Not to be moved to the Cat Power category: "Why are Cat Power fans so weird?"

[Paul]

Our own little Moon Pix being the exception, it seems any place Cat Power fans congregate that weird obsessive (and often creepy) behavior is soon to follow. What is it about her that sets some people off like this? Those picture threads, especially... I feel like I want to scrub down with a Brillo pad after browsing through them. The strange mix of possession/stalkerism is kind of subtle, but it is there.

[johansen smith]

Lonely, emotionally damaged people can find solace in anything. Look at the bizarre Live Journal community that's sprung up around "romantic elements" in television programs like the US Office, the West Wing, or Ed-- often with artistic obsessions and devotion that is focused to an embarrassing degree (it makes one question if they have any concept of what those shows are/were doing in the first place). Same with musicians and books and movies and so on. Matador unfortunately has given these outcasts a place outside of a Xanga webring to propagate without too many hands slapping them back into reality, and when village idiots convene, even the voice of reason can be pitched.

[dola]

Again, don't discount the obvious here. If she were ugly instead of breathtaking, people would give a lot less of a crap about her mystique/persona and (i guess) focus more on her music, if it ever made it out there. Actually, I guess it would be a totally different story to begin with if that were the case - Bathysphere wouldn't have been covered, for starters.

[Paul]

Good points all, but do you think it just stems from her attractiveness? There are plenty of beautiful women making music who don't cultivate a weird cultish fanbase like Chan Marshall does.

[Moon Pix]

You would think wouldnt you that I might have some insight into the reasons why but really I find it hard to understand myself.

I personally don't think its because shes attractive. Apart from Chan, the two other musicians I can think of who've had a substantial number of very obsessive fans are Michael Stipe and Morrissey. People dont react to other female musicians like this. Theres no Courtney Love cult or PJ Harvey one.

Youre right Paul, there are times when you read posts about Chan and wonder. Im a massive fan obviously but the Hinckley like overtones arent even subliminal at times, theyre totally there for anybody to see. I wouldnt say that this is a similar case because theres far too many people like this whereaes the Hinckley thing was just one guy.

I dont think is completely to do with music either. Shes my altime favourite artist and for the right reasons but the obsessives seem to be looking at her from a different angle than me. The way the obsessives talk to me sounds more in line with the way David Koresh's followers talked about him than the way fans talk about their favourite books or shows or what have you, like its a truer cult in that respect. Other people who are considered cult songwriters like Tom Waits or Townes Van Zandt dont have an obsessive demographic in their fan base, or at least not a substantial one.

Some Cat Power fans are just very, very strange. I remember in the early days on this board when I answered everybodys questins about Chan I might have sounded obsessive and stalkerly but I can asure you Im not.

Its just that Ive read a lot of interviews.:)

[Paul]

The only other female performer I can think of who has a similar fanbase would be Stevie Nicks. She's all some of those people will listen to, and there's a TON of fan-created art (most of it hilariously awful) littering the interwebs. Everybody wants to be a white witch, huh?

I'm going hypothesize here and suggest that it might have something to do with the behavior Chan's exhibited over the course of her career...a kind of wounded fragility that draws these people in. First they identify with her, but then it mutates into this weird possessive guardian/caregiver role in their minds. She's frequently referred to as "my Chan" or "our Chan" in the way some people talk about Jesus--"my savior and Lord" or "our redeemer."

I dunno. The whole thing just kind of creeps me out.

[davidleeroth]

For one, CP had massive exposure last year and if take a look the type of media/magazines and then their target audience, you're bound to find some bad apples there.
The whole celebrity culture is now truly bigger than Jesus, no apologies needed and internet is the new church. Hell, just look at my user name.

[tinobeat]

For one, CP had massive exposure last year and if take a look the type of media/magazines and then their target audience, you're bound to find some bad apples there.

But I think the point is that this behavior has been like this since the beginning of Cat Power time! The forum up top is at least 3, maybe 4 years old? It was creepy before "You Are Free" came out, even. So this recent spate of press probably did more the expand the fan base, but the general character of the deeply obsessed has been as it is for years and years and years.

[pizzagratis]

You definitely don't see Elf Power fans acting like this.

Har har har.

I dunno...granted, I'm no Cat Power fan, but I kinda like it, I guess at a certain point you have to be a little concerned for the people involved.

The big question though is...who exactly are these people? They high school kids? They middle aged guys? Sorority sisters? People who are otherwise into science fiction? Indie kids (whatever the hell that connotes these days)?

Can we maybe compare her to a more contemporary Tori Amos? I seem to remember her commanding quite a cult, though based on a pretty different vibe.

[johansen smith]

I think for some of us who've been around long enough, the behavior in the Cat Power threads is getting dangerously close to Oliver-levels, and we all know how that turned out

[dola]

I think for some of us who've been around long enough, the behavior in the Cat Power threads is getting dangerously close to Oliver-levels, and we all know how that turned out

Yeah, Fagin gets what he deserves!

I didn't mean for it to sound like CP's looks are the sole reason behind the type of behavior some of her fans exhibit. She's obviously immensely talented and has written gorgeous, identifiable songs. All's I'm sayin' is, it's a big factor. You're right Moon Pix, it's no mistake that people like Morrissey, Stipe and Elliott Smith are/were all men judged primarily on their work, not look. Ok maybe just the last two.

[Paul]

...dangerously close to Oliver-levels, and we all know how that turned out Yeah, you mean Jon Wesley, but I agree.

[Dean]

What is this, a state of the forum meeting?

[Moon Pix]

Can we maybe compare her to a more contemporary Tori Amos? I seem to remember her commanding quite a cult, though based on a pretty different vibe.

Yeah... shes a total fucking nut and so are her fans.

Chan isnt though but unfortunately some of her fans are. Its all a bit Richey Edwards at times.

[Moon Pix]

I think for some of us who've been around long enough, the behavior in the Cat Power threads is getting dangerously close to Oliver-levels, and we all know how that turned out

Whos Oliver?:)

[Moon Pix]

The big question though is...who exactly are these people? They high school kids? They middle aged guys? Sorority sisters? People who are otherwise into science fiction? Indie kids (whatever the hell that connotes these days)?

It would be interesting to know that. It might be guys her own age. I read an interview a while ago where she mentioned marriage proposals from guys after shows which would be enough to creep anyone out in my opinion.

[Moon Pix]

Will y'all protect me? Im scared Im gonna get burned as a heretic now by the Cat Power community for that Koresh comment.;)

[Paul]

You're probably fine. As strange as they are, I don't think they have any organizational and mobilization abilities.

[johansen smith]

At least not until they marshal their self-mutilation into a dedicated assault outwards.

[Moon Pix]

To be honest the strange thing Ive noticed is the odd ones show, post maybe half a dozen odd posts and then you never hear of them again. The ones who stay like Olives and DavidLeeRoth are alright.

Johansen, Id love to know who this Oliver is. Sounds like a bit of a legend on these boards. I did a user search earlier on but found nothing.:confused:

[johansen smith]

Um, he was an obsessive Cat Power fan from the FMBB named Jon Wesley (Paul, I could've sworn he posted as "Oliver" as well as other names...) who took his own life. This would have been like five years ago, maybe longer. We don't talk much about it for obvious reasons.

[Moon Pix]

Um, he was an obsessive Cat Power fan from the FMBB named Jon Wesley (Paul, I could've sworn he posted as "Oliver" as well as other names...) who took his own life. This would have been like five years ago, maybe longer. We don't talk much about it for obvious reasons.

Sorry to drag it up.:(

[Paul]

Oliver/Jason was the person who Jon responded to most, in sort of a big-brotherly sense. I don't think any of us really knew the magnitude of Jon's problems until after he was gone. But yeah, we don't speak of it much.

[Lukas]

That's messed up. I originally thought you were talking about that old O.C character.

[Moon Pix]

The Cat Power forum has completely dropped off recently. Theres been no activity there at all.

Whats interesting I think is that since The Greatest came out the rubber neckers who used to go to her shows to see if she'd walk off stage or just struggle through it has been replaced by this really apathetic bunch oif folks who really don't give much of a fuck about seeing her. The last time I saw her was her London show with the Dirty Delta Blues Band and the guy standingf next to me was so bored he was messing with his mobile phone.

I don't what y'all think of that? It seems that Chan attracts people at both ends of the pole.

[vesper]

okay, so we finally have an answer to the thread's question: cat power fans are in fact exactly like every other band's set of fans.

[tinobeat]

except creepier

[dola]

or they're just less interested in the new songs? and creepier.

[chris009]

i met a woman in new york while on holiday that named her baby chan and had a tattoo of chan's face on her belly and over it in bad lettering: "marshall is love." it was quite frightful. i moved my set-up to outside because she wouldn't stop talking to me about cat power after she saw "dear sir" in my bag.

might be creepy, but also seemingly annoying.

[dola]

wow i know i posted well after, but until the lastest rejoinder from chris, i hadn't read the stuff about jon. i googled the name (morbid, i know) and came up with this tragic irony. did anyone know this:

"It is a melancholy consideration, that there is no country in Europe, or perhaps in the habitable world, where the horrid crime of self-murder is so common as it is in England!

But how can this vile abuse of the law be prevented, and this execrable crime effectually discouraged?

By a very easy method. We read in ancient history, that, at a certain period, many of the women of Sparta murdered themselves. This fury increasing, a law was made, that the body of every woman that killed herself should be exposed naked in the streets, The fury ceased at once.

Only let a law be made and rigorously executed, that the body of every self-murderer, Lord or peasant, shall be hanged in chains, and the English fury will cease at once [The Works of John Wesley (Baker Book House, 1979). vol. 13, p. 481].</i>

[Moon Pix]

What Id really love to know is why am I the only Cat Power fan who comes into this community and actually talk to y'all?:confused:

[Patrick]

Umm...I think it says more about 'us' than about 'you.'

[bitterfruit]

Matador could always release some Built to Spill stuff and attract fans with that Seattle bearded flannel look.

[Moon Pix]

Umm...I think it says more about 'us' than about 'you.'

What makes you think that Pat? Not that Im disagreeing with you Im just interested in yr logic.:)