Why Do We Fight So Much About Music? Here’s the Answer.
We all fight about music because everyone has an opinion about it. But is there more to these fights than that? Pitchfork takes a look.
Art isn’t a competition, but one arises nevertheless when two fans on opposite sides of the aisle let loose with the world’s evergreen battle cry: My shit is better than your shit. Music, especially, is filled with warring fanbases trying to assert supremacy. Did anyone really love the Beatles if they didn’t insist, at one point, that they were definitely better than the Rolling Stones? The same goes for Tupac and Biggie, Oasis and Blur,Pavement and the Smashing Pumpkins, and so forth.
It’s always a little silly, this competition: No one can scientifically prove that “Gold Soundz” goes harder than “1979,” and any reasonable person would admit the difference comes down to our individual biases. If you’re the type to sit around and shoot the shit about pop culture, thinking about the those biases is where the fun starts. That’s the subject of Steven Hyden’s new book, Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me, which traces those biases through 16 music rivalries. When Hyden (formerly of Grantland, The A.V. Club, and yes, Pitchfork) first thought about writing about music rivalries, he knew he didn’t just want to write about music. Starting with the Beatles vs. Stones or Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift was a way to discuss everything, not just whose shit is better.
He makes a point, but more broadly this is stupid shit people wrap their identities and beliefs in. Same goes for politics, religion, nationalism … and then stuff like hobbies, music, authors etc.
People in general seem to have some inherent need to belong to a group they identify with. Then any attack on that group is an attack on one’s self.