Jumping on the Bandwagon. Question for you.

[NORTHCOAST]

I often wonder if people feel that new artists have a certain cache cuz people want to jump on the band wagon early so they can say they've been a fan since the beginning.  I think on some level it is human nature to want to be the first of your group to discover a cool new band.  Then you can spread the word to your friends and appear cool in the process.  What do you think?  Does this comes into your thinking at all when you hear new music?  Do you like some bands cuz secretly it makes you feel cool?  I also wonder if that's why first albums by artists do really well and then they go downhill after that.  That maybe people want to discover that next big thing and rush out and buy the CD.  What do you think?

[bluenote]

I have discovered the next big thing in Christina Milian and I love it and cant wait til she breaks through!

[Sean]

I love to be the first to 'discover' a new artist and tell people about it and then hopefully watch them go on to become huge and think that I was there from the beginning.

The thing that differs me from a lot of other people is that once I like someone, I remain VERY loyal. It is extremely rare for me to like someone then not like them a few years later. I end up buying every album. I see a lot of people that like an artist when they first come out but get bored of them when they've been around awhile, or they are no longer as popular.

[Sean]

BlueNote said:

I have discovered the next big thing in Christina Milian and I love it and cant wait til she breaks through!

I think she's past the used by date of being a brand new 'hot' discovery! She's been around for like 4 years and released 2 albums worldwide.

[bluenote]

Sean said:

I think she's past the used by date of being a brand new 'hot' discovery! She's been around for like 4 years and released 2 albums worldwide.

i know but she is relatively new to the U.S audience and she still hasnt reached her heights yet!

[kellydicted]

The thing that differs me from a lot of other people is that once I like someone, I remain VERY loyal. It is extremely rare for me to like someone then not like them a few years later.

Same here! I remain loyal to an artist once I really get into them. There are tons of artists that I used to hate but now I love

[Ragin]

I think some people do that. Usually it is the music "snobs" that do this the most.

However, let me tell you right here and right now (of course they won't make it now), that I love the Greenhornes. They have been around for a while but have yet to really make it big.

I don't really try to do that so much, as I get excited about bands I really like, and I often end up looking at indie bands and new bands, so it kind of turns into that a little.

[Love Plastic Love]

"I think some people do that. Usually it is the music "snobs" that do this the most."

Yep.

For me, I do like to be the first to like the next big thing, or a band that becomes popular. But I dont like them just because it makes me cool. If I dont like the music, I dont. Sometimes I feel like I SHOULD like a band because they are considered the coolest and best of new bands...but if I dont, I just dont. lol.

[WhySoSerious?]

I've known about John Mayer since 2000 before he had a deal at all.  I went to his shows when no one was there and met him three times.  That's the only part I miss.  Now I have to see him in huge arenas and it's much less personal.  Not to mention I have to hear teenage girls scream when he plays "Your Body Is A Wonderland" and "Daughters."    Otherwise, I'm happy for his success.

[friday]

I remember on my first day in Seattle (December 8, 2002), my dad and I were driving to our new apartment, and I was listening to KNDD on the radio, but it had to be turned down while he could talk to his girlfriend. While the radio was down, I heard "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence for the very first time. I don't think I heard the DJ ever ID the song, but I was so confused because it sounded really different but I couldn't make out much of it. Now subsequently I was able to hear it several time after that. The song should've blown me away, but the confusion over my first listen muted that impression for me. As a result, someone else broke the song on the Radio and Record message boards, and the next thing I knew, I wasn't even the first person I knew of that had it on their personal chart. I wanted to chart it in 2002, but it didn't make it until my first chart of 2003.

So what does this have to do with anything. I guess I wanted to break the band. But I had the feeling that KNDD was the only station in the country playing the song, so there I had a weird feeling that I had the band all to myself. Don't you just love that feeling? And the next thing I know everyone else is in love with them. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I started the bandwagon, but I forgot to jump on right away.

[halo19]

I like doing it, as long as it's something I'd like to be successful. If I don't like what I hear, I hope I don't have to deal with hearing it.

I actually caught on to VAST at the peak of popularity in 2000. "Free" blew me away, as I felt that everything was done right that could have been with that song. Subsequently I had gotten all of their studio albums. They all blew me away, especially the new one. I keep telling everyone about VAST that doesn't know who he/they is/are. Many people who were fans of the first two albums did not know that Nude existed, which is pretty unfortunate, because I'm sure that many of those would've enjoyed it as well.

I heard Sour on a local program of the radio and was blown away. They are still on an indie label (Gray Goo), but they had songs that were right in the style of music I was looking for. Besides they were one of the few bands who was putting out music with industrial elements. It's so sad to think the style is almost dead, because I think it's one of the few styles worthy of a revival.

[Gorminako]

This may partially explain the phenomenon of recording artists, even ones with little talent, coming out of nowhere to become the hottest thing, and the difficulty of more established artists to maintain their popularity.

I think another is that fans and critics are constantly comparing the established artists' new material to their older material, so if they're not judged to be better than before, they're sort of abandoned. New artists don't have to worry about that -- yet. And if they start off really bad, then any improvement is noticed and they are deemed to have "matured". This seems to have happened with Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson, and I see it happening with Good Charlotte. Artists like 50 Cent and Simple Plan are at a great advantage, considering how awful they are to begin with.

[NORTHCOAST]

Gorminako said:

This may partially explain the phenomenon of recording artists, even ones with little talent, coming out of nowhere to become the hottest thing, and the difficulty of more established artists to maintain their popularity.

I think another is that fans and critics are constantly comparing the established artists' new material to their older material, so if they're not judged to be better than before, they're sort of abandoned.  New artists don't have to worry about that -- yet.  And if they start off really bad, then any improvement is noticed and they are deemed to have "matured".  This seems to have happened with Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson, and I see it happening with Good Charlotte.  Artists like 50 Cent and Simple Plan are at a great advantage, considering how awful they are to begin with.

I completely agree with your assessment.  I also think that our culture is such that we always want the "new and improved" of everything.  And this is even more prevalent in our society now.  So it will be even harder for artists to maintain their status as the fan base shifts to the next new thing.   It's funny, but here I am sort of putting down this whole idea of fan disloyalty, but when my friend puts on yet another Bon Jovi CD I secretly roll my eyes and think "get with the times!" LOL!  I guess I have to do some re-thinking myself!  I should commend her for being a loyal fan.  But do I have to listen too?   

[Slinky]

I like to be that person that discovers new music.  I think everyone does really.  I don't try and force it though, because I'm not really that type of person.  I'm not that impulsive with buying CDs and if that means I discover songs or bands months after everyone else, then so be it. 

So yeah, I enjoy being the first one on the bandwagon, but in reality, I think I enjoy artists more when I wait until the hype goes down.

[Nicholas2.0]

Bands I caught on to before anyone else seemed to have:
Veruca Salt (bought their album before it had been picked up by DGC)
Bush (bought their album while "Everything Zen" was making waves)
311 (at least among my peers.  Though my long- distance friend had the blue album at a party when he visited in the spring of '96 and I loved every minute of it, I still bought the blue album a couple months before "Down" came out.)
Korn (I had the self-titled disc roughly 4 months before Life is Peachy came out, and even then there were still only a relative few that were into them before Follow the Leader.)
Deftones (I got Adrenaline in January 1997, eight or nine months before Around the Fur came out.)
Limp Bizkit (I got Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ in January 1998.)
Orgy (I bought Candyass based on hearing "Stitches," before "Blue Monday" was released.)
Videodrone (Orgy was the first band signed to Korn's Elementree label.  Videodrone was the second, without even hearing anything from it, my friend Ryan & I bought it on the same day, and although they're defunct, only a handful of people I know ever heard about them.)
Dope (Kind of a cross between Marilyn Manson and Motley Crue.  Upon subsequent interviews and released music, circa late 2002, I started to get the disheartening impression that they weren't talented or smart enough to deserve much more of my support.)
Staind ("Just Go" was decent, but as soon as I heard "Mudshovel," I had to go out and get Dysfunction.)
Coal Chamber (Never had a single catchy enough to take off on Alternative radio.)
blink-182 (Though I didn't get the album until awhile later, I loved "Dammit" from the very first time I saw its video in midsummer 1997.)
Cold (Their video for "Give," shown on 120 Minutes in December '98, featured Jon Davis & Fred Durst in suits and flashlights searching for a supernatural creature a la The X-Files.  I was intrigued.  Bought the album in fall '99, a year before 13 Ways... was released.)
Static-X (I'd heard "Bled for Days" over the summer of 1999, but as soon as "Push It" came out, I had to go get the album.)
Slipknot (Amazingly, my girlfriend at the time had the CD long before I did and was the one that got me into it.  She got it shortly after we missed them open the 2nd stage of Ozzfest that summer.  We really liked "Wait and Bleed," and soon enough, so did America.)
Refused (I owned it long before it was regarded to be a groundbreaking "great" album.  My friend and I both had to have it after seeing the "New Noise" video on MTV in the fall of 1999.)
Kittie (Bought 'em as soon as I heard their single.)
System of a Down (Though my friend Michael deserves the credit for turning me around, I still owned their self-titled album when "Spiders" came out as the 2nd single.)
Ying Yang Twins (I heard "Whistle While You Twurk" in Memphis as I was visiting my then prospective college.  I thought it was very clever and bought the CD single.  I wouldn't be caught dead buying their albums, though...)
Incubus (Saw them on Ozzfest '98, knew who they were becuz my friend had seen them open for 311 in fall 1997.  Got into them myself when "New Skin" was being worked as a single in the fall of '98.)
Crazy Town (Liked them off of "Toxic" and "Darkside," made plans to buy the album after I heard "Butterfly" for the first time.)
Nelly (Being within earshot of the St. Louis area, I was hip to "Country Grammar" when it just started being worked on a national level.)
Queens of the Stone Age (bought Rated R in September 2000.)
Linkin Park (bought Hybrid Theory for $6.99 right after Thanksgiving.)
Jimmy Eat World (bought Bleed American a week+ before 9/11.)
American Head Charge (My friend Michael and I bought their album based on their appearance at Ozzfest '01.)
Lostprophets (bought TFSoP for $8.99 in the spring of '02.)
Deadsy (another band on Korn's Elementree label, I bought this almost immediately.)
30 Seconds to Mars (I bought this as soon as I saw it out on the shelves.)
AFI (while I don't really count them, I did get into them about 6 months before Sing the Sorrow came out, which is more than most people can say these days.)
The Distillers (I bought their records before Brody left Tim.  That summer I was shocked and pissed to see Josh Homme's arm around her and more in Rolling Stone.
Evanescence (was anticipating the album from the first time I heard "Bring Me to Life" just before Christmastime.)
Avenged Sevenfold (bought Waking the Fallen based on a publicity photo on the back page of a Rolling Stone I was reading.)
Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Eighteen Visions, and My Chemical Romance (Got into all these bands last summer.
Killswitch Engage (though I got into them this fall and they're on their second (and better)singer, they're still not gold yet)

Some of these bands never did or never will make it big.  Others just may become bigger than I am comfortable with them being.  I can deal with bands outgrowing small clubs, but the closer the band is to my heart, the more I hate to see them outgrow 3,000-or-so seat venues, because after that, I really lose out on the intimacy and the approachability factors with the bands.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

For me I jump on loving an artist when I hear something from them that I like or not. Most of the artists for me will never make it to any major national or international status but will probably just be known on a minor level in Canada on the touring/festival scene. It is cool to say you were a fan before most other people though.

Some artists I caught on to before most include:

Chantal Kreviazuk - I first saw the 'God Made Me' video in December 96 and got her Cd in February 1997. Since then lots have happened career-wise and I was there as a fan to watch it all happen!

Gavin DeGraw - I wouldn't consider myself in this category personally but I did have his CD since like April. LONG before he had his pop hit!

Jason Mraz - I got Jason's CD one day while in HMV and was like "he's opening for Chantal on her tour so maybe he's good". Great buy for me and eventually he went on to hit with 'The Remedy'. I got it while 'The Remedy' was rising up AAA.