deal, then fuck you, go and be miserable. As far as bands go, bands label other bands as sellouts purely from jealousy, They know that their band sucks and that they could never hope to be that successful. So they play the “sellout card” and gain as many fans as they can that way. If you ask anyone of the artists I listed in the beginning why they do it, they will tell you they do it because they love to do it. Not because they want to make money, not because they want fame, just because they love to do it. And if it happens to sell, fine, more power to them. That’s the talent. If something done that is that personal can hit home for so many, they are the truly gifted artists in the world. It’s now time for my WIGGER impression. “Haters step the fuck off!! Peace Out!”

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