Back to Part I

The haircuts, “Load” and “Reload”. I won’t even get into the haircut debate since it has nothing to do with the actual music. With “Load” Metallica made a dramatic change musically. If their intention was to attract more fans, it backfired as the new Metallica sound turned off a lot of old time fans. Taking that fact into account, if the aim was to sell more records wouldn’t they have tried something different with their next album, “Reload”? They knew a lot of their core fan base didn’t like “Load”. So why would they continue in that direction? They found major success with the Black Album, so the natural tendency would be to rehash that album if the aim was to sell more records. They didn’t do that, so I tend to go with the evolving musically argument here. Again you have to remember that Cliff Burton had a lot of influence on those early records as well as Dave Mustane who co-wrote many of the tracks on Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning. Thirteen years had passed between the release of “Kill ‘Em All” and the release of “Load” Maybe the band just wanted to try something different to keep from becoming one of those bands who churn out the same old thing album after album and in the process grow bored with the whole thing?  So as you can see the argument can go either way. That is the problem with the “sellout” debate with most bands. 

What about a band that did drastically change their sound and as a result went on to gain more fame and fortune? A great example of this is Def Leppard. Their first three albums contained some of the best hard rock of the 80’s. They hit it big in 1983 with Pyromania, which ended up being the second largest selling album of the year; next to Michael Jackson’s monster hit “Thriller”. Taking things in context, the band’s first three albums did differ from each other sonically. Their debut “On Through the Night” was a bit sophomoric but showed a lot of promise. They hit their stride with their next album, High & Dry. Their third album stayed true to the core Def Leppard sound but was a bit more polished then their previous albums. 

Two things happened which would have a devastating effect on the band. First they fired Pete Willis, who co-wrote a lot of the songs on the band’s first three albums. Then the band’s drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. Five years would pass between the release of Pyromania and the follow up Hysteria. 

The change in direction between Hysteria and the band’s previous work was dramatic. They went from a hard driving rock band to a pop-rock band. Some attribute the change to the need to accommodate Rick Allen’s electronic drums. However, that argument doesn’t wash because Rick had demonstrated an ability to play the band’s old songs live with his new specially designed electronic drum kit. Did the loss of Pete Willis co-writing songs have an effect? It must have. Even the songs on Pyromania that he co-wrote had a different feel than the ones written by the other members. But the sellout problem here is the fact that the sound on Hysteria fit nicely into the popular trend of the day for rock. Bon Jovi was burning up the charts with “Slippery When Wet”, so it can be argued that Def Leppard abandoned their hard rock edge and jumped in to the pop-metal style with both feet in order to sell more albums. After Pyromania hit big the band reissued “High & Dry” with a new song, “Me and My Wine” a real heavy song that bordered on punk (punkers relax I said bordered on, not that it was punk!). So it appeared the band did a total 360 with Hysteria. Again five years had passed, a lot happened to the band and maybe just maybe this was Def Leppard evolving. I tend to side with the “sellout” argument here despite the fact that there are a lot of similarities to the Metallica debate. The reason I say that is because Hysteria seem calculated to cash in on the “pop-metal” trend of the day whereas Metallica may have mellowed with the Black Album but they weren’t shoehorning themselves into a current trend by doing so. 

Finally, there is the band Lit. I remember seeing Lit in clubs back before they landed their major record deal with RCA. I got a copy of their self released debut “Tripping the Light Fantastic” and was blown away. Their music was loud, aggressive and had real passion. A.J. screamed with the best of them. The sound was truer to old school metal than most new bands out today. They simply kicked ass. 

A funny thing happened when the band got to the majors, they totally changed. They cashed in their heavy credentials for a more melodic alternative sound. While I think that the band’s major label debut “A Place in the Sun” was a really good album, it still wasn’t the Lit I had grown to know and love. The hard rockin band I used to see in the clubs was no more. In their place was a nice commercial modern rock band, tailor made for radio and MTV. Maybe they wouldn’t have become as successful as quickly without the drastic change, but Lit had the makings of a GREAT band. Unfortunately, because they decided to take the easy route they ended up only a good band in the end. The world of hard rock missed out on a truly dynamic group and modern rock radio got a few hits. 

So what is the answer here? Did these bands sell out? Like I said at the outset it almost always is debatable. It really depends on your perspective. A fan that thinks a band sold out isn’t going to easily change their mind. Because people feel such a connection to music, sometimes when a band changes into something they don’t like, they might take it personally. Bands change for various reasons. Some might be obvious, others might not be. But not all bands that change their style do so to cash in. In the end, it is up to the fans to decide. You know what you like and don’t like. No matter what anyone says, listen to the music that connects with you. If someone tells you that band sucks or they are sellouts, don’t take it personally. That person obviously doesn’t hear what you love in the music. So it really doesn’t matter. Remember Rolling Stone trashed most of the great albums of the late 60’s and 70’s including everything Led Zeppelin put out. So if a magazine with as much clout as Rolling Stone could be so clueless, so can the average music fan. One fact is so obvious that many people overlook it, whether a band sold out or not is simply a matter of opinion. One man’s sellout is another man’s masterpiece. 
 
 

Fan Speak:

Posted by METALLICA BLOWS:
I can't believe ANYONE would ever support this band. They completely SOLD OUT. Its not even a debate, if you dont believe Metallica sold out you are seriously brain washed by them. How do you go from the heaviest thrash band in the universe to a pop / rock mainstream cock rock band overnight? Screw them I will never give them another penny of my money.

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