Top 5 Sellouts of this Century

   Few things enrage music fans than seeing their favorite bands sellout.  Sales decline, record companies get impatient and artists get bored and the end result is a different, more mainstream musical direction.

5. Gwen Stefani/No Doubt:  When No Doubt was in their rock/ska/pop prime, Gwen Stefani was anything but sexy.  At times, one might mistake her for a man.  Years later into her solo career, she's shaking her ass. I blame American culture to a degree:  It isn't kind to homely women.

4. The Offspring:  How the hell did Noodles and the bunch go from "Why Don't You Get a Job" and "The Kids Aren't Alright" to the teary-eyed ballad "Kristy Are You Doing OK" and harmonic "Days Go By?"  There's no punk left in The Offspring.

3. Black Eyed Peas:  I don't think the Black Eyed Peas ever produced quality music.  Fans of the artist, and I use the term artist loosely, bemoan their The E.N.D album and their departure from hip-hop.

2. Green Day:  Years ago, I told my sister, a contemporary Green Day fan, "if they would have changed their  name and created a distinct separation from their old work, I would accept American Idiot."  Instead, Green Day's subject matter turned from smoking weed and jerking off to deeper, political topics between 2000 and 2004.

1. Linkin Park:  When I had a column in the Norwin Knight Krier, I ripped their new album apart.  Minutes to Midnight marked the end of the rapcore, synth driven, edgy sound of Meteora and Hybrid Theory and the  beginning of crowd pleasing ballads like Leave out All The Rest.  Their most recent album, 10,000 Suns appeals further to the masses and is complete shit.