THE Deadheads
THE Deadheads are fans of the legendary rock group The Grateful Dead and its associated projects The Other Ones, The Dead, The Rhythm Devils, Furthur, Fare The Well and Dead & Co. Born in the ’70s, this subculture has the characteristic fans who travel to see the band at as many shows and festivals as possible. A community has thus developed with a language that is unique to it. Additionally, since the Grateful Dead have always been very permissive about recording their performances, many fans record the shows they attend and then share them with the rest of the community. Among the Deadheads Famous basketball player Bill Walton, a former member of the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics, is said to have attended more than 800 of the group’s shows since his teenage years. Not for nothing that we nicknamed the redhead Grateful Red!
Musicians Phil Lesh (L) and Bob Weir of the band The Dead perform at the Roseland Ballroom on March 30, 2009 in New York. (BRYAN BEDDER/Archives AFP)
Phisheads
Fans of the Vermont rock band Phish are nicknamed the Phisheadsa name derived from that of the Grateful Dead fanatics. They also divide themselves into three categories, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, depending on the period during which they discovered the group led by Trey Anastasio. As Phish have made a habit of never playing the same songs two nights in a row and of varying the way they perform them, many fans have also gotten into the habit, like the Deadheadsto follow their favorites on tour for several shows. So much so that every Phish show has become an event that attracts out-of-town tourists and their concerts often require measures usually associated with festivals. Thus, many of their fans have seen them perform a few hundred times.
Fans of the K-pop group BTS call themselves the BTS Army. Some have already gone so far as to mutilate themselves to “protest” against the fact that one of the members of the group is in a relationship! (Archives The Sun)
BTS Army
Korean popular music, or K-pop, has been taking the planet by storm in recent years and the septet BTS is one of its notable figures. Like the Kiss Army of the famous hard rock group Kiss, BTS fans call themselves the BTS Army. And believe it, they are not afraid to go to war for their favorites! We can see on social networks several cases of fans who react very strongly, not to say exaggeratedly, to the comments of Internet users who do not like the music of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook . The latter, moreover, by his full name Jung-Kook Jeon, is the favorite of several members of the BTS Army. Think Nick Carter during the Backstreet Boys heyday. After seeing a photo of their favorite with a young girl on Instagram and wrongly believing that they were a couple, members of the BTS Army started the trend #cutforkookiewhich consisted of mutilating themselves, often with razor blades, and posting it all on social networks in order to demonstrate their disapproval of the supposed relationship…
A march has already taken place in Washington to protest the FBI’s classification of Insane Clown Posse fans as a criminal gang. (Paul J. Richards/Archives AFP)
Juggalos
Here you are dealing with the most dedicated and special fans in the music world. THE Juggalos revere Detroit hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse. They are used to adorning themselves with naughty clown makeup like their favorite duo, wearing jewelry or tattoos with the silhouette of a man with a dreaded hairstyle running with a meat grinder. They also gorge themselves on Faygo soda, the cheap soft drink produced in Michigan that the members of Insane Clown Posse spray their fans with at every show. Juggalos are also fans of wrestling and have their own signs and their particular language, having among other things the habit of greeting each other by shouting “Whoop Whoop!», an exclamation that they can also launch at any time. They also participate in the numerous annual rallies set up by Insane Clown Posse, namely Juggalo Day, the Hallowicked show which takes place in Detroit on Halloween evening and, above all, the Gathering of the Juggalos festival, the 25th edition of which will be held in August 2025 in Thornville, Ohio, attracting nearly 20,000 fans. The FBI and some U.S. states have also classified the Juggalos as a criminal street gang, a classification that the group and the American Civil Liberties Association have attempted to challenge in court. A march even took place in front of the Washington Monument to protest the situation.
