The next big thing

When you discover a band you really love that barely anyone knows about, it can be greatly rewarding. You read about them in Pitchfork or NME, give them a whirl and they end up becoming your own little thing, carving out a niche in your life, defining your personality and tastes to a T. You tell your friends, let them borrow an album, and if any of them decide to buy it, you get that fuzzy feeling in your heart knowing you helped spread the word.\nBut then everyone else spreads the word about this amazing band, and pretty soon it's everyone's little thing, and there you are, like a chump with an import copy of their debut album, and no one could give a damn.\nSome people deal with this by screaming "Sellout!" and finding their own next big thing they can hold onto that may or may not hit it in the mainstream (but they're hoping not). Others just take the newfound success with a grain of salt, mentioning in conversation they did indeed know who the band was "before they hit it big" so they will always have one-up, and rightfully so.\nIn both cases, there is a sense of pride knowing you knew about something really great before anyone else, but there is also a great sense of personal loss.\nThere were about 20 people on this campus who knew about Coldplay before their first album even hit the States, and I was one of them. I heard "Yellow" right after starting my freshman year and it felt like it was meant to be the first song in my college canon. The song, still to this day, makes me want to pull a Cusack-ian act of idealism at a girl's window.\nBut over the last four years, everyone and their mothers have fallen for Chris Martin's sweet, raspy voice, and those 19 people and I have been clutching our import copies of "Parachutes" quietly, saying, "I told you so," while secretly and bitterly wishing they still just belonged to a few of us.\nAs much as it pains me, I can't complain a 12-year-old is wearing a Coldplay t-shirt, because at one time, I was that kid -- except I was wearing a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt.\nLike religion, rock music can be ruined by its maniacal followers who want to tell you exactly how it should be experienced, ruining a really beautiful thing in order to maintain their personal identity.\n"Jesus Christ, save me from you followers," reads one bumper sticker.\n"Conor Oberst, save me from your fans," should read another.\nIf you didn't know, Oberst is the lead singer of Bright Eyes, who, in uber-indie rock fashion, recorded his first album in his bedroom at age 14, and now at 23, has dated Winona Ryder.\n Then again…who hasn't? Bah, it still doesn't matter…she can take a bunch of Valium and shoplift my heart any day.\n ANYWAY…\n While I understand the pain of watching a favorite band get almost too big, I think letting go of your favorite unknown band as they go mainstream should be more like a parent letting their kid go off to college. Sure, you really want them around for yourself, but they're capable of bigger things, and to only wish moderate success upon them is a disservice to humanity.\nBut there are those who hope you will never hear a band they listen to religiously.\nNot me.\nYou should really hear the Flaming Lips, M83, Manitoba, Grandaddy, the Avalanches, Doves and the Polyphonic Spree. I love them too much to keep them from you.\nAnd if you don't like them, then hey…they'll just be my little thing.