Why do people get so defensive about music?

I've noticed a phenomena thats not particularly new, but very fascinating.

Namely, some people get really passionate and defensive about their favourite music. Lets take "only time will tell" by Asia as example (just because its latest i encountered). You go in youtube comments under that video and you see quite few people (who apparently have been fans for years) are very salty over new discoverers- especially if they discovered it trough Metal Gear Solid V.

Apparently discovering song trough video game (or show like family guy) is not an acceptable. But why is that? Im rather sure creators of songs are happy their song reaches more and more people, who find it good more than 3 decades after initial release (which, lets be honhest, is incredible milestone for a song in this day and age). So why do fans act like 3 year olds, who dont want to share kindergarden toys with other kids? I have never understood that.

Who knows? Maybe same reason people get defensive over anything (on the internet).

I think it might be because a lot of the comments by people who discovered those songs through shows/video games are completely unrelated to the actual song, I have seen comments on some songs that are just the name of the game or show they appeared in (which is just completely stupid) or inside jokes that seem completely out of context. Now mix that with annoying memes and the hostile attitude of YouTube commenters in general, and some people feel like their music listening experience is ruined by annoying kindergarten kids.

At least that's my explanation, and one of the reasons I don't usually use YouTube to listen to music.

If you are listening to music on Youtube (which I do a lot) I wholly recommend ignoring the comments entirely, unless you want to thank the uploader for putting it there or say something nice about the song. Sometimes you might be surprised a find a civil conversation about related subjects and music going on. Sometimes.

As for the whole phenomena of musical defensiveness and elitism, it's one of those detestable human failings that goes beyond music, or even the internet. Because I've spent a lot of time on last.fm's broken forums and horrid shoutboxes, I think I can explain the often disastrous results of meetings between various fans of genres. On one end of the spectrum, you have avid followers of a rather specific subgenre or movement, something they have bought into, heart and soul, and as a result when they congregate it creates a narrow-focused community of people who all end up espousing the same thing in an identikit attempt at being "different". On the opposite end of the spectrum are those individuals whose entire life is dedicated to a cynical and willfully ignorant attempt at being risible, and the internet providing the perfect safety barrier between them and the peoples whose ire they unfathomably want to inspire.

I think it's a small fraction of music fans who need to feel, due to their own insecurities, that they are somehow superior to others for whatever reason. That they are concentrated on YouTube is probably a sign that their understanding and knowledge of that music is superficial at best. So - just ignore them and move on...

Funny you mentioned that song by Asia. I remember very clearly holding the sleeve of the vinyl album in my hands in the early '80s, admiring the dragon, and that particular album, together with "And Then There Were Three" by Genesis were the first prog rock albums I've ever heard. And they've changed my musical life forever right the instant I heard them played.

Regards

The issue here is that Youtube is a breeding ground for ignorance and general asshattery. It's the internet. It's a cancer.

No. They are not cancer... they are mosquitos... Annoying but irrelevant if you know how to fend them off...

Regards

One example I guess is the Toreador March by Georges Bizet (from the opera 'Carmen'). On the internet, it is more widely known as Freddy Fazbear's jingle before he jumpscares you in Five Nights At Freddy's 1. You'll be hard-pressed to find any youtube video of any interpretation of the march that isn't ravaged by commenters complaining about FNAF fans.

As for music in general, there is a lot of elitism found in the categorisation of bands in terms of genre. It's not metal, it's post-industrial melodic crab-tech-djent-core. I've also seen arguments about what is and isn't Prog Rock. Some people would have you believe that Prog didn't make it out of the 70s, despite a really strong community enjoying many many new bands and Prog artists today.

And then you get 'Top 10 guitarists evar!' etc. Bonham's always the best drummer, Cliff Burton's always the best bassist, Hendrix is always the best guitarist, in lists that feature very diverse styles and approaches. It's to do with personal taste. Being considered 'best' is what award ceremonies are for.

No. They are not cancer... they are mosquitos... Annoying but irrelevant if you know how to fend them off...

 

Regards

I suppose it's situational. Music comment sections can get pretty bad, especially when you get into people comparing two completely different artists. That become a popcorn fest itself.

No. They are not cancer... they are mosquitos... Annoying but irrelevant if you know how to fend them off...

 

Regards

 

I suppose it's situational. Music comment sections can get pretty bad, especially when you get into people comparing two completely different artists. That become a popcorn fest itself.

The way Last.fm archives its users listening habits has the unfortunate downside of conflating all songs by a particular artists/bands name onto one profile, even there are several or more bands with the same name. I guess one could avoid that with cunning annotations relating to the bands nationality (i.e. if you've got two bands called Goatbummer, call one Goatbummer (UK) and Goatbummer (USA) in your iTunes or whatever) but then at the last minute I realise that I'm expecting internet users to not only work this out, but to then implement it purposefully.

Take the band name Mayhem, for instance. It's profile details and "scrobbles" song streams that include two separate black metal bands (one of those is a pretty famous band, especially if you listen to black metal! How does something like this happen?!), a thrash metal band, a hardcore punk band and an electronic artist with a shark furry alter ego. The shoutbox has and probably still does resemble a mass grave for human hope and sensibleness.

one of those is a pretty famous band, especially if you listen to black metal!

I had a lecture on Black Metal in my final year of Uni, and there was segment talking about that particular Mayhem. All I can really say is: They don't make Black Metal like they used to. Good lord.

Hehe... I suppose that what drives people to be so bigoted about the genres and fitting each peace of music in its particular slot is probably the same mechanism that creates fundamentalism and ultra-orthodoxy in religions. The actual message, or music in our case, is forgotten and only the paraphernalia and outward appearances matter. And then these people slip into the tribal instincts and protect their little imaginary temple from desecration. Pathetic...

Thankfully, for me - if it sounds Prog to my ear - than it's Prog and nothing else matters

Regards

one of those is a pretty famous band, especially if you listen to black metal!

I had a lecture on Black Metal in my final year of Uni, and there was segment talking about that particular Mayhem. All I can really say is: They don't make Black Metal like they used to. Good lord.

When you say "lecture", did you actually really mean a screaming diatribe against those rotten kids and their crazy disco music?

:3

Hehe... I suppose that what drives people to be so bigoted about the genres and fitting each peace of music in its particular slot is probably the same mechanism that creates fundamentalism and ultra-orthodoxy in religions. The actual message, or music in our case, is forgotten and only the paraphernalia and outward appearances matter. And then these people slip into the tribal instincts and protect their little imaginary temple from desecration. Pathetic...

 

Thankfully, for me - if it sounds Prog to my ear - than it's Prog and nothing else matters

 

Regards

I especially enjoy bringing up those particular theories to aggressive musical elitists. Its a strange behavioural trope, which I can only assume develops in an individual when they over-identify with a genre because they need to compensate for a sense of social and cultural alienation.

I think it's childish. If someone discovers something through a game or TV show, I think it's great. It's their association with the song, doesn't affect mine.