the successful bands can be kept on a leash, controlled, manipulated, too ******* thick to figure it out.
You're dead wrong on that. Sure, Katy Perry and Michael Jackson and Huey Lewis and the News set out to please the company before they please themselves with their music. They are kept on a leash, controlled and manipulated as you say. But I can name some mega-successful bands that were never on a leash and were bigger than Katy Perry will ever be.
Beatles -- you think the company holding the leash was happy that the Fab Four followed "Sgt. Peppers" with an acoustic driven double album that had no title and nothing but white on the album cover? No. Beatles never were led by a corporate leash. They were successful because they made quality records and singles. A very rare case of quality selling to the masses.
Metallica -- you think that band was led by a corporate leash? Nope. Their success was simply due tp the fact that there exists a large group of young people that do like aggressive music over spandex and teased hair.
U2 -- you think the corporate leash was happy when U2 moved from Steve Lillywhite's stadium friendly production to Brian Eno? No. U2's succes was not due to pandering to the record company. (It was actually due to Bono's pandering to the masses. Waving white flags. Oh, man, when I first saw him do that live I knew this guy was as big a sell-out as Katy Perry could ever be. Waving white flags, lowest denominator crowd pleasing bullcrap was the key to U2's success.)
The Clash -- that band broke big in America without ever following corporate orders. Just give the six-sided "Sandinista" a listen and you'll see that band sure did whatever the hell they wanted and still achieved big success.
Bands can make it and make it BIG on their own terms without following company orders. The fact that NMA didn't play the corporate game does not explain their lack of big time success.
(And if you do win your Patriots bet and I was the bookie, I wouldn't pay you. Until this deflated ball cheating business is sorted out, no way would I pay out any winning Patriot bet.)