Most
bands change and evolve as time goes on. This is especially true of '
punk' bands; by nature they
change their form over time. Most go through progressions where they get a little bit less
pissed off (or more pissed off),
grow up a bit, and change their views on the world. Often this is called '
selling out' but i find that it is rare that it is that simple. When a band changes, some people probably won't like the change. Although some bands (
The Aquabats) are agreed by everyone to suck much more as they changed, many others (
less than jake,
HomeGrown) maintain a style and quality as they change. Many bands (
Blink 182,
No Doubt,
Offspring,
Rancid, etc) become more widespread in popular culture. Many more bands fade away and are never heard from again.
Then there are bands that don't change at all. Fenix TX is one of those. This band has released only one CD ever, as far as i know. Blink apparently took a liking to them and let them come on tours with them. The problem is, they DON'T IMPROVE! They slowly get worse and worse as they forget the spirit behind the few songs they actually wrote. The only thing that changed about them was the name. (they were once called River Fenix) They did have a descent song, all my fault, which i heard in 1998 and liked. I heard a new version of it this year on the radio, and it was much worse. None of the other songs were ever heard from again. They were okay for a first cd... but hardly something to base a band on. They never did anything else.
Whenever i hear someone tell me that less than jake doesnt sound like less than jake anymore, or that blink 182 are sell outs, i just say at least they aren't fenix TX. At least they tried something new.