In last month’s issue of Q magazine, old-fashioned indie values found an unlikely champion. “I don’t want my name anywhere near another brand,” declared Adele. “I don’t wanna be tainted, or haunted, and I don’t wanna sell out in any way. I think it’s shameful.”
Coming from a 23-year-old in 2011, let alone the biggest pop star in Britain, these words seemed quaintly archaic. Twenty years ago, “sellout” was the most damning insult in rock. If you licensed a song to an advert you were, in the words of Bill Hicks’s memorable routine, “off the artistic roll call forever. You’re another whore at the capitalist gang bang … Everything you say is suspect and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink.”
via TDS
