A funny thing happens on the way to success.
Why is it that when a band becomes “mainstream”, their original fans start to hate them?
Let’s listen to their conversations.
“They used to be great until I heard them on the radio.”
“They were awesome, but they’re getting too big now.”
“I used to like them back in 2004, but they sold out.”
Sound familiar? That is the sound of the person who looks down on you, solely because s/he heard of Band XYZ before you. “Jeez, that song is so old to me!”
I don’t think these people start hating the band because their music radically changes. It’s because once the band achieves mainstream fame, their exclusive clique of heard-of-them-before-everyone-else is destroyed, annihilated and blown to pieces. They lose their early-adopter power, and it hurts them so deeply that the only psychological recourse is to show disdain for the band.
Instead of hanging around the now overcrowded fan club and looking like “just another fan”, they will instead turn their back on the band they once worshipped, looking for the next big thing to be smug about.
“I knew the dog before he came to class.” - Milhouse Van Houten
May 17, 2007 on 8:52 pm
I liked Borat before liking Borat was the thing to do.
June 5, 2007 on 3:08 pm
I didn’t like Hot Hot Heat when I saw them playing in school gymnasiums…and I still don’t like them.
July 6, 2007 on 5:46 am
So true… it’s the exclusiveness that gives people the loyalty to the band. I mean, if you like something that the entire world also likes, it makes you seem too generic, like everyone else.
Yet I would wonder, if a certain band becomes famous, would this make them want to alter their music a bit so as to capture more audience and thus diminish their uniqueness in terms of their music writing ?
I love your blog by the way…