Difference between revisions of "Bandfic (The Police)"

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=An introduction to bandfic=
 
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Modern Banfic fandom can trace its origins back to the 1960s, if not earlier, with technological advances setting the stage for easier communication between fans of various musical acts and genres (including doowop and rock at the time) as well as the distribution of recordings and bootlegging. However, the roots of a celebrity culture and the market force of "teenagers" as consumers of music and celebrity culture reach back even further, to the 1940s with the expansion of radio and television as a means of entertainment.<ref>Ecks, Michela. "History of BandFic, an overview" Fanthropology 3 March 2008. 19 March 2008 <http://community.livejournal.com/fanthropology/420048.html>.</ref>
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The Beatles were the focus of one of the largest fandoms to come from the 1960s, and is also credited as "the first mass outburst of the sixties to feature women – in this case girls, who would not reach full adulthood until the seventies and the emergence of a genuinely political movement for women’s liberation".<ref>"Beatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun".  Lewis, Lisa, ed. The Adoring Audience. New York: Routledge, 1992.</ref> These Beatles fans would take part in creating fannish works to share with each other including fanzines, fanart, and it is likely that bandfic (or "fan-fiction") was also circulated among members of the fandom. Oral "role-playing" games, where fans would pretend to be members of the band, their girlfriends and wives, or other individuals associated with the band were a popular activity at gatherings of Beatles fans.<ref>Interview conducted by [[User:sidewinder|sidewinder]] with Beverly Lorenstein, Beatles fan, 2007.</ref>
  
 
=Bandfic in Police fandom=
 
=Bandfic in Police fandom=

Revision as of 07:05, 19 March 2008

An introduction to bandfic

Modern Banfic fandom can trace its origins back to the 1960s, if not earlier, with technological advances setting the stage for easier communication between fans of various musical acts and genres (including doowop and rock at the time) as well as the distribution of recordings and bootlegging. However, the roots of a celebrity culture and the market force of "teenagers" as consumers of music and celebrity culture reach back even further, to the 1940s with the expansion of radio and television as a means of entertainment.<ref>Ecks, Michela. "History of BandFic, an overview" Fanthropology 3 March 2008. 19 March 2008 <http://community.livejournal.com/fanthropology/420048.html>.</ref>

The Beatles were the focus of one of the largest fandoms to come from the 1960s, and is also credited as "the first mass outburst of the sixties to feature women – in this case girls, who would not reach full adulthood until the seventies and the emergence of a genuinely political movement for women’s liberation".<ref>"Beatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun". Lewis, Lisa, ed. The Adoring Audience. New York: Routledge, 1992.</ref> These Beatles fans would take part in creating fannish works to share with each other including fanzines, fanart, and it is likely that bandfic (or "fan-fiction") was also circulated among members of the fandom. Oral "role-playing" games, where fans would pretend to be members of the band, their girlfriends and wives, or other individuals associated with the band were a popular activity at gatherings of Beatles fans.<ref>Interview conducted by sidewinder with Beverly Lorenstein, Beatles fan, 2007.</ref>

Bandfic in Police fandom

The Police bandfic community exists in association, but separately, from the main fandom community for The Police. The bandfic community is primarily active on various LiveJournal communities as well as RockFic, and bandfic is not often posted nor diScussed on other Police communities including official sites (although there have been some exceptions to this.) Much of The Police band fiction is slash in nature and largely Sting/Stewart, although some gen and humor-fic is popular as well.

Terminology

Below is a partial list of terms used in The Police bandfic community.

Timeline

1960s

  • In 1969, Jenny Fabian released the book Groupie, which was a thinly-fictionalized account of her exploits as a groupie of various rock acts of the 1960s including The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Animals and Pink Floyd. Future Police guitarist Andy Summers appears in the book as "Davey", whose "girlish fair hair and skinny arms really turn (Jenny) on."[1]

1980s

  • In 1987, Sting was quoted in "Spin" magazine, talking about his relationship with the other band members:

Sting: I still love Stewart very deeply...I really do love him. I miss him. But no way will I return to that situation.
SPIN: What about Andy? You had him play on the new album, and he knocked off these exquisitely beautiful and complex parts in one or two takes at the most. Obviously some of the old artistic chemistry is still there. But personally your relations with Andy were never as polarised as your relations with Stewart were they?
STING: No, no. Stewart and my relationship - he wouldn't understand this - but it had a sexual tension in it that was very strong. And that was never true of Andy. He's a different age from me and a different kind of person.

This quote is one that had some impact in creating a subtext for slash fiction within the community.

1990s

  • Lady Neha's Tribute To: Sting was a website that featured short-stories about Sting. The website was opened on 1997-06-21 and closed on 2003-05-10.[2]

2000

  • In November of 2000, Sting/Stewart Copeland slash fiction was being discussed on RS-X, a yahoogroup for rare slash pairings.[3]

2003

  • sidewinder posted her first Police story, "No Apologies", to Livejournal on 2003-02-12.
  • In April of 2003, Guitar World magazine published the article "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by Vic Garbarini.[4] The piece examined the failed Police recording sessions of 1986 and the difficult relationship between the band members at the time. While much of this information had been discussed in articles and interviews previously, the detailed conversations and inner thoughts releaved by the band members in the article were startling and left some to comment that the piece almost read like fiction. (sidewinder)
  • A Livejournal community for Police bandfic, twosynchronous, existed briefly in 2003 before being deleted without warning by the moderator.

2004

  • On 2004-06-08, Ask Uncle Ian forum member George began posting the story "May 2004. Scene : Backstage cafe", which received praise from many members of the board including Ian himself.[5]
  • On 2004-06-09, George began his popular "You Never Know Who's Listening" series of humorous tales on AUI.[6]. These stories would continue on the board through 2007.[7],[8],[9],[10],[11]

2005

2006

  • On 2006-09-12, Rockfic Press released Internal Affairs, an anthology collection of Police fiction by sidewinder.[13]
  • As of the end of 2006, there were 24 stories featuring The Police on RockFic.

2007

  • This bandom was represented in the 2007 xmas_rocks exchange, with 1 story posted in January of that year.[14]
  • On 2007-04-27, the LiveJournal community bandfic_100 was created. It featured some Police fan-fiction.[15]
  • On 2007-07-25, members of the Stewart Copeland Official Site began a round-robin story, "The following conversation was overheard backstage"[16], which continued receiving contributions and comments through October, 2007.
  • As of November 2007, there were 52 stories featuring The Police on Rockfic. The upsurge in fiction can largely be credited to the reunion tour of 2007.
  • On 2007-12-03, the LiveJournal community BandSmut was created. [17] It allowed and encouraged smut based on The Police.

2008

  • This bandom was represented in the 2008 xmas_rocks exchange, with 3 stories posted in January of that year.[18]

See also

This section needs more information

External links


References

This section needs more information