Bandfic (The Police)

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An introduction to bandfic

Bandfic, short for "band fiction" or "band fan-fiction", can be defined as stories written by fans of a musician or group of musicians setting them in a fictional context. These stories are often written to be shared among other fans as a hobby or part of fannish interaction, although professionally published band fiction has been produced for many decades as well as a legitimate form of literature. Bandfic stories can closely follow the known "canonical" history of a band, filling in details of life on the road, recording albums, or speculating on why events in a band's history may have happened the way they did. Bandfic stories can also exist as "alternative histories", changing events such as when a band did (or didn't) break up, if a band member became romantically involved with others (either with original characters often created as stand ins for the author, or with other band members). Bandfic stories can also place band members in entirely foreign or alien environments, such as historic England or even outer space. There are few limits on the subject matter and storylines which may be told in bandfic stories, although members of the bandfic community often "police" themselves and each other regarding making sure the lines between band members real lives and privacy and fictionalized stories about them are respected and made clear.

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> The Beatles themselves would encourage the mythology of themselves as fictional characters engaged in wild adventures and romance through such films as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!"

Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, teen and fan magazines such as 16 and Tiger Beat would run writing contests, some of which would include popular music stars.<ref>Ecks, Michela. "History of BandFic, an overview" Fanthropology 3 March 2008. 19 March 2008 <http://community.livejournal.com/fanthropology/420048.html>.</ref> It would also not be uncommon for fanclub publications and other fanzines to include stories, poetry, fans "dreams" about their favorite celebrities, and other creative works intermingled with news, comics, and other materials. However, the material published in such official magazines had to meet strict guidelines for being suitable for all audiences, even as some fans began to rebel against such rules. Just as the rock music of the time challenged and brought sexuality to the forefront, so did fans begin writing and sharing bandfic stories of a more sexually-charged and explicit nature.<ref>Nash, Ilnah. “Hysterical Scream or Rebel Yell? The Politics of Teen-Idol Fandom” Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s. Ed. Sherrie A. Inness. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.</ref> The late 60s into the 1970s would see the formation of a number of bands which would later develop bandfic communities such as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, and Yes. At the same time, television media fandom was beginning to develop around the show Star Trek, with the first Trek fanzine published in 1967 and the first Trek 'zine featuring erotica-only fan-fiction appearing in 1972.<ref>"Star Trek" Fan History Wiki. 19 March 2008 <http://www.fanhistory.com/index.php/Star_Trek></ref> Despite many parallels in their development, however, the media fanfic community and the bandfic communities existed and operated largely separate from each other at least until the mid-1980s when some media fans began writing thinly-veiled Led Zeppelin fiction. Indeed, until recent years media fandom has largely considered writing fiction about "real people" a taboo subject as compared to writing fiction about television, movie, and other media characters. Stories written about actors instead of the characters they played had to be shared in secret among the media fandom community compared to the more open publication of bandfic in zines in the music fandom community.

The 1970s would also see several other developments which would affect the development of fan communities and fanworks such as bandfic. With the punk movement of the mid 70s and its "DIY" motto, fanzines or 'zines would flourish as Xerox machines became more accessible and commonplace (even to become the subject of the song "Zerox" by Adam and the Ants). Punk zines often mixed fanart, fiction, and comics along with concert reviews, political commentary, and discussion about punk acts. Videotape and the development of consumer video recorders and players would set the stage for music videos and allow those who could not attend concerts in person to see their favorite bands and expand their fanbases.

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

<references />

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