Quote:
Originally Posted by tkpb938
This thread makes me sad... 
I like tool lol. And how in the world are they a sub-genre of mainstream commercial rock? Commercial? They don't even sell their music online. Was that the joke? Damn... too much tool hatin on MB. |
It's true that Tool don't sell their music in MP3 format track by track, but they surely do fall under commercial. For one, they've always been with major labels. Even Opiate was released on BMG. Regardless of a band's own artistic integrity, if they have the marketing prowess of the major corporations behind them they surely have to be commercial in at least one sense, right? It's also expected that they have to answer at least in part to industry demands, if they have record contracts with the likes of Sony.
I intend this as a serious point. Not an insult.
I do also think that Tool and bands with similar directions clearly cater to a certain sub-part of modern society and culture that tend to identify strongly with the usual set of ideas and motifs. That's the whole reason they have a major label contract to begin with - their music, image and message is highly marketable, and in the present societal framework is always likely to receive a large audience. I've personally seen friends who were entirely straightforward folk, then suddenly for whatever reason started getting into conspiracy theories about aliens, government mind-control and whatnot. A few months later, and whaddayaknow...their new favourite band is Tool! The industry machine is really extraordinarily effective. I feel in many ways that far from being counter to the grain, Tool and so on really just fill another gap in the wall. If Capitalism cannot pervade all of society in one way, then it finds another way.