I've said this many times but still, there is an unnecessary amount of "grassroots/workingclass pride"(donno the formal word) in rock/alter rock culture, i.e. people often tend to be a lot harsher/mean to bands forming/coming from music colleges (e.g. Fontaines for going to BIMM) and honestly I don't think it's either fair or reasonable.
People need systematic training in order to be a long-term productive band. Even if the bands that originally came from other places will have to learn the samethings as those who attended music schools did. The only difference is that it won't be on their resume.
I think people are just ignoring that on purpose to idolize their favorite musicians' "talent" and at heart I feel this to be so weird.
Totally, we saw this with black midi and the BRIT School too— that's another institute that comes up often. I imagine you meant moreso the education side of things and the idea of 'authenticity' in rock, since a lot of these bands themselves grew up working class.
But you're right, alt and rock music communities are particularly notorious for this because 1) there's always been this anti-pop sentiment in the alt/rock communities because they think 'pop = the establishment' and schools like the BRIT school are better known for popstar alumni like Jessie Ware and Adele, so they figure music school is surely part of The Establishment (and they are 'alternative' to the mainstream so all schooled musicians shouldn't belong).
2) They somehow feel that the networking opportunities that a few years in a music institution allow you give you an unfair legup in the industry. Something like befriending the student who may go on to produce your first album, or a filmmaker that will work on your first music video, or meeting someone who knows a relevant venue's booker, can put in a good word for you at a record label, or something like that.
But what this ignores is that if you're in a music scene, you will get to know these people anyway. Might be harder if you're a bedroom musician and relying exclusively on social media virality, but music scenes are quite small and insular, if you hang around, you get to know people really fast. And at the end of the day, though musicians complain about having to talk to other people (creative folks are also notoriously introverts!), that's the only way you'll find the people that can help you. And only by talking to them and putting a personality and situation to a name/face, will they want to help and support you!! You can graduate music school all you like, but if you never spoke to anyone, you won't get anywhere.
I mean, black midi and The Last Dinner Party's first breakthroughs were getting noticed by fans while playing the Windmill in Brixton. For black midi, it was as simple as the fact that the Windmill were the only ones who replied to Geordie Greep's booking request emails. An A&R person from Island caught wind of the TLDP hype and saw them at the Windmill and immediately signed them. Like I said, you'll make those connections regardless of school.
This is also definitely not a new topic of discussion, it was 'born and raised in the school of keeping it real and playing your local pub' vs 'the hoity art school kids', it was Blur vs. Oasis before.
And like, yeah I do concede that going to art school will always be a financial risk, and not everyone can afford to take that kind of risk (I couldn't! Submitted my applications to design college, realised I could not possibly afford what came after school if I did that, then turned around and quietly applied to computer science schools instead. Quite a common story). It's only getting more expensive to be an artist in any capacity on limited funds. We're seeing working class musicians getting priced out of art, or left in the field in very limited capacities. There was a post a while ago that resonated with a LOT of people:
This is a genuine concern and we need to be fighting to keep art accessible: subsidise grassroots venues, lower rents, make music education available to kids in school, have spaces like youth centres where kids can play after school. Have more programmes and funding for music for both children and adults. It's been pivotal to a lot of artists' careers. But that isn't to say that there are no working class musicians left, or that they can't aspire to more serious musical ambitions than playing to a 20-people bar down the road. That's quite patronising, isn't it?
What Blur vs. Oasis had also got wrong was that most of Blur were working class kids. (There was a time in recent memory when going to art school was not financial suicide.) But further, some folks are determined that their careers need to be in music. They can't just not try. And it's worth saying that not everyone SHOULD be, e.g., a doctor (sigh... I have written so many iterations of this post on my main, but I won't get into it here to keep it short). So kids take on loans, they win scholarships and art funding and grants. People have this idea that only super rich people will eventually go to art school, which isn't really true. (Tbh, while I obv didn't go to art school, I snuck into classes I fancied all the time. Didn't always enroll in them, but I learned and did make friends). It also harks back to this idea that surely only the aristocracy can afford such refined hobbies as art and music. The rest of us should know our place and not attempt to learn.
I wonder what people want art school kids to do with their degrees. They're always yelling about how useless art degrees are, but they also get mad when kids that specifically went to study art end up working in fields of art... like babes! This is literally what they went to school for. This should be the least surprising career path for them to take. What would you rather they do?
It also seems like a lot of people are in favour of meritocracy in music in theory only, but are also very willing to shit on anyone that got good by putting in the hours and slogging away to get better at their craft. The music industry (press and fans particularly) really do idolise and almost fetishise this idea of the natural-born instant talent who keeps it raw and real and 'never fuckin learned to read', #legend.
You're right, it's strange. In no other field, even other creative ones, would people deify the amateur professional. I also notice it seems to be way more of an issue to fans in the UK, You won't hear people dissing an American indie artist who graduated from Berklee in the same way.
