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oooooohhhhh!!! black eyed peas is a great example!!! they were a real, legit, "underground" hip hop act with soul and political motives. but they sold out so fucking hard. i want to say it was "Kroll Show" that did a biting sketch making fun of bands who sell out and they use a BEP-like band as the brunt of the joke.
it starts off with some street kids rapping on the street about the evils of corporate power and then it's a rapid-fire montage of them changing and growing and before they (the characters) realize it they are doing a commercial and it's the same lyrics but they've been reconstituted to sell some soft drink or something.
I agree in principle with this.  My only counterpoint would be bands that change their style when they become popular.  There are people who attach their own self worth to the fact they "discovered" a band.  It is kind of sad. >

I was about to say just that. There's been a few bands that have changed, or started "experimenting" once they got recognition and the new sound just wasn't my thing >

When artists I like start to get big, they typically change their sound enough where I don’t like the music anymore. I will still listen to the old stuff, but I personally can’t tolerate the overproduced pop stuff >

yeah and then instead of paying $8 to see them at "The Smell" you have to pay $78 to see them at "CorpoBank Arena" >

Exactly. Id much rather go to the smell >

Nah… take the Black Eyed Peas for example. They were really good before they got big and before Fergie was the main face. They sold out and the music became terrible