I find that for a while, there are a lot of fans for something and then one day someone says something bad about them and then everyone turns against it, why is this? Why is it that people one day will love something and then the next day turn around and hate it? Is it because they want to be the same as everyone else and are simply saying that to fit in? Are they saying it because they never liked them to begin with and are only now opposing it because it's not really popular anymore?

What are your takes on this and remember that this could apply to anything: music, movies, books...anything.

I know exactly what you mean... An example in music can be post-Max Sepultura...
I feel that whenever something is, reviewed by an authority... In this case magazines and websites people tend to follow the review of that person/organization... Rather than think for themselves.... This could happen without even hearing the music...

In the film industry however, the authority review is more likely to come from film critis/talk shows etc...

All in all however, it results in the same thing...

Written by Guest on 20.05.2006 at 01:56

I have a friend (used to have) who has to be the ultimate icon of this.
A couple of years ago when I first met this person he was wearing his darkthrone sweater, long black hair and army boots, and was the typical metalhead. Well, we listened to the same music, and could identify with eachother. Then all of a sudden he changed. Now it was goth that was the big "thing". Long coats, hats, new haircut and all that stuff. He started to criticize what he used to be a part of. Then it went a while, and he showed up at school in animé style. Headbands with cartoon symbols and whatever. Each time he switched style, he learned everything about it, and made sure to tell his friends how great it was. Now he's a hippie and all about flower power and smoking pot. walking barefeet (it's 12 celcius for christ!), wearing pink shirts and drawing flowers all over his stuff.

He is extremely easily affected by other people, I would say he has some kind of acceptance problem. We talk on a rather rarely basis, and when we do it's all about his other friends or how great the hippies were. If I try to talk about something of my interest, he doesn't reply, or tells me he's not interested. That pisses me off!

Yeh, this thing tends to happen to people I know a lot too...

Its wierd that someone can change themselves so often and not get affected at all...

I think people do it for several reasons. One of the most prominent is probably because a lot of people think they will be criticized for it, whether it be liking a specific band (how many times have you heard a large group of people, often the majority in the cases of a mainstream band, say "Band x sucks so bad! I don't undestand how people can stand them. Those vocals are terrible." etc?) or watching a particular TV show. People feel that they will be hurt, whether physically or mentally, for what they believe in so to speak.

I have one such experience. When I was queuing outside a venue to see Children Of Bodom play earlier in the year, a group of kids walking who were dressed in the stereotypical type of 'emo' fashion were the victims of a flying (full or half full) beer can by a group of guys who ranged in age from 20-25 possibly. They also received the anti~emo insults too.

Anyhow, I guess another popular reason for turn coats is because it's the 'in thing'. I don't think I need to explain trends to here but some people can't live without feeling like they belong in something. These people are genuninely insecure most of the time and think they can get the closure they need if they do not differ from their peers. It's also protection, I suppose, for they believe that other following such a trend can not pick on them for being different.

"some people can't live without feeling like they belong in something" Truer words have never been said.

i also hate it...imo it's like cattle mentality to change so drastically according to the trends.there are lots of 'em in the whole world.i never thought that being like all the others will make you cool...

I think that these things are reflections of personality. Who has a weak caracter, allways tries to fit in, to be the one who makes compromises, and in these cases, turning their back on the things they love, for the sake of other people. But there are also people who, although don't have a weak caracter, still makes these changes. My sister is like this. She used to listen to Eminem and be a big bad ass hip-hoper, then came the Green Day fase ('Punks Not Dead!') now she listens to scremos and emo music; the thing is that she doesn't wants to fit in anywhere, she is surounded by grupies herself (the first kind of style changers). In this case, I think that ppl just simply get bored, that's all, and bands are just the base level of things. This will happen with relations etc. also.

My conclusion is, that we should never judge someone for these things, cuz sometimes things are deeper then they seem.

IMO turn coat fans are untrue fans. They never liked something truey, so they tend to dislike something soon.
However over many years your chouce can change, and that's not 'turn-coat fan' because I like Nirvana 5 years back, but after I became 'philosophic' I totally lost interest for that kind of stuff. This is just an example. I guess similar thing happens with many people.

I think that this might happen mainly because those persons were searching for something but they realized that the bands/books/movies, etc, weren't their things, even if they used to like them a lot and for a long time
I also agree with Damnated's post

i used to like linkin park a couple of years ago. and i also suddenly started to hate them... and i have a good reason for it: i used to listen to them alot, and knew most of their songs... but some day when i heard them on the radio, i said to myself "oh cool, its <insert song name here>" but then i heard that it wasnt. and so.. i realised that all their songs sound just like each other... and i started hating them for not having any creativity to make new songs with different sounds.

My music tastes change a lot. It doesnt depend on the trends, but on my actual needs and moods. I need to change.

And you call that untrue and weak. Maybe you should first try to know what makes people change so drastically, appart from trends, before judging them.

Im not going to say more.

I think about all of these guys who used to love Slipknot or Korn, and were the bands that got them into "real metal", and then they realise that lots of metalheads hate Slipknot and Korn, so they do the same

I think it's more so that people need to feel a sense of belonging in some way. It's all these different sub-cultures that people feel they want to fit into. For example, a person who starts listening to metal will dress into it and follow the same or similar beliefs to many other metalheads. It's the same with pop culture, punk culture, etc. Now it's not everyone who does this. Many people do mature and express their individuality more after some time, however with the younger generations, many people just want to feel a sense of belonging and that is why they follow a trend, from my perspective anyway. I don't think it's because these people are "untrue" or anything. Peoples tastes change and for other people that quality of belonging is more important above all else. The majority of metal fans dress and act in a certain way to get that sense of belonging, and for others their sense of belonging comes from fitting in with a popular culture. In the end, they aren't affecting or bothering me in any way, so why should I care.