Music Snobs

**Janszoon** · 08-05-2010, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

The Post Punk Snob

What happens when a punk decides to be the very kind of art snob that punks were railing against in the first place.

Punks were railing against art snobs? When? If anything I'd say a lot of the early NYC punk scene was pretty closely tied in with the art scene.

Dayvan Cowboy · 08-05-2010, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

Boo Boo's Field Guide to Genre Snobs:

The Avant Garde Snob

Most likely to be a pretentious douche when debating any topic in existence. The more accessible (or listenable) it is, the less credible it is. Identified most easily by their old German guy avatars.

The Electronic Snob

Most likely to go into pseudo intellectual rants about meta physics that make no real sense to you unless you're tripping balls. Rarely seen without headphones. Probably vegan.

The Indie Snob

The most prevalent species of snob among today's youth culture, Indie snobs have a bible and it's called Pitchfork. They change their opinions more rapidly than others because they're just following what they consider the latest trends. A lot of them "grow out of" bands when they realise they're actually good (good music is very unhip) and they move on. There are many sub categories of indie snobs but a common trait many of them share is a passionate dislike for anything with a hint of excitement. They can respect other genres of music but only when "kraut" or "post" is in the title. And they deny that Indie is a genre but most of what they listen to sounds the same (as they often cling to one particular type) so it doesn't really matter, they just like pretending to have diverse taste when they don't.

All three of these could be shortened to "BoardsOfCanada"

they describe me perfectly, especially the avant-garde one.
(I seriously was debating getting a Kraftwerk avatar or not, But I decided to go Math-Rock instead.)

boo boo · 08-05-2010, 06:43 AM

I originally had "supposedly" in that sentence but I thought someone would get pissed over that so I took it out.

I know I can't completely put the entire punk community into one category, and that last post shouldn't be taken too seriously. You can't deny that you had punks who were just following a trend, those kids who were into The Sex Pistols, Ramones and what not and probably didn't really follow the stuff that influenced punk. And then you had the hipster kids who were listening to VU, Can, Modern Lovers, Patti Smith and such. I think post punk grew because of those kinds of people. When talking about "punk snobs" I'm talking about those who were really into it just for the image and fashion.

But yeah, the original US and UK punk movements were always bitching about the upper class and being working class and bla bla. Prog rock was a big target for punks and I always thought that was super hypocritical because why where bitching about how rock n roll shoud just being rock n roll and how arty bands were "pompous" and yet they praised stuff like VU and of course post punk which ended up being all the things punks knocked on prog for, except being virtuosos at their instruments. I hate how punks think skill is such a godawful shameful thing.

**Janszoon** · 08-05-2010, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

But yeah, the original US and UK punk movements were always bitching about the upper class and being working class and bla bla.

That's sort of true for the early UK punk bands but definitely not the US ones. The US bands by and large didn't have any kind of social or political axe to grind in the 70s. I'm also not sure why you you seem to the think railing against the upper class equals railing against art snobs. I realize rich people buy art, but most art snobs I've known in my life pretty much live hand to mouth since the art would isn't particularly profitable for 99.9% of people involved in it.

boo boo · 08-05-2010, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

That's sort of true for the early UK punk bands but definitely not the US ones. The US bands by and large didn't have any kind of social or political axe to grind in the 70s. I'm also not sure why you you seem to the think railing against the upper class equals railing against art snobs. I realize rich people buy art, but most art snobs I've known in my life pretty much live hand to mouth since the art would isn't particularly profitable for 99.9% of people involved in it.

I never said punks weren't or couldn't be art snobs. I think prog rock got a lot of crap for being both upper class and into classical art. Even though some prog bands weren't upper class at all but that doesn't really matter. Knocking musicians because of where and how they were raised is f*cking stupid.

I always thought early metal was way more sincere and less hypocritical when it came to class status.

Anyway. I never even found prog bands that snobby. They liked classical music and fantasy literature they were more like nostalgiac nerds in that sense. Punks were always about being "modern" and all that Andy Warhol stuff.

**Janszoon** · 08-05-2010, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

Punks were always about being "modern" and all that Andy Warhol stuff.

So then you agree that they weren't railing against art snobs?

boo boo · 08-05-2010, 06:50 AM

I"m not a genre snob, I'm just a snob.

Necromancer · 08-05-2010, 06:58 AM

Music Snob: Oh my god, is that (insert band here), they suck, they are totally (insert bizzare music sub-genre) not real (insert music genre). If you werent such a sheep youd listen to (insert 1, to an indefinate number of obscure/unpopular bands).

VEGANGELICA · 08-21-2010, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VocalsBass

Music Snob: Oh my god, is that (insert band here), they suck, they are totally (insert bizzare music sub-genre) not real (insert music genre). If you werent such a sheep youd listen to (insert 1, to an indefinate number of obscure/unpopular bands).

I feel having strong musical preferences, knowing a lot about music, and saying one hates certain music doesn't make one a snob...but calling a person a sheep and putting a person down because of her or his musical tastes definitely sounds like a snobbish thing to do!

I feel there is no logical rationale for feeling one type of music is "better" than another, any more than there is for saying one color is better or more appealing than another. Watching people fight over what type of music is better is like watching people fight over whether green or blue is a better color. I don't feel such a fight means the people are snobs. It just means they don't appreciate that the value of art is subjective, or they want their viewpoint to be understood.

mr dave · 08-21-2010, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I feel having strong musical preferences, knowing a lot about music, and saying one hates certain music doesn't make one a snob...but calling a person a sheep and putting a person down because of her or his musical tastes definitely sounds like a snobbish thing to do!

agreed. on the other hand, i think anyone claiming that they like every style of music possible is a whole other kind of snob. maybe idealistic rather than esoteric or something like that. to deny one's individual taste so you can front baseless appreciation for styles one doesn't truly care about based on outward social perceptions strikes me as ultimate snobbery.

08-05-2010, 06:58 AM	#8 (permalink)
Necromancer Divination Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,655	Music Snob: Oh my god, is that (insert band here), they suck, they are totally (insert bizzare music sub-genre) not real (insert music genre). If you werent such a sheep youd listen to (insert 1, to an indefinate number of obscure/unpopular bands).