Being a life-long music fan, I've seen subgenre styles come and go, line-ups of favorite bands change over the years, and of course people complain when they don't like how their favorite band or music scene is going. I've definitely seen this with heavy metal bands in particular, probably because metal fans seem to be the ones most reluctant to accept any change in a band's sound.

But here are two specific things I hear a lot, with alternate explainations that nobody seems to consider:

1) "[Insert band name here] sucks, now that they don't have [band member] anymore."

Usually, this is what happens: band member X leaves the band, is replaced by musician Y, the new album with Y sounds really different, and all the fans immediately assume that it was X who gave the band the old sound that they're used to liking. But doesn't anybody consider that maybe the situation is the other way around? That the guy left the band BECAUSE the band was changing their style, and didn't like this direction they were going in? Or maybe the band was growing in a different direction, and this guy wasn't keeping up, so they fired him? Or aside from that, maybe the guy who left wasn't really writing any of the songs, but his replacement wrote some of the new stuff, and that's why they sound different now.

2) "Oh this new band [so-and-so] sounds just like [some barely older, yet currently popular band]. They're obviously sell-outs, trying to cash in on the popular sound."

When you look at what goes on in putting together a band, you'll see that this claim is ridiculous. If some different-sounding band makes it in Billboard's top 10, do you really think somebody else can notice this, put a stable band together, write songs that sound similar, practice the songs, play gigs, record a demo tape in the studio, get signed to a record label, and put a video out...all in the course of 4 months? I think a much more likely explaination, is that the record company agents see what's popular, and set out to find and sign more bands that sound like this.

Just some things to think about before you curse a band of which you're a self-proclaimed fan.