I Love that Naked Persimmon just posted this to their FB Page. A long, thoughtful discussion about "Long-Running" Fans vs "Newer" Fans. Brilliant.
Happy Sunday, folks! We here at NP would like to take just a moment of your time to address an issue that has been coming up quite a bit recently, and share our thoughts on it.
It's come to our attention, via a few messages we've received from our fans, that some newer Monkees fans have found themselves the target of ire of some of the older (meaning longer-running) Monkees fans. One such fan even said to us that they felt they didn't deserve to be a Monkees fan or to feel like the Monkees' music and TV show had helped save their life because the Monkees had bee saving other people for much longer.
As many of us know, one of the things Monkees that sets the Monkees apart from many other groups is the wide age range of their fans. From “first generation” folks—people who watched the TV show when it first aired in the ’60s; to “second generation” people who watched it when MTV re-aired the show in the ’80s; to “third generation” fans who saw it on Nick-at-Nite in the ’90s; and now “fourth generation” digital-era fans who are finding the Monkees through all sorts of ways.
In a perfect world, these different generations of fans would harmoniously coexist and be supportive and encouraging of each other’s love for the Monkees. Of course, we are dealing with human beings here, and sadly there are people who feel a sense of “ownership” or “entitlement” toward the Monkees, and who are also threatened by the younger/newer fans.
For whatever reason, these fans seem to believe that they are superior to others for being a fan longer, and from what we've seen, they tend to come down hard on others who don't fit their personal specific "criteria" for being a fan. But what they’ve so obviously forgotten is that we were *all* new fans once, and none of us would ever have wanted to be treated like that.
Being a Monkees fan is not a contest. It is *not* a competition. No one wins an award for being a fan longer, the Monkees won’t marry someone or anoint them “Big King/Queen Kahuna Monkees Fan” and hand them a crown and scepter, and no one will be worshiped for being.a longtime fan, especially if they act like a raging douchecanoe about it.
The Monkees have never and will never “belong” to anyone, and therefore there should be no way that anyone could ever "take them from someone." Everyone has the right to their personal experience, and anyone who would try to make someone feel bad or less deserving of it has well and truly lost sight of what it means to be a fan. If someone feels that the Monkees have saved them, in no way whatsoever means that they have saved other people *any less.*
In the end, it doesn’t matter if someone has been a fan of the Monkees for 40 years or 4 years. Time does not equal credibility. What *does* matter is what is in someone’s heart. And if the Monkees have made a person happy—if their music or TV show has made them smile, laugh, or otherwise touched their life—then they are a Monkees fan, and nothing can ever change that.
It's come to our attention, via a few messages we've received from our fans, that some newer Monkees fans have found themselves the target of ire of some of the older (meaning longer-running) Monkees fans. One such fan even said to us that they felt they didn't deserve to be a Monkees fan or to feel like the Monkees' music and TV show had helped save their life because the Monkees had bee saving other people for much longer.
As many of us know, one of the things Monkees that sets the Monkees apart from many other groups is the wide age range of their fans. From “first generation” folks—people who watched the TV show when it first aired in the ’60s; to “second generation” people who watched it when MTV re-aired the show in the ’80s; to “third generation” fans who saw it on Nick-at-Nite in the ’90s; and now “fourth generation” digital-era fans who are finding the Monkees through all sorts of ways.
In a perfect world, these different generations of fans would harmoniously coexist and be supportive and encouraging of each other’s love for the Monkees. Of course, we are dealing with human beings here, and sadly there are people who feel a sense of “ownership” or “entitlement” toward the Monkees, and who are also threatened by the younger/newer fans.
For whatever reason, these fans seem to believe that they are superior to others for being a fan longer, and from what we've seen, they tend to come down hard on others who don't fit their personal specific "criteria" for being a fan. But what they’ve so obviously forgotten is that we were *all* new fans once, and none of us would ever have wanted to be treated like that.
Being a Monkees fan is not a contest. It is *not* a competition. No one wins an award for being a fan longer, the Monkees won’t marry someone or anoint them “Big King/Queen Kahuna Monkees Fan” and hand them a crown and scepter, and no one will be worshiped for being.a longtime fan, especially if they act like a raging douchecanoe about it.
The Monkees have never and will never “belong” to anyone, and therefore there should be no way that anyone could ever "take them from someone." Everyone has the right to their personal experience, and anyone who would try to make someone feel bad or less deserving of it has well and truly lost sight of what it means to be a fan. If someone feels that the Monkees have saved them, in no way whatsoever means that they have saved other people *any less.*
In the end, it doesn’t matter if someone has been a fan of the Monkees for 40 years or 4 years. Time does not equal credibility. What *does* matter is what is in someone’s heart. And if the Monkees have made a person happy—if their music or TV show has made them smile, laugh, or otherwise touched their life—then they are a Monkees fan, and nothing can ever change that.
Selected Comments:
Jeane Simpson as a side bar to this..there are also the folks who have 'met' all or various Monkees dude who seem to think they are superior to those who haven't met all..or ANY of them. i've been attacked by these types quite often. I don't envy them...i just don't understand their need to throw it in people's faces that they are better than anyone else cuz they've seen so and so 58 times and went to every meet and greet/convo whatever in the last year and a half.....nobody needs to feel like they're anything less because they've not been into anyone(Any musician, actor or artist)its just that we all discover things at different times. Hell, there are probably people in their 40s and 50s who weren't into the dudes when they were young but have discovered them now. (and honestly, i find it kinda fun and interesting to meet teens who are into the monkees as either young dudes or old dudes...i kinda feel like Yoda;)....well without the green skin or wrinkles!)
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