So Much Staying Alive

There was a time when accusations of "selling out" could end even the most promising careers, but these days, the term has lost all its sting. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

In 2015, John Lydon from the Sex Pistols appeared in a TV ad campaign as a butter spokesperson. Life went on.

I.

When I tell you that I overanalyzed and fucking agonized over this decision, I am not overstating the ordeal. It was 2002, five years after we’d broken up. Five years after we stumbled out of a major-label bidding war without that much-ballyhooed seven-figure record deal, sure, but personally and emotionally drained nonetheless. We spent a great deal of our short lifespan as a band perpetually worried that every decision we made was the “wrong” or “right” one—whether it was the musical direction of a song or the price of a t-shirt—but it felt like we were always using someone else’s measurements. As a band, we very rarely used the words “selling out” to describe such decisions in conversation, but let’s be honest: We were hardcore kids who came …