Who have you been a fan of the longest?

[murlough23]

This could be an interesting question that will likely have answers that vary greatly depending on our ages. What musicians have you been a fan of the longest, and are still a fan of what they're doing today? You can define "fan" or "like" to whatever degree of excitement you prefer, but mainly I'm interested in staying power of the course of an artist's career - i.e. who we listened to back in the day and whose current material we still enjoy today. (If someone really good died or broke up and you were a fan for a long time, I guess you can list that, too. But I'm curious about when your fandom started in earnest, not when the band actually started.)

For me, the longest-lasting, still-active artists in my collection have been:

* Out of the Grey: 16 years (1994-present)
* Steven Curtis Chapman: 16 years (1994-present)
* Cindy Morgan: 15 years (1995-present)
* Jars of Clay: 15 years (1995-present)
* Sixpence None the Richer: 15 years (1995-present)
* Iona: 14 years (1996-present)
* Caedmon's Call: 13 years (1997-present)
* Plumb: 13 years (1997-present)
* Delirious?: 12 years (1997-2009)
* Jennifer Knapp: 12 years (1998-present)
* Michelle Tumes: 12 years (1998-present)
* Switchfoot: 11 years (1999-present)
* Dave Matthews Band: 10 years (2000-present)
* Relient K: 10 years (2000-present)
* U2: 10 years (2000-present)
* Weird Al Yankovic: 10 years (2000-present)

It gets trickier if you factor in the fact that some of these artists have taken long hiatuses between albums (or quit music outright and then come back) - that would knock off a few years for Out of the Grey, Cindy Morgan, Sixpence None the Richer, Iona, Jennifer Knapp, and Michelle Tumes.

I also wasn't a big fan of SCC for a few albums there. His latest brought me back.

That probably leaves Jars of Clay as my longest-standing fandom.

[bloop]

I wasn't a big fan of music in general until I became a fan of The Smashing Pumpkins in late '96, which coincides with when I was allowed to listen to much of it when i started college (seriously, I remember wanting to watch Mtv for the purposes of watching a Weird Al video I saw snippets of on broadcast TV and my dad said no. HE probably just knew better than to watch Mtv if one actually wants to see music videos).  Sadly, the Pumpkins aren't what they once were, in personnel or quality.  I liked Newsboys and Petra before that, maybe '93 or '94 or so.  Before that, I basically liked a few singles here and there.

Ben Folds followed the Pumpkins pretty closely when I introduced my brother to them (still his favorite). I still like what he does.

Then U2, and Radiohead, Beck, Bjork, etc. and it all sort of exploded outward from there.

[murlough23]

I got into the Newsboys pretty early on as well, around 1994. I ceased liking them in earnest around 2003, though. I still love Take Me to Your Leader and several choice cuts on other albums, primarily from the 90's.

I'd have listed dc Talk, who I also got into in 1994 (the year I seemingly got into every CCM youth group favorite that was around at the time, save for Petra), but they've been inactive since 2002 aside from the sporadic one-song reunion. I was a fan of all three solo careers, then Tait's band started to suck, then Toby got more ridiculous than he already was, then Kevin started to meander a little too much for my tastes. Maybe Kevin will pull it back together this year; we'll see. I'm not expecting much from Toby's latest (which I'm still gathering up the courage to listen to), and Tait's latest is on my "Morbidly Anticipating" list for the exact same reason the Newsboys' latest is.

[ewok20t3]

These are artists I'd say I'm a "big fan" of, artists whose music I get excited about when they release new music. There's probably only 30 or 40 artists that I would put in this category.
Out of that category here's what I got:

Five O'Clock People - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Living Sacrifice - 10 Years (2000-Present)
Project 86 - 9 Years (2001-Present)

As far as bands I would still say I'm a fan of, but I wouldn't necessarily absolutely have to have any new material they release. I'm going by artists in my top 200 played on Last.fm to determine if I still consider myself a fan.

Smashing Pumpkins - 15 Years (1995-Present)
Outkast - 14 Years (1996-Present)
2Pac - 14 Years (1996-Present)
Steven Curtis Chapman - 14 Years (1996-Present)
Michael W. Smith - 14 Years (1996-Present)
Audio Adrenaline - 14 Years (1996-Present)
Jars of Clay - 14 Years (1996-Present)
Caedmon's Call - 13 Years (1997-Present)
Metallica - 11 Years (1999-Present)
P.O.D. - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Stavesacre - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Fono - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Switchfoot - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1999-Present)
Luna Halo - 10 Years (2000-Present)
Relient K - 10 Years (2000-Present)

[murlough23]

Five O'Clock People - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Michael W. Smith - 14 Years (1996-Present)
Audio Adrenaline - 14 Years (1996-Present)
P.O.D. - 11 Years (1999-Present)
Luna Halo - 10 Years (2000-Present)

I considered listing some of these.

I discovered Five O'Clock People in 2000 by complete accident, after a friend heard me recommend Five Iron Frenzy, got confused, and ordered the wrong CD from Columbia House. She ended up liking The Nothing Venture, and so did I. Sadly, of all their releases to date, it's still their only full-length, so I felt funny saying "I've been a fan for 10 years" when I spent large chunks of that time not thinking about them at all.

Similar story for Luna Halo, minus the accidental stumbling across. I liked Reality Check before them, and figured a new band with some of the same dudes couldn't be too bad. (It's worth noting that current Luna Halo has as much in common with original LH as original LH does with Reality Check.)

I became an MWS fan in 1994, but became a non-fan in 2001. His instrumental album was the last thing he did that I actually cared about.

I picked up and then dropped Audio A at around the same time frame as MWS. Nothing after Lift did anything for me.

I first heard P.O.D. in 1997 (anyone remember 7Ball Magazine?), then heard more of 'em when Southtown came out in '99, but didn't like 'em until 2001. I'm iffy about them nowadays, but I like enough about their albums to keep buying 'em. Still, 9 years of liking a band is nothing to sneeze at, and with the turmoil they've been through, I'm actually surprised they're still around and have their original lineup intact.

If liking a solo artist back when he was part of a band counts, then I've been a fan of Steven Delopoulos for 12 years.

There aren't more "secular" bands on my list because I didn't become OK with actively listening to any of that stuff until circa 2000. I had a roommate who was into Barenaked Ladies back in 1996, so I suppose I've liked them that long, though I didn't get into them in earnest until about 2001. Similar story with Dave Matthews Band. And I guess U2, which I first heard as a kid, and kind of liked back then even though I didn't know each time I heard them that it was the same guys.

NP: "Burn That Broken Bed", Iron & Wine/Calexico

[ewok20t3]

I discovered Five O'Clock People in 2000 by complete accident, after a friend heard me recommend Five Iron Frenzy, got confused, and ordered the wrong CD from Columbia House. She ended up liking The Nothing Venture, and so did I. Sadly, of all their releases to date, it's still their only full-length, so I felt funny saying "I've been a fan for 10 years" when I spent large chunks of that time not thinking about them at all.

I discovered them by accident as well. My cousin gave me a sampler CD with three tracks from The Nothing Venture and "Sorry" was on it. It was the first song I can remember giving me chills. I fell in love with that sampler, and later, the album.

Was Temper, Temper not a full length? I went to buy it a while ago from the website provided by their myspace page and the album is no longer available, nor is it available anywhere else. I did manage to download six tracks from it, though, thankfully.

[murlough23]

I discovered them by accident as well. My cousin gave me a sampler CD with three tracks from The Nothing Venture and "Sorry" was on it. It was the first song I can remember giving me chills. I fell in love with that sampler, and later, the album.

"Sorry" is quite possibly my favorite breakup song of all time. Amazing stuff! I was actually fortunate enough to see the band in concert in late 2000 - probably the best bang for my buck that I ever got out of a concert that wasn't free. (It cost $2.)

Was Temper, Temper not a full length? I went to buy it a while ago from the website provided by their myspace page and the album is no longer available, nor is it available anywhere else. I did manage to download six tracks from it, though, thankfully.

8 tracks doesn't qualify as a full-length in my book. I liked some of the stuff on Temper Temper, but it felt like a stopgap just to prove they were still alive. I'm not convinced the stylistic shift to include electric elements here and there worked in their favor. The all-acoustic approach was part of the charm on The Nothing Venture. Now it feels like they're floundering for a direction. Alex Walker's voice has seen better days, too.

Anyway, here's the track listing. Want me to hook you up with the missing songs?

1) February
2) Autumn
3) Stable Boy
4) Gold Rush
5) Aftermath
6) Enfant Terrible
7) Deer Country
8) Fight Good Sinners

[ewok20t3]

Anyway, here's the track listing. Want me to hook you up with the missing songs?

1) February
2) Autumn
3) Stable Boy
4) Gold Rush
5) Aftermath
6) Enfant Terrible
7) Deer Country
8) Fight Good Sinners

That would be great! Thanks! I'm missing "Deer Country" and "Fight Good Sinners". What's the best way for you to send those to me? Do you need my e-mail address?

[murlough23]

That would be great! Thanks! I'm missing "Deer Country" and "Fight Good Sinners". What's the best way for you to send those to me? Do you need my e-mail address?

I'll Pub 'em. I haven't Pubbed anything in a while.

"Fight Good Sinners" is my favorite.

[ewok20t3]

I'll Pub 'em. I haven't Pubbed anything in a while.

"Fight Good Sinners" is my favorite.

Cool, thanks! I've never used the pub. Don't I need a password or something?

[murlough23]

Cool, thanks! I've never used the pub. Don't I need a password or something?

Instructions are here:

http://www.thephorum.net/index.php/topic,3965.0.html

It's loading extremely slowly for me today, so I may have to try another day.

[ewok20t3]

Instructions are here:

http://www.thephorum.net/index.php/topic,3965.0.html

It's loading extremely slowly for me today, so I may have to try another day.

Ok, Thanks! It wouldn't load for me at first either, but it finally did. Thanks for trying anyways!

[murlough23]

Ok, Thanks! It wouldn't load for me at first either, but it finally did. Thanks for trying anyways!

It's working now and the songs are up. Enjoy.

[ewok20t3]

It's working now and the songs are up. Enjoy.

Awesome! Thanks so much!

[plvarona]

I'd say out of all the bands that I still like today, the one I remember liking the earliest in my life was R.E.M.  I do remember back in 1986 they had a few songs I really liked (e.g. "Fall on Me", "The One I Love"), although I didn't really start following them in earnest until around 1991, when Out of Time came out.  Then followed a few years where I was a pretty big fan of theirs.  However, my interested started waning in 1996 when New Adventures in Hi-Fi came out.  That album was way too "hit or miss" for me.  Then from 1998-2002, nothing they did really interested me.  However, they started winning me back with "Bad Day" in 2003, and Accelerate was pretty solid, so they're back on my "like" list now.

U2 was another band I started liking a lot fairly early in my life.  A few singles from The Joshua Tree in 1987 are what first caught my attention, and by the time Achtung Baby came out in 1991, I was already a big fan of theirs.  I'll admit I soured on them a little bit after Pop came out, and I also thought the back half of All That You Can't Leave Behind was rather meh.  However, they've been pretty solid since then, so I still consider myself to be a fan to this day.

Another currently active band that I've liked for awhile is Jars of Clay.  I started getting into them in 1997, and I've pretty much been a fan of theirs continuously since then.  In fact, they've been my favorite band for much of that time.

That's all that really comes to mind right now.  Most of the other artists I liked during the early- to mid- 1990's are either no longer active, or I just haven't cared for their recent material.