I confess to being a bit of a "music snob" in a former life.
You know the guy behind the counter at the record store who snickered condescendingly as you brought your copy of Journey's Greatest Hits to the register?
Yup. That was me.
The guy with the enormous vinyl collection.
The guy who could recite to you the entire liner notes of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks.
The guy who went straight for your record collection when invited to your home for dinner.
That one actually got me into trouble once.
My boss had invited a bunch of us from work out for a day on his sailboat. After spending the entire day drinking way too much beer in the scorching hot sun on said sailboat, we retired back to his house for some steaks.
And of course, I went straight for his records.
After sifting through the sorry collection of albums by the likes of the Steve Miller Band and Electric Light Orchestra, I made my move.
"So Ray (that was his name)," I asked, "Have you bought any music since the Seventies?” My boss then proceeded to pull out a Kenny G album.
Bad mistake.
My response to that — something about a dentist's office I believe — got me physically thrown out of his house.
I also spent the remainder of that weekend wondering if I still had a job.
Just for the record, I did. After all, where else was he going to find a "musicologist" as supremely gifted as myself to run his record store?
And let's be absolutely clear about this: the proper term is musicologist.
Music snobbery has actually become something of a lost art.
It doesn't help when there just isn't a whole lot to get excited about in music these days.
That just makes for a whole lot more crap for the seasoned music snob to turn his ever-sophisticated nose up at.
Or more importantly, to look down upon you for listening to.
All that means is that yesterdays Journey or ELO is today's Celine Dion or Clay Aiken.
It's just that last night's American Idol results don't inspire quite the same intellectual discourse that dissecting a great, groundbreaking album like Pet Sounds or A Kind of Blue does.
Music snobbery is an art that has lost its way.
Oh sure, it's still the exclusive territory of the usual group of music geeks.
You know the ones I'm talking about.
The pony-tailed record exec. The underpaid Tower Records employee with the green hair, the piercings, and the tats. The stereotypical rock critic that once inspired David Lee Roth to remark that the reason rock critics like Elvis Costello more than Van Halen is because most rock critics look like Elvis Costello (today it would be more like that guy from Weezer).
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Trinket
Great piece!
2 - Triniman
Excellet post! And one many of us can relate to!
I'm not sure what exactly qualifies someone to be a musicologist - I know a guy in radio who is one due to his career - but we all know peole like that.
The funny thing is, to some people, I am the office musicologist. Outside the office, compared to some of my friends, I am the grasshopper or the guy with weird taste - some good, some bad.
3 - Steve
Yeah, I tend to view music as a subjective thing, you can argue about musicianship certainly, but whether you like a tune or not depends on what instruments you prefer to listen to, whether you're a 'lyrics' person or a 'music' person, what music was behind your upbringing, what kind of vocals you like, etc.
Anyone who thinks that there is objectivity to all that is kidding themselves, it's all simply a question of taste, assuming the instruments are being played properly of course lol (i.e. not 'out of tune').
4 - rodJoh.
I dont think anyone should feel they have the right to judge someone else's taste in music. That's a very personal thing and it would be boring and outrageous to asume everyone listens to the same bands.
5 - Elias Sosa
If you could recite "the entire liner notes of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks", you had way too much time on your hands. Meanwhile, more ambitous people such as Jeff Lynne, were putting out classic albums.
6 - JP
I'm an aging snob, but a snob no less. I have picked up Dylan and some other "critics' choices" because they were critic-recommended (shameless plug for Allmusic.com here) - but I got into Costello through a friend and have been hooked since; at the same time, I also enjoy some critcs' pariahs such as Jeff Lynne and Sting. I am a conundrum, I must admit.
7 - musicishappiness
It doesn't matter to me who likes/loves what music, band or artist. Life is hard and oft-times cruel, music is here to make life easier and happier. So if you like rap and it makes you happy, I am never going to say you are wrong. If you like rock and it makes you happy, I am never going to say you are wrong. etc etc. Me I only care about the talent. If you can't sing and I feel happier, I am not going to listen.
8 - Sean
If you guys don't know who Marah is, than you are all losers who need to go back to your ELP records
9 - Tan The Man
What's wrong with Journey or ELO?
10 - Guppusmaximus
See that's the problem here... You guys can mention all the Dylan and Costello albums you want and it still won't hold a flame to Coroner's "No More Color"....LOL. Great Piece, but I do believe alot of people pull up that "subjectivity" crap about music way too often to excuse the sh*t that has become popular nowadays. There is GOOD music in every genre and then there are bands that need to pack it in. Wether or not you can hear the difference isn't my problem....
F*cking R*ck ON!!!
11 - thrasher
Glen-so are you suggesting that being a music snob is something to be ashamed of? Gee, I thought it was a badge of honor. Like I get off the couch & out of the house & go to a concert instead of sitting at home and watching American Idolism?
Live music really is better!
12 - Sister Ray
There are a few of us brave souls keeping music snobbery alive and well.
13 - clay lover
Clay rules. That's all I have to say.
14 - Barry Stoller
"... a great, groundbreaking album like Pet Sounds or A Kind of Blue does."
For a 'music snob,' your tastes are about as 'radical' and 'elitist' as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
15 - Joey
Wow, Just about (if not all) every artist you mentioned is like top 40, pop, bubble gum, aqua net crappola. Don't you listen to anything good?
Do you subscribe to billboard or something? I know, you're an avid Rolling Stone reader!
That's really kind of funny, if you think about it.
"went down to the beach today, heard top 40 playing simultaneously from 120 different sta---tions"
Lame, trite... what else can I call your piece without getting [deleted].
16 - Vern Halen
The reason why you lost your taste for music snobbery is this: Nirvana confused everyone with Nevermind - did they have street cred or not? Afte that, music snobbery become easy - drop a whole bunch of names no one ever heard of, and you'll be safe. And 90% of them will be crap, too.
The so called modern music snob just looks for something weird & unknown & not on major label, and claims it for his or her own cause celebre (sorry, my French is bad here). They have no history, and they can't carry their end of a discussion. They're heard plenty of music, but didn't listen to most of it.
Rant. Thank you.
17 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
As you alluded: I don't have a big problem with music snobs unless they don't have a sense of history. I'll never forget the time I was in the backroom of a record store I managed and music snob employee #9, trying to help a customer, came back in a dither, asking "Gordon, have you ever heard of, um, Dixieee...land Jazzzzz?" Ah, it was so cute.
And don't get me going on the job applicants who are "really into jazz, too" who never heard of Miles Davis. Next!
18 - degüello
Thanks for the enjoyable read.
You left out the second part of that classic David Lee Roth quote:
"The reason rock critics like Elvis Costello more than Van Halen is because rock critics look like Elvis Costello and want to party like Van Halen."
19 - Baronius
Nice article, for Blogcritics. I've read better on woundedleopard.com though. You can't find the site using most search engines, especially if you're using Internet Explorer. Or an Apple. I use a unix-based Necropolix4.5 (much more secure than anything you're using, I'm sure).
20 - Michael J. West
There is GOOD music in every genre
Guppus, you would do a whole lot better with that argument if the bands you mentioned along with it weren't ALL heavy metal.
21 - Michael J. West
Sorry, I got distracted. As for you, Glen -- AMEN!
Of course, there are still those of us music snobs that keep hope alive for knowing your music history. We're the ones who elevated Gram Parsons to sainthood, consider Burt Bacharach an elder statesman, and whip out the names of CAN and THE RESIDENTS to win "how cool and obscure are you." So don't mourn the death of the music snob just yet...
22 - Mat Brewster
Good article. I've become so tired of the oneupmonship of these things.
You know more obscure bands than me? Fantastic. Why don't you share them? Well, if they're any good. Life is too tiring already to have to spend my life trying to be more hip than the next guy.
Some obscure stuff is crap. Some really popular stuff is flippin' great.
23 - Glen Boyd
I'm not really sure what I am supposed to make of Mr. Baronius comments?
If I didn't know better, I'd swear that was a rather back handed compliment.
You've read better? On some website that I can't even access without using a Unix browser?
Maybe next time I'll write something about computer snobs...LOL
24 - nugget
I don't get how anyone who doesn't listen to music written before the 1900s can even consider himself a music "snob."
I am fifty times the snob you are. You are a snob poser. I actually care about all music ever written or performed. that includes passionate works by palestrina, a Handel Mass, Gesualdo, Bach, and millions of other great composers. You only care about amplified or recorded music.
NEWS FLASH. Rock and roll does not = all music ever.
25 - Sister Ray
Ha ha, Baronius :->