What makes a hardcore fan?

[lalolalo]

Love.

[PSBForTheMasses]

There's no hardcore fan or fans, they're just the best, you cannot hate their music.

Doesn't this fall into the "Deep Passion and Loyalty" category?

"Deep Passion and Loyalty: They will defend the band against critics and remain loyal even through changes in musical style or lineup changes, believing in the authenticity or the evolution of the band"

[sterlinglush]

Interesting list of criteria, but I wonder how relevant it is for those of us who predate the Internet. "West End Girls" got me started as a PSB fan back in '85 or so. Fandom culture today strikes me as needy, desperate, entitled, obsessive, intrusive, and vulgar all at once, and I want nothing to do with it. I follow the Boys on social media to learn about new releases and significant events, but not to the point of obsession. I've seen them in concert a few times. Not recently, though: I live in Cornwall, and although they played at the Eden Project in St Austell a couple of years ago, my (then) partner and I were both quick to nix the idea of seeing them there. It's an outdoor venue, it was likely to rain, and the roads getting in and out of there are dark, twisty rat runs from hell. You couldn't pay me to drive around there at night. Having said all that, I deeply love their music and listen to them often. I'm as much of a fan as I need to be: hardcore by some standards, I suppose, but not to a point I'd consider silly.

[Gabby]

I've seen them in concert a few times. Not recently, though: I live in Cornwall, and although they played at the Eden Project in St Austell a couple of years ago, my (then) partner and I were both quick to nix the idea of seeing them there. It's an outdoor venue, it was likely to rain, and the roads getting in and out of there are dark, twisty rat runs from hell. You couldn't pay me to drive around there at night. Having said all that, I deeply love their music and listen to them often. I'm as much of a fan as I need to be: hardcore by some standards, I suppose, but not to a point I'd consider silly.

So much this!

I nixed seeing PSB on their Pandemonium tour (the only tour I could have gone to but missed since starting to see them live). Their Toronto date was at a festival, and I just could not bring myself to go to an event like that. I did "festival light" at Rock the Park in London, ON (Flock of Seagulls, Howard Jones, Bret Michaels, Cyndi Lauper - was pretty neat!) and that was as much of that as I could bear with the crappy picnic tables and portaloos.

Fandom culture today strikes me as needy, desperate, entitled, obsessive, intrusive, and vulgar all at once, and I want nothing to do with it.

I think that was touched upon earlier in a comment about people going through garbage cans and I don't think it's particularly anything new, but I do think it's prevalent more now than ever.

[PSBForTheMasses]

I do not know what to call myself.

Usually I don't like their videos; I find them wooden and boring except for a few notable ones for me, including Heart, Monkey Business, Being Boring, Together (very energetic) and On Social Media. If they never released a video again, I would never regret it. I was never an MTV child in the first place.

I find Neil's concert (stage?) voice not that good; I find it nasal and too thin; the most striking example is his performance of Always On My Mind with the Killer's front man Brandon Flowers. Wish they had never performed it together.

But his studio voice is excellent; it wakes up an all-time nostalgic emotion in me in whatever he sings, be it an over-the-top one or a slow number. I can listen to him for hours and hours, back-to-back

I attended their concerts but as they come to my country once a decade, you feel you must attend because there may never be another chance to see them. I find their shows great, in particular, Performance tour is a piece of art for me.

But what I love about their music, I love it passionately, way above the normal standards probably. Their first three albums and Discography and Alternative, and to some extent, Bilingual are untouchables for me. I find some of their albums boring (Elysium, Release and Super, and surprise surprise, Behavior). But this is just a personal thing, it does not necessarily mean they are boring.

On a track by track basis, Always on my mind is my official funeral song and my favourite song ever. I cannot spend a day unless I listen to it at least once. Opportunities, It Couldn't Happen Here, Suburbia, King's Cross, Discoteca, Left To My Own Device (Introspective version) etc etc. Nothing beats them. Nothing.

I find them better than the Beatles. People laught at me when I say this but I do not laugh at it

I am rather a pop-rock fan leaning towards rockier bands, I love U2, REM, Heart, Def Leppard, Tina Turner, AC/ DC etc. PSB are the only new wave/ pop/ electro band that I can tolerate and the ONLY act whose albums I faithfully hunt and buy. For nearly ten years I have not bought anything from any other band or act. I spend my hard-earned money only for the Boys, which they truly deserve regardless of whether or not I love the album.

So I only probably meet the Emotional Connection and Deep Passion and Loyalty criteria, and to some extent, Extensive Knowledge criterion. Semi hard-core fan?