For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
Quote
rollmops
Are there examples of things that have improved by going mainstream??? In rock and rock, mainstream is the kiss of death.
Mops
Quote
JumpingKentFlash
The Rolling Stones (Certainly went mainstream already in the sixties
Quote
Elmo Lewis
I. Cool logo - maybe the best ever.
Quote
Elmo Lewis
I teach middle school and see lots of kids wearing Stones shirts (from Walmart) who have no idea who the Stones are. Cool logo - maybe the best ever.
Quote
with sssoul
smile: recording I Wanna Be Your Man was not exactly an attempt to remain obscure and non-mainstream.
they had plenty of hugely successful pop hits before Angie - and thank all that is praiseworthy for that!
appealing to the mainstream only sucks if trying to be popular is your only reason for doing what you do.
Quote
retired_dog
Weeeeeell, it depends on how you define "mainstream". There's still a whole lotta difference between "I Wanna Be Your Man" and, for instance, "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard. Apart from that, I define mainstream as non-offending, compatible with all ages, "family friendly" etc etc etc. The only "fit for all ages" Stones pop hits before Angie I can imagine would be Ruby Tuesday and As Tears Go By, but can you imagine elderly people listen to Let's Spend The Night Together (or Mother's Little Helper) in the 60's? And even As Tears Go By and Ruby Tuesday did not change their image from black to white - clean, friendly guys, perfect sons-in-law?
Any band releasing a song titled "Mother's Little Helper" can't be mainstream!
Quote
Hound Dog
Kent not sure what it was like over there but Nirvana got huge here in the US pretty much right after Smells Like Teen Spirit came out. Their first album was by far their most played by everyone here. Maybe they didn't want to be mainstream but they certainly were.
Stones and rock t-shirts in general are pretty big right now. Maybe that started when That's 70's Show became very popular.
Quote
with sssoul
>> Weeeeeell, it depends on how you define "mainstream". <<
sure. but in any case my main point was the bit you ignored:
there's nothing wrong with appealing to "the mainstream" as long as your heart is in what you do.
it's when someone's only motivation is trying appeal to the mainstream that things get tacky, shallow, etc.