We were the kids in a basement haze

A thousand voices in a feedback maze

Sharing a mic in the wasted days

Setting the world to a different phase

No one was leading, we were all the rage

Just turning anger on an empty stage

We built a bonfire from a single spark

A shot of lightning in the endless dark

We never thought you'd build a brand new cage

Then the news dropped with a sickening thud

They signed the deal in corporate blood

And cashed the check for the neighborhood

You took the cash and you took a bow!

(Who's pulling all the puppet strings now?)

You traded passion for a golden crown!

(We're here to watch you Sellouts drown!)

You whitewashed slogans on the grimy walls

Put up velvet ropes in the sacred halls

Screen every whisper for the conference calls

Making sure nobody ever falls

Out of the lines that you neatly draw

A revolution tamed by corporate law

The anthems filtered 'til they have no bite

Just empty echoes in the pale moonlight

And nothing dangerous feels right

You learned their language, you learned to smile

Forgetting us for a little while

But we remember your betrayal file

You took the cash and you took a bow!

(Who's pulling all the puppet strings now?)

You traded passion for a golden crown!

(We're here to watch you Sellouts drown!)

You can't copyright a rebellion

You can't put a price on the rising sun

We'll just find a new stage to overrun

Your little kingdom has come undone

You took the cash and you took a bow!

(Who's pulling all the puppet strings now?)

You traded passion for a golden crown!

(We're here to watch you Sellouts drown!)

Sellouts!

(your soul is sold!)

Sellouts!

(your story's told!)

Sellouts!