What does “selling out” entail? Is it simply to sign to a major label? Is it to get a ton of money in exchange for playing music? Of course, at some level, I do understand the basic ideas of “selling out.” Metallica “sold out” with the Black Album, Celtic Frost “sold out” with Cold Lake, Chumbawamba “sold out” with “Tumthumbing.” I get it. You compromise your sound and ideals in order to gain a ton of money and fame. You want your song on the radio and to rub shoulders next to Amanda Bynes. Still, there’s no accepted limitations of what constitutes being a sellout. Someone’s success story and well wishes are another’s curses and angry tweets. It’s what fuels the most heated and nightmarish drunken arguments between music fans at 3 AM.
Cave In sold out. Yep, they signed to RCA (a big and powerful label back then) and shed their sometimes heavy and angular (Until Your Heart Stops), sometimes psychedelic and layered (Jupiter) sound and embraced what you might call “traditional songwriting.” The guitars sounded big and compressed, and Stephen Brodsky’s voice recalled Brandon Boyd from Incubus. Basically, it’s a picture of rock radio in 2003.
Still, I can’t help to think that Cave In’s way of selling out wasn’t such a cut-and-dried case as one might think. Even though the songs had a structure and sound made for the masses, the band had always modified their approach to reach different ground. Moreover, listening to “Seafrost,” “Youth Overrided,” and the intro to “Penny Racer,” you can hear both fragments of their old sounds as well as things to come. Which is exactly why I think the album is worth revisiting. The band might shift gears often (or not, considering how much time they spend going in and out of hiatus), but there are elements that remain constant for them. Above all, their gift for songwriting is unmatched by most of their peers; they are able to make complicated music (to various degrees) with great lyrics that unfold before your ears and remain etched in your memory.
Like most things in life, selling out is not so easily explained, and in the case of Cave In, it yielded solid music, regardless of its mission.
