on being normal about it all

Recently I was talking about Geese while walking to the Greg Freeman/Grandaddy show with someone I don't know very well. I know I can come off like a bit of a needless contrarian so I try to soften my middle of the road feelings on something like Geese. That night I found myself talking about how I try to not think too much about people getting hyperbolic about Cameron Winter and Geese because it should be fun to watch young people collectively get a new favorite band. That's what I think is going on with Geese mostly. I might be kind of a bitch about a lot of buzzy music, but I try not to be a bitch about the buzz itself. I don't think I'm right. That's just how I am.

Whenever the internet gets a new buzz band of a moment people start to say the same things. Everybody is being weird about ___. Everybody get normal about ___ NOW! I'm the only one who likes __ in a regular way. It's kind of an uncreative memey lingo to speak in mostly, but I've been thinking a lot about taste lately and the online extremes of discussing taste.

Everybody thinks they like things in the right way, or at least a way that shouldn't be criticized. Some people even think engaging with any art is inherently a form of cultural rebellion. I don't agree. I don't have to.

Who cares. I do.

There are kind of 5 prototypes of very online music listener in my eyes.

1. True Stan: It has never been more intense. You see a lot of young people who don't so much like music as much as they like one artist. They have thoughts on the marketing of an artist. They're arguing about charts. They're reading way too far into another pop star's out of context statement and making it about their preferred pop star. They should be into sports comparing player stat cards 6 games into the season.
2. Canon Worshipper: I call this "Rate Your Music-core" a lot of the time, but it's also people who care too much about Anthony Fantano or maybe Pitchfork. I think this one is well-meaning, but usually too interested in defining a north star of objective truth. Probably have a lot in common with the people who called me a dumb asshole for linking my letterboxd after saying I had never seen Superbad as if having seen Superbad was some kind of pre-requisite for having any opinions on movies at all. These are, often, not people with a personal taste (yet) and will behave as if disliking something generally stamped as Good with a capital G is some act of rebellion.
3. Nostalgia Promoter: A traditional lane of online music enjoyer. Someone who might say "Why would I listen to [Current Band] when I could listen to [Older Band That New Band Might Be Influenced By]?" You almost have to respect it just for how long guys like this have been knocking around online, but it's boring. It lacks curiosity. It's the logical end of describing music only through references to bands that kind of sound similar to the one you're talking about.
4. Wannabe Tastemaker: Someone who really wants to recommend you a band that has probably already been covered extensively in the press. They want you to think they're tapped in, but this is exclusively positive. It's not really about their opinion, it's just about being in the know. It's more about taste as stand in for personality. The most important thing is that they see themself as someone cool and interesting and they're proving it you by telling you about music they think makes them look cool and in touch. It's as much about making a timely, say, MJ Lenderman joke that may or may not really make sense as it is about people on TikTok who explicitly say, "check out these small bands you've never heard of." They think they're doing you a favor or maybe they're just showing off how cool they are to their high school classmates who still follow them on Instagram. Inevitably they will get gatekeepy about the thing they hope everybody credits them for bringing to the forefront.
5. Premature Take Haver: Jumping at the opportunity to let you know they have an opinion. Doesn't matter if it's positive or negative or how much time informs it, it's just about letting everybody know they have the opinion. People who post with the mentality of a news website trying to garner their attention mainly by being one of the first people to loving something or to hating it. True Contrarians live here. People who listen to music they know they won't like just to have the opinion. The difference between a Premature Take Haver and a Wannabe Tastemaker is that a Take Haver mainly values the attention that can come from people disagreeing with you. It's the easiest way to get attention online. That's why it's called bait.

The calls to "Be Normal" can come from any number of these types of people about someone who falls into a different category. Many people who post fall into multiple categories. To "Be Normal" is to like music the same way I do, whatever that means to any given person. Not so enthusiastic so as to be cringe, but reject irony-poisoning. Don't comment on the way anybody looks, but also maybe that's part of it. Only show the right amount of interest in a musician's personal life. Be cool, but not too obviously interested in being cool. It's all so boring.

We watch a band become a certain subset of people's current favorite band and then people get upset. People love Geese, so people hate Geese. People think the members of Geese look cool, but you shouldn't really say it (or write an article interviewing a hairdresser about how to make your hair look unwashed). Is Geese as cool as everybody says? Is Cameron Winter the next Thom Yorke? Blah blah blah.

If you're interested in my opinion of the band for some reason, the Cameron Winter solo album and the new Geese album combine for maybe 8 songs I like – the ones that trend toward the breezy and ornate – and a handful I really don't like – the ones that are heavy on the classic rock guitar tones. I don't feel particularly strongly about my own taste and I don't encourage anybody to take my opinions on music too seriously. I don't consider myself a critic really and I prioritize liking songs more than liking albums. It is what it is.

I've been considering if I've internalized an idea of "Being Normal" to a degree that I'm acting in opposition to some kind of pretentious egomaniac I've created in my head. Maybe that is what's going on, but really I think it's because I don't think of listening to a lot of music – or caring a lot about a certain kind of music or artist – as integral to my identity or why people would like me or care about what I might have to say. I think remaining curious is important, but I don't really buy into good and bad taste as objective truths. I love to talk about music and give thought to music and art, but more as practice which I think is often antithetical to posting. I also think I just don't like being yelled at on the internet for my opinions. That's why I keep them to an hour long podcast twice a week that most people probably won't spend the time on just to yell at me on Twitter.

Is any of this normal? Probably not. Who cares.

I've mostly been listening to this song by Bellows lately.

Thick Skin, by Bellows

from the album Fist & Palm

BellowsBellows

Miranda Reinert is a music adjacent writer, zine maker, podcaster and law school drop out based in Chicago. Check out PDFs of most of my zines at the link on the top of the screen. Follow me on Twitter or Bluesky to see me be normal: @mirandareinert.  This blog does have a paid option and I would so appreciate any money you would be willing to throw me! You may also send me small bits of money at @miranda-reinert on venmo/on Paypal if you want. As always, thanks for reading!