Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Fan Wisdom//

It has been irritating me more and more lately, the attitudes or actions of the newer generation of Jrock fans.  I hate to promote myself as an elitist, but even I, who tamed my raging teenage hormones to the thought of some androgynous visual-kei singer on a regular basis, can see little connection between myself and younger fans.  For years now nothing more has annoyed me than someone half my age writing, "I miss Hide".  Really?  That's amazing to have such devotion in the womb.  I find that often these younger fans forget their place.  I really do not mean to say they belong in some lower social status, rather attempt to manipulate reason and reality.  The fact that I do not believe a girl from Wisconsin listened to Malice Mizer, when she was only three years-old, may just be a fault of my close-mindedness.  Whether I am to blame or not, it bothers me.

I was dragged to my first anime convention ever this year, to act as a personal translator so a friend could communicate with one of the guest Japanese bands.  My friend was not a fan, but sincerely enjoyed one of the member's previous bands.  This I respect.  When I went to the Q&A, I listened to dozens of teenagers exclaim their undying love for their favorite band.  This I do not respect.  The reason why is because I would bet my entire cd collection that no one in that room knew of the band, lest heard one of their songs until it was announced they would be performing (save for staff, of course).  The truth is, my friends, our convention is so small we get the Japanese equivalent of the local band to perform, despite what Tainted Reality tells you.  You should have probably realized it when you could only find a 100 hits off Google.  If not, then at the very least when they performed, right?  I forgot.  You only like them because they are Japanese.  I remember back in December leaving the GazettE's live at Tokyo Dome to be hounded by a legion of those local bands.  To even my surprise, a member from the band Luzmelt personally handed me a promotional flier and thanked me for being one of the few to accept it.  They performed at my hometown's convention less than a year before.  A friend of mine, a former staff member of the convention, informed me that they were paid $7000 for their time in the city.   Unfortunately for them, that $7000 also paid their airfare and hotel rooms.

My advice is this :
--Be honest to yourself and those around you.  By claiming to be something you are not, you are hiding yourself from what you could be.  Most people are going to see through your lies anyway.  My biggest pet peeve is when people claim to be a fan of an artist, but they only know a handful of songs all used in anime. 
--Share what you know and try to learn (continued from above).  People today have such a greater opportunity to learn about Japanese music than I did years ago.  By claiming to be the biggest fan of a band you hardly know anything about, you are killing your own learning opportunity.  If you have only recently been introduced to a band, ask to know more about them.
--Do not like anything for any reason other than it gives you pleasure.  Do not listen to a song because it is popular.  Do not listen to a song because a friend does.  Do not listen to a song simply because it belongs in a genre or its members are Japanese.  Listen because it means something to you.
--Remember that these artists are just as human as your or I, despite the fact most of them look like holograms.  Being so opposed to a band that you must bash them every opportunity you get is a waste of time.  If not for the fact they would be considered public figures, this could be considered harassment.  Likewise, declaring an artist your god and spending most of your time worshiping them might be a sign that your life's priorities might need a little more thought.

2 comments:

  1. So much of that. Yeah. It's like how some people tells me they like シド , then I ask "Oh? Which was your favorite album?!", and they tell me something retarded like:

    "Oh, I've only heard of two or three songs. I liked 'Rain'."

    Yeah, typical weeaboo fags liking Visual Kei bands only for their anime songs and not for their actual albums. Makes me rage so hard. I got into シド way before FMA: Brotherhood, actually, might have been a year before that even aired. People should respect themselves and the artists more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's bothersome because actual fans really do want to speak of their love for bands, but can't to someone who is so ignorant/closed off.

    ReplyDelete