They didn’t do what they had to do to survive. The big hand reached down and picked them, and they decided that it was party time. Then when it was too late they realized the were screwed.

And here I am still talking about a band who I have yet to hear on the radio or see on TV since a couple years ago. So we can see how far this actually got them.

Some of the greatest bands in the world are happy playing small(er) shows to a hardcore group of fans and doing things for themselves (meaning self-promotion), as opposed to playing massive shows and doing label pushed junkets and interviews, all the time.

The ideal musician/label relationship is the relationship between The white stripes and whatever label they’re on.
The music they make, they are happy making. The music they’re happy making is the same music that became extremely marketable. Because their music was marketable as is, they didn’t have to change shit when the label got a hold of them. And after 2 studio albums that remained under the mainstream radar, they had just enough fan base to ensure that they’d float (no matter what!) if ‘white blood cells’ was a flop. They got a lot of help from the film industry to maintain a sense of universal compatibility. Their music can be played at a gritty venue and nordstroms and still be enjoyed.

I think a lot of their success had to do with Jack White’s sense of professionalism. If more bands carried themselves as serious musicians with creative goals, more would be as successful and as respected as The White Stripes.

“The pink Spiders” made a lot of mistakes. In my opinion, their first was calling themselves the spink spiders.

btw, regardless of what it sounds like, I’m not a huge white stripes fan by any means*

You make a point, I took it to the max when i said “bands get creative control all the time” when I don’t REALLY know. But I also think that a band should have the MOST say in who the producer is, if it is not themselves. And the proving of that should happen right in the beginning of that compromise and NOT AFTER they have already been molded by the label.

Blink-182: Again, I sometimes forget that I will never TRULY know what goes on. But I have been a HUGE follower of Blink-182 since early on in their career, and I believe that their huge fans and I have gotten to know them better than the casual listener. Seeing every single piece of footage and interviews and videos of Blink, and most recently, being a part of Modlife you KNOW these people to an extent. And what we know is that Blink-182 are the most responsible for all their music and sounds, which is hard to say about some bands.

About the part where you said, “Your views that bands who compromise “suck” are rather naive” I didn’t say bands who compromise suck. I said that a band that is all about promotions with major corps such as using a Motorola in public or drinking Coke instead of Pepsi for a quick check to cash probably sucks. Now let’s say that YOU say I’m wrong in saying THAT. Well I honestly can’t think of a really good band who is sucked into the shameless-promotion-Machine. But therein lies another problem, I don’t listen to EVERY good band.

Regarding image maintenance: Maintenance is good, yes. But in that article it was said that the FIRST thing they cared most about was getting a cool look down. All I am saying is that can come second or third to the music and maybe some good business sense.