The band Maynard James Keenan said was completely ruined for him
Despite the fact that Maynard James Keenan is perhaps best known for his role in the alternative and progressive metal scenes, his tastes have always seemingly been far more wide-reaching than these two niche subgenres might suggest.
To even be into either of these particular scenes suggests an element of open-mindedness, which is exactly how Keenan has always approached his own taste and artistry throughout his career. As a co-founding member of acts like Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, there is always the tendency to assume that his personal preferences align with the often extreme and complex nature of his output, but this is far from the case.
Having described Devo as one of his favourite and most influential acts of all time, and going into detail about how Low’s Things We Lost in the Fire is a masterpiece of an album, it becomes clear that Keenan’s tastes are broad and encompass everything from synth-punk to post-rock. However, it was in his pre-fame days that he made one of the most important musical discoveries of his life, while still a student and enamoured with searching for the next source of inspiration.
That, however, would change after he discovered that the quirky and art school-appeasing style of the band had been co-opted by a bunch of preppy kids who had no business infiltrating the scenes he wanted to be a part of, and despite having found a band who he thought spoke to him on a personal level, he was reluctant to continue being a fan if this was the sort of fanbase they were actively attracting.
Despite having become something of a fan of the Athens, Georgia band while in school, his flirtation with being a follower of REM was short-lived, as he later explained during a 2018 interview with Prog Magazine. “In Grand Rapids, going to art school, I was a big fan of REM – the first EP and the first couple of albums,” he claimed, referring to the Chronic Town EP and both Murmur and Reckoning as the records he’d enjoyed of theirs.
“Then out of nowhere in Grand Rapids, at one of the arenas, all of a sudden there are all these frat kids all doing this weird dance, all in lines, watching REM,” he continued, explaining why he suddenly stopped enjoying himself at their shows. “What the fuck happened? These guys are shoegazer weirdos like Camper Van Beethoven, then there’s all these IZOD sweater-wearing white people. ‘Get the fuck out of here – you’re ruining my band!’ Then it was gone; it was no longer ours.”
While this may seem like pretentious gatekeeping, this is ultimately what Keenan has always aimed to do with his own music, making it obtuse and complex to the point that it won’t let outsiders with little to no depth in their music tastes into their special circle. While this ultimately limits you to how big you can get, with REM having achieved far greater levels of mainstream success than Tool or A Perfect Circle, it does mean that you’re likely to have a lot more fun playing to people who you know are fully appreciative of everything you do.
