Punk Rock Guilt

There's a line many music snobs draw to mark what they feel is an acceptable level of fame for a musician. Once you cross it, you're considered a sell-out. Once you’ve sold out, you’re no longer welcome in their lair of hip-ness. So, as a musician gains a following, they lose many of their original fans. Caleb Follwill touched on this conundrum when reflecting on KOL’s big year, and Jack White recently talked about it when Rolling Stone asked if he worries about the scene he came from:

I never stopped thinking what I wanted to do for their [fans from his original “underground” scene] sake. I always considered it and thought about it and at times felt guilty about it, but it wasn't until maybe about Get Behind Me Satan when I finally said, "I can't stand even thinking about anyone else's reaction to how this goes down. It doesn't matter to me anymore. I can't win either way." So I finally released myself from any of that... I don't know how to word it exactly. Some of the grunge bands used to say it was punk-rock guilt.

Punk Rock Guilt. It's the musicians’ awareness of their original fans’ repudiation. And shame on those fans for such arbitrary judgment.

To reject a band whose music you love merely because they start selling out venues and selling more albums isn't really fair, is it? If you love a band, you should theoretically want them to succeed. And, since success, for a musician, means gaining more recognition and thereby selling more records, shouldn't you be happy for them once they start doing that? Most of the musicians plagued by Punk Rock Guilt didn’t set out to be famous for the sake of it, but fame and success go hand in hand for them. Fame means more people know about them, and if more people know about them, more people will listen to their music. If more people listen to their music, they get to keep doing what they love without having to bus tables on the side. We all want to make a living doing what we love. When a musician reaches that point, how selfish are we to shun them, merely because we can no longer claim them as our little secret. White's right to release himself from the guilt.

If you’re ready to walk away from a band you once loved, fine. Music is fluid and subjective. But give the musicians a break when they catch theirs, and come up with a better reason to turn your back.