Opinion on NF/CH listener demographics?

Early CH is pretty dated. Sorry. It's the 80s production.

I suppose Neil would have been in his late twenties as a CHer. Now he's in his mid-40s. His songs are pretty cerebral. You're not going to crowd surf to his tunes.

Well, I am. In fact, right now I'm crowd surfing. Unfortunately, there's no crowd . . . THUD! OWEEEE!

Marlowe

(writing on behalf of William Shakespeare during his self-imposed exile)

Well, I met the sweetest couple - prob early 20's - in San Diego. I don't know how they got into Neil exactly, but it was not their parents and they were really excited to be seeing Neil and hearing the great music live. I think we come in all age flavors.

quote:

You're not going to crowd surf to his tunes.

Well, I am. In fact, right now I'm crowd surfing. Unfortunately, there's no crowd . . . THUD! OWEEEE!

aah...dear playwright, as Ferdinand said on hearing Ariel: Where should this music be? In the air or the earth?...I have followed it, or it has drawn me rather... You CAN crowd surf to HIS music,..I can and I don't need a crowd, cos I'm on cloud 9!$%!$@#%!$

quote:

Originally posted by shakespeare:
[qb] In fact, right now I'm crowd surfing. Unfortunately, there's no crowd . . . THUD! OWEEEE!

Marlowe

(writing on behalf of William Shakespeare during his self-imposed exile)[/qb]

What fools these Finn-fans be!

Hey guys,

I'm 19 and have loved CH since I was a nipper- there are many around here who are younger too.

Yes some of the production esp 'Crowded House' is a bit dated but the songs are timeless. In fact down here in OZ CH are regualrly still in the top 5 of most airplay!

I've been a fan for years and I'm 32. My son is 10 and he has started singing along to CH whenever I have it on my stereo. I caught him singing WWY last night whilst we were watching the football on TV !!!!

Can't begin to tell you how pleased I was

I'm 23 and discovered CH when I was 16 - the year they broke up and Recurring Dream was released. It took that album for it all to click for me as I realised I'd heard many of the songs on it at some time or another. I think the advertising campaign of 'you know more CH songs than you think you do' was uncannily accurate.

Some of the songs I must have heard when I was pretty young so it proves Neil's songs have an ability to stick in your mind no matter what age you are.

It's hard to say. Sometimes I've looked around at the crowds at concerts and they appear to be older, but at the recent NYC concerts, the crowd was really mixed in age. I'm 30 and there we definitely people younger than I.

Alot of younger people today gravitate to what's being played on the radio and MTV - CH aren't and Neil isn't much - so how could you get that demo to pay attention. He's also not that controversial...

At his concert here I met two girls that were clearly younger than me, and they were huge fans.
I think that in America though, since Crowded House are not staples of American radio (except for DDIO), that there won't be as many younger fans unless they have parents that turn them on to it. I think of how many bands that I'm into because of classic rock radio. My parents didn't really listen to a lot of rock and roll, so I didn't get it from them.
I have a nephew that's 13, and the sad thing is he is not into music at all. When I was his age, I was already hugely into music. He plays video games and games on the computer, that's what he does for fun. When I ask him what he listen's to, he just shrugs his shoulders. I'm crossing my fingers in a couple years that will change. It's very sad for me because I'm so into music...

I'm 38 and a fan since '82, my husband, a newbie with all things Finn, is 45. When we saw Neil in Philadelphia the first thing my husband remarked on was how everyone was "our age!" I never EVER hear CH, Enz or Neil on the radio here (Allentown/Bethlehem PA). We have no adult alternative radio stations. I do get to hear DDIO and Weather With You on the muzak feed at work, which I consider to be a small blessing! Due to all of this I had XM Radio installed in my mini-van last October - love it! On XM's channel 45, I hear Neil, CH, even Rhett Miller all of the time!

Patti

I am 35 (and currently writing some of my best tragedies if I do say so myself).

I got into Split Enz around "True Colours" and I remember it being this really raunchy dangerous album! It seems so tame now. But it was certainly younger music, made by younger people, for younger people still.

Split Enz and CH were always HUGE in Canada. But the crowds at the shows are growing up with the lads. That makes sense.

Look, when your thirteen year old kid pops up to play drums on a tune, you're playing to a different set of people than his peers. Because to a thirteen year old . . . you're someone's DAD, OK? The fact that the 13 year old (or the 20 year old) is there, or the fact that a couple of guys from Radiohead played with Neil might make him hipper to some younger fans, but most (not all) of Neil's fans have grown up with him.

When Richard Thompson opened for CH on one of their tours, he got a lot of grief from the 14 year old girls in the audience who wanted to see the boys in the headlining band and not some 40 year old introspective singer/songwriter. That's not to say that there weren't 14 year old girls there who were interested in Richard Thompson. They were just outscreamed is all. I would think that most 14 year olds (girls or boys) would not be that interested in Neil Finn. As I said, you can't crowd surf (at least properly) to his music.

I have gone to a lot of shows and Neil's crowd is generally 30-40. Not as old as Rolling Stones' audiences (40-60), not as young as NKOTB audiences (6-14) and not as diverse as Paul McCartney's audiences (1-100). There are always exceptions (welcome teens and twenties) but they are generally renaissance people in their own right. They sure didn't discover this music through popular media. They dug a bit, got turned on by Eddie Vedder or Radiohead, an older sibling, a parent, a friend, a teacher, a journalist, some weirdo in a music store, a policeman with a nightstick, a passing wallaby named Earle, a psychoanalyst, or just because they are very cool people on their own. Whatever the reason, it wasn't because of radioplay, MTV or Much Mucous.

Marsupial Marlowe
(the bouncing playright still passing himself off as Shakespeare)

Hi I'm 19, and was introduced to Neil's music when I was 12 by a shop assistant.

I was going to buy Simply Red's Life album, with all the money I had, my first own album, bought with my own pocket money got thanks to Christmas presents. I got into the shop and told him I wanted to buy that Simply Red album. He said I could buy another one instead of the one I wanted, Recurring Dream, for the same price, and this one was a double album. I thought for a second, and unable to say no, young and shy as I was, I accepted. I had heared of that strange album on TV, that of 'You know more CH songs than you think', and the chorus of 4SIOD that appeared there too, but I had never heared of those Crowded House guys.

I went home with my double album, chosen by the shop man not by me, and played it for a while. It was so boring!!! I left it and forgot it on a shelf. 2 or 3 years latter, I found it again while revising old CD. WHAT A SHOCK!!! Music from heaven!!! Ever since I've been the only CH, Neil, and SE fan in my family, group of friends and maybe even town.

I think the fact that I didn't like it at all when I first heared it was due to my age, and probably later my more grown up mind has been able to proccess such glorius songs.

Now I have to say thanks a lot to the music store guy, without his help I would've never known Neil's music which is one of the main resources of happiness in my life.

Hi I'm 19, and was introduced to Neil's music when I was 12 by a shop assistant.

I was going to buy Simply Red's Life album, with all the money I had, my first own album, bought with my own pocket money got thanks to Christmas presents. I got into the shop and told him I wanted to buy that Simply Red album. He said I could buy another one instead of the one I wanted, Recurring Dream, for the same price, and this one was a double album. I thought for a second, and unable to say no, young and shy as I was, I accepted. I had heared of that strange album on TV, that of 'You know more CH songs than you think', and the chorus of 4SIOD that appeared there too, but I had never heared of those Crowded House guys.

I went home with my double album, chosen by the shop man not by me, and played it for a while. It was so boring!!! I left it and forgot it on a shelf. 2 or 3 years latter, I found it again while revising old CD. WHAT A SHOCK!!! Music from heaven!!! Ever since I've been the only CH, Neil, and SE fan in my family, group of friends and maybe even town.

I think the fact that I didn't like it at all when I first heared it was due to my age, and probably later my more grown up mind has been able to proccess such glorius songs.

Now I have to say thanks a lot to the music store guy, without his help I would've never known Neil's music which is one of the main resources of happiness in my life.

Certainly the 30-somethings seem to be in the majority, but good music always has an audience. Even the earlier, more dated-sounding CH is still 100000000000000000x better than anything on the top 10 stations right now. Kids who want more than the latest NSync single will eventually seek out music that's real, thoughtful, well-played and truly inspiring. How many times can you listen to songs that have "baby/lovin' you/oooh/girl/lonely/don't break my heart/forever/your kiss..." as the only possible lyrical combinations?

So all you very intelligent teens/20-somethings on the board: keep playing Finn/CH music for your friends. Surely your good taste will eventually rub off! And all you other fans beyond your teens and early 20s: keep playing Finn/CH music for your kids/nieces/nephews/friend's kids/soccer team...whoever. Gosh I'm being so evangelical today!

quote:

When Richard Thompson opened for CH on one of their tours, he got a lot of grief from the 14 year old girls in the audience who wanted to see the boys in the headlining band and not some 40 year old introspective singer/songwriter. That's not to say that there weren't 14 year old girls there who were interested in Richard Thompson. They were just outscreamed is all.

Hmmmm, interesting. When I saw CH in Montreal in 1991 (at the tender age of 21 - ah, those were the days), Richard Thompson was opening. I didn't have a clue who he was, but quite enjoyed the music. However, I remember there being a couple of 40+ year-old men sitting in front of me (wearing berets...they must have been French ). They were talking away, drinking their scotches, about how they were there to see RT, how they had no idea who CH were and did not plan to stick around to find out. And as soon as RT finished his set, away they went. Too bad, the show was awesome and I think they would have appreciated the finer points of Neil's music.

Guess in 1991, you *could* be too old (and too stylish) to listen to CH!

Cheers!

AHA! I was right about the weirdo in the record store route!

David Attenborough
(on loan to the Marlowe estate which is acting on behalf of William Shakespeare as one of his finest tragedies materializes)

Ah yes, RT opening for CH... there is a story that at one show Neil was chatting between songs and paused. Paul asked him what he thinking. (I am paraphrasing to the best of my 40+ memory's ability) and Neil said that he wondered if it was the right time to "slag off the dickhead who yelled for us during Richard's set".

I met a couple before Neil's Detroit show, and they got around to liking his music because they are big Eddie Vedder fans. They were in their early 20's. I think they are the youngest fans I've talked to, and I don't know what they think about CH stuff, although they were rockin out to "I Got You" during the concert. Maybe if the younger fans were introduced to good-quality Enz stuff, which was always way ahead of its time, they might be able to ease into early Neil/CH stuff.

vch

Seems that the shows I saw in LA and Philly had mixed crowds, but the majority of fans seemed to be in their 30's or 40's.

Let's just say that Neil and I are of an age that I might've been in his kindergarten class with him.

I have become a fan only in the past year. I dug up Split Enz albums that I had completely forgotten that I had. I remember that when those albums were new, I skipped over almost everything Tim sang lead on (except "I Hope I Never" at the time I thought that was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard) and played the Neil songs over and over and over again.

Sadly I slept through most of the 80s and 90s music wise (places to go, people to meet, life to live) It wasn't a total wasteland, I always had the Beatles to keep me warm and the odd thing on the radio would tweak my interest. And indeed, I wasn't completely unfamiliar with Crowded House, I just had no idea that that young voice I loved so much in 1981 was one and the same. Meanwhile, my brother was a totally rabid CH fan and it just
completely went under my radar.

Having become a rabid fan myself now, of course, I am practically kicking myself in hindsight of what I could have done (like seen Split Enz and Crowded House live in my own city a total of at least 7 times!!!!)

My friends are bewildered at my level of interest and passion about Neil's music. I feel awkward about it a little because they think this is somewhat unseemly and don't understand my joy. Others think it's wonderful. I don't really care what anyone thinks , because in the end, you live with yourself and enjoying and collecting the music of someone who not only sings beautifully but constructs beautiful meaningful songs (OK Shakespeare, I mean Marlowe, possibly the recorded Message to my Girl exempt, EXCEPT I CELEBRATE that 80's production!!!) who can lift you up when you're down or bring some truth into common life situations can not be a bad hobby for anyone at any age.

The end

I first heard Don't Dream It's Over when i was 9 and I did not hear much of anythine else like it on the air. Years pass and i never heard any songs like it, but the alternative station plays a couple of their songs on a "retro brunch" and introduces them as Crowded House. The mystery band with that song, had a name and some albums, and not only that i find they've broken up.

Unhappy, so this got shoved to th' back of my mind for another couple of years, until i buy two of their Cd's at a record shop. I had to have more and chaesd it down. I was very excited to find Neil Finn's solo work. Found some stuff on Ebay and Online, and now i play it for my 3-month-old niece, who especially responds to "Try Whistling This" "Together Alone" and DDIO.

I will be 25 in like, 5 weeks and have one 24yo sister who regards me as insane and two who are seventeen and don't really care.

i also have a cat and a dog.

This is getting rather nice for the CH forum... I'll move it there.
Count the times you said Neil and the times you said CH and then you'll know why
Have a nice day

quote:

Originally posted by Luckster:
[qb]...In fact down here in OZ CH are regualrly still in the top 5 of most airplay![/qb]

Yes, EVERY year, Crowded House feature in the top 5 radio airplay acts... & that's not even counting i got you or message to my girl! The best part is... who or whatever beats them (teenybop sh!+) is always gone by the next year, so I think it's safe to say Crowdd House have been the MOST played band on Australian radio in the past 10 years.

I'm 18, and since a year or two I listen to Crowded House a lot. And I'm not from Australia or New Zealand either

i'm turning 19 soon. I first heard the finns when weather with you came out remember quite liking it. the distant sun single combined with the farewell concert made me fall in love with the finns music when i was about 14. i think i had all the crowded house albums, the finn brothers album and the split enz back catalogue by the time i was about 15 or so.

i'll admit, it took me longer to appreciate some of it (it's only in the last 18 months or so that i really really got into the early enz stuff)

but i'm 18, live in ireland.

stuff like being given a copy of Enzso by some kiwis who worked with my dad as a present, and seeing the farewell concert certainly helped a lot, but i did most of my discovering through the lists really...

my two cent (not cents - i'm european dahling)
iarla