{"id":818,"date":"2011-09-16T00:28:17","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T05:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=818"},"modified":"2011-10-13T09:31:11","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T14:31:11","slug":"whats-the-matter-with-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2011\/09\/16\/whats-the-matter-with-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the matter with rock fans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rock ‘n’ roll is splintered, pushed out by mainstream collector culture.<\/span><\/h2>\n

By\u00a0Jon Smiley<\/h2>\n

Rock ‘n\u2019 roll has effectively been phased out of the mainstream.\u00a0 By my estimation the last time a new (to the mainstream audience) rock band dominated the commercial airwaves it was 2009 and \u201cSex is on Fire\u201d was driving most everyone crazy.\u00a0 As far as I can tell, before the Kings of Leon hit the mainstream airwaves, people praised them as a Southern-rock version of the Strokes. I hadn\u2019t heard a single song, only the buzz that had been generated off their first three albums. Once they hit it big and \u201cUse Somebody\u201d was on the local Cox\/Clearchannel pop station four times an hour, most of the indie crowd treated the Kings of Leon like \u201cHappy Days\u201d after the Fonz had jumped the shark.\u00a0 Their indie credibility had been yanked out from underneath them and generally they traded respect for fame.<\/p>\n

Does this have to happen?\u00a0 Can a band appeal to the masses while still garnering the respect of the critics?<\/p>\n

With the internet it seems that rock has spliced into a thousand small niches while rap has coalesced into one entity. (No more East Coast\/West Coast, everyone is a featured artist on one another\u2019s LP. \u00a0See: Kanye\u2019s dark fantasies, etc.). The marketplace for innovative rock is online through a radio website (like KJHK or KEXP) or through word-of-mouth blogs.<\/p>\n

In a way, liking a band before it gets too big has replaced the sense of ownership that you used to get when you purchased a CD at a store.\u00a0 \u201cThis is my band, I spent to time and effort to love this band\u201d rather than \u201cthis is my band, I spent my hard-earned money to support them.\u201d \u00a0This produces an aristocracy to the fanbase. I would guess that this system would make someone feel good because they are the most informed, the fastest.\u00a0 This is probably the same logic that makes someone write \u201cFIRST!\u201d as a comment on a YouTube video.<\/p>\n

As a casual fan of indie music, I\u2019m very familiar of this mindset.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s a race to the bottom that leaves most parties unsatisfied.\u00a0 But it\u2019s just a part of the scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I went and saw a show this weekend of my new pet band,\u00a0 the Love Language (their singles:\u00a0Lalita<\/a>, and\u00a0Heart to Tell<\/a>).\u00a0 They are the band that I defend in drunken arguments and hope that one day they\u2019ll get the wide audience I think they deserve.\u00a0 When they started out, I was one of a handful of people who saw them at the Jackpot in 2008. I shouted at them to play the only song I was sure was there\u2019s. \u00a0They were startled that anyone knew who they were, I think.\u00a0 They invited me to get on stage and play tambourine for their encore and then I bought them drinks afterwords and eavesdropped on them complaining about how little money they were making (at the time they had seven members, the next two times I saw them they had four).\u00a0 As a fan it was great to have a personal human interaction with a band that I love; \u00a0it was my equivalent of playing pickup at the student rec with the KU basketball team in the offseason.<\/p>\n

The next time I saw them, they had gotten signed to Merge Records and released a new album with the label.\u00a0 At this concert, they had an audience of approximately 45 people.\u00a0 I yelled requests at them and to my surprise they recognized me,\u00a0 but that was about the extent of our interaction.<\/p>\n

This past weekend I saw them for the third time.\u00a0 The club was packed with about 300 people there.\u00a0 I was pushed to the back of the throng.\u00a0 They played all the songs I loved along with a few new promising\u00a0 ones.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t yell to get attention and they didn\u2019t recognize me.\u00a0 At the end of the set they invited some other drunken guy to play tambourine during their encore.\u00a0 The more the bands grow into bigger audiences, the less the music\u00a0 belongs to you.<\/p>\n

That way of treating music is flawed; it treats music as a form of currency.\u00a0 I disagree with it, but I also understand it.\u00a0 But nothing can stop me from thinking that I\u2019m glad that a lot of people saw the Love Language this weekend and enjoyed the music.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that they\u2019re making enough money to support touring and provide each of their members some pocket change.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that I brought them up in casual conversation and a co-worker knew who the band was.\u00a0 I do worry, though, that if they reach the level of fame that the Kings of Leon attained, they\u2019ll be cannibalized by the same fanbase that nurtured the band up to fame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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