Are You Fan Enough to Dig My Band?

In the 1980s, punks paraded Mohawks, rapsters donned Adidas and gilded jewelry, and mullets made Country tunes’ fans look too legit to quit.

Disco glittered the ‘70s with hot pants, platform shoes, and a night life that was no good life – unless fueled by a fusion of drugs and alcohol excess.

Before that we had hippies and surfers, with both groups giving the ‘60s defining looks and lifestyles (think Woodstock and the Beach Boys, respectively).

But do certain music genres require their fans to dress appropriately and act accordingly in order to be bona fide devotees? The answer could vary depending on who you ask.

Willie Nelson debunks the theory that followers of specific music styles must adhere to stringent lifestyle codes.

“Anyone can listen to anything,” Nelson said, “as long as your mind is open to the idea.”

Nelson points to his famed Fourth of July picnics, primarily held in his home state of Texas, which have drawn thousands of music fans annually, for 35 years.

“That is what made the first picnic work so well,” Nelson said of his eclectic tastes and shows, “along with each one after.”

Yet we’ve all had our experiences with elitist music mobs – either at school, at shows, or in genre-geared magazines. The goth kids who sneered at Tommy-clad peers tapping their toes to Nine Inch Nails. The hip-hopsters who mandate you gotta have lived the thug life to join the posse. The Country clubbers who claim New Yorkers just can’t understand Hank Williams’ blues.

An example of clannish fandom is Bob Dylan’s infamous appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Electric Bob was booed during his plugged-in performance, for little more than eschewing the law of acoustic-only, mandated by folkies of the time.

Street cred is a cornerstone of rap legitimacy. Perhaps even the only stone. The late, beloved rapper Tupac Shakur said he was a reflection of the community he came from, the streets of East Harlem.

In his 1991 biography, White rapper Vanilla Ice falsely claimed he’d lived in a gang-infested Miami, Fla. neighborhood, though he’d actually spent his teen years living in a cozy Dallas, Texas suburb. But it’s unlikely anyone would compare Tupac’s lyric style to the beats of Robert Van Winkle.

While some music genres may prefer you live and breathe their ways of life, other genres could care less. They just want you to lend an ear. In this latter category you can place blues, jazz, pop, and classical.

An artist like Willie Nelson has dabbled with bars from each of these styles, and to the sweet sounds of success.

“Music and rhythm is the universal language of mankind,” American 19th Century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said.

You don’t need a specific political ideology to enjoy the rants of Rage Against the Machine, same as you can spin a Public Enemy disc to your inner delight within the confines of your suburban bedroom.

When someone chides you for listening to that wayback Bach, or the sordid strains of a Jimmie Rodgers yodel, just know they’re all singing the same song. Every genre of music is a cousin to every other form.

“Nothing ever quite dies,” the late rock critic Lester Bangs said, “it just comes back in a different form.”

While we may cringe at some of the guests at this tuneful family reunion, let’s take Willie’s advice. In doing so, we’ll have more friends and fun at the picnic.