Why is Ghost Reveries regarded as a "sellout" by so many?

[affinityband]

lol yeah its pretty weird consdering bwp is clearly the most catchy album they have ever done.

 

[flemflames]

If Roadrunner wasn't the label, no one would have complained about it.

You sir, detain the record for the quickest perfect answer to a thread I have seen in a long time.





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[mexicola]

I have been listening to GR the last several days and have developed a new appreciation for it.

Is the whole "sellout" accusation solely because the band became more high-profile all of a sudden?

Because musically, I'm not seeing it. This is the most complex, mysterious, and inaccessible record the band has put out to date, IMO. There's certainly nothing here as remotely poppy as some of the stuff on BWP or Damnation. Hardly a recipe for a "sellout" album.

Anybody got any thoughts?

Because some people are idiots?

 

[mexicola]

Opeth sold out a long time ago when they signed to bigger labels than Peaceville and Candlelight. And thank god, because if they hadn't I wouldn't be able to buy their music everywhere.

Ghost Reveries was written before Opeth signed to Roadrunner, by the way.

How is that selling out?

 

[Carta's]

^ Buy a sarcasm detector

 

[Noel]

How is that selling out?

I think that was a sacrastic comment.

EDIT: Too late.

 

[mexicola]

Selling out doesn't just mean you're becoming more popular or making more money. It doesn't have to do with the record label or anything like that.

To sell out means to compromise your musical production (literally change the way you make your music) for the sole purpose of attracting more fans and making more money. Only a band can really know in their hearts if they've sold out, everything else is just accusations.

Who knows, maybe Metallica still felt extremely confident about their music while they were writing Saint Anger and they were actually producing the music they love...

...but I kind of doubt it.

St.Anger was the opposite of selling out.
It was a shit album but it wasn't very commercial.

 

[Noel]

St.Anger was the opposite of selling out.
It was a shit album but it wasn't very commercial.

Read again what you just wrote.

 

[mexicola]

Read again what you just wrote.

Huh?

 

[Noel]

Huh?

Are you saying that they recorded St. Anger so they become less mainstream? The opposite of selling out? While making a nu metal wannabe record?

I don't believe that.

 

[mexicola]

What?

Look it up.

 

[mexicola]

Are you saying that they recorded St. Anger so they become less mainstream? The opposite of selling out? While making a nu metal wannabe record?

I don't believe that.

I don't think they cared about singles or sales with that album, seriously.
If they had they would have made it more accessible.

It's one big blob of shit metal. With no apparent songwriting qualities.

 

[Noel]

Well I think what they were trying was exactly that, making a more accessible album, following the trends of that time, Lars wanted the solos out, Kirk kinda refused but he played no solos after all, James singing ala Jon Davis, drop tuned gutiars, they were doing what the popular bands at the time were doing, I think they are one of the biggest examples of selling out.

 

[Blackwater Demon]

HOLY FUCKTOAST!!! I just heard GR for the first time and am completely blown away! What an epic

 

[Death_To_False_Metal]

Because Western people don't grow their food, hunt for their meat, drill a well for their water or manage their soiled waters so these enlighted citizens of Earth have way too many time on their hands which lead them to believe they are entilted to shit on bands and their intentions when they record music giving them the impression they have pubic hair and a personality because you know, they are not the sheep, they are the leader of the pack of the free world.

 

[TommyPickles]

If you don't like Ghost Reveries, you are fucking retarded.

Plain and simple.

 

[BlueSky]

lol yeah its pretty weird consdering bwp is clearly the most catchy album they have ever done.

You've never heard Damnation or Watershed?

 

[Hedon-]

If you don't like Ghost Reveries, you are fucking retarded.

Plain and simple.

in that case over 99.9% of the people all over the world are fucking retarded

 

[BlueSky]

That seems about right.

 

[themaster]

Well if Gr was a sellout then let Opeth do it time and time again its an absolutley great album, more accessabel than BWP but not as commercial as say damnation which i think brought lots of new perople to opeths door.

however watershed i cant get a handle on just not working for me at the moment.
MAYH really rocks me still and orchid