Welcome to episode 12 of the podcast Dropping The Needle, August 6, 2012. This episode we discuss What Defines a Diehard Fan?
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Dropping The Needle is the podcast where all music from all genres is discussed. New releases, classic albums, rediscovered music, signed and unsigned. No ass kissing, just two guys talking about music. Dropping The Needle is hosted Michael Brandvold from Michael Brandvold Marketing and Mitch Lafon from Bravewords.com.
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Michael Brandvold is a freelance music industry consultant based in Northern California. Having launched Michael Brandvold Marketing to leverage his years of experience to provide direction to large and small clients in the areas of online & social marketing as well as e-commerce and customer acquisition and retention. Gene Simmons of KISS first tapped Michael’s skills as a pioneering online marketing strategist to launch and manage all aspects of Kissonline.com’s multi-million dollar enterprise, including their ground-breaking VIP ticket program. Michael has also managed the online efforts for Andy Gibson, Alexa Carter, Greg Kihn, Motley Crüe, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna and Britney Spears to name only a few.
Mitch Lafon is a professional music writer located in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). His career started in 1980 when at the age of eleven he interviewed The Demon of KISS, Gene Simmons. In the ‘90s he did studio work with various artists including LA GUNS and worked on an Ace Frehley Tribute album. Over the years, his work has appeared in Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles Magazine as well as Metal Hammer (US) and Classic Rock (UK). Currently, BraveWords.com and Roadie Crew magazine from Brazil are where his interviews can be found. He is well-respected by artists who often request him by name (when they are ready to grant an interview). He is also responsible for all content on BraveWords.com Official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/
I think another aspect of “die-hardness” would be interest in the minutia. Using KISS as the example, since that’s one of the few bands of which I’d consider myself a diehard, some fans who call themselves diehards maybe don’t like The Elder or some of the non-make-up stuff. To me, that would disqualify them, but if they’re going to insist they’re still diehards, they at least have to have some knowledge of that era even if they don’t necessarily like it. If I’m talking to you, and you say you’re a diehard, you better not give me a blank stare if I mention “Murder in High Heels” or “King of Hearts.” Maybe you don’t know that Jean Beauvoir played bass on a lot of Animalize, but you should know Tommy Thayer had some writing credits before he was in the band. If a Motley Crue diehard mentions a song off Generation Swine, I might not know it; therefore, I’m not a diehard. And I’m fine with that. Just because I know all there is to know about the Crue before Vince left the band/was fired from the band, doesn’t make me a diehard anymore, because I stopped caring about the minutia after that.
But what about the very young new fans? I am sure there are some that are diehard about loving the band, but have no knowledge of the early KISS… yet. It takes time to acquire all that knowledge and history. You or I didn’t get it overnight. I am still learning new things to this day. My point is that young fan is as important, maybe more important, than you and I. They are the blood to keep a band alive into the future. To judge them not worthy because they have not acquired knowledge, seen X amount of shows, own all albums is wrong.
True. If they’re young and/or new fans, of course they get a pass and can very well be diehards. But I think they should have the desire to gain that knowledge. They don’t have to see any shows or own all of the albums, but they should be chomping at the bit to explore anything and everything they can. If they don’t even give the non-make-up albums a chance, that’s where I’d have a problem giving them “diehard” status. Instead of being like “I don’t need to know about Mark St. John; he was only on one album.” They should be “Holy sh*t! There was a guitar player that was only on one album that only played part of three shows!? I want to know more about all that!”