Whoever said that the Pop industry was the toughest to crack obviously hadn’t see what happens to an Alternative/Rock/Indie band as soon they become mainstream. Okay so it might be one of the easiest industries to get into and it doesn’t matter if you were dropped out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down 'cos as long as you’ve got talent and a few pretty darn good tunes up your sleeve then your half way there. But staying in this elite group as a high profile underground band is a whole other ball game. If you want to stay accepted and worshipped by your fans then you can't go mainstream, if this happens your rock god status will be dropped faster than one of Robbie Williams’ girlfriends are. It happened with Blink 182, Papa Roach and Linkin Park and will no doubt happen to Capdown, Hundred Reasons and Vex Red.
You see these hardcore fans don’t seem to like anyone else listening to what they like to call “their band”. A good example of this is King Adora, the fans still don’t like to see KA in the charts, they want to keep them as their own little band and not let anyone else have them. Their last chart entry at number 28 was even too high for most of them to cope with. It’s the same with bands all over the world, as soon as they make it mainstream the fans don’t want to let them back into their little underground music based lives. Take Sum 41, they were seen as some cool band from America a few months ago, now they’re just some chart act who will probably join Limp Bizkit as a contender for the Worlds Worst Band category in the 2003 Kerrang! Awards.
Another way to see yourself out of your desired industry for good is to try something new. Sophie Ellis Bextor may have hit it big as a dance diva but there’s no way she can go back to being in theaudience, her Indie goddess days are well and truly over. Gwen Stefanni is no doubt (get it!!!) heading down the same track after her recent hip-hop stylee chart buster. And as for Paul Catamole leaving the all singing all dancing Sclub7 to rejoin his school days Rock band, well that’s over before its even begun. He’s going to achieve as much credibility as a Rock Star as Victoria Beckham did a R’n’B artist. Unfortunately the music industry is so hard these days that you can't expect to be able to just change your style of music at the drop of a hat and get respect for it. Paul (however much we love him), will not be taken seriously and will never be able to play the mainstage at the Reading Festival without being bottled more than Daphne and Celeste were, (bless ‘em)
It may be one of the easiest industries to break into, but unfortunately the world of Alternative music is also one of the easiest to slip out of. So next time you see Sugar Coma on The Saturday Show, (yes kiddies it really happened and we hope you were all watching that historic moment), just remember it could be the beginning of the end for them 'cos when everything changes it usually is.
