Dave FM today played a Dave Matthews Band song the other day while I was driving to Publix for some lunch. Now this is not an unusual thing but it got me thinking about bands that I like less because of their fan base.
Bands I hate more because of their fans:
The Doors - Please stop calling Jim Morrison a poet. He wasn't. And if you don't hate Morrison more after watching The Doors (and consequently like the rest of the band more) than there is something wrong with you.
Dave Matthews Band - I'm only going to mention them out of the hundreds of jam bands out there because of their commercial success but know that I hate ALL jam bands more because of there fans. The thing that most annoys me about their biggest fans is that they generally only listen to Dave Matthews. I know a guy who's CD collection consists of about 50 CD's; 40 of them are DMB albums.
Rush - Their fans are funny. They know Rush sucks but they still listen. They sound embarrassed when they have to defend them. I hate to say it (actually not really) but when the only good thing about your band is the drumming you better be Basement Jaxx. I will say that their song YYZ on Guitar Hero 2 is really hard to play.
Nirvana - This will be short and sweet. Kurt Cobain ain't Jesus. Get over it. He wasn't even the best musician in his own band.
John Lennon - I really hate these fans. He wasn't some revolutionary. He was a selfish, heroin addict who walked out on his first son. Imagine growing up without your dad. Thank God for Paul McCartney.
Which fans make you like a band less?
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K-man: not sure I am with you on this one.
For one, I am not sure that, in general, I am as easily annoyed at people. Yes, hippies are annoying. But I mostly do a pretty good job of segregating my thoughts on an artist from my thoughts on their fans.
Besides, other than Marty Levinson, I can't say I have met a single Rush fan.
And other than LB's brother in law Denny, it has been a very long time since I met someone who was truly in awe of Kurt Cobain. Plenty of people like him, but I feel the whole alt rock messiah thing that used to surround KC has disappeared more or less entirely.
Plus, I feel like maybe we're piling on a bit on Nirvana. I may not listen to their albums much, but they were actually a good band. Perhaps in hating Nirvana(and I am playing amateur psychologist here, bear with me), we are just bitter because we have always preferred Pearl Jam. And now, the judges of music history have elevated Nirvana's stature often at the expense of Pearl Jam's musical legacy. I think that there are many myths about the importance of Nirvana (as discussed in my earlier post), but let's not lose sight of the fact that they were a good band.
Also, I believe that John Lennon is an important enough figure in music and culture in general that fans are not off base to admire him, deadbeat parenting aside. People perhaps overstate his importance sometimes, but in the spectrum of important musicians, he is right up there with Bach and Les Paul.
I am with you on Jim Morrison fans, though. Those people tend to be douches.
In fact, the one of the few types of fans that has ever irked me is the type who likes a band that nobody has ever heard of, and then disavows the band once they hit it big (or reach critical darling status).
One that I am thinking of in particular is Dee Wood. He LOVED the Verve until that Bittersweet Symphony song was on the radio every hour. But once everybody started buying that album, he pretty much mothballed his Verve t-shirt and started backing some other Brit-pop band that hadn't yet hit it big.
I should have clarified that by saying that even though I liked some of these bands/artists less because of their fans, it doesn't mean that I don't like them.
I agree with you that we've been too harsh when it comes to Nirvana. I think they're a good band but I'm just sick of them. Maybe I should say that rock critics still hold him up as a Christ-like figure, which makes me like them less.
About John Lennon. He was always too self-righteous for my taste. I loved his stuff with the Beatles but I don't really like anything from his solo albums. I don't even really like Imagine.
I don't know why fans bother me so much. I can easily separate how I feel about an artists personal views and his music but it's harder for me to do with the fans.
austin-
playing off of what you said, i was thinking today about bands or artists that are awesome but get disrespected once they become ubiquitous. a true catch-22.
first, paula cole. now wait before you go all "why are you such a dyke, collins?" on me. i have seen paula cole in concert twice (she opened for matchbox 20 and the black crowes)- once before dawson's creek and once after that damn "i don't want to wait" song. she is an amazing artist live yet i totally did not enjoy her as much the second time because i spent the whole show dreading the opening bars of that horribly overplayed song or her other top 40 A/C pukefest "where have all the cowboys gone?" if i was paula i would go into every best buyin america and torch every season of dawson's creek. and maybe even threaten to blow-up wilmington, nc.
second, poor lisa loeb. serious lyricist, thoughtful, accessible musicality. really. you should listen to the firecracker album. obnoxious cat-rimmed glasses and reality bites theme song "stay (i missed you)" ruined her! i have yet to experience one of her shows, but the poor woman had to drop off the face of the earth for years and apparently can't find a husband because of this song(there was a reality show a couple years ago about her fruitless search for love because all the jew boys might like her, but loathe that song and apparently can't disassociate).
Finally, my favorite band in this unfortunate group, TRAIN. I f*$#ing hate that "meet virginia" song and hate "calling all angels" even more. but "mississippi" is my go to song when i am trying to woo a girl and "for me, it's you" is an awesome declaration of love. Their lead singer may be a douche but they are great live and their non-single cuts are totally worth the hoards of people who only know them as a one-hit wonder.
as far as bands i like less because of their fans....jimmy buffett. never in my life have i inhaled so much pot smoke as i did when i saw him in cincinatti. and it was an OUTDOOR venue. i find his fans to be hypocrites and obnoxious drunks and they keep me from going back to see him.
- i don't exactly consider dave matthews a jam band, but they do suck and so do their fans.
- this blog is the only place i've even heard kurt cobain's name mentioned in the last five years. you're letting your [inexplicably strong] love for the foo fighters blind you with jealousy masked as contempt.
- the only thing that bothers me about john lennon is the fan who can't remember when he was alive yet cries on the anniversary of his death. this goes for any other musician as well.
- i don't know if it's a good move to begin vouching for a performer by saying "when i saw her open for matchbox 20".
- never feel sorry for one hit wonder musicians. one is better than none, and at least then they can afford to keep a low profile for a while. i feel sorry for lisa loeb, i'm sure she has a real hard time getting dates.
sorry for those last two snarky remarks, crystal. i don't even know who you are and here i am being a dick.
Keene- your comment that Cobain-related commentary is (somewhat inexplicably) more prevalent on this blog than elsewhere in society is probably correct. however, as an avid VH1 viewer (Rock of Love, season finale this weekend... get ready for it people), I can attest that Nirvana receives plenty of mention and praise in the countdown shows that remain in heavy rotation on that network- "100 greatest hard rock bands," "100 most shocking moments in rock," "100 greatest songs," "100 most impressive striped shirts in rock videos," etc.
I know this may be blasphemous to many, but I would add the Beatles to this discussion. I think all of us have met someone who has read every book published on the Beatles, has all the records on vinyl, has all the remastered CDs, has the limited edition Beatles comforter, etc. etc. There's more to pop music than obsessing over a band that made their last album more than 30 years ago. I think this same line of thinking goes for the other bands DJ Toluene has mentioned, especially freakin' Rush.
I think it's human to like something a little less if a complete dork or a group of complete dorks just LOOOOVES it.
aside from phish fans, i think the over-35, middle class, crowd that frequents U2 and REM concerts because those bands actually MEAN something can be pretty annoying. i like both those bands but if you ever go to their shows (which i have) it can seem like you got stuck at limerick junction or the winery. those are basically the same people that still pay to see the Stones.
on the nirvana note. i agree, the cobain adoration can get excessive. but to confuse musical mastery with what makes a great band is just kinda silly. you might as well anoint steve vai as the all time man. nirvana was very derivative of a lot of awesome bands that i love. the thing is, though, i found out about some of those bands by way of nirvana. and i'm not talking about obvious stuff like sonic youth. nirvana somehow made what before was considered underground seem ok for cheerleaders, basically by making sonic youth and sex pistols songs into rem and beatles songs. so, if anything else, cobain was kind of a popularizer in the same sense of the stones and zeppelin popularizing black music. and he just happened to have a way with the hook.
i would add indie rock fans to the list of annoying fans. obviously, i love pavement and that stuff but the fans (including myself) can be just as annoying as any others on the wrong day
that was a pretty awesome striped shirt he had in that video.
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