What is a true music fan?

I've noticed that lately I've been getting a lot of attention on the Scone for my musical knowledge. There's my description as a "compendium of knowledge," Claire referring to me as a "true music fan", and now I'm making headlines for being like the guy from High Fidelity. This is all well and good, because my musical knowledge is something that I pride myself on. But it got me thinking...what really is a true music fan and why am I one? This is a far more complex question than it appears on the surface, but here are a few points for consideration.

1. Emotional Response - This one is a no brainer. If music doesn't trigger an emotional response in you or if music is something that you feel totally indifferent about then you are simply not a true music fan. But this is where it gets tricky. There are people (believe it or not) who feel very intensely about bad music. Sure, to them it may not be bad, but is someone who is only listening to boy bands really a true music fan? That is why I suggest point #2.

2. Street/Indie Cred - For lack of any better terms. Basically, if all you listen to is what the radio feeds you, then you are missing a huge piece of the "true music fan" puzzle. Not because all music on the radio is crap and not because the less known a band is the better, but simply because the music that gets played on the radio is only the smallest fraction of the total amount of music made. If that's all you know, then you don't know much.

3. Desire to Hear New Things - I'm often asked by people, "How do you hear about some of these bands that you listen to?" My honest answer is that I have no idea. I start listening to one artist, find out about them and their influences, and suddenly the floodgates are opened to others. It is true that many people just aren't exposed to a lot of music. The "boy band fans" referred to earlier might love other things if they would just hear it, but thats not enough. Pick up any music magazine (there's a lot of them) and read a review. A true music fan will seek out the music that sounds appealing to them. Someone who is not a true music fan will think, "well that sounds like it might be good" but never follows through.

4. Will Realize That Point #2 is at Least Partially Bullshit - This is for the exact reason mentioned within #2: Not all mainstream music is bad and not every obscure band is good. A good song is a good song no matter who its by. A true music fan will be able to tell the difference between the good and the bad and not care about what liking a certain artist or song will do to their cred. Far too many people get caught up in caring way too much about how popular something is. There is no reason to start hating your once favorite band just because a few more people found out about them.

5. Thinks About Music - Some might argue this or say it doesnt really make a difference. If you ask me, this is what really separates the men from the boys (sorry, ladies). I like to make lists. I'm not saying that you have to make lists to be a true music fan but I don't think that the experience should end when the music does. Making lists just gives me a framework for thinking about the music. Sometimes its very hard to decide which album is better when you really like both a lot. It forces you to become more critical. I'll think about the lyrics, the melodies, the instrumentation, the cohesiveness of the songs, how an album is paced etc. The time taken to think in between listening will get me excited about listening to it again.

See if you can add/remove any points from this list. I'd like to see if we can come up with enough criteria so that we eliminate every single person from being a true music fan.