We're not talking about Steve Albini, Ian MacKaye, or even Bob Mould. We're comparing Pearl Jam to Nirvana --- artists on Epic and Geffen. If you knew who SST Records was, you believed everyone was a sellout, including everyone on Touch And Go and Dischord.
Yeah, and I completely believe in the punk rock DIY ethos and independent artistic control from start to finish. I don't like big labels and I don't like to support them because they aren't supporting artists. All of these are important conversations to have when discussing what "sell out" really means. But much of the music is still good, that's my point. I can articulate the issues with the music industry while still enjoying the fruits of human creativity.