Do you ever feel like a music snob?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm not snobbish, because I'll listen to popular music if it's good (Rihanna's "Umbrella" was a favorite of mine for awhile).

Interestingly, I am extremely picky about the kind of dance music I listen to. It's got to have a mixture of good vocals, catchy lyrics and instrumentals that repeat over and over a few times. Good examples of what I'm talking about are songs like "Magic Summer Night" by DJ Klubbingman, "Bounce" by Tune Up! and "Big Bad Love" by Spring Break. " I hate songs that are purely instrumental (like Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400"), and I hate songs that use only vocals but have no catchy rhythm (like "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap).

I think I'm seen as a bit of a snob by people who've spoken to me about music who are more into rock, and a bit of a pleb by the serious music heads who are into a lot of music pre-1965. I guess I'm best described as an alternative rock head. My classical knowledge is very limited and nearly all I've even listened to is Stravinsky or later. It's sort of become more comfortable for me to put off a serious exploration of music before the modern era, I could spend months struggling with lots of records that don't quite touch the right spot yet for some possible great benefit or I could just check out a classic rock album with strong connections to other music that I already like (like X's Los Angeles that I listened to this morning).

Another funny thing with me is jazz. I can hardly talk about jazz because people passionately like so many records that just do nothing for me, they just amount to a collection of notes. But I've noticed that I'm often quite interested in avant-garde jazz, jazz music played with an unusual arrangement, and the more wild/eccentric jazz pianists. My all-time favourite jazz records are the two Cecil Taylor blue note LPs from the mid-60s that were all of these. I can sort of explain what it is that draws me to the first two aspects, but I couldn't tell you why I find Errol Garner (say) so engaging. When I'm talking to someone who I suspect knows his jazz I get uncomfortable having to explain my differences, especially when there's so little that can be explained.

I like what I like, and that's good enough for me. I actually like some song called (I think), Bleeding Love (mainly because of the Hammond... Even liked Duran Duran in the day.

They used to play obscure stuff on college stations back in the day; alternative rock, two-tone, ska, electronica, etc. I listened to it far longer than I should have (at my age [50], I should be arguing how much better Springsteen is...but to be honest, I like Depeche Mode and the Cure better...

What I wish they had was a place to hear stuff from nowadays..I'm enough of a snob that I can't really stand Rap (only one I ever liked was a tune by MC 900' Jesus - while the city sleeps. Probably the only song with the word 'permeate' in it..., and modern Country (Oh, It's rock and roll, but we throw bluegrass instruments in every few lines, just to convince people. I swear, one day I'm going to write a country song called 'It tested well in 18-35'... I tend to consume music, listen for awhile, get tired of it, then look for something new. I've listened to some modern Progressive, but it sounds like lite-Jazz noodling to me...

thank heavens for headphones...