While my guitar gently weeps

News hit the web two weeks ago that alternative artist Arctic Monkeys believe they have “sold out.” We all hear talk about bands selling out. But what does it really mean to do so?

Selling out is risking it all for a little taste of the sweet limelight. From Miley Cyrus and Macklemore to Katy Perry and Madonna, artists spanning across time have lost themselves to glory seeking.

It’s a tough subject. Many people have differing opinions on what it means to musically sell out. But completely selling one’s self to whatever it takes to gain attention is an obvious way of losing it.

Last year, during the VMAs, we all witnessed Disney’s late Hannah Montana risk the best of both worlds as a tongue bearing teddy bear waving a large foam finger.

In the MTV documentary “Miley: The Movement,” Cyrus calls the patterns of her behavior a part of said movement. She was sick of her prior image. She too felt she had “sold out.”

This new stage presentation is who she has always been, according to the documentary. She just never had a chance to express herself.

I disagree. It makes me sad that the sweet daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus is romping around in the nude and riding a wrecking ball in one of her latest videos. Becoming the rage is selling out.

Cyrus is only one example, though.

Before Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it, she recorded a Christian worship album. Daughter of a pastor, Perry chose fame over faith and left the mic on the pulpit.

Bug-eyed bombshell Lady Gaga was previously known by her birth name Stefanie Germonatta. Her jazzy, smoky bar voice that is now only heard through scarce YouTube videos is gorgeous. Her lyrics were piercing and moving.

These artists feel the need to do a 180 degree switch and change the direction of their art. I don’t understand why.

The Arctic Monkeys insist they’re selling out because they feel like they’re headed down the same road. In an April interview with Esquire, the band said they turned down interviews right and left, refusing to be in the public eye, during the release of their 2006 album, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.” They were content with doing what they love without recognition.

Now however, they have begun accepting positions on “The Late Show” with David Letterman and British award shows.

These guys have gone back on their word and their ideals.  They have become like all other fame-seeking stars, they know it, and they’re not okay with it.

Too many artists are no longer making music for themselves. They’re doing it for the recognition. It’s sad.

Music done by people who eat, breathe and live the content they produce is the best, most genuine music. Until the industry gets back to that raw authenticity, I agree with the Arctic Monkeys assessment of themselves and believe the entire industry has sold out.