What Makes You a Real Fan?
Written by Daniel Linik
“Let me see what you got on here. Ugh Asking Alexandria. I don’t see any Pantera. There needs to be some Megadeth on here.” Ugh, if only my favorite bands were the ones everyone and their dad knows! Then I would be worthy! This quote is a snippet of a conversation I had with a fellow attendee at a Breaking Benjamin show. The comments he made were in reference to the patches on my battle vest. Shockingly, he would not be the the first or last to hand me critique. Once, while I was buying tickets at a box office, three dudes in line didn’t like the length of time my transaction was taking. So they started to comment on my vest to get my attention; “Let’s see, what do we got here? Blessthefall, [chuckles] he has fucking Creed on here. Ugh I only like Escape The Fate’s first album”. Eventually I decided to respond. I turned around to their surprise and said “You really should check out Escape The Fate’s newer stuff. Songs like ‘Hate Me’ are awesome. I saw them open for I, Prevail and they killed it”. Give me shit about my patches. See if I’m actually offended.
Snobbery is pretty much a given in any genre. Hell, I was a snob myself. Before I got into the critically acclaimed bands I like now, I was a theatre kid (fun fact: I’ve played Horton the Elephant twice in Seussical The Musical). I used to snark at the kids in drama club who only liked Rent and Wicked. I didn’t understand why they didn’t like Company, or Jekyll & Hyde. It was natural for me to want other people to like what I did. But I pose the question to my past self, and to those who read this; Does it make anyone less of a fan of something if they like different bands or musicals than you?
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As bands age, their line ups change, sound is altered, and creative brains butt heads. It’s to be expected that people will prefer one era over another. I’ll give a daring example to illustrate. When Flyleaf replaced their famed front woman, Lacey Sturm with the relatively unknown Kristen May, a lot of fans were upset. “She’s not a real Christian”, “She doesn’t have the right voice for Flyleaf”. These are some of the comments May received upon releasing the one and done album, Between The Stars with the band in 2014. I was absolutely appalled. Here was this woman who has the most gentle soul I’ve ever seen in my life; a woman who’s voice was so angelic but lustrous at the same time. And the fan base totally rejected her. I myself actually thought May was a BETTER vocalist than Sturm (unpopular opinion I know). I could easily go on and say those that chastised May aren’t real fans of the band and should have supported the remaining original members. But despite my disagreement in assessment, I deem the critics as no less than me. They are equally as much a Flyleaf fan as I am.
When I first got into metal, I wasn’t interested in the classics. Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Slayer… that kinda stuff didn’t appeal to me. And if you remember the quote that started this blog entry, that’s not acceptable in some people’s eyes. So am I not a real metal head, or fan of metal, because I don’t listen to the bands that started the genre? I don’t think that would be fair. While I may share some of the same band interests as 15 year old girls who shop at Hot Topic, to discredit my love of metal is an insult.
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When I first heard ‘Ghost Flowers’ by Otep, I was shocked. I didn’t know what to feel. It was so different than the edgy Avril Lavinge I was listening to. The song begun with a gentle stroke of the guitar that was so haunting, then transcended into the growls Otep is known for. Otep was one of the first bands to make me feel understood. Their perfect description of depression on songs like ‘My Confession’ or ‘Blood Pigs’ made me feel things I didn’t know I could feel. And those songs are metal as fuck. If you don’t think so you can fuck off (jay kay, jay kay, that would totally contradict my point). Just because Otep may be different than Anthrax, Mayhem, or Metallica doesn’t make them any less metal. Nor does it make me any less a fan of metal.
I hope that one day guilty pleasures are a thing of the past. People should be able to like whatever the fuck they want, to whatever extension they want, without being told they’re not up to par. Music has the power to change lives, shift minds, and unite people. I don’t care if you know every B side Ozzy Osborne has put out, or are obsessed with Falling In Reverse’s “Losing my [insert noun here]” saga. You are a real fan if it makes you happy or just makes you feel something. There should be no prerequisites to being a fan of anything.