Does Commercial Success Compromises Musical Integrity?
their audiences, trying to figure out how far they can push it, how far their limits can go. The Cure did it. From “Pornography” (1982) – the ultimate post-punk album – they shifted to “The Top” (1984), a more upbeat album, and then to “The Head on the Door” (1985), and “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” (1986). The Cure gradually became the only post-punk group that achieved huge commercial success in the 1990s and the 2000s. The U2 did it. From “The Joshua Tree” (1987) – the album that practically made them a rock super group – they shifted to electronic dance music with Achtung Baby (1991), Zooropa (1993) and Pop (1997). Linkin Park did it recently with “A Thousand Suns (2010) that has nothing in common with their previous releases, especially “Hybrid Theory” (2000) and “Meteora” (2003). So, by all means, experimentation exists in music and this is not bad at all. What is bad is when commercial success drives creativity. Great groups sacrifice their history and their fans in the altar of m
