what makes a fan a fan?

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I'd say that to consider yourself a fan of a band's work I'd say you should:

Appreciate the band's music. Not just the singles, but some of the deepcuts. I don't want to suggest that you should like everything they've ever done, nor that you have to know the lyrics to every song (especially the ones that aren't quite so good), just that you genuinely enjoy listening to them.


I'd say, though, that you don't have to live and breathe everything they do, that you don't have to preach how earthshakingly significant everything they've ever done is to everyone around you, that you don't have to own everything ever produced related to them, nor do you have to go to shows. Aspiring to go to shows should be enough, even if you never end up going. Willingness to spend your money on them, if you have money to spend, should be enough -- even if you don't. Owning your enjoyment of their music without necessarily telling everyone about it, but just enjoying it for the experience that it is. Those might be things that some fans do.

You can't recognize a fan just because they're wearing a tour shirt or are attending a concert. I offer you this experiment: ask people on the bus to name band members or albums if you see them wearing a band shirt (if you're in the ball, songs from an album). In my experience, the fan amongst them is often hard to find, as many people like to have the appearance of being music fans without actually being music fans. Just because you've heard of Dark Side of the Moon and someone's bought you a shirt doesn't necessarily make you a fan. Owning things is not the same as owning a love of music (the thing that makes a fan).

It's important to keep in mind that concert attendence and merch collections require disposable income, and not everyone can afford to follow a band around on tour or buy horribly-over-inflated rare products online. Just because you have money doesn't make you more of a fan than someone who can only afford the occassional cd, it just makes you a better consumer whore. And again, just because someone can afford merch and brand themselves as a Pink Floyd fan walking around the streets doesn't mean they love Pink Floyd.
 
I'm a serial fan. Immerse and then discard. Immerse and then discard. Neil Young's stayed around the longest. Well, actually he gets discarded too. He just keeps sneaking back in.

"I have tattoos of all my favourite band members faces on my arse.

It's a large arse."

You have to warn me to put down my coffee before you come up with lines like that, Anna. :grumpy: :laugh: (mops up table)
 
Screwtape2 said:
It's interesting that some people say that if you go to a concert you are a fan because it seems that a lot of people who go to concerts only go because it is cool to see that artist. :eyebrow:

I've noticed that *a lot* of people go to shows not owning a single record and will still make comments to other concert-goers that try to sound ultra-knowledgable while actually being somewhat ignorant.

I'll never forget someone at a Vertigo show going on and on about "Bone-Oh" ......
 
Sorry mate

BonosSaint said:
I'm a serial fan. Immerse and then discard. Immerse and then discard. Neil Young's stayed around the longest. Well, actually he gets discarded too. He just keeps sneaking back in.

"I have tattoos of all my favourite band members faces on my arse.

It's a large arse."

You have to warn me to put down my coffee before you come up with lines like that, Anna. :grumpy: :laugh: (mops up table)
Is this why you wanted to vote for him in your last election, because he's a keeper? Or was that Mrs S?
 
I think Mrs. S. suggested I might want to vote for him and I agreed. Yeah, he's a keeper (Prairie Wind on the other hand is not. Well, I keep it. I just don't listen to it. And I don't think I've ever gotten all the way through Old Ways, though by God, I have tried).
 
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There are plenty of people of whom I'm a casual fan--meaning only that I enjoy them, appreciate them. I think when it goes beyond that, it is because the band/artist somehow speaks to your soul or your pleasure or your imagination or whatever beyond the ordinary.

When I'm more than a casual fan of somebody, I look forward to the next work. I'm probably going to listen to and own their released catalog and probably a few choice bootlegs--although I have no desire to own every version of every song ever recorded anywhere any time or buy every piece of merchandise they put out, although I love photographs. I'm also going to reserve the right to say this or that particular work is a piece of crap to me or says nothing to me. I don't defend every output. But I am going to listen to anything they put out -- at least once, lol--because the chance is pretty good I'm going to find something I value in it.
Those couple of artists have earned a higher level of pedestal.

Personally, I define my level of fandom by the heirarchy on my bookshelf or CD shelf. When I toss the book, I'm no longer much of a fan, although I'll probably keep the CDs just in case. The heirarchy of the books (unauthorized, please) is the better gauge for me because it shows I'm not just interested in the music, but the artist. That's a necessary element for me for my fandom, but I don't see it as a necessary element for fandom in general. I just enjoy the music more if I enjoy the artist.

I'm not much of a U2 fan, although I enjoyed a brief, intense flirtation. However, I am a huge fan of Achtung Baby.
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
I think you're a fan if you like more than one song of that band and have the desire to hear more by that band.

I think that's an apt definition. And then the other stuff takes fandom to serious, major, obsessive, creepy, or really fucking scary levels. :wink:


I'm a fan of:

-- The Church (and all side and solo projects from Steve & Marty's solo work and some of his side projects) - even though I don't have every single thing they have even done and I'm not trying to get it all. I do have several bootlegs and several -- but by no means all -- rarities. I've seen the band live 10 times, but have never seen any solo (unless you count a 5 song mini Marty set I got during a soundcheck :) ) or side project shows -- much to my displeasure. :mad: I've only done a bit of inadvertent stalking and I've only wormed my way into one of their lives. :D
-- Gersey -- never seen them live, probably never will. Don't know all the band members names -- actually I can only think of one now and I often forget that. But I love their music and whenever I see they have a new album or ep I will get it (didn't get a vinyl split single they put out a couple of years ago 'cause I couldn't play it anyway, so there was no point). I have a few rarities from them.
-- Art of Fighting -- same as Gersey (except I don't think the've released a vinyl single I can't hear)
-- Catherine Wheel -- I'm a recent convert, so never got to see them live. Have most of their albums (haven't gotten around to listening to all of them though :uhoh: Hey, I figure they aren't going to be putting anything else out so I have time! :) ) I'd buy more if they released more. Have a few rarities.
-- Rob Dickinson -- lead singer of CW. Have seen him live, have met him, have the solo stuff he's released. If he comes within a few hundred miles of me I'll most likely make the effort to see him again. He's a darling. :)
-- Grant McLennan -- best know as a Go-Between, but I really love the solo work of his I have and his and SK's Jack Frost project. Still have more work of his to explore. Never saw him live and now I can't. :sad:
-- Big Spaceship -- Martin Kennedy's side project...also like All India Radio (which is MK's main thing), but think I actually like BS better. I don't know if they even play live. If so I doubt I'll ever see them. I like the music and look forward to it though.
-- Wilco -- Have Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born, and Kicking Television. Have never seen them live, but would like to. Have one bootleg somewhere, but no rarities.

There are more, but this will do for now.
 
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