A thought on music.

Any musical act that has been signed by a music label is, by definition, commercial AND mainstream.

Even the cult groups that get popular by bucking the trend go on to become the trend, and then become mainstream.

So, whether you're a kid who likes AFI and HIM (just for example's sake)someone older who prefers the tones of Pink Floyd and Metallica and you buy or have bought a cd you are part of the commercial mainstream audience.

From Britney to GWAR, they all make money from people like you and me because they make music we like, whether we like it or not (look into radio and tv saturation). It's the record companies that ultimately decide what we listen to and how much we listen to it.

Failing that you can pop into your local hot topic and be told who is cool.

An example of this is u2. I know so many people who were big into u2 before they made it big. When they hit the big time they proudly announced that they would never go and see them live or buy their records again. They said that they'd gone 'mainstream'.

u2 did go mainstream, and yet they explored music and challenged beliefs. As many bands were churning the same shit out, u2 were evolving and refusing to stay still - even under the 'mainstream' gaze. That takes balls