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Last week, one of the hot indie rock blog topics was the secret Decemberists purevolume account, which contained three “leaked” new songs before they were taken off a few days ago. But possibly the most interesting element of this was that none of these songs were that rare - all three were live versions […]
Last week, one of the hot indie rock blog topics was the secret Decemberists purevolume account, which contained three “leaked” new songs before they were taken off a few days ago. But possibly the most interesting element of this was that none of these songs were that rare - all three were live versions of new songs that can be found on a couple of easily attained Decemberists bootlegs. These bootlegs were not even breaking news - they had been in circulation for some time. To top it all off, it wasn’t even the Decemberists who put the songs up - it was me, a lowly fan.
The first two on the site, “Valencia” and “Shankhill Butchers” were just live recordings from Colin’s performance at the zoo in Seattle, and the third, “Julie Anne” was from another Decemberists bootleg. Pretty common stuff among Decemberists boot traders.
But it’s nice to have the goodies all in one place. That’s why I made the first Decemberists purevolume (which is all compilation tracks - “Human Behavior”, “Like a Lion”, and “Kingdom of Spain”). I made another to hold the three post-Picaresque new songs. Since no one was going to find it otherwise, I linked it to the other Decemberists purevolume and made up some “secret site” bullshit.
All was well and good, with only a dozen or so hits on the secret one every day. But then an overexcited fan from LiveJournal found it and blogged all about it, and suddenly there were 1,000+ hits a day. The Decemberists’ management contacted me about how the Decemberists weren’t digging the fact that early live versions of new songs were internet phenomenons (rather than bootleg frosting-on-the-cake for hardcore collectors), so I took them down.
This incident brings up some interesting questions and divisions. It divides Decemberists fans into two distinct categories - LiveJournal fans (who generally stick to the popular blog site) and bootleg traders (most of whom frequent the official message board). Both seem to be equally obsessed with the band, but LJers are more prone to being uninformed (i.e. unaware of the existence of bootlegs) while at the same time being less jaded and more excited about the Decemberists generally. Boarders are extremely well-informed (not just about the Decemberists, but about music generally), but also tend to be more cynical and jaded.
The LJers tend to be young high schoolers (with a slight majority female) whereas the boarders tend to be slightly older, with a slight majority male. LJers are classic music obssessives (i.e. Beatlemania) who love the music to death but know nothing about it, who blog about the sexiest Decemberist without knowing the instruments they play. Boarders are know-it-alls who possibly have more knowledge about than untainted love for music.
The question becomes this: which is better? What are the various merits of each? Is it possible to be both? A lack of knowledge of the context of the band made the LJers more excitable, falling for what was essentially a Decemberists board inside joke faster than a dog does for the beam of a laser pointer. But at what cost comes knowledge? I know that personally I don’t listen to the Decemberists as much as I did when I was a thoughtless young fan two years ago. I’m more likely to debate the merits of various songs than actually listen to them. I’ve amassed a sizeable collection of Decemberists bootlegs that I rarely listen to, but have I ever created a LiveJournal moodset using Decemberists photos?
I think the “ultimate fan” would be one with a healthy mix of both. Knowledge is important in understanding what the artist is trying to say, not to mention in acquiring quality rare songs. But it shouldn’t come at the expense of excitement. Maybe not to the extent that one’s hours are spent digging through Decemberists photos to make a moodset, but there is something appealing about that fresh-faced enthusiasm
Many other questions can be raised from this incident. Does a creepy moodset cross the line from fandom to fanaticism? What is fan respect? This is the start of a weekly column, with more thoughts next week.
hmm, this article seems to be more opinion than news, it might be a good idea to title it as an editorial of opinion piece
We could title it “Aaron poops on the party because he is a party pooper” 7.8/10
Great new title, lol! I must say though, I frequent the board, and don’t have an LJ, but can’t say I’m really an expert on the Decemberists. I just like the discussions on the board and have no need to read peoples blogs. Anyhow, you guys do a great job, and this is just another interesting article.
How about we make an editorial category, possibly replacing the “explorers” one?
Oh come on.
Boarders are WAY better than LJers!!!
i don’t think these are issues that have any importance, ever.
although what you did was pretty hillarious… just all of the analysis is somewhat pointless.
Fair enough. I agree that the analysis is ultimately pointless, but I did think it was interesting.
we cannot replace explorers.
it is not an option.
just make a new one.
I thought it was funny how the real decemberists page linked to yours.
He made the both profiles on PureVolume
wow. considering that i made a link to the purevolume profile in the blog, i thought your article was good. (and yes, i’m guilty of being an LJ-obsessive, but i use it for more personal reasons whereas the stuff on clever titles is more pop-culture/indie-rock heavy.
well played.
all three variations of d’ists-fans have drawbacks and charms. i don’t see the big deal.
that’s kind of the point. the article was just pointing out the differences and how it related to the incident.
ah well…
I think that the discussion isn’t pointless at all. In fact, it is very much essential. This is a serious moral war that really sticks into the head of any dignified person who falls in love with something that is essentially an entity (a band, an actor, a musician), because we can never love them FOR REAL. We obviously do not personally know our idols, and that’s what makes them that much easier to raise up on a pedestal. The issue is that people go about this fact DIFFERENTLY. Is there a positive way and a negative way and if one is negative then does that mean those people are bad people? Does this lead to what we call music eliticism but can eliticism be shrouded and hollow? Why does it seem so easy to chastize people that wallpaper their bedroom with one person’s image and respect someone that does not and how can we tell that the person that “keeps it inside” is of the same level or higher in fandom than the other?
i wanted to listen to the bootlegs