Has Everclear Sold Out? An Investigative Report

OK, I haven't written anything in a long time, but this issue is important, too important to ignore any longer. Has Everclear sold out? This is a question that has been going around for a long time. However, it seems the older the question gets, the more that people seem to ask it.

First off, this is serious business, claiming Everclear, or any band for that matter, has sold out is not a charge that should be tossed out so casually. If the acquisition is correct, then it's something that has to be changed. Changed for the sake of the fans, for the sake of the band, hell even for the sake of Capitol Records. I've heard the argument from both sides...Everclear has sold out, Everclear hasn't sold out. I've decided that I can't rely on the input of others; this is something I have to find out for myself.

I checked all the local CD stores around me, while none of them had a selection of Everclear to suit my taste; only 2 were sold out of Everclear CDs. The rest had at least 4 of the 5 albums and a few even had singles. Come on people, just because one store in your area doesn't have any Everclear CDs, it doesn't mean that Everclear has sold out. Now maybe you live in a small town and you only have one store, and they are all sold out of Everclear CDs, don't go around yelling how Everclear has sold out, have the store order the CDs you want. Believe it or not most stores will do a special order for you, it's part of their customer service. And even if they don't do special orders, you can easily get the CDs online through numerous online music stores.

Then I got to thinking, that maybe these people yelling "Sell out!" don't mean CDs. I mean they should all know they could get the CDs one way or another. Maybe they meant concerts. Well, I'm sorry if you didn't get to go see Everclear in concert when they last played your area, but everyone knows that concerts only offer a limited number of seats. Besides, if you REALLY wanted to see the band you should have tried to buy tickets they day they went on sale, and not waited until the last moment. Geez, don't you know Everclear is pretty popular!?!

I was talking to my friend about this whole sell out issue. He told me I had it all wrong. He said that selling out wasn't referring to being able to buy CDs at the store or tickets to a concert. He told me that selling out actually means that a band has betrayed their original fan base by broadening their musical style to encompass a more mainstream audience. Yeah right, how dumb is that.

Be sure to check out the rest H&H's columns section, which includes my previous The Twistinside columns as well as columns written by fans like you and I.

Holy cow! You are either reading my source code, have very good eyesight (I have 20/10, that means
what a person with average vision can see at 20 feet away, I can see with the clarity of if I were standing only 10 feet away...but I'm standing 20 feet away. On that note, I want to add that you should visit an optometrist annually. Even if you are not experiencing vision loss, you may be suffering from Glaucoma. Glaucoma can deteriorate peripheral vision, but leave normal vision unaffected. The deterioration can be so fast that you may not notice the sight loss until 80% or more is gone. Anyways, back to the topic...), or have done the smart thing and copied this text into some form of a text editor. Anyways, now that you've read my article and taken it all in, I'd like you to do me a favor and take a look at the logo for my column, The Twistinside...the one with the silly picture of me (it was the worst picture I could find). While you look at it, you should notice the words "the truth" appears in there a couple of times. But each time the word is twisted, or stretched. That implies that I have been lying!

I know what the term sell out means; I just think it's a very silly term. First off, the majority of the people who use it generally do so because the band they formerly liked decided to make an album that sounds different from the last album. Please explain to me why that is so bad? Maybe you don't like the new album, but would
you rather have a cookie cutter album from a band that never changes, or expands...OR would you prefer a band that is not afraid to broaden their wings musically?

Others that use it do so because the band has grown in popularity...so in order to be cool these people stop liking a band that has become mainstream cool. What the hell is this? Staying one step ahead of cool so you'll be cool? If that isn't fucked up I don't know what is. Why can't you be happy that more people are identifying with a band that you use to like (and the only reason you stopped liking them is BECAUSE more people are identifying with the band). UGH! It's like catch-22 with these people.

So, next time before you say that someone is a sell out, think of what I just had to say. It may just stop you from saying it, unless of course by that time I've sold out, then my credibility would just be lame.

P.S. Chasen, are you happy? I wrote a new column like you were bitching about last night...and I put your name in my fine print. Hurray for you!