Can't say I disagree with him one bit.  This is from his talk show I believe.  Watch it and let me know what you think.  Lots of cursing, so put the headphones on if you're at work >grin<

Video

Sorry, Henry, I'm with Jello on this one.  If you've made your bones bucking the system it is a blow to your integrity if you sell your work to a corporation.  However, there are several caveats I must mention:

If you're royalties aren't paying the mortgage and putting your kids through school, licensing your music for a TV commercial is more understandable. 

On the other hand, Negativland turned down an offer to do music for a beer commercial, I think it was Miller, and they said no, even though Negativland could really use some more cash.

If you as an artist made no political stand, I can't call you a hypocrite.

Henry did not mention that some artists might not even be in charge of their own publishing rights.  Prime example: The Beatles.  You hear Beatles songs in commercials, but they're cover songs, not originals.  Michael Jackson has made licensing Beatles originals cost prohibitive for credit card companies, never mind half-assed Sean Penn movies!  When Sean Penn wanted to use a whole bunch of Beatles songs in "I Am Sam," Jackson's publishing company demanded $300,000 per song! 

A bit off-topic, Henry's "we have arrived" declaration strikes a sour note with me.  I thought WE didn't want to go THERE in the first place. 
::)

Hm, totally conflicted on this one.

Growing up just north of D.C. in the 80’s it was standard coolness to follow the D.C. scene, Black Flag, Bad Brains and then later Fugazi and the whole independent, Discord Record thing going on.

Working in one of the semi independent record stores at the time, as clichéd as it was, you had to keep up appearances…know what I mean?
Rollins was a living legend and “Pissing in the Gene Pool” was required reading if you wanted to be considered “in” at the time.  Not that I ever really bought into it, hypocritical as it was, I was “in” it anyway.
But the game changed as Rollins showed up more and more in TV and movies, and bands like Fugazi got more militant about being not commercial.
So I’ve always had a severe conflict into hearing Henry spout his spoken word stuff, knowing it was for a bigger payday he ever got on stage previously, but still trying to appeal to an audience he would of never probably got access to in either the Rollins Band or Black Flag.

Now, compared to say the Buzzcocks “What Do I Get” being used to sell what a punk rock “car” is, I think Henry is speaking in a way that he’s trying to justify what he has done, and what he’s come to…

Kinda pissed that he knows that his voice still resonates well enough to spout his opinion and have an impact and is using it in this pretense to promote a message that may help justify his own actions.

But I totally agree, his premise of accepting those bands of “arriving” when those same bands that are in question were never trying to get “there” is very appropriate to note… :P

  Not selling-out.  Buying-in... :P

  The problem with the "noble, starving artist" concept is that most of them remain starving.  I guess you'd be crazy not to take whatever small advantage you can get, it's hard enough as it is...

  Surely everyone has different definitions of what it means to "sell out."  I'll grant that people offer more slack to their favorites in this arena (pointing @ myself), but it's clear that by the way an artist manages his/her career whether or not they're truly a lover of music and creativity or just money...

  If Nine Inch Nails started doing Pepsi ads, I may still buy their albums (or most likely download, sans the guilt), but I'll highly doubt their sincerity when they say it's all about the music...

Now, compared to say the Buzzcocks “What Do I Get” being used to sell what a punk rock “car” is, I think Henry is speaking in a way that he’s trying to justify what he has done, and what he’s come to…

Kinda pissed that he knows that his voice still resonates well enough to spout his opinion and have an impact and is using it in this pretense to promote a message that may help justify his own actions.



Karma.  Thank you for BOTH these points.  Rollins is an opportunist like Al Jourgensen.  I don't like what he became and I don't like the new set of fans he found.  Black Flag was a punk band with something to say, and believe me, not all of them did have something to say, but Henry's one of these macho testosterone guys so packs of jocks and marines started showing up at his shows:  "Woo-hoo! Fuggin' Rollins, man!"  And that grossed me out. 

I enjoyed hearing The The's "This is the Day" in that M&M's commercial.  It's a quirky, fun pop song and I always like to hear it.  Matt Johnson did some political stuff, but mostly Matt did what he wanted to do in spite of whether or not it achieved commercial success.  The The in the '90s did a country album, a far different sound from "Infected" or "Mind Bomb."  Some college radio play, but off the commercial radar.  Also, with "This is the Day" we're talking M&M's, in contrast to a leftist anthem, Clash, "London Calling," used for a Jaguar commercial in the '90s.
>:(

Karma.  Thank you for BOTH these points.  Rollins is an opportunist like Al Jourgensen.  I don't like what he became and I don't like the new set of fans he found.  Black Flag was a punk band with something to say, and believe me, not all of them did have something to say, but Henry's one of these macho testosterone guys so packs of jocks and marines started showing up at his shows:  "Woo-hoo! Fuggin' Rollins, man!"  And that grossed me out. 

I enjoyed hearing The The's "This is the Day" in that M&M's commercial.  It's a quirky, fun pop song and I always like to hear it.  Matt Johnson did some political stuff, but mostly Matt did what he wanted to do in spite of whether or not it achieved commercial success.  The The in the '90s did a country album, a far different sound from "Infected" or "Mind Bomb."  Some college radio play, but off the commercial radar.  Also, with "This is the Day" we're talking M&M's, in contrast to a leftist anthem, Clash, "London Calling," used for a Jaguar commercial, which is an elitist status symbol sports car.
>:(

(re: Rollins and Jourgensen)


About two weeks from now, there's this band.  And this band's gonna chime in -- and by "chime in", I mean "hit the nail so firmly on the head it goes through the board and into the listener's leg" -- with a track that features some commentary on precisely your points.

(My time machine's still on the fritz.  It won't give me a single stock quote from two weeks in the future, but at least it tells me that a track named Female Canines is on an album named after the German word for Lightning, and you know the Germans, they make good stuff.  Actually, it's a pretty good time machine.  It convinced me to pre-order the album.  So I've got that goin' for me.)

One of the joys of industrial music is its use of Ha Ha, Only Serious as a lyrical device.  One of the joys of this band is that they put one tongue-in-cheek self-deprecating track on every album they release, and after 25 years, I'm still not entirely convinced they're joking.  That's OK by me.  I have no pity for the majority of their fans, myself included :)

One of the joys of industrial music is its use of Ha Ha, Only Serious as a lyrical device.  One of the joys of this band is that they put one tongue-in-cheek self-deprecating track on every album they release, and after 25 years, I'm still not entirely convinced they're joking.  That's OK by me.  I have no pity for the majority of their fans, myself included :)


We just want your cold hard cash
Get our hands into your stash
Now shut up, listen, and behold!
Finally the truth be told!

  - KMFDM, Bitches, from 2009's Blitz.

As someone who's part of the problem and not part of the solution, the truth hurts.  But it hurts so good I had to buy the album.  Long live the privateers, my bedazzled pompousness and indecorum notwithstanding. 

I think people lose track of the fact, that these people still made records in the hopes to sell them.  Sure they talk about bucking the system and all that, but I doubt they're playing for free in the park or selling their records at cost.

I think people lose track of the fact, that these people still made records in the hopes to sell them.  Sure they talk about bucking the system and all that, but I doubt they're playing for free in the park or selling their records at cost.


Tell it to Mark David Chapman!
:o

Some bands aren't in it for the money.  Paul Tucker of the now defunct R&B duo Lighthouse Family was once quoted as saying "It's never been about the money.  We'd just like these songs to be heard.  I'd love to play to 50,000 people and hear them singing these songs"

If only all bands/singers were like that