FSM # 6: Speculating about your speculation mania…
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Please guys….just tell me why you think it’s so much fun to speculate about what any given label is going to release. Seriously. I wanna know. Because I just don’t get it.
He, he….the above was a thread from 20 years ago, but oh so relevant still.
All these years later, I still don’t understand why soundtrack fans get so much pleasure out of speculating what an upcoming release is going to be. Whatever comes, comes, has always been my attitude. But there is clearly some fascination there that I am unable to get.
Can any of you explain?
Whatever comes, comes, has always been my attitude.
Exactly my attitude as well. Sometimes I do speculate a bit when some hints are dropped though. And that fanboy behaviour of telling “But what I actually want is…” right on release announcements really annoys me…
I guess, this speculation ritual often goes hand in hand with the pack of fans that mostly buy soundtracks to shelve them on their cupboard not removing the shrinkwrap and collecting them for the sake of collecting something, not overly diving deeply into the music. But I might be wrong.
Not sure, but I would say a lot of it has to do with the simple fact that people enjoy looking forward to something and enjoy guessing. I mean, even children guess and wonder what they might receive for Christmas, so I suppose the speculation about future releases has a bit of that. There are people who buy a lot more soundtrack CDs than I do (though I have accumulated my share over the decades, no doubt), and so they just wonder what it is that ends up next in their collection. I remember back in the day you could subscribe to FSM CDs and get one every month, so people wondered and speculated “what might be next”. It doesn’t seem puzzling to me why people speculate about such things.
I think, what puzzles Thor, and me as well, that often these speculators seem to spend three times more comments on the speculations than on the actual music when it’s published then.
Fair enough, though perhaps I am somewhat puzzled that you are puzzled.
Behold, I understand if you find these speculative threads boring amd uninteresting, but I don’t find it hard to understand why some people do find the interesting.
And once the score is released, well, I guess people listen to it rather than write about it.
It’s not that every score naturally leads itself to discussion. And I mean, everyone is always free to start any type of discussion.I think, what puzzles Thor, and me as well, that often these speculators seem to spend three times more comments on the speculations than on the actual music when it’s published then.
Yes, that’s definitely a big part of it.
But I’ve also never really understood the act itself. I mean, yes, if you’re a kid and ponder what you’re going to get for Christmas, as Nick says, that’s one thing. But for grown-ups? I don’t know, there’s something weird with the “giddiness” by which people latch on the guessing game and clues. It’s not like there’s anything you can do about it, anyway. It’s not like a crime novel where the speculation hopefully leads to the discovery of the murderer. Whatever is getting released, is getting released anyway.
It’s always been one of those odd fan behaviour things that I’ve never understood, and probably never will.
Well, in a crime novel I tend to hope my speculation turns out wrong, because then I’m genuinely surprised. 🙂
Some people like crosswords, or Rubik’ cubes, or “the price is right”, and I don’t see speculation about future releases any different, so I have no problem understanding it, at least I’m not puzzled by it.
(Not to mention that not being so invested in it myself once had me missing out on a highly coveted score I had wanted. But that’s less likely to happen nowadays.)But there is one label, was it Intrada?, that publishes hints to the new scores by a riddle based on emoticons at facebook. That is a funny guessing game.
Just to be clear, I have no problem with speculation in general. It’s a useful tool in many things. And vivid imagination of which speculation is part, is a great thing (as a kid, I had an imagination run wild, as evidenced from the things I wrote or drew in school and on my sparetime).
But I see this speculation game as something different entirely. Kind of a pointless channeling of one’s inner desires and wishes into something that 99% of the time won’t be what you desired. This whole thing also relates to a sense of impatience (i.e. not just wait until the official announcement is out, and then react on that). Impatience, of course, across many types of situations, is another one of those fan behaviour things that I’ve always found peculiar – and interestingly also did a “meta” thread on 24 years ago (sadly, it gets a “404” error message when I click on it).
I think Varèse Sarabande does it as well. Also, many people have a certain monthly “allowance” for CDs and try to prioritize what and when they buy something. So speculation might help there as well.
I think those who are just impatient and immature and want what they want now are there as well, but I don’t see them as the majority.
So many times, I see people speculating about possible James Bond music and expansions for these. That’s triply uninteresting to me – one, the whole speculation game, two, I have no interest in James Bond music and three, I don’t like expansions. But I’ve noticed that it’s all the rage.
But I don’t have to want something myself to understand why others might want it, and I don’t have to be interested in something to understand why others might have a passion for it.
I understand your preference for curated albums. But your lump sum rejection of expansions by definition I still find strange.
And that you as a film score buff like you with your range of taste says you have no interest in James Bond music in general is… remarkable to say the least.
The thing is, I don’t find “James Bond” music particularly different from any other film music… I mean, John Barry sounds like John Barry, whether he’s scoring Bond or not, Thomas Newman sounds like Thomas Newman, David Arnold sounds like David Arnold, and Michael Kamen sounds like Michael Kamen. There is the “James Bond theme”, of course, which features in all EON Bond movies, but it isn’t necessarily the most dominating theme in each score.
The thing is, I don’t find “James Bond” music particularly different from any other film music…
Probably the reason. If you grew up with something you have a different connection to it even if you wouldn’t otherwise with the same music.
David Arnold sounds like David Arnold
Speaking of Arnold I find that the recent scores I heard by him starting with SHERLOCK don’t really sound that much like ID4, STARGATE or his Bond scores at all anymore. Not only because there is no huge orchestra I think.
I believe there is something like a Bond score DNA. It is in the Barry scores and the Arnold scores. Not so much in Conti’s or Newman’s. I am not familiar enough with George Martin’s score. But I think it’s quite good.
Yes, I agree, though that’s what is “Bond”, just like STAR WARS has a musical DNA, or Harry Potter, but a Barry Bond score is still a “John Barry” score.
I’ve always liked the Arnold scores, for some reason, but all other Bonds have left me cold.
But I don’t have to want something myself to understand why others might want it, and I don’t have to be interested in something to understand why others might have a passion for it.
Sure, but it’s always fun to ruminate over film score fan quirks – both those I share and those I don’t.
We should probably do a separate topic on all kinds of fan quirks, but I’ll post this one here too: While perusing FSM just now, I’m struck again by all the people who post shipping updates (“Ordered! Just arrived!” etc.). WHYYYYYY? It’s such a mundane thing, it’s just society (in this case the international postal service) working as it normally does. It would be akin to me posting about my grocery list, or announcing that I’ve just put on another round of clothes wash.
…and again, it happens in the MEDICINE MAN thread over on FSM. Everytime I open the thread, it’s someone saying that their CD has shipped or is en route!
It’s mind-boggling. I mean, I sorta get it for the person who has ordered it, if I were to put myself in his shoes. He’s giddy and excited and wants to share his anticipation with other people. But what is the value for others?
It’s like an absurd Monty Python sketch. A guy approaches another guy in the street and says “I’ve just come off this bus! Now I will be walking down this street and into that grocery store! I plan to have salmon and potatoes for dinner tonight!”.
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