itchy93

... And that's kind of my problem with these bands. It might sound kind of elitist to say this, but these kids don't know what the music's about! THAT'S what bothers me.

Yeah, they listen to All-American Rejects and Good Charlotte, and eventually they find another "not-sold-out" band that they like, and then that band gets big, too, and the cycle repeats. Their only exposure comes from the product being flashed in front of their teenybopper faces, not from having a passion for the music. (This is a subject that bothers me immensly, so forgive me if I rant.)

Two great examples are Alkaline Trio and Brand New. Alkaline Trio was a very dark band; they had/have ties with the Church of Satan, and their lyrics were really bitter and graphic... and they rocked! They released three full-lengths and a bunch of EPs completely under the radar. But now that they're part of Vagrant, who spawned the embiggening of DC and Saves the Day, and their newest CD sounds NOTHING like their older stuff. It's terrible! It's so generic pop-punk, with bland, pseudo-abstract lyrics that mean nothing that I can't even listen to it. They've changed their sound before, and that's fine, but changing your sound to accomodate the preteen "hardcore" (read: Abercrombie) scene is wrong.

Brand New is a bit different. Their first CD didn't grab a lot of attention because, on the surface, it was generic pop-punk (even though it was really much better). They released a single from it, and it got some airplay; nothing more. Then they released Deja Entendu, which was superb. That CD stayed unknown for all of a month, before word got out that they were really good, and they started getting MTV airplay, and the teenybopper masses got their hands on that, too. But the people who where in the scene knew about them and their new CD before anyone. While I can't say they've sold out yet (even though they toured with DC a while ago), it seems almost inevitable.

Again, it may sound elitist to say that I deserve this music more than anyone else, but there's just something about this style of music that leads me to believe it wasn't meant to be catered to the masses. And there are way too many bands that (have done/ will do) this, and it makes me wonder if the music I love is as sincere as I thought it was...

And Averett, you do make a good point; I don't hate bands that make it big (I still like Blink and NFG), but I don't like Alkaline's or DC's new music at all, because it doesn't feel the same. Okay, I'm done

/rant

Itchy93