Fan Culture and its Obsession With Music

By: David Miller

Music has always been understood as a mode of relaxation, a form of artistic expression and a popular past time amongst our generation.  It can be said that music also serves as a powerful communication vessel that allows individuals to relate to one another and come together as a cohesive body.  However, what seems to lie beneath the surface, is the realization that music seems to be deeply correlated with notions power and influence that seem to establish an identity in its listeners.

Online portals, such as wrongplant.net, exist in order to provide online chats where any individual can discuss and share their favorite musicians within cyberspace forums that mirror the concept of the public sphere.  Additionally, it gives everyday citizens the ability to inquire and converse about the modes in which bands and songs have affected their daily routines.  As a permanent aspect of someone’s daily routine, Lisa Lewis suggests that popular music has become an integral aspect of the process known as fandom.  It is suggested that fandom resembles a microcosm that is comprised of people who are fans of a genre of subgenre, whom has their own sets of clubs, conventions and amateur entities (Urbandictionary.com).

These fandom communities have become recognized as forms of subcultures that mirror popular mainstream fan communities that have adopted their own forms cultural practices and specific attitudes- such as Trekkies.  The most popular fandom community that is associated with popular music revolves around the iconic band Phish.  This musical group is classified as a “jam band,” and through their instrumental influence have constructed traditional elements as well as cultural practices that promote fan participation.

Phish is most notably appreciated for their live shows, which have transcended above the simplicity of a typical performance and have become correlated with a profound cultural experience.  Notably, fans from all over the world use these shows as a form of escapism, which allow them to temporarily fall into an alternate reality where they can simply indulge in music and nothing else.  As a documented “Phish-Head,” Chris Hedges promotes the idea that these spectacles have often approached something akin to worship.  These followers describe Phish events as spiritual encounters that allow an entire crowd to fall into an ecstatic bliss and bond with one another in a deeply reflective sense. (Hedges, 2002).  Furthermore, popular conventions associated with the attendance of Phish shows include the consumption of hallucinogenic drugs and the acceptance of dressing one’s self in bizarre hippy-related clothing.

This example of fan culture and fandom promotes the idea that music has the capacity to unite its fans through the participation in forms of subcultures and cultural experiences.  It seems that music has risen beyond its initial function of entertainment and has transcended into the initialization of a specific lifestyle.