Editorial
Vice/Versus: Bands For Sale?
“Sellout” has always been the dirty word of the music world — far worse than anythings with four letters. But does it still hold the same weight it used to?
LISTEN
“Sellout” has always been the dirty word of the music world — far worse than anythings with four letters. But does it still hold the same weight it used to?
While they have always been known as more of a pop band, rather than a rock band, this time around on Biography of Heartbreak, This Century strips away any rock or punk sensibilities they once had and go straight for the Top 40 pop sound.
Most young men can be forgiven for not knowing what they’ll be doing two days from now, much less two years. Not the three siblings who comprise the hit trio the Jonas Brothers. The superstars-in-the-making have every day mapped out for the next 24 months. If you’re not a tween/teenage girl or don’t live in proximity to one, you may not yet be in on the phenomenon created by 20-year-old Kevin, 18-year-old Joe and 15-year-old Nick. They opened for Miley Cyrus on her fall “Hannah Montana” tour to the delight of shrieking girls everywhere. Their song, “S.O.S.,” catapulted to No.… Read more »
On the opening track their debut album Wakefield cheekily declare “We’re in it for the money, all the groupie honeys/We wanted to be famous… we sold out.” Which leads one to ponder: are the guys admitting that they’ve sold their souls for rock ‘n roll, or is there more to the story? “We get so tired of hearing that we’ve sold out,” complains guitarist JD Tennyson. Lounging in the Gold Club at Toronto’s Kool Haus prior to a recent show, Tennyson takes exception to the term “sell-out.” “All of our favourite bands are being called sellouts,” he says. “Kids these… Read more »
Punk as an aid for getting in touch with one’s feelings has superseded the other modes evident at this year’s Warped Tour. As in their ordinary lives, these fans had too many options. Thirty bands played on eight stages, and the event also included professional skateboarding and mountain- biking displays, a wrestling ring, a Playstation tent, numerous ways to spend money or learn about political causes and of course the chance to peruse one another’s concertgoing finery. So most fans locked into a perambulatory pattern, meandering around the festival’s circular layout as the fairground grew dusty, then muddy, from the… Read more »
