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issue 1 june 2004 |
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| this article |
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| page 2 |
| print version |
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the fannish disposition
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| in a cosy looking little bar, a small crowd of people are gathering. the reason they are there is waiting behind a door still closed: a danish suede cover band called love & poison. many of the people are clearly there because they know the band. at least one person, though, is there just for the music: a young woman, standing by herself - me. and then the door is opened, people drift down, the band comes on, and they are actually really good… |
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the question begs to be asked: why? why do these young men form a band to play the songs of others? why does this young woman, me, choose to spend an evening going by herself to a cover band gig, in a bar whose idea of an improvised stage is a corner almost blocked from view by a large pillar? what inspires this interest, and what is its nature? as with most things, asking is easier than giving an adequate answer, but i shall nonetheless attempt it. being a fan - any fan, of anything – is a part of your identity. i shall spare the readers from psychological theories – suffice it to say that it’s widely agreed that things outside ourselves, like a band, can become part of our self-concepts. some might say this means we are weak and have to identify as fans in order to be someone at all. using an analogy, they’d think that we must be invisible ourselves, and put on this fandom as clothes, to become visible. that is indeed possible, and no doubt is what fandom is about for some. however, it is not the only possible explanation: it might just be that we put on these fandom “clothes”, not because we are invisible without them, but, simply, because they suit us. the question, then, is in what particular way. it is often said that suede are a band for outsiders, people who don’t fit in. that is no doubt quite true. however, being a suede fan should not only be defined by what we are not, but also by what we are. |
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2004 suede fanzine.
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