I’m sure we’ve all heard this phrase (or maybe even been guilty of using it ourselves): “I liked [insert band, movie, book, etc here] before it became popular and now everyone is in love with them/it and it’s really annoying!”

I’ve spent some time considering this aversion to the popular and mainstream.  When I brought up how entirely in love I was with The Killers in conversation with a good friend, her response was, “I don’t listen to the Killers, they are too mainstream.”  Too mainstream?  What does that even mean really, and more importantly, how does it effect the quality of the Killers’ music?  Whether you are a fan of this particular group or not is irrelevant.  It’s the sentiment behind the statement.  What she was really saying is “I am better than the mindless hoard.  I am a hipster–which makes me cooler than you.”

She could not come out and say she is a hipster (because that would negate her hipster-y-ness), but the end result was the same.  I felt like I was one step behind, like I was missing the next big thing because I was too busy in the now.  Another, probably better example of this, is the predicament of the band, Fun.  I only became a fan shortly before their breakthrough album, Some Nights, was released. And who doesn’t love the song Some Nights?  (Don’t answer that.)  But if you listen close enough, you will hear the soft little murmurs of discontent every now and then when someone begins to belt out the chorus.  Those little voices are saying “psh, I liked them before everyone else.  These fans are such posers.”

People are mad that Fun. is popular.  They are mad that people hear their songs on the radio and no longer is anyone impressed by their knowledge of them.  No longer can they haughtily suggest them, no longer will they be able to show off their advanced taste in music.  And they are afraid of the obvious truth:  They have the same taste in music as the dreaded “mainstream”.  They try to gainsay this imminent epiphany by digging deeper and deeper, searching harder for the newest unknown artists to load onto their ipod and brag about to all their friends.

There is a positive there.  It diversifies the music industry.  It is nice to see that Ed Sheeran can reach as large as an audience as Rihanna.  While some may say hearing the A-team playing after Diamonds is an abomination, I think it’s progress.  

I only wish people could see their favorite bands and artists gaining new fans as a good thing.  If you are really a die-hard fan, you would want those people, those people that inspired you and made you happy, to achieve their own dreams, even if that means everyone in your calculus class is humming their latest single.  Nothing would make me happier to see my favorite band, Mother Mother, become super successful and famous.

I can remember the first time I heard a Mother Mother song anywhere besides my ipod or in the internet.  I was shopping on New Years Eve, standing in line in American Eagle about to try on a dress that had just gone on sale, when I heard it; that familiar tune, the soft beat playing over the hushed speakers.  It took a moment for my mind to make the connection, but suddenly, it dawned on me and I full of excitement and mirth to the point that I was bursting with it.  I wanted to grab complete strangers firmly be the shoulders and scream “do you hear this!  This is Mother Mother!  Go look them up, now!”

The point being, it doesn’t matter when you become a fan of a certain band or book or movie.  It doesn’t matter because it doesn’t make it any less good.