aimless conversations: like an intermission where the band keeps playing

Fan Culture

I just want to introduce this one quickly -- it's not an attack on anyone personal, it's just some observations that came about. I almost didn't post it, but it is a good read.

fangirl:
Random note on fan culture... I'm really only educated in Hanson's fan culture, but every now and then, I surf John Mayer forums, usually looking for stuff I will never find because they're just not as "obsessed" as Hanson fans are. Anyway, as a whole, Hanson fans are generally pretty well educated in the ways of rock 'n' roll history, especially our little space on the web, plus a proportion of us do have a sense of humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves and our band. John Mayer makes a Beatles joke in his new column for 'Esquire' and fans on forums are left scratching their heads, defending him by saying The Beatles are irrelevent in these times. I find this really strange, because his music is so influenced by important blues players like Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, people who were as important as The Beatles and still create impact today. Whenever Hanson fans are presented with an influence or favourite, we're all over it and instant experts within five minutes of the information going public. And where we laugh at jokes and slip-ups (remember the whole "f-ing rockstars" incident?) they don't seem to think its funny. We get seven year rough ride and still find reason to smile and cruise, they get four years of critical and public acclaim and are still bitter.

I doubted whether Hanson fans were in a league of their own when it came to being fans, because I figured that that's what music does to people, and not only Hanson's music does it to me. But after that, I'm beginning to this we're a wise bunch of "fishnet teenyboppers" indeed...

Just muttering aloud. *smiles*

littlenicola:
"The Beatles are irrelevant in these times"?!?!? Who the heck came up with that one? The vast majority of the groups around today wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Beatles. Everyone from Billy Joel to Ozzy Osbourne cites them as major influences. Hoo boy...I'd vent more, but I'm busy.

Hey, what was the Beatles joke that John Mayer made in Esquire?

RhythmicVenus:
John Mayer makes a Beatles joke in his new column for 'Esquire' and fans on forums are left scratching their heads.

I find this sad, but at the same time completely interesting. Why do John Mayer's fans not understand/know much about Rock History? Is there something about his music that draws a type of fan that just stopped wanting to learn about the past? Or is that what's happening in general today? Do "kids" not want to know about their parents music? Or are the parents not willing to teach their kids about their music because it promoted freethinking and, of all things, free sex? Have the "boomers" become too conservative to even pass on knowledge of the finer things in life, or do we blame the kids for not wanting to learn?

Just a general ramble of thoughts on this issue... I personally have no answers to my own questions...

RachaelUK:
Maybe Hanson has such a unique fan culture due to the uniqueness of the band?!

Or maybe because there songs have such great musical hooks, that you can't get them out - so you have to buy the next CD to add to the collection whizzing arround your head, else you'd go mad!! hee hee

Or maybe we are all mad crazy-beautiful people secretly from Albertane sitting in a bus stop in the middle of nowhere....

And now that they are signed to... themselves they can do everything in true Hanson style!!

Did you notice the humor?? lol

girlofGod:
I think, as a whole, the Hanson's have always been very passionate about their music but also music in general. They intentionally make a lot of connections with other bands and encourage their fans to do the same. For Hanson and Hanson fans alike, we've been brought up on the music. We've been enjoying the music and educated by the music with brilliant results.

I remember hearing John Mayer talk about that incident. He wrote that he didn't spend a whole lot of time listening to the Beatles while he was growing up. However, to call the Beatles irrelevant is a bit excessive. You may not be a huge Beatle fan but they are the innovators of the building blocks for modern music. Even today, their albums are recognized as timeless and the best ever created.

I hope their parents whip them into shape!

God bless you, me.

Sincerity:
I think Hanson fans, at least the majority of them, are MAD scary.

RadJill:
hanson fans aren't mad crazy were just devoted! hehehe

faerieclaire:
hanson fans aren't mad crazy were just devoted!

stop being nice. we're psychos. no doubt about it.

freshspringroll:
this isn't really music related, but if we're talking about 'fan obsession', the closest i've come to seeing fan culture on a hanson level is on some of the harry potter forums. oi, i'm serious. there are quite a few similarities between hanson and hp fans. www.sugarquill.net is an amazing site with some incredible authors. on the forums, they've got some awesome analysis on 'the order of the phoenix' - they've basically taken it apart chapter by chapter and discussed it so intelligently > which sometimes reminds me of how we pick apart most hanson songs and analyse them to death. plus hp fans are like hanson fans in the whole camping out/devotion business :)

but overall, i have to say that hanson fans are pretty unique. whenever hanson go on tv shows and stuff, the presenters always seem to say the same thing about how they don't experience this kind of madness from any other bands' fans, lol. i think most hanson fans have grown up with hanson, been educated by them even in some instances. there's certainly a lot of stuff i wouldn't know unless i was a hanson fan... maybe that's what makes us different? yet probably.... not!

uzma:
unless you like another band to the extent that you do hanson, then i guess you can do a comparision in regards to fan culture. i remember Ash G saying something like hanson.net forums is one of the most busiest communities ever, and ive wanted to look that up since he said it, im immersed into this world of hanson.net!!!

but i agree, there are a load of very very VERY obessessive people here, just as long as they dont harm themselves no others, then there's no foul. but when it comes to this, im sure there are other devoted fans just like us for other bands....

i feel like ive confused myself!! im definitly sure that im not sure of being sure!

dfs915:
Winona: I got curious too, so I looked up the article in Esquire with John Mayer's "Beatles joke". Here is the whole article (it's quite short) with the Beatles part bolded:

THE RESIDENT ROCK STAR: John Mayer
Monthly musings from our cultural advisor

by John Mayer | Jun 01 '04

Esquire has given me a third of a page to write whatever I please. Evidently it's bad form to sell it for ad space (sorry, Jim Ellis Ford and Mercury Dealers). So this month, I thought I'd share with you a new musician whose music's got me seriously worked up. But first, to gain your trust, a sampling of things I think I believe.

The White Stripes: I like them, but I don't see how they're in any way a manifestation of the blues.
The Neptunes: I could use their touch on my next record.
N.E.R.D.: Could use my touch on their next record.
The Beatles: I've missed too many episodes to follow the plot.
Kanye West: At last, hip-hop turns the hazards off and gets the flat tire fixed.
Ryan Adams: Wants it so bad, he became it.
John Mayer, Heavier Things : B minus. Am I the only one who finds this record creepy to make out to?

PUT THIS CD ON: Good albums come with learning curves, and great albums give you something good to chew on while you're waiting for dinner to cook. I find myself chewing on another song off Nellie McKay's debut record, Get Away from Me , about once every two days. While Joss Stone is busy being minted Miss Power of Suggestion 2004, this 19-year-old has quietly released one of the best albums of the year. Get Away from Me is a breakthrough album. It's also the kind of eclectic album that record companies don't traditionally have a clue what to do with. Based in jazz and borrowing heavily from musical theater, the environments are elaborately painted set pieces. Every melody— every musical event —is fully realized. In fact, there's more music in McKay's head than she knows what to do with. The next Joshua Tree it ain't , but 18 tracks on two discs ensure that if you can get past the fact that she raps without flinching on several songs, someday you'll get to hearing them all.

NEXT MONTH: Ways for lazy industry haters to get excited about the music again.

I find it sad that Mr. Mayer has not made the effort to get better acquainted with The Beatles' music, and seems to be using his age as an excuse. He's not THAT young. Anyone in the music industry would, I think, seek to understand the history of the type of music they perform, and I would think that Mr. Mayer owes a great debt to The Beatles, and probably an even greater one to Bob Dylan, who he doesn't even mention.

I'm very glad that Hanson, despite their youth, understand and acknowledge the music that came before them. That's just another reason to be proud of them.

fangirl:
I find it sad that Mr. Mayer has not made the effort to get better acquainted with The Beatles' music

Actually, I can relate. In 2002 and 2003, I was to analyse 'Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band', I was supposed to pull it apart and explain it. I did really bad on my exam (when you get a score below 20 out of 50, they don't tell you what you got. I never found out my score for music). But here, on these forums, I can explain things about Hanson songs that I never could about Beatles songs, because historical references are so important in analysis of contemporary music. We are living in the time of Hanson right now, and we know better than anyone else in time ever will about the impact that they are having on us. However, with The Beatles, we will never truly understand what impact they had on the 'Boomers. For the most of us, we just weren't alive in 1967. It's not something we can really help.

To me, John Mayer may have meant to be referring to his age, but the comment was made to stir up attention. I spent two weeks surfing websites before I saw him in concert to learn what took me seven years to learn about Hanson, and I managed to piece together that he is very savvy to this kind of exposure. What struck me was the fans reaction, they just did not have a clue... and this was on the forum that comes closest to this forum. THey have their own RR too... *LOL*

SomethingGrey:
I think Hanson fans are so devoted in a kind of - if they mention something we don't know about, we WILL look it up, and, for the most part, form our own opinions on it..whether that's the same as their opinions or not. And in that way, I think I might aswell have just skipped school and read every Hanson interview ever instead..

I'm sure though, that there are some other bands which have vaguely obsessive fans also, I think maybe it's just harder to spot, as we notice Hansons followings, with their fan club being online, but most bands just have the old fan clubs, so outsiders wouldn't necessarily notice.

Being obsessive though - the thing that springs into mind is Metallica. I think they're a great band, but.. they do have an extreme amount of obsessive followers - my friend for example pays Ł60 a year to be in their fan club.. and thinks it's a bargain when he get's gig tickets for under Ł100.. he works in all his free time so he can afford to go and see them, and has travelled to the states to see them a few times - and has a guitar Kirk Hammett through into the audience in a glass box in his room.. and I think he is rather educated, in that if you mention anyone who Metallica have had connections with or been influenced by, he can ramble for hours..

But Metallica have been around for so much longer than Hanson, so I think we do well by them

zeus22:
I don't consider myself to know a lot about music history, but I probably know more than I think I do. My parents are always listening to oldies stations and trying to make me guess who is singing. I can almost always get them right now.

One thing that gets Hanson fans interested in oldies is that Hanson performs a lot of old songs at their concerts, and they always list classic rockers as their major influences.

fangirl:
Have the "boomers" become too conservative to even pass on knowledge of the finer things in life, or do we blame the kids for not wanting to learn?

this kept me awake last night. *LOL*

i don't think the boomers are at fault, I really don't. my parents were always the first to jump on me if i was playing a cover song that they recognised. it's gotten to a point where i can beat them at their own game.

one think to take into consideration is that as hanson fans, if you're to take an average of ages, is that we're on the tail end of the children of baby boomers. i think of the little siblings i have here in sweden, they're 9 and 11, and they have no idea of the music that i like, while their parents' taste in music doesn't match up with my parents taste, it's a decade out.

*shrugs*

littlenicola:
Nyssa, if you want to learn more about Sgt. Pepper (or you may still have a bad taste in your mouth over it, who knows?), read this paper I wrote several years ago for my 20th Century Music class in college.

As for John Mayer's comment...I assume he was saying "I've only heard a few songs out of context, and I've never sat down and listened to the albums back-to-back" or something like that...but the first thing that came to mind was the Beatles cartoon, LOL!

RhythmicVenus:
if you're to take an average of ages, is that we're on the tail end of the children of baby boomers.

You know, your right... i didn't even take that into consideration...

faerieclaire:
i've been really bad about keeping up in here for the last week...particularly this post which is sad because it's so great. but i finally read through it today. some thoughts:

Have the "boomers" become too conservative to even pass on knowledge of the finer things in life, or do we blame the kids for not wanting to learn?

i don't blame the parents, i blame the children. if it's not new, it's not cool. if it hasn't been released in the last three months, it can't possibly be good music. take my brother of example. he's a 'hardcore' fan. thursday, thrice, coheed&cambria, etc. etc. i had "tiny dancer" on the other computer and was listening to it one day. he walks in and the following conversations ensues:

"what is this crap?"
"um, excuse me?"
"what are you listening to?"
"ELTON JOHN."
"yuck."
"yuck? are you kidding me?"
"stop listening to the crappy oldies."
"you wouldn't know good music if it hit you on the head."

i just sat there, in shock that my brother didn't understand how you can't call elton john crap. he has zero appreciation for the originals. no one seems to understand anymore that half the bands they listen to wouldn't exist if it weren't for earlier bands. it's all about the influence. but like you said, nyssa...i guess we're the tail end of the baby boomer children. oh what a sad little world we are going to live in...