Unfortunately selling out a brand generally means the quality tanks because it’s easy way to boost margins.

Food gets a few more preservatives and slightly worse ingredients until over time it tastes like cardboard. Video games become ever more blatant cash grabs. Clothing becomes more fragile, with cheaper materials and worse craftsmanship.

Trying to appeal to the widest possible audience means removing that which makes art interesting, but maximizing short term profit means taking the same shortcuts as everyone else in the industry.

Yeah, art and enterprise are different.

And no one begrudges the punk band for selling t-shirts, albums. It's when they sell soft drinks....

Yeah, the day I see RATM endorsing American Express I'll know things are wonky...

"Fuck you I won't leave home without it!"

Shopping in the name

I'm not sure if I've heard RATM but looking at the lyrics to a few of their songs there seems to be a lot of anger or rage in their music.

If that's right, you could actually do a pretty funny American Express commercial with them.

It could show a montage of them dealing with shoddy consumer goods failing shortly after their warranties expire, which keeps pissing them off and keeps them in a constant state of rage which is reflected in their songwriting.

Then someone points out to them that they paid for all those things with their American Express card, and American Express provides extended warranties automatically.

They lose their anger over poor consumer products, and with that their songwriting too loses its anger.

Cut to them releasing a new album, and it is all slow acoustic ballads about true love and togetherness.

> there seems to be a lot of anger or rage in their music

this... this is sarcasm, or irony, right?

The 'R' literally stands for rage.

Against the machine. to wit, the capitalist machine.

So, to put the finishing sauce on your story, 'Rage against the machine' with the rage taken out, would be just the Machine, exemplified by Amex.

I just wasn't sure if you knew quite how appropriate that scenario fits the schema.

Always thought it was rage against the coffee machine. You changed my whole perspective. Thanks!

from a Tool song (won't write the name):

And in between Sips of coke He told me that He thought We were sellin' out Layin' down, Suckin' up To the man Well now I've got some A-dvice for you, little buddy Before you point the finger You should know that I'm the man And if I'm the man Then you're the man, and He's the man as well so you can Point that fuckin' finger up your ass.

Yup classic song ... I have no doubt that this was based on a real interaction. In the 90's it was de rigueur to accuse people of selling out, especially bands!