Rueang Khong Faen Phleng (Story of Fans): Social Politics in the Vintage Thai Music Revival

From 2005 to 2015, an upsurge of interest in vintage Thai music recorded on 78 rpm records between 1948 and 1969 created a succession of vibrant yet short-lived online communities made up of collectors and fans, mainly focused on the traditionally working-class genre luk thung (Thai country song). This surge of nostalgia for luk thung from the 1950s and 1960s by middle-class professionals can be interpreted as a reflection of the social trauma purportedly experienced by Bangkok's middle class during a decade of class and ethnic-based political turmoil. These fan websites were characterized by obtrusive regulation, boom and bust price cycles, military-style ranking systems and conflict over status. Despite the seeming egalitarian aura of fandom and the Internet, and despite being set up as refuges from political turmoil, online communities such as baanfasai (clear sky house) ultimately reproduced the political and social disorder, disunity and chauvinism of the 'real' Bangkok.