BY MIKEY MIGO
We all know those people. You know, the ones who are living clichés. The ones who you can take one look at and know exactly the style of music they lean towards. In most cases, it's not so bad. For music fans you can sorta just tell by the type of person. That doesn't make someone a bad person, just a little obvious.
There are a lot of us who have their own thing going and it makes it rough to figure out. Still, odds are we're oblivious in our own "I am an individual" mindset and blindly don't see ourselves for what we are. We are living genres on some level of musical fandom. If you see an older scruffy guy with long hair, a leather jacket, and a Harley then odds are he's a fan of AC/DC. Again, that doesn't make someone less likeable or less of a person, just a little obvious.
What confuse me are those who devote their LIFE to a music genre. If you're not THAT guy, then you know that guy. These are the people who live out their lives in some sort of homage to a certain musical style or trend. So much that their fan base seems like a cult that you have to be initiated into. So much that you consider it a task to give the band a chance and sometimes down right a war against it. Music is easy to forget and avoid if you don't like it, but when it's flaunted in your face by a cult community of fans it began to become something you stand against.
There are plenty of fan bases like this. So many that I know I'll leave out some of the obvious ones. And I accept the fact that someone will STILL comment that I am crazy for not mentioning (place band I don't care about here). Any who, here's some of the fan bases that have irked me or has turned me off from a band:
Insane Clown Posse - Juggalos
I know I take a lot of cheap shots at ICP fans, but the Juggalo community is ridiculous! It's one thing to like a band and even love a band's music, but I've seen way too many Juggalos present their musical tastes to the world as if they're seeking some sort of rebellious acceptance. It's the diehard Juggalos who go around public places shouting "Woot! Woot!" or "JUG-GAL-OOOO!" as if it's some sort of GED mating call. The ones who paint their face up to go to the mall. The ones who don't own any clothing that doesn't have the Hatchet Man logo on it. I could go on, but this specific breed of Jugga-robot brings down the entire community and makes the stereotype that we non-Juggalos use as our artillery in this war.
Christian Rock
Have you seen those infomercials where the really passionate clean cut people put their hands in the air and sing along to a boringly over sung Christian Rock song? Admit it, you laugh. We all do. It's silly. I went to a Catholic school for nearly a decade of my life and that didn't stop me from exploring the awesome secular side of music. To me, Christian and Rock shouldn't go together in the same sentence unless it's an old passage about stonings or something. The idea of a rock band focusing on Christian views takes EVERYTHING that is rock out of the music. It's "SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL", dammit. There's plenty of rockstars out there who are still good people who make music that's outside of the church's guidelines of morality. What's weird about it is that some of these bands rip the sound style off a non-Christian band and change the words to "God is love for all" instead of something like "I will watch you fall". Branch and out listen to the music around you. If you accidentally hear something "bad", don't worry because "God is forgiving"…right?
The Grateful Dead/Phish/Dave Matthews followers
There's people who follow some jam/jam-esque bands for months on tour. How do these people support themselves? It seems it's either part-time hippie/full-time yuppies using their expendable cash to relive their glory days. That or young hippie kids who are trying to relive the lives of the generation they're yearning to be. It's one thing to go to a show or two and have a good time, but to follow a band on an extensive tour is a bit excessive and obsessive. I don't get it. Is it like a Woodstock every night? I can't imagine this not getting boring or destroying ones finances after a few weeks.
Emo/Indie Kids
When a band is in Rolling Stone, on MTV, or performing on a talk show that comes on before Carson Daily then they're NOT indie. If a band is selling CDs in a retail store like Best Buy then they AT LEAST have a distribution deal. That's not independent anymore no matter how good it makes you feel to consider the music to be "an alternative". I understand that it can also mean "indie style" music, but instead it's just mostly soft rock sung by people with the same clothes you wear. I lump emo with this group because I can and because it seems like the right fit. These are the most "scene-iest" of all the music "scenes" these days. Luckily, these are trends more than permanent genre structures (let us pray on this one) and as soon as something more "hip" comes along it'll be a whole new playing field.
KISS fans/Kiss Army
Paint up your face, get on some leather, and suck in the beer gut. This one is entertaining. Sure Kiss had some commercial rock anthem hits in the past, but they are treated like GODS by some of their hardcore fans. These fans are being taken advantage of by the money hungry Gene Simmons. He doesn't see a crowd of fans who support his music, but dollar signs. Have you heard of some of the KISS merchandise and shit out there? C'mon, now. I think the situation here is that KISS is not getting any new fans. They're sticking with a die hard fan base who'll buy anything and everything with KISS on it as long as their alive. Then when they're dead, they'll get the KISS coffin.
Top 40 Rock Fans
This is the Nickelback, Staind, and other "medium rock" bands. This is the music a "classy dive bar" plays. You go inside for a cheap rum and coke and before you know you've just heard a series of Bon Jovi, Nickelback, and Three Doors Down songs. These bands start off with as much edge and balls as they'll EVER have. Then as their music is bought and paid for the bands take out multiple mortgages on their sold souls. The people who ONLY listen to this type of music seem to be very vanilla and lack much personality. I'm not even sure if anyone likes this music without having alcohol in their system. I'm not even sure these dart playing people even like music, but go with whatever is popular or sad at the bar just so they don't feel weird for not having an answer.
If you like certain music, cool. But stand on your own two feet and be your own person outside of a segregated community. Music is art. Once you let someone else's art take over your life it's not YOUR life anymore. Variety is the spice of life. Utilize it!
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