Are you a fan?

[danielmak]

The Fall.

[FONT=Aptos]i bought this record on a whim in Woolworths[FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#333333] in Caernarfon back in 1979. The cover looked good and though I don't think I had heard The Fall before; I had probably seen something in the music press informing me that they were another punk/new wave band.

Looks like there is another recent re-issue to add to your collection:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/...x-set-edition/

[Patrick Thistle]

My favourite band are sponsoring record store day in Canada and are releasing a limited edition LP of a live show. On red vinyl.

[Third rate Leszno]

There's a handful of artists who I own every one of their albums, but I've never been a single buyer or completist, or someone who goes to more than one gig on a tour - so I guess the answer is No. I suppose the closest would be (British) Sea Power as I've contributed to crowdfunding two of their albums and had my name printed in the list of supporters, but as much as I love them I can't say I'm particularly fanatical about it (to the extent that they're playing Manchester tomorrow night and I'm going to a different gig about half a mile away from where they're playing).

[Tony C]

In early 1973 at age 16 I fell very deeply into fandom with Little Feat after being taken to a gig of theirs by slightly older acquaintances. Having then only a weekend job I spent pretty much everything I had on albums and whatever other associated merchandise I could get my hands on. NME showed a certain love for the band but I had to shell out and send off for Zigzag magazine to find others of similar obsession. Later gigs in ‘74 and the greatest gig I’ve ever been to in my life - the 1975 Warner brothers tour show - cemented my unwavering devotion.

I think it was Feat’s diversity and inability to be pigeonholed that attracted me to them. Friends would ask “what kind of band are they? Rock? Country? Soul? Funk? Folk?” The answer was all of the above, just perfectly blended.

I distinctly remember being alerted to live Feat bootlegs in the back pages of Zigzag and sent off more money than I really should have (in cash I think!) to a mailing number in Paris for three bootleg cassettes. A day after I sent off wondered why I had been
so stupid and the chances of ever seeing these albums was pretty remote. However a week later a nicely packaged parcel was delivered with three Dixon’s cassettes with the recorded live shows on them (very reasonable sound too) and a tour poster signed by the band. What a win.

Needless to say after Lowell George’s death the creative hub of the band had gone and they eventually drifted into a competent bar band trying to recreate their old glories whilst having nothing new to say. I last saw them in Wolverhampton in 2004 with four original band members but the spark had long gone out.

Still, for five or six years they were a huge part of my life and those first five albums still stand with anything. Wish I’d kept a couple of tour t-shirts though.

[diggedy derek]

That sounds great Tony.

[Simon G]

I'm not sure how much you'd consider it fandom because he's not the sort to collect posters and things, but my ex's dad goes to see Mostly Autumn very often. And by that I mean at least a couple of times a year*.



*At least that's how it seems going by his Facebook posts

[nmrfox]

Got everything on CD that HMHB have ever released, even though no longer have the means to play them and use Spotify instead. Whenever they tour localish to me always try to get to see them. Back in the day there were a few bands that I'd buy pretty much everything they released but a combination of house moves, old age and just cant-be-arsedness means I no longer bother/care.

[Exiled off Main Street]

I was in the St Etienne fan club, still have all the issues of 'Clenbuterol', signed xmas cards, fan club special issue cd's. I haven't bought any of their (neverending) reissues on vinyl of prior released cds. I do buy any new material they release. Out of habit. I see them every US tour when they are in town. And on the last tour I spent an hour with the band after the show, chatting with Bob about non-league football and Simon Price.

I have everything released by Underworld. For as long as Spotify has listed your 'most played artict/song' - Underworld has always been #1. I am in top 0.5% listeners globally. Guess that makes me a fan.

[imp]

There are certain bands I've always loved, and own pretty much everything they've recorded, and boxed sets I didn't need, and I've bought books about them too - I think that makes me a fan. It's a pretty generic post-punk list for a white-boy, Peel-devoted student in the early to mid-80s: Joy Division/New Order, The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, 10,000 Maniacs/Natalie Merchant, Orange Juice/Edwyn Collins, Throwing Muses/Kristin Hersh, The Beatles/Paul McCartney/Wings. But I'd never pay stupid amounts for memorabilia or fly half way around the world to see them, or feel the need to own everything they ever released, in every format. There's fandom, and then there's devout obsession, which I think has less to do with loving a band and more to do with having a compulsive personality.

I was at a gig by Over The Rhine in Baltimore a few years ago, and they're the sort of low key Americana band that plays small, intimate venues. They paid tribute to a female fan who was sitting at a table right in front of the stage, because she was watching the band that night for the hundredth time. We all applauded politely. If I was one of the two people in Over the Rhine, though, I'd be slightly worried by a fan like that. Like the Anne-Sophie Mutter devotees referred to above - I don't want to judge them, but I also don't want to spend any time with them.