Term I'm Unfamiliar With

General Music Discussion
#1

Someone on this forum recently said something to the effect of he didn’t want people to think he was a Vinnie Moore “fanboy.” What the hell is a “fanboy”? I almost asked him how old he is since the vast majority of posters here are mature men who wouldn’t refer to themselves as “boys.” They’d refer to themselves a a man or as a guy. I ended up not asking him because I didn’t want to embarrass him by putting him on the spot and if he’s just a kid there’s certainly nothing wrong with a kid wanting to learn from Troy and the rest of us to a lesser extent.

Are junior high or high school age boys now referring to themselves as fanboys? When I was that age we just called ourselves fans. Adding “boy” to “fan” was just entirely unnecessary and as far as I’m concerned it still is.

What do you suppose the purpose they seem to think there is to referring to themselves as “fanboys” instead of just calling themselves “fans”?

#2

Fanboy implies a blind love for anything that the idol does without judgement.

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#3

OK, I see. Thank you.

#4

I think that the term ‘fanboy’ describes someone who is fanatical about something/someone, to the point where they can’t accept anything else. Example being, if I were an ‘Ibanez fanboy’, I would think that Ibanez guitars are the best and that no matter what you said, I could not accept that a Suhr might be a better guitar brand.

I wonder the use of “boy” describes the immature aspect of it.

#5

This was a lot better than my post… We were typing at the same time and didnt see your post.

#6

Is “fangirl” also an expression"? I imagine it must be because a female with the defining characteristics wouldn’t call herself a “fanboy”, right?

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#7

I don’t see why fangirl wouldn’t be appropriate!

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#8

yes, but “fangirl” generally connotes an romantic or sexual infatuation with a usually male subject.
In music circles “fanboy” generally denotes someone who will lose it over the smallest perceived slight against their hero. Some of the worst examples are some rabid Tool or Radiohead fans that act like said bands are the second coming of Christ.
In guitar circles “fanboy” is usually applied to those who recently got into guitar and think someone like Slash is the most talented and proficient guitarist ever. Also applies in bands that have had multiple guitarists where there will be flame wars about said guitarists between the fans. Happened a lot with Buckethead vs Slash amongst GNR fans.

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#9

That’s all very interesting. LOL at Slash being the most proficient guitarist ever and I like Slash. Especially his tone in “Estranged.”

Speaking of wars between “fanboys” of certain vocalists with certain bands, I’ll bet there were some legendary flame wars regarding Black Sabbath with Ozzy compared to Sabbath with Dio! Of course Diamond Dave vs. Sammy “I Can’t Drive 55” Hagar must have also ignited some huge flame wars over which one was the rightful lead singer of Van Halen!

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#10

Vocalist fanboy wars are some of the worst. The most vicious ones I’ve ever seen are the ones surrounding Nightwish’s lead singers.

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#11

There’s a blog post from 2010 that goes into excruciating detail on the etymology of “fanboy”:

#12

Hey, no worries at all, I’m not embarassed to admit I’m 33 but in no hurry to grow up :smiley:

In the post you mentioned I was being ironic because I actually consider myself a full-on Vinnie Moore “fanboy”, and this was the way I introduced myself to the forum a few months ago. By “fanboy” I mean I have a sort of veneration for VinMan’s playing and songwriting - except the couple of songs he wrote in major keys (ionian) - but I can’t stand major in general hehe. Needless to say, I’m perhaps exaggerating a bit for dramatic purposes :wink:

I think @Sguitar gave the perfect definition of “fanboy” in a post above. Again I’m not a native English speaker, but I think this is a term that can be used regardless of age.