I Haven't Heard Your Favorite Band & I Don't Care

By Broadside Style Columnist Andy Minor

There is an unanswerable question that has been around for ages: “if a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Based on this old adage, comes the joke that presents the central argument of this week's article: if a band plays in the forest and no one is around to hear it, are they the greatest band of all time?

Now this might bring a slight chuckle to some of you readers’ faces, but to me it illustrates a blaring problem within music today. Day after day, in my discussions of music with nearly anyone I see, people derive some sort of sick egotistical pleasure out of recommending bands that I have never heard of. It seems that no matter who you are, you need to be the one who “heard it first.”

I'm guilty of this myself, in a sense. I always enjoy showing someone a new sound or a new band or a new concept and watching him or her really get into it. Spreading my love of music, whether or not the second party has heard of what I'm talking about, is always a good experience for me.

But at the same time, I've come across a lot of people who think about sharing music like it is one of those “stump the guesser” attractions at carnivals. Why should I gloat over the fact that you've never heard of the Dan Emery Mystery Band? Why should I brag about having eight more unheard of local punk bands on my iTunes playlist than you do? Just because someone hasn't heard of a certain band doesn't mean you should judge them, unless, of course, that band is The Beatles.

Clearly, I exaggerate to a degree, but there is a good degree of this pointless bragging going on anywhere people are talking about music. People are developing the mindset that discovering the next amazing band is a race, and if you aren't on the first wave, you can't be a true fan. The Internet has made it incredibly easy to discover an amazing amount of music; just because someone hasn't gotten to something yet, it doesn't mean they won't. Give them a chance, and if they haven't heard of your “new favorite band” yet, give them a suggestion.

I would also like to raise the point that perhaps there may be a good reason why so many bands are unheard of: they aren't really all that good. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to some hipster who has been appalled and offended at the fact that I haven't heard of “the next great indie band.” Then I go home and check them out and they're like every other boring, unrefined band trying to channel the great god Steven Patrick Morrissey into their “unique” sound. This, in turn, makes me skeptical about any band I find out about from some pretentious eunuch attempting to take a holier-than-thou attitude to my musical tastes.

Instead of patronizing my musical ignorance, why can't people simply give me a polite suggestion? At the same rate, there's no direct relationship between the quality of a musical group and how famous or current they are, and under no circumstances should a band be judged this way.

Perhaps I rant too much, but I think someone’s journey of musical discovery should be uninterrupted by feelings of inadequacy. Everyone lives in his or her own musical world; accept it. And I'd also like to invite all of you next-great-band-ologists to take a step back and maybe explore an already-proven band that you may not have completely explored. This past week I've been enjoying Tears For Fears' first album, The Hurting, as well as getting back into the rest of the catalog, which exists in musical realms outside the Donnie Darko Soundtrack. It's been a fun exploration for me, almost as good as stumbling across this really awesome band that you probably haven't heard about yet...