You can't like that! I like that!

Cafe Society
1

Does anyone else feel, like me, that once something that you are fond of enters the mainstream, then it loses its appeal for you?

This stems from the current Johnny Cash revival; I’ve been a fan of The Man in Black for many years… Since hearing him on tv one night, I fell in love with his style, and collected several albums and watched many performances on tv. I’m a big fan. Now, however, since his death and especially since Walk the Line came out, more and more people claim to be “Johhny Cash fans”. No, you are not. You were bamboozled by blanket media advertising, and were told, didnt decide, but were told that Jonnhy Cash was a great singer, you should like him. How do I know that you didnt come to this decision? When asked what your favourite Cash album is, you reply “The best of Johhny Cash”. Then anytime I am heard humming a Cash song, or say I am a Cash fan, you turn around and tell me, “You must have seen that movie, right”? Wrong pal. I form my own opinions. But you really are taking the good out of it for me.

I’m sure that ten years ago, Lord of the Rings fans felt the same… The had a great respect for the books, and felt part of a society, a clan if you will, of people who knew and respected this material. A bit cliquey, but hey. Cut forward, one of the biggest movie series of all time, now everyone on the street is like, SO the biggest 'rings fan, totally. Oh, you like lord of the rings, eh? Pity there was no sign of Tom Bombadil, though, right? Uh, Tom who? What movie were you watching, dude? Once things like this really hit the mainstream, I feel like I lose part of its appeal in the first place… If something you like is very personal to you, and forms part of your personality, then what happens when it hits the mainstream BIG TIME? I feel, that you lose part of your personality. And believe me, I aint got that much personality to begin with.

There have been several things over the years like this, primarily I feel in the comic-to-movie transitions… When Hellboy, and Sin City, Constantine etc. hit the big screen. You claim to be a Sin City fan, because you have been reading the comics for years. A week after the movie opens, you claim to be a Sin City fan, and you are no longer in the minority… People see you as just another guy who paid his ten bucks to see a movie because he thought the trailer was cool.

Think of it as your favourite restaurant… Quiet, peaceful, great food, great atmosphere, the best kept secret in town. The chef knows your name. Next thing, new manager steps in, lowers prices, advertises more… You show up one night and cant get a table. Its selfish, I know, to wish that something wasnt so succesfull just so you could remain in a little “Club” with a few others that got in on the ground floor, but at the same time… It does piss me off.
Bub

2

No, it’s completely different than a favorite restaurant that now you can’t get a table at, because someone buying a “Best of Johnny Cash” album doesn’t make it more difficult for you to play your personal Johnny Cash albums. You have exactly the same experience as before, your iPod works just the same as before, except now people agree with you that Johnny Cash is great.

3

I used to feel that way…in HIGH SCHOOL. I’ve grown up and gotten over it since then. Maybe you should too.

4

Yikes. Who pissed on your chips?

I feel that once my interests become part of the mainstream, it lessens my enjoyment of said interest. I no longer feel like an individual, just another one of the cattle. I know I’ve used bad examples in the OP (its not like I was the first Cash fan ever, or the first to read LOTR), but doesnt anyone else get this? Another time I have felt this was back when Radiohead first appeared… I was a big fan, but once they hit the mainstream, songs on the radio every five minutes… It just lost its appeal to me.
Ditto Oasis, Franz Ferdinand etc… etc…

5

Why not get a LiveJournal page to moan about it, like the rest of the 15-year-olds? Frankly, if people get into stuff I like (music, movies, comic books, etc), it makes me happy to see that people are sharing in my good taste, especially when it can help out the musicians, writers, artists, and so on. To me, your argument is as immature and groundless as the lamest of all music fans, the ones who turn around and accuse their favorite bands of “selling out” when they achieve some mainstream success, when you should be happy for them reaching a larger and more diverse audience, and starting to be financially compensated in turn.

6

I did this when I was in high school, but no, I don’t do that. The closest I’ll get is thinking fondly of the days that Death Cab For Cutie = “Band with a strange name who no one knew,” rather than = “complaining indie boys on the O.C.,” - but even with them I’m pleased they’ve found success and Fox teen dramas have found good music.

I’ll help you out with some of your accusations, though:

I form my opinions, too. I like some Johnny Cash. I like Johnny Cash because I’ve heard more of his music recently, and I decided I thought some of what I heard was good. This was a slow process that begun with the American recordings - I had to see what all the fuss with “Hurt,” was about, and continued in the normal means by which I discover music - through friends, reviews and recommendations. I’m not sure why you’d get so upset because I arrived later in the game than you did.

I lie Lord of The Rings. The movies. The books need a good edit. I remember Tom Bombadil from the time I tried to read FOTR, though - years before the movies came out. I can’t say the FOTR filmer was poorer for his omission. So LOTR fans who feel like I’m jumping on a bandwagon - well, no, someone just made something good out of the raw material.

Yep, that’s me. I’d never heard of it until I saw the trailer, and I wanted to see the movie because I like noirish flicks and attractive film. And Jessica Alba. And what’s wrong with that? I don’t read graphic novels, how the hell should I have been up on Sin City?

7

There’s a certain cache of exclusivity to appreciating an artist that is not widely known.
But to the extent that it bothers you when they DO become known, to that extent your appreciation of them was more due to the exclusivity than to an honest appreciation.

In other words, if popularity can make you drop them, you never liked them in the first place; you just liked the exclusivity.

8

By the way, I never read the Lord of the Rings novels until the movies came out. Before that, I was aware of their existence, but they were completely under my cultural radar because I wasn’t into fantasy fiction. I loved the movies as the big male-bonding epic spectacles they were, but when I tried reading the books, I was let down. I didn’t care for Tolkien’s ponderous prose, and I think the changes Jackson and the writers made for the movies were uniformly terrific choices (getting rid of the old hippie Tom who bogged down the forward motion of the plot, injecting some much-needed comic relief, and so forth). Go ahead and hate me now, but I stand by my comments.

I also stand by all the people who saw the Sin City, Hellboy, and Constantine movies (and the superhero movies too) and said “Boy, those were cool. Can you recommend me some comics to buy now, since I enjoyed the movies so much and want to see where they came from?”

9

I feel it too, sometimes, and it’s not because I’m stuck in some high school mindset. I guess it depends on the sort of people who like the band, movie, whatever and how it effects what I like. Case in point: Napoleon Dynamite was a sweet little movie that became a cult hit among annoying teens (many of these “fans” thought the point of the movie was to mercilessly mock Napoelon), so there has been endless quoting and it has kind of ruined it for me. Same thing happens when an indie band I like has a song on The O.C. and is suddenly getting Teen Beat interviews and pull-out posters.

On the other hand, there are plenty of shows and songs I actively promote to everyone I know e.g. **Arrested Development **. I would love it if millions of people watched.

10

No one did, I would imagine, but your attitude is a very immature one. To me, liking things only because they’re unpopular or niche is no better than jumping on the latest popular trend.

11

Excellently put.

I always loved “obscure” stuff - if and when it hits the mainstream, I’m thrilled. Now, I have a much easier time finding the things I like, and people don’t look at me as though I’ve got two heads when I ask them about it. What a thrill to find out, “Yeah, we just got that CD/movie/book in, there’s about twenty copies”, so my search has conveniently been shortened, and I’m not paying extravagent shipping fees to have some rare CD with two songs imported. I own a $60 USD Blur CD single with three songs on it because of this. What a waste - the songs were good, but not $60 good. :frowning:

I’m always happy to discuss something I love with people who are new to the scene, for whatever reason they got turned on to the same things that turn me on.

12

Who isn’t proud to say “I knew about that before they made a movie” or something similar? I bet just about everybody on this board could say something like that about something or other. I don’t see anything wrong with priding yourself on being ahead of the pack. But to stop liking something just because other people do? That’s just immature.

13

It doesn’t lessen my liking any for something that I enjoy to suddenly become popular. It does, however, irritate the heck out of me for people to assume that I like it because everybody else does, because it’s the lastest trend.

For instance, I’ve liked pinot noir for 20 years. The next waiter who sneers at me for ordering a glass of something trendy is going to be wearing it.

14

Thanks.

The attitude expressed in the OP really gets on my tits. I received white label promos–no artwork, just artist name and track listings; pre-release–when I was writing music reviews, of (for a couple examples), Fiona Apple’s first album, and Coldplay’s first album. I loved them both. Loved them a lot. They were both in my top ten for their respective release years. In the intervening years, many “cool” people have looked down their noses at me because I didn’t stop liking them when they became popular. It’s funny that the first people to assume you like an artist solely because they’re popular are exactly the people who dislike an artist based solely on their popularity.

Hate that shit.

15

OK?

I bought my first pair of Birkenstocks in 1982; hardly anyone I knew had ever heard of them. I had to import them from Germany for several years. I’ve never worn anything else since. For a while in the late 80s, early 90s, Birks became something of a fashion statement. Suddenly everyone thought I was trying to be cool by wearing Birkenstocks! Imagine! Of course it occurred to me to quit wearing them, but then I was like, why the HELL should I do that? Ever since, that’s been my philosophy. If it’s something that I like, I try not to let popularity influence it one way or the other.

16

And once again I agree with everything Ana says.

17

Eh, people such as the OP are only into obscure artists because it’s the current hot trend to be into obscure artists.

18

About the only obscure artist I liked that got massively popular after I found it was the Pink Floyd. I thought that Dark Side of the Moon was basically watered-down Floyd (I bought it the week it came out) and knew it would be more popular than their earlier work. I can’t say I begrudge the fame, though – Wish You Were Here was back to their usual level and their later stuff is still pretty good.

19

I agree… and also, in addition, while it is silly to dislike something you liked because it became popular, if you dislike the people who just jumped on (and act like they were always on board… though I stress that isn’t everyone who gets on the bandwagon), that’s different.

20

I’m a Radiohead fan. It’s a hard life for us (mostly privileged and white) boys, girls, and others in the fan army. They’re one of those bands people think it’s funny to be nasty about, which is a backlash entirely predictable when looking back at the ridiculously overzealous critical acclaim OK Computer received. It’s also because they’re one of those bands whose fans, such as myself, can start to look a little intense and weird around the eyes whenever the topic comes up. It’s true. I admit it; it’s totally true. I’m not the type to push things on people, but if you bring it up, I might have some things to say.

Actually, it’s much worse than you even imagine. I’ll let you in on it a little: we used to hang out on IRC and play one of those games where you have to name something starting with the first letter of the last item played, only with all RH related stuff. And that’s kind of tame. A friend of mine and I used to spend hours decoding lyrics from bad live recordings of nonsensical songs. (It’s “the first of the children”, goddamnit, Jared, it is and it ever will be). Another one was obsessed with a member of the band, and we’d have conversations that…well, I feel like I’ve glimpsed into the mind of a stalker, though I know he’d never go there. I grew out of doing stuff like that a few years ago, but as a result, I always kind of like a person who’s just a little bit too into something good. I guess that’s why all my friends are True Fans of something.

So what I mean to say is that I know from deranged fans. And I have to say that not a single one I know has ever complained about the band’s success, or popularity when they happen to be in favor. Yeah, we get sick of hearing about “Creep”. But we don’t hate it. Because we love this music (not all of it, not without reason, but the bulk of it), and we think it is the good stuff, and we want to share it with everyone. Okay, I stink of patchouli all of a sudden. Enough.

I’m with lissener. If it can be made to look cheap just by pulling the “RARE” sticker off it, you were probably taken for a ride.