So I attempted to increase my brother's musical, oh, what's the word? experience? taste? range? selection? exposure? I think I'll go with that one, exposure. Basically, I wanted to know that he had listened to something other than the Matrix soundtrack, so I popped They Might Be Giants into his computer, and of course, he walked right out of the room. But he did go back in to check his IM Buddy List, and came out singing "Particle man, particle man, got hit on the head with a frying pan," which I don't think are the right words, but it's been awhile since I listened to the song, so maybe. I think he was more amused by the fact that I own this stuff than he was by the song itself.
I'm probably not the right person for the job of educating the young with regards to music. First off, I have a very limited CD collection. In fact, the most recently produced CD I own is probably New Radicals, which I don't even listen to, and that came out when? 1999? Boy. I feel like I'm way behind the times, but I'm not, really. I listen to the radio, that's where I've been getting my music fix for about the past year, and before that I had roommates who owned lots o' CDs. And why buy 'em when you can borrow 'em, right?
I'm currently going through a rock-alternative phase. You know, listening to the radio station that plays SUM 41, Green Day, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Beastie Boys, Incubus, Tantric, etc. I am way main-stream. Always will be, probably. I will never be the person that gets to say that I heard 'em first. And I don't mind. I don't have this driving need to be cutting edge. And I don't resent people who jump onto bands, only buy the CD after they become popular, who become big fans only after the band has joined the main-stream and has a video on rotation on MTV. Basically because I am one of those people, but not really, because I can't be called a big fan of anyone, seeing as how I don't run out and buy all the merchandise that comes with the tag "big fan."
Yes, I am remembering a conversation I had years ago about the Brian Setzer Orchestra. So what if the Stray Cats had been around forever before the Brian Setzer Orchestra made it big that one summer a few years back? So what if all these new fans had never heard of the Stray Cats? The only reason I knew of them was because they had a part in the movie, Mother Goose Rock 'n Rhyme. There is no reason why these new fans couldn't go out and buy the new CD.
I really have a distaste for music snobs, the people who think that they're somehow better, or more worthy, or more who-knows-what, just because they listened to the bad before they were popular. Like they have dibs on the band, and no one else can claim that they like them. Like it's some kind of crime to like a band once they get popular.
I mean, isn't that what all bands are predominately are trying to do? Break into the main stream and sell lots of records? Get their name known and their music heard? I thought that was the point. I mean, I'm sure Brian Setzer wasn't sitting in his dressing room going, "Damn it. Where were all these people 15 years ago? Screw them. I only want the true fans. The ones that were there for me back before this big swing craze." No. He was probably sitting back there, counting his money and saying, "Finally. Finally. Yes. Now I can buy that house with the indoor swimming pool that I always wanted."