I thought this might make an interesting topic. We all have bands that we like, then our favorite bands, then those one or two special bands that we go crazy with fanboyism over.
For me that band is Spoon. They were one of the first bands that led me away from mainstream over two and a half years ago and they've stayed one of my favorites the whole time. I love all of their albums and have even drove 3 hours by myself to Memphis to see them play live.
So what about you guys? Do you have that one band that you cannot get enough of?
I have been married for eight years, and I met my husband by writing him a fan letter. Yes, it's true. I was a student at UCLA studying English and American literature, and he was my favorite songwriter and artist. I had all of his band's CDs, and I had attended two of their live shows.
I was a FAN in the truest sense. I fell in love with his lyrics and music, and I'm still in love with him today.
I am too old to have that kind of reaction to anyone anymore! But certainly the number one band obsession of my life was The Smiths. I remember buying all their singles and albums, on vinyl, as they were released, seeing them live several times on the Meat is Murder and then the Queen is Dead tours, and generally hanging on Morrissey's every pronouncement. I still think they are hands down the best British band of the past 25 years.
I've driven 8 hours to see Paul Westerberg and flew to Minneapolis last year for the Karl Mueller cancer benefit. I guess I'm still fanboyish for my Minnesota homies...
It depends how obsessed you have to be to be considered a 'fanboy'.
If I am a fanboy for any band it would be the White Stripes. I even think their debut s/t album is good, and I might rank the four others in my top 50 albums.
But..I don't champion them to everyone and get pissed when someone doesn't like them, and there are a few various Stripes tracks I don't like. And I wouldn't go way out of my way to see them live.
Now THIS is a topic. I'm always interested when posters accuse others of being a fanboy as if it is a bad thing. I am 100% guilty of this for Sufjan and NMH.
Mine are Death Cab and Nine Inch Nails. I was upset when DC moved to a major label, and even more upset when I saw the Plans tour...nobody except a friend and I were singing along to pre-Plans stuff...the only songs that elicited a major response from the crowd were Soul Meets Body and Crooked Teeth.
I honestly don't know where my NIN obsession is rooted, but ever since I heard The Downward Spiral, I've been hooked. I've seen them live an embarassing amount of times, I'm in the fan club that gets access to soundchecks and whatnot, et cetera. I hope I never become one of the scary 40 year olds I've met at some of the shows...one couple actually took off work and left their kids with relatives to follow them around the country...now that's just scary.
Well I don't know if this counts but Velvet Underground. I'm absolutely infatuated with them. Give me any of their songs, any time and I'll be drooling in about 2 seconds. And the greatest part is that with every bootleg or live performance I hear of theirs, the greater they become in my mind. I mean to my mind there is not a single band that is as influential as they were, as well as great. Ah I could go on and on...
Originally posted by typewriter: Mine are Death Cab and Nine Inch Nails. I was upset when DC moved to a major label, and even more upset when I saw the Plans tour...nobody except a friend and I were singing along to pre-Plans stuff...the only songs that elicited a major response from the crowd were Soul Meets Body and Crooked Teeth.
I honestly don't know where my NIN obsession is rooted, but ever since I heard The Downward Spiral, I've been hooked. I've seen them live an embarassing amount of times, I'm in the fan club that gets access to soundchecks and whatnot, et cetera. I hope I never become one of the scary 40 year olds I've met at some of the shows...one couple actually took off work and left their kids with relatives to follow them around the country...now that's just scary.
That's a fairly interesting juxtaposition... NIN and Death Cab.
I don' see as many shows as I used to, but, today, would make special attempts to continue my Wilco, Radiohead shows. Flaming Lips too.
In the day seen bands many times. Multiples would be: The Cure, Tragically Hip, NIN, Crowded House, Indigo Girls, PJ Harvey. All those 3 or more live shows.
"the sun gets passed from sea to sea, silently, and back to me"
This is a great topic and if you don’t mind this being a little long I have a great story to it too. My band is undoubtedly Radiohead, I just adore them. Their chord progressions are brilliantly amazing, they are unbelievably musical, their music is ground-breaking, advanced and gripping and every song is individually astonishing. I love all of their albums, Kid A is by far the finest album of the 2000s—regardless of what else comes out from now until 2009 and Hail to the Thief and Amnesiac are in the top 10 of the 2000s, OK Computer is the unsurpassed album of the 90s and one of the best of all time and The Bends is one of the top 5 albums of the 90s and I love their debut. Anyways they are a band that I would do anything for, including working 14 hours a day for and 60 hours a week. I have been hooked on them since I was 12 or 13 and although I got OK Computer when I was in middle school—a year or two after it came out—I was incessantly obsessed with them.
So here is my story, in high school when Kid A and Amnesiac came out and in college when Hail to the Thief came out I would always wish that Radiohead would tour near me and even when they miraculously hit Dallas or Los Angeles, I couldn’t go—I live in a secluded town, El Paso Texas—or couldn’t afford it. I showed my girlfriend who they are when I was a freshman in high school and she loves them also. Well sometime in May I thought, “I heard they are touring and it would be cool to see them” so I logged on to Greenplastic and Radiohead.com and they were going to Berkeley, California so I decided to check out the prices. I talked to my girlfriend, we decided we would go for it; we bought our tickets that Sunday—they sold out in less than 5 minutes. Anyways, I am proud to say that after spending nearly $500 on airplane tickets, hotel rooms, concert tickets and planning to spend another $500 on a rental car, spending money and money just to buy stuff at the concert, my girlfriend and I are going to fly 1200 miles to a state I have never been to just for a two day trip to see Radiohead, and all of this will happen in just two days. There is no other band I would do that for.
Well....that is a great story. I hope you enjoy them, 'cause they have been the 'show' for quite some time. Their best perfomances that I wish I could get my hands on are "Talk Show Host' in Toronto(OK Computer Tour). They "fu**ed up the guitar in the beginning, and Thom screamed something.....then they started up again and ripped through the loudest rendition of any tune. Also, "Everything In It's Right Place" from Kid A tour knocked my socks off.
Enjoy Fragile.......it'll certainly be a great one for you....
"the sun gets passed from sea to sea, silently, and back to me"
That's a good story, Fragile. I think that you can love any album and any band, but when you are truly a "fanboy," is when you have some sort of non-musical connection to the music.
For me, I have two. One is Joni Mitchell, and specifically Blue. I think Joni Mitchell is just the perfect example of a musician: ever changing, confounding expectations, following her own intuition, but never to a pretentious or alienating degree, and deeply personal. My whole famliy and group of friends know every word to the album Blue, and it's sort of a common thread between us. If someone mentions Joni I can go on for hours.
The other is a band that I swear I'm not street teaming for cause it seems like I mention them often, but I get all giddy over The Velvet Teen. Like Bamatbone, TVT came at a crucial point in my listening, around sophomore year in HS, and altered what i thought was good music. They are also local, so i've seen them about 12 times. Every album of theirs is evolved from the past one, and they've all come at different important points in my life. I also like the fact that I've talked to the members.
At one point that band for me was Oasis. I can remember going to record stores and plopping down 15 bucks for a 4 song single. I still get a form of excitment when they release a new album. There are a lot of current artists that I love, but I don't know about being a fanboy.
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