Okay, so most people may or may not know who the band known as AFI are, so I'll give a brief(or not so brief) rundown on them: They are a band(and to me, a really great one at that) that formed in 1991 in California.
AFI(short for A Fire Inside) started by releasing mutlitple Extended Plays, and eventually started making studio albums. Throughout the 1990's and the early 2000's, they were an awesome punk band with an amazing vocalist who could scream, but could also sing very well known as Davey Havok. However in 2003, they released an album called Sing The Sorrow, which had a very different style. It had a much more alternative rock feel to me. They also changed their image, with Davey dying his hair black and wearing eyeliner.
Then, in the year of 2006 they released an even more experimental album known as DecemberUnderground. It's a hard to classify album, but most people say it's post punk, or perhaps post hardcore, or maybe just alternative rock. Either way, it was an even larger step in their new musical direction.
Their newest album is called Crash Love released in 2009, and it has more of a straightforward rock feel than the previous two albums, but it's not really punk though. I really am not much of a fan of the direction they've been taking, but unlike what thousands of people on Youtube do, I'm not going to whine and complain and call them sellouts.
To me, someone who sells out changes something about themeselves for profit. Key word: Profit. Davey Havok(and the rest of AFI) are artists who are true to their music, and I think they simply wanted to change pace, make a new direction. And you know what? I think they had the right to do that. They did MANY awesome punk albums in the 90's and early 2000's, and I think playing the same type of music forever would be boring to a guy like Havok.
Plus, I doubt they did it just for fame and money. If that was the case, THEN they would be sellouts. But they didn't, so they aren't. So even though I am not really a big fan of what they are doing now, they very well have the right to, and they are not sellouts.
Dude... they sold out and its very obvious. I don't know if you'll see this because this is 2 years later. But with sing the sorrow, decemberunderground, and crash love, wasn't them progressing in music. They sold out at sing the sorrow. AFI started at nitro records making hardcore music. They weren't that popular. But why did they switch to a major record label dream works and get trendy and mainstream with their style and music? For the money. They did that so more people could buy their records. Now' i'm not saying changing your music makes you a sell out. But when you completely blow off your main sound, sign to a major record label, and make trendy and mainstream music, you pretty much sold out. If they haven't sold out, they would still be at nitro, not making trendy crap.
ReplyDeleteDo you still think the same in 2021; They not only evolved their sound, they switched genre completely. I still have their early music, but they are unlistenable past Art of Drowning to me.
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