Yungblud and Bad Wolves Are Caught Between Two Audiences

Yungblud and Bad Wolves have made the news in the rock and metal scene throughout the early part of this month for a variety of reasons. One is under fire for getting vulnerable. The other is getting mixed reviews as they announce a new era with a new single - something they’ve done a lot in their career. They’re each experiencing two different scenarios right now, but they have one thing in common - they’re both dealing with questions of legitimacy, continuity and audience expectations. 

Val thinks they’re caught between two audiences: one that supports them and one that doesn’t - and those audiences are debating in real time, online, publicly, on where they belong. 

Let's analyze, vigorously. 

Get more Val at https://valkleinhans.com/

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Oh, baby, young one and bad wolves are in it right now. They have made the news in the rock and metal scene throughout the early part of this month for a variety of reasons. One is under fire for being very vulnerable, and the other is getting mixed reviews as they announce a new era and a new single, which is something they've done quite a bit in their career. And they're each experiencing two different scenarios right now, but I do think that they have one thing in common. They're both dealing with questions of legitimacy, continuity, and audience expectations. They're weighing all of this right now. And I feel like they are caught between two audiences: one that supports them and one that doesn't. And those audiences are debating in real time, publicly, online, where they belong. So today I want to try and look at that and analyze what I will call the invisible contract that is between artists and fans, and whether or not we should be taking this whole thing as seriously as we do. What makes a fan form these convictions? And why do they defend them so vigorously? Let's take a look. First and foremost, I have been extremely prepared about the fact that I am a fan first. I am a music fan. And what's hard for me to wrap my head around is the extremes that we see with fan behaviors sometimes. What I have landed on, though, after some thought, is that I'm never gonna totally understand fan behavior. Because that parasocial relationship, whoo, the one that fans can have with artists is very personal to that fan. And I mean this literally. That is part of their person. That is their personal experience. It is what is happening in their head, not this head, mine. I'm not there, so I'm not gonna understand. And I'm gonna stop trying to understand. My fandom experience has always been keeping things positive, keep giving artists their space. I don't throw things on stage, I don't try to take the stage when someone else is on it. No, I don't have time for that. I don't have time for hate comments at all. And yes, I will admit to asking for selfies with artists if I happen to be in the same area. But overall, I usually admire the whole thing from afar and then talk about it with you later. But it really bothered me seeing Young Blood get some hate online for opening up and being really vulnerable about where his headspace has been lately. Did you see this? I, you know, we're gonna get into the video and the Instagram post. I also feel bad for bad wolves right now because they're fighting off some wolves themselves. They're fighting off some questions about their legitimacy because yes, they do have a history of changing lineups and changing their sound in accordance with that, and they are doing that again. So before we analyze this and take a look at how we can cool things down here, let's give you some context on these moments and go through each of them one by one so that you have a frame of reference for what I'm talking about this whole episode. We'll start with Youngblood. In case you missed it, right before the 4th of July, this was leading into the holiday weekend. Youngblood shared a very vulnerable Instagram video post. I guess is what I'll call it, a real. But the captions said even more. The video shows him thanking fans, visibly emotional, admitting to them that he's had a hard time lately. He's been going through it, and he thanks his fans at Bloodfest, thanked them for supporting him and carrying him through what he admits was a tough year for him, filled with some tough moments. And the criticism that he's referring to here is largely generally the talk about him being an industry plant, which does not seem to escape this poor man. And some are citing his collaborations with the Osbornes and Aerosmith as evidence of this. So we did a whole episode on whether or not we throw out the term industry plant too quickly. If you want my general takes on that, you can refer to that episode, go back, listen to that, you'll know where I stand on that. But what's interesting about this is that, you know, I think we struggled with what to do with Youngblood for a few reasons. I think, firstly, he really only hit the majority of people's radar, or certainly the metal scenes radar, after Back to the Beginning, a little over a year ago. Uh other prominent names in rock and metal. I mean, since then, really, they have publicly weighed whether or not Youngblood belonged to the culture and whether he should be let in. So he's getting some mixed reviews from his own peers. And they're questioning his early inclusion into the culture and the fact that it has been co-signed by legends like Ozzy and Aerosmith. It seems sus to them. Some have even gone so far as to say his music isn't heavy. Why is he here? And uh translation musically, he seems like a random addition. Why else would he be here if he wasn't an industry plant? In general, a lot of the criticism Youngblood has received has only ramped up this past year because of Back to the Beginning, and because I think that tribute brought him further into the consciousness of not just the metal scene, but I think mainstream average music fans as well, because this event was so monumental. Certainly it was within the metal community, we knew that, but it was large enough for the rest of the music industry to look back and say, hmm, this is a big deal, too. They're all looking at this, they're all watching him, and he might not have been a name to them before. But after that show, they know his name now. And that's where he's at. Youngblood has also faced accusations of not really being working class and borrowing uh rock aesthetic. Now that's a that that's a big deal for a few reasons, and I'll explain. If you don't know this, here's why it's a big deal. Here's why this is a perceived issue. Being authentic and working class is a huge part of building a fan base in rock, in metal, arguably hip-hop as well, because these are the people you're addressing. These fans are these people, they are working class people themselves. They want to see people on stage that they feel like they could have a beer with and bullshit about the same things. That's it. They all understand each other's lifestyle. And I might do an episode on why I think this is changing later, but I have some thoughts on being this rigid about this concept, this rule. Okay. But sticking to the task at hand, this instance is evidence that we we we still feel a type of way about this. There are some in the community that still subscribe to this being a must. And I'm not gonna get into whether I think Youngblood is or isn't working class because I think that term is defined differently when you compare the US and the UK. So this is going to be up to your definition of that term. It won't matter what I tell you. You're gonna have your own criteria for what gets that label. Like the US, we tend to take the more literal economic definition of working class on blue-collar job versus white-collar job. We're talking about income. My understanding, and if you're in the UK, please correct me if I'm wrong, but uh my understanding is that they're a little bit more looser with that term there. They use that to encompass social class, education, what part of the UK that they're from, family history. I mean, for them, that term goes beyond income. It includes income, but it's not exclusively tied to income. I think with us, we're a little bit more structured with how we use that term. So that's why, at least here it might be a bigger deal. Whether you want to call young blood working class or not is gonna be up to you and whatever your criteria is for using that term. So I will let you decide. But here is my young blood take. I will tell you this. First and foremost, if I have someone visibly crying, sobbing, boo-hoo crying in front of me, telling me that they are having a bad time, they are struggling with their mental health, and it's not great. I'm not gonna kick a person when they're down. I'm not gonna do that. And I wish more of the world saw this video and said, all right, he's had enough. Let me back off now. But that's not what most people do, it's just not, and oof, what a shame that is. We gotta stop doing that. We gotta stop doing that. Because when someone has had enough, why can't we just believe them? Leave them alone. Leave them alone. I mean, he also mentioned a pending hibernation period for himself in the caption of this post, too. That might be about to come on a lot sooner than we think, if his backing out of Canada's Cowboys Music Festival is any clue. But I do think that this is exactly what he should be doing right now for multiple reasons. Firstly, his mind, and probably body too, need a rest. Take that rest, dude. Take it. You have been busy this past year. You have spent time supporting the Osborne's to uh just during what was a very heavy year for them, personally and professionally. You've recorded an EP with an air with Aerosmith, all while prepping and performing your own tour with Bloodfest, uh, being somewhere in the middle of all of this. And I think he can use this time to process what has happened this past year and really decide musically and culturally where does he want to be? If I were on his team, I would tell him, Alright, you got everybody's attention now. What do you want to do with it? What do you want to do with it? And just encourage further introspection and finding his own voice. Does he want to lean heavier? Does he want to stay more pop punk? Has he had a taste of the metal world and want and want to change things in response to that? I think it's appropriate to say, hey, here's what I learned from that experience, and this is how I want to move forward with that in mind. Youngblood has always seemed to me like someone who wants to experience life. And those choices I know might confuse fans. But hey, if the Osborne call, if Aerosmith calls, wouldn't you answer? I bet you would, my friend. Again and again and again. I would if it were me. I can't blame him. His case also has me asking, like, who decides whether someone belongs in heavy music? And what is the universally agreed on criteria for all that? Why do people keep needing this man to prove that he belongs? Are we now going to ask every artist to prove they belong? In some ways, I think that we do. Sometimes there are some people that are that hardcore that I think they do. I really do. But how do we do that in today's world, which is full of genre blending and audience crossover? Like, is that is that allowed anymore? Like, how are we gonna keep tabs on this if we're doing different things? And this might have been the thing that bit Yan Blood in the ass a little bit because it feels like some of the metal audience didn't know why he was in their space or what to do with them. But if you knew him before back to the beginning, you would know that he's at least on the rock spectrum. His audience and Ozzy's audience, I mean, they have some sort of crossover, but the blending might have been introduced a little bit too quickly. But sometimes as fans, I think we have to pick a lane too. Are we going to allow for flexibility or are we gonna draw hard lines? I think we need to start with answering that. And if this hibernation period, he's mentioned, becomes an extended thing at any point, I don't think it would necessarily hurt his career, and I think he personally would be grateful for it. And he should treat that moment the same way Queen Lola Young did. Here's what I mean by that. Lola was very transparent about what happened with her right around a big album release for for her uh this past fall, like almost a year ago in September. Horrible timing. But sometimes that is how life is. You can get hit at a breaking point or the pinnacle of it, you know, right in the middle of a lot of work that you've put in to do this. Like sometimes it can just hit, and that happened to her. I understand how that happens, and I feel for her. I empathize with that situation, but I think she handled this the right way. So, step one, he's already completed there if he's following her playbook. She also announced a break officially and then came back with a new single when she returned. And that is how you do a hibernation period with transparency and a little gift when you return saying, Hey, thanks for waiting in the form of new music. Lola nailed it. I think she did. She was patient with herself. Thankfully, her fans were, I think, cool and patient with her as well. And I think we can give him the same courtesy. Bad Wolves, let's move on to them because I promised we were going to talk about them this episode too. In the meantime, while all this is going on, Bad Wolves have announced a new era with their new singer, Sarah Killboy Skinner, who is a treat to follow on Instagram, by the way, for a variety of reasons. Oh my goodness. And they topped all this news off with a newly released single to celebrate called Paint It Red. By the way, I think it rips. I do enjoy it. I reacted to this video, it's up on YouTube, and I said that the single and video for it are the perfect way, lyrically and visually, to hammer home that we are out with the old in with the new, baby. We are ready. We are ready. We uh made that really obvious with this. And for me, that's what made this transition work. I'm fine with a lineup change if you're making it extremely obvious that that's what's happening. So, lyrically and visually, if you are announcing a new era and you are smashing the old one to bits, and they are doing this in this video, smashing the old one to hell in that music video. It does not get more literal than that. So, to me, there shouldn't be any more questions about what they're doing here. But the issue that some fans have isn't legitimacy, it's continuity in their case. And I'm hoping that the imagery, the writing, I hope that that's going to reestablish a stable connection with pay with fans. And I think it will. Continuity is something that heavy music fans very much value and especially demand. So if they continue doing what they're what they started now, don't change the plan now. You started, you made the launch, we know what to expect now, keep going. I think their situation can be rectified, and it can also be broken down a little bit more simply than what's going on with Yumblood. I mean, this this comes down to multiple vocalists being confusing for everybody, musical shifts that fans are uh trying to get a hold on to. I mean, it's it's got fans wondering about a lot of things. Maybe they're wondering when does a fan when does a band stop being a band? What is a band's identity? And is a band's identity the singer? We gotta ask those questions. Is it the songwriting? Is it the remaining members? Is that what makes a band? Or is it just simply the name? Is that enough? I mean, at this point, if you're a Bad Wolves fan, I think you expect change. And you better be the kind of person that can embrace it at this point, because you should know by now that change is part of what they do. So it's kind of a blessing and a curse. They can change, knowing fans will likely expect it, but if they change too much, they kind of risk having to start all over again. So it it's it's really gonna be interesting to see how they move next. Is there such a thing as too many strikes in your out with a band? I don't know. I mean, I saw some online go so far as to say they should hang it up. This is a third attempt at making bad wolves a thing with a new singer. Why try again? Now, when it comes to music, I don't believe in a three strikes you're out mentality. I don't subscribe to that. It's music for me, it's not that serious, but I am willing to let an artist do what they do. I'm willing to make my own mind up on what is presented to me, keep that to myself. It is just that simple. And I would rather see somebody with passion on stage trying something new for the millionth time that they still have a passion for, than somebody bored by doing the same thing over and over and over again. I like seeing fresh faces. Sarah is going to be a fun, fresh face. At the time that I'm recording this, she still has her Killboy Zoo account on Instagram that she just made because uh uh her original Killboy account was banned, probably because of the title, and but she ended up getting it back in a different way. The whole thing was weird. But anyway, the zoo account is a blast, it is fun. I am not super into reptiles per se, but I like seeing a person enjoy animals because to me that interaction between animal and human is so sacred and so precious. And when you build a bond, it says something. If someone vibes with animals, I'm probably gonna get along with them. I'm just gonna say it. So I like when they reveal that part of their life. It's cool. There's confliction in all of this. I mean, what we're finding in the case of both Youngblood and Bad Wolves is that uh they are competing and conflicting everywhere. Uh uh there's there there's competing and conflicting expectations really among fans. And these expectations are going to change with each music genre and their fan base too, and it can be impossible to please everybody. Well, really impossible on both ends. It can be impossible for the artist, and it can be impossible for the fans, because I think artists here don't repeat yourself, but also don't change too much. But fans are saying, evolve, surprise us, but stay authentic, and all of those goals really contradict each other, and then there's the nostalgia of it all, which throws another wrench into this, and that comes into play for fans too. Music fans are definitely attached to eras. Taylor Swift just proved that. People don't just love artists, they love albums, they love lineups, they love aesthetics, they love periods of life, they like where that moment in time took them, and they enjoy revisiting that. Sometimes I don't I think sometimes fans aren't mourning the artist personally when there's a change, they're mourning the perceived loss of who that artist was when they first heard them or the you know what was happening at that moment in time. And I know that some fans feel like they're entering an unspoken contract, if you will, with an artist where fans might think, I know who you are, and then when an artist switches things up, fans don't necessarily think the music changed, they think you broke the agreement because you're not what I originally bought into, and that is why those reactions become very emotional and sometimes visceral. Like it gets deep. So here's my final thoughts on the whole thing. Who decides really whether an artist belongs in rock? How much should fans influence an artist's direction? Can an artist reinvent themselves without alienating people? When does a lineup change become a completely different band? Do we judge artists differently if they become successful too quickly? Are fans protecting a genre or gatekeeping it? And how do we navigate all of this again in a world where blending genres and audiences knowing they're not the same and won't have the same expectations? Like, how how how does that all work? Because the moment fans define an artist, every future decision that artist makes becomes a test. Stay the same, you're stale, you change too much, you've lost yourself. So, somewhere in between is where almost every modern artist is trying to exist. So, how about this? Fans, let's give them the space to figure that out and let's make our own decisions for ourselves without being dicks about it on what it is that they're doing. And just let everybody live. That's where I'm at with this. I've said too much. I'll see you next time. Bye.