There’s a distinct difference between people who like music and people who are rabid fans of bands. For the majority of the world, one hit wonders come and go, and if an artist releases a crappy album and disappears into obscurity, that’s just the way of the music business. Some will distinctly be happy or cranky about someone they liked going the wrong route or disappearing altogether. But then there are those whose existence depends on the output of their favorite musicians.
Perhaps that’s a bit melodramatic. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
When discussing teen stars, most artists and their fans grow out of their styles together. Nobody was devastated when New Kids on the Block stopped recording, and most of Britney Spears’ fans aren’t too torn up that she’s taken time off from performing to be a mother. Even the fans, who were once willing to lap up whatever these artists plunked to disc, have raised expectations as they and the performers mature. The cases throughout music history of artists who started out very young yet continued to progress their music career are slim if not limited to those with the last name Jackson. It certainly takes a gift to pull off cheesy teen pop and transition through hip young adulthood and further into mature contemporary music that grew parallel with their audience. Nobody expects it to happen that way.
Country musicians tend to be much more even-keel; most of their fans don’t want them to change, so they don’t, and they will continue to be successful for decades. If Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, or Willie Nelson records a record, their fans will know exactly what they’re getting, and they will be elated with the result. Experimentation isn’t welcomed, as Shania Twain has learned; tumult isn’t welcomed either, something the Dixie Chicks know all too well. By and large, sustaining a country audience is not difficult after initial fame. Some screw it up, but there’s not nearly the cycling present in rock or pop.
But rock is a different story from all of the above. Rock music of all levels is known for building two levels of fans: those who like the band enough to buy the album, and those who fall in love with the band and feel they have been personally affected by the music. For a textbook case, look at Metallica. You have those who enjoyed the Black Album and perhaps picked up another disc or two, content to call themselves Metallica fans along with many other bands. Then you have the die-hards, the Metallica fans who either love everything the band has touched or are quite literally angry at the band for everything they released after …And Justice For All and would give their left arm to hear them record something representative of the greatness of that period.
With Metallica in mind, what causes this reaction? There are many artists and bands still recording today who have been blessed with a super-devoted fanbase spanning decades: Rush, Slayer, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Dream Theater, The Cure, Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, and so on. There will always be The Who, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and other defunct bands who maintain their devoted audience long after their last recordings. All of these artists have changed over time, incorporated new elements, backtracked, and everything in between. Each have their fans who embrace every note they have ever played as well as those who became disgruntled somewhere along the way.
So you have some cranky fans. What typically causes this to happen? Usually it’s a stylistic change. Sometimes it’s a lineup change. Occasionally it’s the behavior of the musicians, from drawing political lines to embarrassing scandals. Again, see Metallica, whose fanbase changes can be attributed to all of the above. Typically, it’s just the first that causes disaffection, as most of a band’s fans became fans due to the music touching them in some special place.
There’s a security in having a favorite band, the one who can do no wrong in your eyes, aside from minor blips here and there. Take Queensryche’s devoted fanbase: there have been critical lineup changes, some piss-poor releases, and standoffish behavior from the musicians making waves in the press. Many dropped off the train long ago as things began to spiral downward. But they still have that fanbase that is willing to overlook all of the above because the music means that much to them. Even glaringly bad turns are nothing more than a gentle bump in the road because they believe in the band. To have that security shattered could be, on one end, as devastating as telling a child that there is no Santa Claus, or on the extreme end, losing one’s religion.
While this may sound crazy to those who don’t hit that depth of fandom, there are others who identify with this feeling quite deeply. Again, Metallica: at various points in their career, Metallica moved in wildly different directions, and each time it drastically altered their fanbase. With the Black Album, their sound shifted to such a commercial level that those fans who adored the complex themes and structures found on …And Justice For All and prior albums were left with a bad taste in their mouth. Yet plenty of fans accepted this change in direction, eager for the next step, most of whom were hoping that the band would take their new audience and bring more of their oldschool elements into the spotlight. Instead, they got Load, an album that sharply divided their fanbase and caused many to walk away in disillusion.
What was it about Load that hurt Metallica’s fanbase so badly? Mostly, it was emotional detachment. Scores of teenagers and young adults identified with “Fade To Black,” never mind the countless other songs which helped to vent their anger and frustration. Add to this the music style and the radical departure to verse/chorus/verse structures and outright crooning by James Hetfield and what you have is an entirely different band. It’s one thing to grow and change to keep from getting stale, but Metallica’s move was not so much innovative as it was a distinct move towards commercially accepted taste. Fans could get their fill of crippled non-angst in any direction, but they wanted Metallica. Re-Load only served to enforce that these older fans were not part of the band’s future vision, and many felt as one would feel if they were not invited to their best friend’s wedding.
This is before we even factor in the hypocrisy of Lars Ulrich going on the rampage against digital downloading; considering Metallica’s fanbase was built on tape trading (and much of Lars’ knowledge of the NWOBHM scene was also due to tape trades), this only added to the image that Metallica had turned into money-hungry rock stars who didn’t care about their fans at all. Not much of this was fixed with the damage of Some Kind of Monster, the documentary of the band that served to even further amplify the image of spoiled rotten brats who couldn’t get along without the help of an overpaid therapist. Do we even need to pile on the effect of Jason Newsted walking away from the band, or the atrocity that was St. Anger? Yet they do maintain a more-than-healthy fanbase, if not a lot of hangers-on who are still crossing their fingers in the background waiting for the band to wake up and regain their magic.
Maybe it’s the hangers-on that are the most peculiar of all the fans mentioned thus far, and make up a class of music aficionados that many can’t comprehend. Their favorite band has, time and time again, proven that they are no longer the band that was your favorite. However, these people can’t come to terms with this. It’s almost like the long-ago days of the Christian churches that stubbornly did not want to accept that the Earth was not flat. The evidence is there and all of the signs of the complete and total obvious are everywhere; however, to accept this means a radical reevaluation of one’s entire foundation. It’s much simpler, easier, and safer to decry the obvious and stick with what one knows and is comfortable knowing.
It’s only the die-hards who understand this feeling. Scores of “music fans” are rolling their eyes at this and moving on to the next thing that sounds good. Die-hards are ready to argue back about not giving up on a band that still has time to redeem themselves. Those mega-fans who have gone through this experience multiple times are sighing and dragging their feet, trying to move on but still giving band members dirty looks whenever they appear.
What’s the proper reaction for a fan when a band turns wayward? The healthy thing would be to continue to enjoy the old records while moving on to something more suited to their taste. It’s easier said than done as accepting the divorce of the band they once loved is just that — coping with divorce. So many good times, so hard to let go. But it can be done, and although many may not understand why, it’s something that really should be done for the happiness of all involved.
Or one could stop being such a music geek and invest their devotional attitudes into something more rewarding. Right.
So I dub thee unforgiven,
–gloomchen
