We all know them. Those people who can’t wait to regale you with the most obscure B-sides of the most underappreciated bands. Or maybe they don’t own any audio media that came after the 8-track.
Maybe you know lots of these people. Maybe you are a music snob. I don’t mind saying it loudly and proudly. I am a music snob myself. The label of snob is usually a smear that people avoid at all costs. But for many, if we are talking about music, we wear the title like a badge.
Let me get one thing out of the way quick, before I continue on with my justification. Musical snobbery is not tied to any one style or genre of music. You may find some music snobs, for instance, who would claim, “I never listen to country.” But that would ignore the diehard country music snobs who will lift their nose at the new styles of country pop in favor of outlaw country, or classic artists like Haggard, Jennings, or Williams.
Musical snobbery is not a matter of taste; it’s a mindset.
This picky selection of music has a lot to do with identity and the mind. Every piece of music you have ever heard is mapped in your neurology. You literally have a set of neurons designated for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or the national anthem. Music snobs are those of us who take careful stewardship over the tunes we allow to invade our neurology because we understand, music literally becomes a part of you.
Music is intensely personal. Think about how teens in high school behave with music. The walls of their rooms are decked with posters. Binders are scrawled with band names and logos or song lyrics. Research has suggested that individuals build their sense of musical taste during adolescence. It’s not like you can’t change your taste, but what you loved growing up will always give you a larger reward when listening.
Without a doubt we carry our taste into adulthood. Subcultures and even communities will align with certain styles of music. This is inextricably linked to personal identity and how it interfaces with culture. Is it a coincidence that hip-hop fandom is most prevalent in urban centers, and that country music is king in more rural areas?
But once again, even within these communities, there are the real snobs. But why is musical snobbery a good thing? It can definitely be bad, in that certain snobs will completely insulate themselves from anything besides their favored artists. They may completely miss out on great art that they didn’t take the time to look for.
Musical snobbery when properly applied (in my view) will have the opposite outcome, leading listeners down a deep rabbit hole of genres, subgenres, artists, and albums. I have one friend who is a great example of this. His adolescent love of classic rock and punk rock led him down avenues of funk, bebop jazz, psychedelic rock, outlaw country, synth rock, and much more. He is a veritable dictionary of obscure American bands from the 1960s to the present.
This type of musical snob is ready to share their knowledge, almost like a spelunking trip into the dark caverns of music history, bringing back sparkling gems with them. At this point you might argue that “musical snob” might be another term for “music nerd,” and you wouldn’t be wrong.
I think we are all guilty of music snobbery in our own ways. You know the radio stations you skip and the ones you leave playing. But even though the foundation of this snobbery starts in completely subjective taste, I think it’s a good thing. We all get to choose the soundtrack to our lives, whether it’s a ripping Jimi Hendrix solo or a Beethoven piano sonata.
Arts Editor Joe Payne chooses both Hendrix and Beethoven. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 10-17, 2016.
