Special guest co-host Vince Brackett joins the podcast this week to discuss what it means to “sell out” for a variety of musicians, and the template for popular and highly successful musicians to “reverse sell out” with an album cycle (or more) marked by attempts to be taken more seriously as an artist. Along the way, they unpack the careers of the strangest bands to have ever momentarily hit it big (Primus, Butthole Surfers), artists who made giant left turns to restart their career (Rebecca Black!), aging rock stars who pump out albums that seem wholly disconnected from their vital days (The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder), bands that “real” fans never forgive (Green Day) and bands that everyone embraced despite doing all the things that sell-out bands do (Blink 182). Plus, Vince looks at a band who could have sold out but chose to forget their own path, The Roots, and their 1996 opus, Illadelph Halflife. And Dave unpacks Rihanna’s seminal Anti, and how she seemingly threw hit making to the wind and bet on her own taste. 
Discussed today:
The Roots
Rihanna
Butthole Surfers
Primus
Rebecca Black
Coldplay
Green Day
Lorde
The Black Keys
Blink 182
Stevie Wonder
The Rolling Stones
David Bowie
David Byrne
The Wailin’ Jennys
The Smile