Me As A Drum and Bass Fan

How I am stereotyped as “chavvy”

Ben Chuter

Characteristics of DnB

• Fast paced, loud, bold electronic sounds, almost always played on a synthesizer or keyboard.

• Most popular DnB band is Pendulum.

• The highest selling DnB album ever is Pendulum – Hold Your Colour which has currently sold over 225,000 copies.

Rob Swire of Pendulum, playing his MIDI guitar

People’s views of the genre

• A lot of people view drum and bass as a genre for chavs because of how Drum and Bass bands often use MC’s for live shows.

• I think that MC’s are used well live by Drum and Bass bands such as Pendulum and Chase and Status because Drum and Bass needs strong lyrics like those used by MC’s as it rarely has an actual lyricist in the band.

Pendulum’s live MC, Ben Mount

MC Rage, Chase and Status’s live MC

The Stereotyped Fan• One possible reason for the views people

have of Drum and Bass is probably some of the more popular artists associated with the genre such as Goldie.

• When people look at Goldie they think of all of the stereotypes attached to the genre.

• It is also probably partly because of the way that Goldie goes about critiquing music. He once famously described Pendulum’s then new single, Granite, as “a sh*t single”

• This news story shows the general assumption made about most fans of Drum and Bass – we are all thieves and thugs http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11922355

• If I was this stereotyped fan I would be smoking weed, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, stealing from people and constantly getting in fights. This is not me.

Stereotyped Fan

Thieves

Drunkards

Drug addicts

Thugs – always fighting

The Actual Fan• The actual Drum and Bass fan is

more of a loyal follower and almost a part of the band.

• They love their music and show this at live shows with their charismatic moshing and headbanging in the circle pits that characterise live drum and bass.

• Their love of the live experience is shown well in this clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvP5Tp-CLtQ&feature=channel_video_title 1:00 – 2:30

• I am more like this than the stereotyped fan – I follow DnB fairly religiously

Representation

• This is the way something is portrayed generally and can involve the stereotypes attached to what is being portrayed. Often things are blown out of proportion in the media with representations as some of the representations overdo things – people in wheelchairs are very often shown to be entirely powerless when this is not true.

• DnB’s representation is on the next slide.

The Representation of the DnB Fan

• These two images are on the first page of google images search for Drum and Bass fan and show how the genre, and it’s fans, including me, are stereotyped: as chavs who are far too overzealous with the support of their genre.

Identity

• Identity is the individual elements of a person’s personality which make them who they are.

• These could be slight quirks or eccentricities which characterise someone or something.

• Identity can occasionally be misconstrued when somebody has a quirk that is supposed to be light-hearted but when it is encoded by the sender it is decoded wrongly by the receiver

• These apply to the DnB fan which is shown on the next page.

The Identity Crisis of the DnB Fan

• The DnB fan is no longer allowed to be who they want to be because it is not acceptable in today’s society to be that person. The media partly increases this problem because of the way fans of the genre are portrayed on TV where they are just seen as drug obsessed teenagers, in shows such as Skins. I am partly affected by this identity crisis as I occasionally have to make my language slightly less colloquial and make my accent more one of received pronunciation at times.

The Band• The Drum and Bass

band are almost as animated and charismatic as the fans are at live gigs despite still having to play instruments as was seen in the last clip.

• Personally I think they get awful press for no reason.

• They are leading the way technologically.

• No reason to criticise them but still people do.

• I and most other DnB fans think they are almost wizards.

Skrillex, a DnB DJ from LA

Deadmau5, a DJ from Canada.

Theorists

• Rogers Circle can be applied to the stereotyping of DnB. It is the public self of some DnB fans which is offending or chavvy to a lot of people but their private and public selves are usually just as correct and normal as the rest of us.

• There is also an element of the Dimbleby and Burton theory where they say that people join groups through a sense of belonging and through having similarities with others in the group because a lot of DnB fans bond over a love of their type of music and often have similar likes and dislikes.

Jokes About the GenreThis is a stereotype of chavs which is what DnB fans are stereotyped to be. Seen as stupid.

Scum of the earth.

Smokers – hated for yet another wrong reason.

Drunkards who can only afford the cheapest, nastiest drink.

All thieves who steal everything and don’t own anything legit

More bling which is probably expected to be stolen and not bought.

My Experience of the Genre’s Jokes

• Once, when I told somebody that I was a fan of DnB I was instantly asked if I had a lighter for his cigarette. Another time I was asked if I knew a dealer!

• These jokes have therefore gotten out of hand entirely when because of your taste in music you are stereotyped as a drug addict and a smoker when this is totally wrong! What began as a joke has escalated to become a real world criticism of the genre and it’s fans. I have been on the receiving end of this prejudice many a time and find it ridiculous.

Evaluation• I conclude that Drum and Bass fan’s identities

are sometimes unknown as they cannot be themselves because of their representation in the media. As soon as you say “Drum and Bass” to the average person on the street, all you will get back is “Chavvy”. This is a great shame because the genre is so technologically advanced and cleverly made that people should not have to miss out on it just because of some unfair stereotypes. I am still deeply stereotyped and feel that this is unjust as neither me or my friends who like the genre are at all chavvy.