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Music

The Melvins Are Back, But Have They "Sold Out?"

And when branding is the only way to make money in music, is "selling out" even still a thing?

Right now on Scion’s website you can download The Bulls And The Bees, an exclusive EP that the Melvin’s released earlier this year with the car company. Premiering today is a small interview with Buzz and Dale Crover about their latest music video, “The War of Wisdom,” which, apparently, Scion sponsored.

“We haven’t really been able to make videos for a long time,” says Crover. “Nobody is going to play them.” True, MTV today won’t play the Melvins. But do the Melvin’s really need MTV? Does anyone need their videos on MTV? Isn’t that why YouTube and Vimeo exist? Who even watches MTV anymore?

So, the Melvins made this music video for “The War On Wisdom.” They aren’t even in it. They have children dressed in army outfits as sergeants and whatnot, mimicking the Melvin’s stage moves and singing along. In the Scion interview, Crover mentions that they didn’t have the money to do a video and Scion offered them some. It was a “duh” moment for the band.

“That sealed the deal,” says Buzz, kind of flippantly. “The deal we worked out with them is that if this thing goes South and we end up owing them a lot of money, then they have us jobs in the factory. Atlantic never offered us those.”

In my opinion, the Melvins can do whatever they want because they have paid their dues and been around a long, long time. They have grey hair, for God’s sake, and are still making culturally relevant metal music. They still get their aging butts out of bed and go on tour—not on planes, but in a van—and they do the shitty tour thing because that’s what you have to do. Taking corporate money or sponsorship should only be criticized when it ends up affecting the music, but with this Melvins/Scion collaboration, that doesn't seem to be the case. They are too veteran to do something so stupid. Besides, with brands these days doing more funding than labels or album sales, what other choice to musicians have than to take it? The minute Buzz starts wearing a Scion baseball hat, everyone can flip out, but somehow, I doubt that will ever happen.