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Originally Posted by demonrail666
Although, I've always found that the most interesting people are those that somehow try and combine the two.
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That quote is exactly where I fall in.
I am both.
Knowing about the history behind music, as opposed to just listening to the music, is like having a sword in both hands, instead of just one. It's not mandatory or essential (you can battle just fine with only one Nodachi) but possessing the two certainly doesn't hurt.
...Unless of course you're an asshole about it ("I have two swords and you only have one. ha ha ha") In which case, the music "expert" would be a major turnoff, a point you guys have already driven home. And though I know many people like that, I tend to not engage in music conversation with them.
But an expert in a loving to learn about the music/the musicians that make it and the origin of the band/song/guitars they use/etc etc is exactly the kind of fan that I am. And that's the only kind of expert I would consider expert; people that know enough about their knowledge to care about it, and care enough about their knowledge to (want to) know about it.
That word "expert" bothers me though. I don't think it's the right word for the idea my opinion is grounded in.
If we're talking about encyclopedic, Kim Peekesque expertise/knowledge, where, yeah, he can recite almost any pop culture and historic question you ask him, but does he
care about these things? That is obviously a vapid kind of knowledge.
In terms of loving the music and wanting to know the background of the music and learning about the nooks and crannies of it all, I consider both of those methods a part of being a fan. You're a fan in both cases. I don't consider myself an expert because I'm not, but I like to think that I know a lot for my age and I like to learn and know as much as I can about music that I truly love.
So its a mixture of the two.
Knowing about music, though not terribly important, counts in my book. It can only be a good thing.