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Disdain For Your Audience

JimmyM

JimmyM

Apr 11, 2005
127,260
125,191
Plymouth NC
Disclosures
Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
#1
I see these kinds of comments all the time on here:

"Nobody cares about your gear."

"Nobody cares that the bass doesn't sound good because nobody hears it anyway."

"The audience is a bunch of drunken idiots who don't know what good sound is."

I hate that kind of attitude. It's a copout of the highest order, and it's 100% untrue. Why even do it if that's how you feel? People who say stuff like that need to get the hell out of playing music.

And what's worse is they try to poison the minds of people who do care and make them feel stupid for caring. Screw that...I have nothing but respect and love for the people who took time out of their busy day to come see me play, and I will always give them my best sound and my best playing.

Imagine if restaurants operated like that: "So our food's lousy...they'll eat it."

Or hospitals: "It doesn't matter what kind of medicine you put in their IV."

Or banks: "So you put in $500 and we gave you a receipt for $50. You're too stupid to know the difference anyway."

For God's sake, if you're going to do a job, do it well. There was a short period in my life where I let people beat me down into thinking nobody cared, and I was miserable onstage, and the band I was in absolutely sucked and was treated accordingly. Then I got with people who really cared, and the band was a lot better and much more well-received, and it really made me step up my game because I enjoyed how much they cared and respected their audience.

Hate to break it to you "nobody cares" types, but your lack of caring plus your negativity about your audience is what's holding you and your band back. If they don't care, it's because you didn't make them care. Sure, nobody will walk out on you if you don't have the finest gear in the world, but that is so not what I'm talking about.

You don't have to have the finest gear in the world to sound good or present yourself well. But you do have to care about being an engaging presence onstage, you do have to care about your FOH sounding right, and you do have to actually like and respect the people who come to your gigs. And if audiences don't care, how come I see so many bands who phone it in get booed off the stage?

You don't have to be dead-on 100% perfect with everything, but you do need to care. If you don't, how can you expect others to care?
 
#3
I see this a lot online.

Probably the only demographic I hear this from consistently, in person, are the Pop performers.
They have such a disdain/disgust for their audience, by and large.
Sure, they're onstage "we love you guys sooo much, buy our merch"
and then settling up after the show "our target demographic is dumb white chicks, ages barely legal to legal, huhhuhhuh" highfives all around.

I'm sure there are excellent contrary examples, and that would probably explain some performers' longevity.
 
#4
JimmyM said:
You don't have to be dead-on 100% perfect with everything, but you do need to care. If you don't, how can you expect others to care?
Click to expand...

Really? I don't think I've ever seen anyone on TB say that you don't need to care. I've seen people say that nobody in the audience cares or can hear whether you're using an Alembic F-1X pre or a Fender BP-1. It's a pretty big jump, though, from saying that we TBers are prone to over-think gear to saying that there's no point caring about what your bass or your band sounds like.
 
#5
I agree, but disagree with this. While I really feel that most of the nuances are lost for most of our audiences because they just don't here things the way we do and we should never call our audiences stupid drunk or idiots no matter what you really feel. Most of them pay money to see you, so insulting them is just wrong.
As for the gear and all the rest of that, no most people in the audience (MOST PEOPLE) don't care if you are playing a $50 Rogue or a $6,000 Ken Smith. For most it just goes past them. If the band is grooving, it doesn't matter what you play, what amp you have and on and on. However, to some of us, we really look at the gear and what bass is being used and the bass amp. Some of us really dig discovering who is playing what and how they do it. To the average listener, no they really don't care. What does matter is how the band sounds
 
#6
When you go to a restaurant do you really care whether the stove is a Viking, or if the chef prefers German or Japanese steel for his knives?

Do you know the difference between pork fat and butter?

Other bass players notice gear, I imagine another chef could spot something that may be too subtle for me to notice in someone elses cooking.

I myself endeavor to be 100% percent perfect, but I fall way short of the mark. I do my best, but I'm also my own worst critic. When I'm up on stage cringing, and the audience thinks the band is rockin, it allows me a certain peace of mind by telling myself no one notices rather than to beat myself up over something stupid I did that apparently no one else but me and the drummer noticed.
 
#7
Phalex said:
When you go to a restaurant do you really care whether the stove is a Viking, or if the chef prefers German or Japanese steel for his knives?

Do you know the difference between pork fat and butter?

Other bass players notice gear, I imagine another chef could spot something that may be too subtle for me to notice in someone elses cooking.

I myself endeavor to be 100% percent perfect, but I fall way short of the mark. I do my best, but I'm also my own worst critic. When I'm up on stage cringing, and the audience thinks the band is rockin, it allows me a certain peace of mind by telling myself no one notices rather than to beat myself up over something stupid I did that apparently no one else but me and the drummer noticed.
Click to expand...

Bingo.
 
#9
derrico1 said:
Really? I don't think I've ever seen anyone on TB say that you don't need to care. I've seen people say that nobody in the audience cares or can hear whether you're using an Alembic F-1X pre or a Fender BP-1. It's a pretty big jump, though, from saying that we TBers are prone to over-think gear to saying that there's no point caring about what your bass or your band sounds like.
Click to expand...

I agree that there's a difference to be parsed, but I understand where Jimmy's coming from and I too have encountered the cynicism he's talking about, on TB and out in the real world. It's an issue of attitude that's well worth reflecting on...

Good post, Jimmy.
 
#10
I have definitely been guilty of this in the past. For me, it was a defensive stance reflecting a lack of confidence in my abilities and a general contempt for humanity, myself included. Over the decades, I have tried to turn this attitude around and cultivate a more positive approach to life (and my audience of course).

So, once again, thank you, Music, for teaching me about life.
 
#11
Phalex said:
When you go to a restaurant do you really care whether the stove is a Viking, or if the chef prefers German or Japanese steel for his knives?
Click to expand...

I hear what you're saying Phalex, but I think what JimmyM is getting at is that IF those things matter to the chef - which is to say they help HIM to a better job and create better food for his customers, then he should use the gear that he thinks works best for him.

It's not about having a boutique bass or an expensive rig. It's about taking the time to get exactly the tone YOU want out of your gear so that you can feel your best when performing and convey that to the people you play for.

Personally I think JimmyM is exactly right. And I'm as shocked as anyone that I just typed those words. ;)
 
#12
Disdain for the audience. Hmm.

Sometimes when we're playing we'll say, "this crowd sucks" or something like that. Or "its a bad night". Not sure that's disdain.

I agree though with a certain attitude that could be worked on. It's like, "I've put in all this hard work and nobody cares" etc. But that's just being a big baby.

Nobody cares about my gear. Nobody. Genz Benz stuff in the middle of a Nebraska bar? Seriously, NOBODY cares, even the guys in my band. But that isn't a big deal to me.
 
#13
I'm not disagreeing with Jimmy, but IME the audience really doesn't notice monumental screw ups. Other bass players sure, but the average bar patron, not so much. I notice.

For the record I like German knives.
 
#14
There's also the form of disdain for an audience I used to show regularly when I was younger which is when you think you've played poorly and receive compliments for your playing ungraciously like the audience were total idiots for not hearing all your clams.
 
#16
jeffbonny said:
There's also the form of disdain for an audience I used to show regularly when I was younger which is when you think you've played poorly and receive compliments for your playing ungraciously like the audience were total idiots for not hearing all your clams.
Click to expand...
Word. It kind of makes people feel stupid when you do that. I've done it, though. Can't lie.
 
#17
I try to approach and play each gig like it's the most important show I've done. ...and really it is. Who might be out there watching and listening?

As far as what *I* think it sounds like, many times I think it sounds great, and no one from the audience says a word. Other times I think it sounds like a train wreck and regular patrons say things like "That was the best ever." I smile and say, "Thanks!"

Decent equipment sounds better to me. I think I play better when the sound I hear is good. So, I don't care if people know or notice what equipment I'm playing. If I like it; it's good.

Leni
 
#19
JimmyM said:
You don't have to be dead-on 100% perfect with everything, but you do need to care. If you don't, how can you expect others to care?
Click to expand...
If you have professional pride then everything takes care of itself. I don't care if no one knows I have good equipment. I don't care if no one hears the bass. I don't care if the audience is a bunch of drunken buttheads. I play my best on every gig because I play for me and I'll always know the difference between playing my best and phoning it in.
 
#20
bryan gibson said:
....but what if you audience IS a bunch of drunken morons? What if you're "interrupting" the jukebox (etc....) at their favorite watering hole? Not trying to be an ass, but sometimes it does indeed happen...
Click to expand...

I was going to throw out some hypotheticals like that, but figured I'd quickly be disregarded as the point "went over my head."

I work for a living and play bass for fun. So I don't play the bars full of drunken morons or people who'd rather play the jukebox. I play shows where people have to actively go out of their way to come see you. They wouldn't be there if they didn't care, so I care to entertain them properly.

You guys who play cover band bar gigs every weekend, I don't know how you keep your spirits up.
 

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