In the mood for some top-notch homemade guacamole, a woman enters a supermarket to pick up some ripe avocados. Excited to see another avocado lover, a man wearing an avocado T-shirt approaches the woman and inquires about her plan for the avocados. The woman discloses that she plans to use the avocados for guacamole, her favorite dish. The man scoffs, and, before he saunters off, says, “You’re not a real avocado fan, and it’s so annoying when people claim to love avocado but only eat it in mainstream dishes like guacamole. I bet you haven’t even heard of avocado ice cream.”
Of course, this example is a little extreme, as it’s not every day that you come across someone who claims to love a fruit more than another person, but the self-proclaimed kings and queens of music fandoms present this same ridiculous, pompous attitude and illogical argument.
While it’s possible that avocado ice cream could be delicious, a person does not have to like every single dish avocado has ever been in to claim to like avocados. In fact, if a person consumes a dish with avocado in it and enjoys the taste and texture, it’s safe to say that person likes avocados. Equally, a person does not have to listen to the full discography of a band before they can finally declare themselves a fan. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a fan is “a person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular person or thing.” So if a person likes a band’s music enough to call him- or herself a fan, even if it’s just its most popular song, he or she strongly admires the band’s sound and hard work; ergo, he or she is a fan of that band.
Music fandoms are toxic environments only available to those who claim the band’s most obscure songs as their favorites just to show off, while ostracizing and ridiculing those who can only list a few popular tracks. But, while people shouldn’t really judge other people on their taste in music in general, it’s especially unfair to judge someone’s level of interest in a musician according to how well he or she can recite the lyrics to every song in the musician’s first album. It’s a fandom, not a cult, and unless the musicians mind, which for the most part I highly doubt they do, fans certainly shouldn’t.
Musicians create music with the hope that it will reach and impact as many people as possible. Many modern bands and musicians intentionally release tracks as singles and heavily promote them, so I’m pretty sure the artists hope that a lot of people will listen to that track and like it. If Adele didn’t want “Hello” to become as big as it is, she wouldn’t have promoted it as much as she did, nor would Lorde have done the same with “Royals.” Considering the considerable amount of effort musicians put into creating music videos and live TV performances for their most popular songs, it’s perfectly OK to admit to liking them and to claim those songs as your favorite.
While I’m sure musicians might feel flattered if a fan admits that his or her favorite song is an unreleased track performed live once that the musician didn’t even choose to include in his or her album, it’s just as validating to tell the musician that his or her favorite track is actually the song that has been playing every day on the radio for months. While I agree that, in some cases, obscure, lesser heard tracks can sometimes be the strongest tracks in an artist’s discography, that’s based on my music taste, and everyone’s taste in music is different. Besides, the fact that Radiohead and Nirvana have some excellent songs that people rarely ever recognize, “Creep” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” are still excellent tracks, and no one should be mocked for admitting that these are his or her favorite songs. They’re
popular because they’re meaningful songs that people relate to, and musicians just want their art to be appreciated, period.
As long as a person is willing to support a musician’s growth, either by spreading the music to other potential fans or by purchasing the musician’s merchandise and albums, regardless of how much or little they do, that person is a fan. It has nothing to do with quantitative measures, such as how many songs a person knows or how many albums a person has from that artist in his or her collection. To qualify as a fan, the artist’s music has to mean something to that person and inspire him or her to financially or verbally support the work.
Instead of worrying about how much of a fan everyone else is for his or her favorite band or musician, a person should focus on him- or herself and his or her connection with the music. Everyone else’s connection with the band and its music is their business, not the person’s. If a person really cares about promoting the lesser-known tracks that he or she believes deserve attention, instead of pushing others down for not knowing the tracks, he or she should share it with them and hope they like it.
If fans really care about the continued growth and success of their favorite bands and musicians, they should be less snobby and more inclusive and open to other fans, regardless of familiarity with the discography.
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