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[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Following on from the discussions of what we are 'supposed to like', I thought I would pose the question: How open are you about your pop fandom to your friends? And how about new people you meet?

This was also triggered by thinking about music lists on sites like MySpace and Facebook. The artists I list on there are all ones I like, but there are some big emissions - Bodies Without Organs, Backstreet Boys, Darren Hayes. Some of my all time favourites but there is no mention of them on my MySpace or Facebook. When you're filling out these things you have to think of every person who might see it, and even though I am confident enough in my poptasticness to say that I like pop music, I prefer to list the lesser known poppy bands (such as Robyn and Margaret Berger), or the slightly more critically acclaimed ones (Patrick Wolf or The Pipettes, for eg). How do those of you who use these sites deal with this issue? Do you think anyone is completely honest?

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I've seen Patrick Wolf called pop I think! He is indie through and through.

Anyway, I am definitely open about my pop fandom - like Dave I try not to be overbearing about it in real life conversation but this goes for music fandom in general, esp to people I don't know that well. My main group of friends are all music lovers, and though a lot of them skew towards indie or dance, they're mostly basically pop-friendly or at least pop-tolerant - and music is a really integral part of how we socialise which probably helps. Plus, there's so much music that we collectively bond over that the music we disagree about is relatively unimportant.

I put up a massive list of acts I liked on my myspazz, inc pop acts, scattered amongst other stuff...I don't really want to have a similar massive list on facebook, it looks a bit lame and I don't want to have to keep updating it, right now it's basically four of my favourite artists right now and it may revolve. I was thinking of putting genres up there actually, of which pop would def be one. Actually I think these profiles are a v helpful way of pre-empting any possible real life 'controversy'.

I don't really think of anything I like as uncool...I'm aware that certain acts are perceived to be more credible, for whatever reason, than others, but...I dunno, cool/uncool is such a nebulous concept, it can shift completely according to what social circle you're in, and I take the view that liking 'uncool' music shouldn't make you 'uncool' yourself; rather the fact that I like it makes it 'cool' (because I think of myself as basically cool, and I think anyone who's secure in their music taste should also do this - I am heartily sick of people proclaiming their uncoolness, it's basically like wearing a T-shirt which says "I think I am lame"). Re: your lists I would totally call Backstreet Boys cool but not the Pipettes.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

You can't have heard his song The Magic Position then! It's so pop!

I have friends I made through having music tastes in common, and these are the ones I call on for gig-going, so music is integral to our socialising, but my main group of pals I'd be friends with regardless of what they like, so their tastes are a huge mix and although some overlap with mine, I don't think any share my attitude to music or even close. But I'm glad of this, I wouldn't only want friends who are like me in other aspects of their personalities, so the same goes for music. I do go off people a lot if they show a snobby attitude to pop, though.

I quite enjoy adding a new act to my Facebook list (and MySpace, but I rarely use it now) - it's quite ceremonial, like they have been awarded the special status of being in my Facebook hall of musical fame. But often I just find a new band who excite me and put them in straight away to show my support, and in the hope others will see the name and look them up or at least pay them attention if they're on the radio or tv. With the friends with whom I share musical tastes, it's a good way to get new music tips - if her and him and her all like it, there must be something there!

I think I have a somewhat similar attitude to coolness, although I am not really thinking of it as coolness so much as general posession of brain and greatness, when I express the attitude that people who like what I like are therefore cool. Or I might just be being overly self-important, but I think you're right that it takes security in your tastes (which I definitely have) to truly believe that people who agree with them are cooler (or superior, anyway) than people who don't, regardless of what the media and other people think is cool.

There can't be many people who would, put on the spot, say Girls Aloud are cooler than Babyshambles, but for me they are by a million miles and without a shadow of doubt. I'm just aware that most people don't have this view, so I know when meeting someone for the first time, unless I want to get in an argument (which occasionally is fun but not always) I have to avoid revealing this attitude.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This may be due to the circles I move in but I don't know a single person who thinks Babyshambles, or any of that sort of mainstream indie, is cool at all. Whereas everyone likes Girls Aloud, even the people I know who are into metal. When I was at uni I would probably have felt a lot like you, thinking about it, because everyone there who's Into Music (and who makes a big deal of this) tends to be into indie; and student indie fans tend to be very snobbish about non-indie music. Whereas the people I know now who I don't think would be pop-friendly aren't particularly into music at all (ie it's not as big a part of their lives as it is for us) - which is fine b/c we talk about other stuff.

It helps in my case, and I suspect yours, that we like a lot of 'cool', or at least hipster-friendly music as well as the more poppy stuff, and I think we both have track records of liking things a while before other people catch on...so as people we both have credibility, which rubs off on all the music we like.

I have heard 'The Magic Position' - what I mean is that Patrick Wolf has a lot more in common (in terms of his appeal, his style, his marketing, his background, the people he works with, the places he gets coverage, the whole package) with indie bands than with eg Girls Aloud - it's the same with CSS, 'Let's Make Love' is a great pop song but they're definitely an indie band.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

There is definitely a group of people who genuinely feel Pete Doherty is cool, but the actual hardcore of people who do is fairly small, probably no bigger than the hardcore of ppl who thought Richey Manic (eg) was cool.

There's also a larger group of people who don't know or care who is cool or not and assume Pete Doherty is considered cool by the people who DO care. This is because the tabloids are hugely interested in Doherty, and their excuse for their voyeuristic coverage of his addiction/decline/occasional rally is that he is a Role Model, and if he isn't a Role Model who The Kids think is Cool then their moral case collapses a bit. So they constantly stress that he is cool.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I don't mean that my friends actually like Babyshambles, I think all but one or two would rather hear GA, but when asked which was cooler I think they'd interpret the question as "who is portrayed as cooler in the media?" or "who has the cooler reputation?" and they'd probably say Babyshambles, even though most dislike the band. Perhaps I'll have to test it out and ask a few!

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

It does tend to be the students who are Into Music and particularly indie who are snobbish about pop, but most students I know are more than happy to dance to pop music. However, very few would say they are pop fans - they're willing to admit to liking it but they wouldn't put it in their Facebook list or include it in an answer to "what kind of music are you into?" I'm glad that my friends enjoy pop music but I think it's a shame that still not many are brave enough to call themselves pop fans.

I agree that it helps knowing about more obscure stuff. It really amuses me when I chat to indie fans and can hold a good conversation and even make them think I'm indie myself, without ever claiming to be - in fact I get people saying I'm indie and have to protest! The best thing is that I can then introduce them to obscure pop that really is pure pop (such as Robyn, Melody Club or Dragonette) but present it as indie-pop and they fall for it every time, and then I have people to go to gigs with. The poppiness of a lot of non-mainstream indie (think Feist, Tilly and the Wall etc.) at the moment is very beneficial to me.

Patrick and CSS are both indie and pop, I think. They don't have to be exclusive terms - a lot of the best music (and the bands I can truthfully claim to like without offending anyone) is indie and pop.