Interview with a Rock fan

As popular of a band as Green Day is, I found it somewhat difficult to come across somebody who considered themselves a "fanatic" about the band. The person I interviewed, Patrick, is definitely a fan of many music genres, and has been a follower of Green Day since the early 90's. His interests in music vary from the Rolling Stones to the little known Project 86. Although he doesn't consider himself an extremely "trendy" person, towards the end of the interview we both had new realizations about ethnography and our own consumption of popular culture.

Patrick was first introduced to Green Day in 1994 with the release of their album Dookie. In his own words, "I remember being on a field trip, and one of my classmates had the CD. We all passed it around and started listening. It was something different for me. I've been a fan of their music ever since." He has seen them play live several times over the past decade. The most reccent show he saw was at Merriweather in 2005 when the band was touring to promote their American Idiot album. The 2005 show was enjoyable, but he considers his favorite Green Day memory to be their appearance at the 2001 HFStival. The concert was held at RFK stadium in Washington, DC. Patrick finds this concert to be one of his greatest memories because the band actually set their equipment on fire. "It was crazy. People were tearing up the plastic floor that covered the grass and were crowd surfing on it. Then, at the end, the band set the drums and bass guitar on fire. That really got the crowd wild!"

Ethnography was not something Patrick was familiar with prior to this interview. During the course of the interview, we discussed popular culture, and the ways that we consume it. Being the music fan that he is, Patrick says that most of the willing consumption of popular culture he does is in the form of music. He enjoys reading sites such as Dig.com, which posts user submitted stories about news events. He generally prefers reading reputable news sources. The extent to which he follows such things as the Paris Hilton drama is what he sees posted on msn.com. That brought us to an interesting point in the interview, where we both came to the realization that although we don't really care about the absurd storyline concerning the DUI sentencing for Paris, it is completely unavoidable because she is a part of current popular culture.

Sports is another part of popular culture that Patrick enjoys. Most of the interview involved music, as that is something which means a lot to him, but we also discussed sports and other trends. Patrick has been an Orioles fan since he was very young, and has tried his hardest to continue to be a Ravens fan even through their past few seasons. He also enjoys watching college basketball and NBA championships. "I much rather see a sporting event live, but I enjoy it all the same", he says.

As a result of our conversation, Patrick seemed to have a different perspective on the way popular culture impacts him. He prides himself on his comedic personality, and stated, "I suppose popular culture and people like Seinfeld and Lewis Black probably helped shape my personality." We discussed fashion, and how we tend to dress a certain way based upon whatever the popular mall stores are carrying. Popular culture seems to affect many parts of our lives, whether we actively realize it or not.