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I realize that Caity has already touched upon this subject breifly with her article My Chemical Suckfest: On Bruises and Beatings, but there's many a type of elitist. The type who aren't in your scene, and proceed to make fun of you for being into what you're into (this would be the type Caity covered). But then there's the type in your scene, who pick everything apart from the inside out!

Let's be honest. We all know one (at the very least), and we all know the mentality. The condescending looks you'll occasionally get from the line campers at the very front of the line as you make your way to the end of the current end to hang out and go inside. The "how can you consider yourself a fan if you haven't been here for 16 hours waiting over night?" sneers. The girls (well hey! And boys, depending on the show you're at!) primping and preening before the show, making sure their hair is oh-so-perfect, and their makeup is completely smudge-free. Who, in turn, look at you in your show-clothes, old band tee and some (unintentionally) torn up jeans, and scoff because you don't look nearly as good as them...

Then there's the ones after you get into the show. That stand at the back of the pit and make fun of the kids around them. The way they dance, the way they mosh, if they flip their hair too much, if they dont' flip it enough, the way they handbang for goodness sake! Beacuse, you know, by going to a show and standing in the back and making fun of the movements of the kids around you, it totally hides the fact that you can't do any of it... so who cares if you're uncoordinated and ungraceful? As long as you're not bumping into people and causing bodily harm to those around you, go nuts!

And what's worse than all the holier-than-thou kids? ... The fact that you get used to it.

But you really shouldn't have to. Personally, I've never understood it, but then again, I'm the type that goes to a show to have a good time. I don't care about how I look before or after I walk into a venue. In fact, I tend to revel in my post-show haggardness. (Maybe not when the cameras are around and friends are going out of their way to catch your worst angles...) and if I come out bruised and broken, covered in blood, sweat, and booze that isn't even close to being mine? So much the better. (...as long as there's a shower in the near future, of course).

Why go out of your way to look good at a rock show? On that same not, why go out of your way to look down on other people, or try to make them feel bad? We're all there for the same reason. Whatever band is there, is there to make us all feel good and let us escape for an hour or so in everything that we stand for.

I hate to be the kind of person to point fingers and bitch, but all these people do is bring everyone else down! Well, of course, unless you're surrounded by people with the same mentality as you... then you'll just to out-do each other and try to figure out who deserves to be there more. (sigh)

Then there's a completely different kind of Elitist Fan. The kind that goes beyond dedication and looks, and this this is the kind of person that brags about the fact that they were "TOTALLY in the same room as the guitarist from that one band", or "we were waiting outside and we kept calling and calling the lead singer from this band because he said he'd get us in, but he wasn't answering! He's such a butthead, and I can call him that because I totally know him..."

If you're not on a personal level with the band, these fans want nothing to do with you. They're the kind of kid that'll climb over their own mother if it means getting to exchange words with anyone who is famous, or (as creepy as it can occasionally be) anyone who is somehow involved with anyone famous.

They see themselves as climbing the ladder, networking even, but I'm sorry, it will forever seem to me like they're just lurking and grasping at any shred of fame they can get. Because you know, if they're willing to go out of the way to try and get in contact with a friend or girlfriend of a band member, when they're friends with the band, people will be struggling to get in touch with them too...

I'm not the only one who's had to deal with these kinds of fans. SF's own Caity has had at least one run-in as well:

"We've all had our share of Elitist Fans. My favourite time was this group of girls while a few friends and I were waiting for the cKy show. Mini-skirts and stiletto pumps with Bam beaters stretched far, far, too tightly over their chests. My friends and I were sitting on the ground, and having just come from one show (The Horrorpops) to this one, we were already beat up and haggard. Tony's shirt had a massive hole that had been ripped in it, my foot had finally exploded out of the side of my 7 year old converse, and Jonas' belt had somehow gotten torn in half and his pants were falling off his ass. They stood just behind us in line, snarking the entire time about how Bam Margera (cKy's dummer Jess Margera's brother, and pro-skate boarder) was totally going to see them, and they were so going to hang out, and how those of us dressed down better not stand next to them inside, because they want to be NOTICED... I almost didn't care when they were taken down in the pit. But if course, I'm a crowd kid... so I helped them back up and showed them the way to get the hell out of there."

Jen has also had a few run-ins with Elitist Fans and this is just one of a few accounts she gave me:

"I'm not good with words, so I"m just going to tell it flat out, and hopefully everyone will see my disgust. Let's be honest here, when I go to shows, I'm not going to meet the band or do anything with them. If I happen to run into a few members outside, well yeah, I will probably ask for a picture or something, but my sole purpose for being there isn't so I can "have so many insiders" with a member of a particular band, it's so I can enjoy a show, in this case by my favourite band. Myself and some friends were waiting in line for a My Chemical Romance show and we happened to meet these two girls, sweet as pie they were, but that doesn't mean we are interested in hearing you go on an on and on about all these bands that you are friends with and how many guest lists you manage to be on. Nothing bothered me more than listening to them TRY and make the people around them jealous. I'm sure that every person there was getting quite annoyed. We are all there to see a show, not listen to two random's go on about their "celebrity" sex encounters. To be quite honest, I don't think a lot of bands are like the ones they seem to know. Or at least I would like to think that a lot of bands aren't going to use the fact that they are in a band to sleep around with completely willing, sleezy teenagers, who don't seem to know any better."

Edward, a friend of the girls at SF, had this to add in:

"Oshawa [Ont. CA] is full of some pretty hardcore elitists, mostly metal heads, a lot of "scene" kids too. But mostly metal heads. One of my friends is actually friends with one, and we get a laugh at him, because not only is he an elitist, but he's a total asshole and wannabe Nazi. How, I'm not going to rant about his beliefs, but when he starts telling me how I'm not a 'true' fan of the music I like (and he hates), now that's just too far. It actually got the point that I kindly told him to go f*ck himself, and some other rude comments that I'm not proud of, just to get the topic changed, and stop me from slugging him in the face."

I understand that some kids, this could be their first show, and they know nothing of scene politics, or concert etiquette yet (Oh, and look for an article on concert etiquette in the near, near future....) and that's okay! You don't know what to expect inside, and that's one thing. But after going to numerous shows, and knowing what to expect, and still showing up and being as high and mighty, is a guaranteed way to make the people stuck around you in line feel just like that. Stuck around you in line.

Shows are an awesome place to make friends. I've met some of my best friends there, so really, that girl who's walking to the end of the current line you're shooting condescending looks at? She could be the nicest, most awesome person you've ever met. Don't f*ck up your opportunities before you've even realized they're there.

Have fun, and rock on kids. Try not to let the elite bring you down! Because everyone knows, the cool kids still make fun of them behind their backs, and there are a lot more of us than there are of them.