Sinister: Selling out 101: prerequisites vary

[Michele Waggner]

Some thoughts, even though no one has offered me a penny...

If the band are "selling out" it has to be the longest attempted sell-out in
history... a quick spin through the archives shows we were talking about
their imminent sell-out and booking stadium shows back in the autumn of 1997
at least.  We cringed when the list reached 100, and thought it would
crumble at 500.
Now look at us... thousands of Sinisterines, the list humming along, Mummy
putting band-aids on our knees -- and the band STILL isn't playing Madison
Square Garden or the UK equivalent.

Plus ca change, etc.  So far as I know, most if not all of them still have
their day jobs.  I don't think they've *quite* gotten the hang of
selling-out effectively.  Maybe they can pick up a copy of "Selling Out for
Dummies" off amazon.com or something.  Get with the program, jeez.

Not being a musician or very artistic myself, I don't know... but I'd
imagine that it's impossible to hit brilliance each and every time.  I'd
also imagine that every once in awhile you'd want to experiment with
something new.  Where would Picasso (for lack of any other name)  be if he'd
gotten stuck with just his blue tubes of paint?  And I'll bet there were
quite a few pages torn out of his sketchbook and crumpled up, over time.
And the odd bad review.  Plus, things I might like someone else might hate,
due to our individual... tastes? or eye, or whatever it is that one brings
to appreciation of anything.  The thing I like to do, even when I don't
particularly like something, is to try and see what the
artist/musician/author/whoever was trying to make me see, or hear.  What
they were looking at when they made the thing, what they were trying to tell
themselves.  Even if I still don't like it, I can see where they were trying
to go.

I think creativity is probably very selfish, in a way -- or like talking to
oneself.  A struggle maybe to make something inside the brain or soul or
heart clearer.  In the end, only the creator of the thing knows if they've
achieved it.  If it speaks to other people, that's a plus.  And if the
artist can make a living doing that, then they deserve to.  It fuels the
ability to keep on doing it, at the very least.  I don't really think that
it is selling-out to offer one's vision to others for a look, necessarily.
I suppose it is in
the way that it is done.  Whether one creates to sell, or sells what one has
created.  Chicken and egg.  I don't think the new cd was made with an eye
towards sales.  I think they were using some new tubes of paint, trying a
new palette.  Hard for them to win, isn't it?  If they kept turning out IYFS
over and over again, eventually people would be criticizing that, and maybe
rightly so.  Nothing much interesting about a one-trick pony.

I remember first hearing IYFS and being KNOCKED OVER by it, just amazed by
the gorgeousness of it.  None of the subsequent things had quite the effect
on me, much as I love many of them.  I had a hard time with TBWTAS at first,
but I've warmed to a lot of it over time.  FYHCYWLAP will cause a stir I
suspect.  I am a different person than I was 3 or 4 years ago, and thank
goodness for that on some fronts, sadly on others.  I have my own
expectations on what I'd like the band to do, but I'm not them.  But I hope
all of us remember that the band made the record that reflected what they
were trying to see at this point in time.  If they didn't hit the nail on
the head, only they know.  We're just kind of privileged to take a look, if
we so choose.

That being said, I don't much like the way the single was released, in the
various format versions.  Maybe at some point the band will address the
reasoning behind that.  But then again, I don't particularly begrudge the
band making money, either.  It's a thin line to walk but my feeling is that
the band aren't mercenary sell-outs.  I think they're too nice for that all
in all.  Would we rather they just stood around busking outside subway
stations?  Would that make them more pure?  I don't think they'd smell as
good, after awhile.

On another note:  I don't know what's up with Cheepstair International...
I'm sure we'll all find out eventually.  But, we're in a nice little
Sinister bubble here and as Jeepster goes, we don't necessarily go.  We've
always been a little INDEPENDENT country, like Switzerland, only sloppier.
Let the people in the outside world go about their battles... we'll sit
cozied up by the fire drinking tea and playing records.  Maybe some
Charades.

And on a MORE IMPORTANT note:  I am soo worried about David and Sally Moore
and family, and hope that all is well with them.

--michele










+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students"  +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list"  +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
 +-+   "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000   +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+