I think the difference between Stones and Monkees fans was less to do with class and more to do with age and rebellion. I imagine Monkees fans to be younger and hence quite happy to play the records suitable for mum in the living room. In this same universe, Stones fans are more likely to argue with their mum then storm out in a huff over to Unsuitable Friend's house/the pub to try and get served/behind the bikesheds for a smoke. They've reached that level of adolesence where they don't need parental vetting of their music choices. This goes back to that disreputable chap Elvis & the advent of teenagers, I guess. The Stones have more explicitly adult references (sex/drugs/rocknroll) than the Monkees or the Beatles (who still had references but much subtler!) - if you were desperately trying to feel 'more grown-up' then which would band would you choose to listen to? Even the music itself (louder guitars, harsher sounds) becomes more palatable as the listener matures and can 'handle' it (NB this ties in with piratemoggy's post about small kids
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That makes perfect sense: in listening to the Stones you were taking an 'older' role than you were when listening to the Monkees. When I listen to Fall Out Boy I'm a great deal more teenage than I am when I listen to Arab Strap, even though I'd never heard any FOB until my twenties and was into Arab Strap most between fourteen and seventeen.
It might even work to say I was taking an older role when I listened to "Steppin' Stone" (the Monkees' most Stonesish song) than when I listened to "I'm A Believer," though I'm not able to go back into my psyche as a 12-year-old to test this. This is complicated by my being, even at age 12, sophisticated enough to associate strength with maturity but to think of attempts at toughness and coolness as potentially conformist and immature. And I'm certain that during the first week of January, 1967, the week "I'm A Believer"/"Steppin' Stone" hit number one, I had no idea that lots of people generally derided the Monkees as pop trash. (First clue was several months later reading a Life article about the new music in which some San Francisco-based musician or scribe said the Monkees were a commercial concoction that would leave no lasting impact on the music.) This is further complicated by the fact that though I knew who the Animals were, I'm not sure if I yet knew who the Stones were. Which is to say I knew there was a tremendous song
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I remember Anne Leighton saying in a Pazz and Jop poll in the early '90s when giving her demographic info, "I'm 33 but I just turned 14 because of Warrant."
However, I'm sure I'm the same age when I listen to Ashlee Simpson and Aly & A.J. as when I listen to the Hold Steady and Alan Jackson. Recently I've been listening to Crime and Rocket From The Tombs a lot. Maybe that's me reverting to age nineteen, or age twelve.
I think at some point I'm going to argue that age differences sometimes are class differences.
Btw, both the Animals (working-class) and the Stones (middle-class) came off as hoods, which means that of all the Brit Invasion bands they got the most working-class male fans (or at least that was my impression, which could have been all wrong), and that means they also helped to make bohemia accessible to high-school hoods! (This could have class consequences, since a hood who goes bohemian can also transition from bohemia to the intelligentsia; or if not that, he could become a respected drug dealer.)
Digressing a little...katstevensJuly 27 2007, 12:51:53 UTC
The age is mostly a 'control over your environment' issue. Aged 12 I had my own radio/cassette player but for CDs or vinyl I had to use my parents' players in the living room (which they barely used compared to me, I have to say). I wasn't allowed out on my own to go record shopping and usually had to ask my parents for money to buy anything more expensive than a cassingle. Just two years later I had a CD player, a guitar, more pocket money and freedom to go out and spend it on whatever I liked. Plus I had started to care about how my music was produced & the image of the popstars rather than my hitherto objective appreciation of a good tune. I was spending 90% of my pocket money on music and wanted to make sure it was going to a 'deserving' cause! Luckily I've grown out of all that and will splash my cash on any old toss that sounds a bit boshing...
Re: Digressing a little...koganbotJuly 30 2007, 12:54:40 UTC
And "control over your environment" definitely has a class element (though it's not simple), in that in junior high school it was the cool kids and the hoods who were doing (or at least pretending to do) stuff - cigarettes, sex, and drugs - that symbolize "older," and that were older people's prerogatives, and were flouting or ignoring school authority; whereas non"bad" kids need other ways into authority and autonomy (which isn't to say that they all avoided sex and drugs and cigs, but that they didn't flaunt them), a school-sanctioned way that doesn't leave you being a teacher's pet. Extra-curricular activities were where preppy types could attain authority, whereas the hoods and the future freaks would leave the school behind during leisure hours.
I remember as high school went on fewer greasers or freaks would attend school dances (and I stopped as well).
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Did listening to one or the other make you feel older/younger?
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However, I'm sure I'm the same age when I listen to Ashlee Simpson and Aly & A.J. as when I listen to the Hold Steady and Alan Jackson. Recently I've been listening to Crime and Rocket From The Tombs a lot. Maybe that's me reverting to age nineteen, or age twelve.
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Btw, both the Animals (working-class) and the Stones (middle-class) came off as hoods, which means that of all the Brit Invasion bands they got the most working-class male fans (or at least that was my impression, which could have been all wrong), and that means they also helped to make bohemia accessible to high-school hoods! (This could have class consequences, since a hood who goes bohemian can also transition from bohemia to the intelligentsia; or if not that, he could become a respected drug dealer.)
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I remember as high school went on fewer greasers or freaks would attend school dances (and I stopped as well).
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