Last night, I was writing about Sharon Van Etten in the Last Night’s Gig thread and I found myself umming and ahhing about whether or not I could reasonably call myself a ‘fan’ of hers. She’s written and recorded a number of songs I truly love, I own several of her albums, and I’ve now seen her perform live…but does the word ‘fan’ suggest a level of dedication beyond that? Or has my perception just been warped by modern-day stan culture?
I’m interested in people’s opinions on this, so here are some polls…
How many bands / artists would you call yourself a ‘fan’ of?
None
Just one or two
A select few (say 3 – 12)
A slightly less select few (say 13 – 23)
Dozens
Hundreds or more
0voters
‘I’m a fan of that band’ means more than simply ‘I like what I’ve heard of their music’
Agree
Disagree
On the fence
0voters
Tick all that apply: I don’t consider myself a ‘fan’ of a band unless I have…
Listened to most of their recorded output
Spent money on their music
Seen them live
Bought their merch
Learned the names of the band members
Familiarised myself with their story
Memorised their lyrics
Interacted with other fans
Followed the band on tour
None of the above! I can be a fan without doing any of these
Fan is/was originally a shortening of ’fanatic’ but yeah, it has been very watered down and is interchangeable with basic social media followers, likers & casual consumers of stuff (whether merch, streams or other content)
We need a new word
Unrelated sidenote: ’fan’ is also Swedish for ’fuck’ - not in the sex context, but in the expletive sense ie ’vad fan är det här?!’ = ’what the fuck is this?!’
To be a ‘fan’ you don’t need to do any of this, but personally to say I ‘love’ a band, they are one of my favourites etc, I would apply most of that criteria, or it would just happen. Perhaps not knowing all the member names and backstory post my teens though.
Fan is one of the lower levels of liking an artist to me - basically are you in their fanbase or not, and I think that’s an easy answer if you buy their music and check their new albums and see them live
I’d probably just say I love this band or they’re one of my favourites for the handful I want to elevate above the rest
In terms of kpop, I’m a casual listener if I like a few songs, and a proper fan if I’ve taken the time to learn their names/know more about the group members etc bc kpop content is a lot more than just music. Also if I’m willing to pay the £100+ it costs for tickets. For kpop I would say I feel this way about 5 groups. For groups outside of kpop (and jpop) I can be a fan without knowing their names etc because it’s different to kpop, like I love Built to Spill’s music but tbh I can’t remember anyone’s name but the frontman. My criteria for being a fan outside of kpop is do I like their music a lot? And that’s it. I have bands who I love their older music but don’t listen to anything new but still consider myself a fan and would see them live if they included songs I know and like, like Green Day. Idk what they’ve released since 2008 but consider myself a fan because I still enjoy their older music, though not nearly as much as I used to
I am very squeamish about the word fan or being too enthusiastic about a band fully. It’s a real problem. Like I’m scared to fully commit to something - not just in terms of music to be honest.
“I’m more likely to say I really like album x, album y was a bit ropey but they’re decent, aye.”
Just pathetic wishy washy behaviour, really. Why am I like this? Full throated commitment in the future, please.
For my part, I can think of roughly 20 acts of whom I would feel comfortable calling myself a fan. I feel like I’m claiming to have a certain amount of knowledge when I say ‘I’m a fan of this band’ so I hesitate to do so if, for example, I haven’t gone back and checked out the stuff they released before I got into them (as is the case with Sharon Van Etten).
In short, I think I equate ‘fan of’ with ‘authority on’ which seems a bit daft now that I put it like that.
If I’m listening to them regularly, like them a lot, maybe I’ve bought an album and/or gig ticket then I’m probably a fan
I always know when I’ve gone from a casual fan of a band to big fan when I find I know who all the band members are and when people have joined and left (not as in deliberately learning but I’ve been curiously reading their wikipedia page enough for the information to have sunk in)
Watching fan culture develop has fairly put me off wanting to develop parasocial relationships with anything. I will happily wear your t-shirt but I’m very wary of identifying myself as a fan of any band.
I would call myself a baseball/Red Sox fan, but a larger organization like that can more healthily sustain a hobbyist-level interest cause the season is long and the storylines to follow are near infinite. But turning that commitment on a four person band or whatever would be weird. I don’t need or want to know every last detail of your drummer’s life.
Also there’s just too much music for me to fully obsess over groups, even the ones I listen to most.
