Record Collection Recollections #8: Tribalism II

When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes

A few weeks back, I wrote a post about tribalism in music fandom, and how I've always felt it was a bad thing. I quoted Dave Newton of The Mighty Lemon Drops, from an interview in Nige Tassell's C86 book. Dave, who now lives in the States, claimed that tribalism wasn't as much of a thing over there as it is in Britain.

Over here, it's amazing how many people who like us or the Bunnymen also like Van Halen. I don't get that. Some Americans think I'm not telling the truth about bands like that - or that I'm some kind of snob. No, it's just not conceivable that in the UK you'd like Wah! Heat and Bon Jovi. But you see it here on kids' schoolbags where they've written both Rush and the Sex Pistols. Really?! How can you love both?

Well, it turns out Jeff Tweedy from Wilco disagrees. Quite strongly, in fact. Jeff's just written an article for the New York Times in which he admits that when he was a kid, he hated Dancing Queen by Abba... because that was the opinion that was expected of him. I'm not able to read the full article due to the NYT firewall wanting my money, The article's called “I Thought I Hated Pop Music. ‘Dancing Queen’ Changed My Mind.” if you feel like paying their subscription fees. If not, Stereogum have pulled out some choice quotes, including this...

Let’s talk about that first wave of disgust a bit. Initially, hating this song and Abba in general didn’t really feel like a choice. Gagging at the mere mention of this sweet little quartet was just being, you know, normal. And at the time that “Dancing Queen” came out, it wasn’t hard to hate a disco song, anyway; disco was despised by practically everyone I knew (with the exception of the kids who liked to roller skate).

Abba - Dancing Queen

Tweedy goes even further though, suggesting than the tribalism that's ingrained into us as teenagers affects our choices in later life, creating either/or, black/white thinking that prevents us us seeing the middle ground or allowing ourselves to be open to other perspectives, ideas or beliefs.

The divisions we created were embarrassing. I have sometimes even wondered if these youthful skirmishes over musical taste weren’t a childhood version of the current situation our country now finds itself in. Were people of my generation so good at dividing ourselves into factions based on stupid, insignificant differences that we simply never stopped doing it? Someone smarter than me has probably mapped the parallels between Journey fans and X fans and the current binary of political right and left. Or if no one has, someone should.

Journey - Don't Stop Believin'

X - I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts

I'm not claiming the moral high ground here. As much as I rattle on about loving Billy Joel as much as REM, Queen as much as The Smiths, and Meat Loaf as much as John Prine, I'm aware that there are whole genres of music that leave me cold, and as much as I might be changing my mind about New Order, I don't think I'll ever appreciate rave or dubstep or 80% of the stuff Radio One plays these days. I like to think that I don't let genre bias blind me to a good pop song though, which is why I keep listening to Taylor Swift. Still, I think it's more important to celebrate the things I do like rather than railing against the things I don't (unless it's Bono). And I do appreciate good writing about all genres of music, which is why I enjoy reading blogs that cover artists who would never find their way into my hard drive. It's OK to say, "Ed Sheeran's not for me". That's not tribalism, it's just personal taste. Tribalism comes when you say, "Ed Sheeran's shit and I'm not going to listen to or respect the opinion of anyone who tells me they like him". We're all guilty of that a little bit, I guess, but really... what's the point?

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me (Taylor's Version)

Jeff Tweedy is doing the rounds because he has a book out, called World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music. Definitely one for the Christmas list. He's also promoting the new Wilco album, Cousin, presumably inspired by the TV show The Bear, which uses a lot of his band's music. Here's the title track...