Sunday, April 6, 2008

Religious Radiohead!?

Many bands have a great following and an established fan base. Would it be possible to take it as far as worship? Or making a religion? In class, still defining religion, we found some elements or characteristics of religion that is common with following a rock band. I found that the UK alternative/electronic band Radiohead would be a good example.

Elements of religion:
Worship of deity: (a bad one to start out with, I assume that most Radiohead fans would be Atheist, so this would be ironic for this to happen. "God loves his children, yeah")

Faith/Belief without hard evidence: (fans belief of Radiohead existing, seeing them on television, the internet, etc., without really meeting them in person.)

A group of people with a common belief: (The fan base, obviously. All of their fans, singing along to their songs, being "packt like sardines in a crushd tin box" to see Radiohead at a venue.)

Set of moral values: (I'm sure some die-hard somewhere wrote some "commandments" for other fans to follow. That could be good morals, you never know.)

Social/Spiritual hierarchy: (A Radiohead hierarchy would be more social than spiritual, at the top would be the band, under that would be associated artists, then management, then close friends to Radiohead and then the foundation for it all: the fans, of course.)

Different traditions/rituals: (Once again, I think the die-hards might have a pre-concert ritual they have, maybe involving a Radiohead shrine, I dunno.)

Emotion/Devotion//personal/spiritual: (Music is a powerful weapon, it can stir up emotions and can soothe the savage beast. Fans listen to and like their music, they can relate to the subject matter and through that, relating towards the band.)

View of afterlife/meaning: (Everybody take a listen to "Motion Picture Soundtrack" (a song describing an ascension to heaven, listen for the harps), that best explains a view of an afterlife, not necessarily a good one, but still a view.)

Texts/Symbols/Stories: (The most important part of a religion dedicated to Radiohead. The songs, music, art, stories are the essence of what people use to grasp the band. This creates the following/fanbase.)


Just a few elements of religion that can be applied to following Radiohead, I'm not saying that I follow these aspects, I'm just saying that if someone were to begin to worship Radiohead, this maybe a way to go about it. 

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