CLARIFICATION: I AM NOT A MUSIC SNOB
In response to my better half’s reaction to this previous post:
The distinction I was going for here was really one between highly involved obsessive music types and casual fans. The obsessives, which I generally referred to as “music fans” (maybe too general a term) are the type of folks whose every waking moment is consumed with popular music; they spend over 20% of their income on CDs, they blog about their favorite bands, they own a guitar they can’t really play, they frame vinyl and hang it on their walls as art. That sort of thing.
The “non-fans”, on the other hand, may like a few bands or artists here and there, and they’ll buy the occasional popular CD, but they do so not because of some deep and abiding love for the art and craft of music, but rather out of a semi-routine participation in American consumer culture––an essential (and positive) aspect of modern American existence. We wouldn’t be Americans were it not for our occasional purchase of super synthetic, kind of terrible American pop-music. It’s just what we do.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, and no need to place a value judgement on anybody relative to their placement on the spectrum between “non-fan” and “music fan”. That’s not what I was going for, and I apologize to all the Nickleback fans among us.
And really, if you have to judge, you gotta give the edge to the “non-fan,” as they certainly have the upper hand in terms of “normalcy” and “humanism” and “non-assholiocity.”
4 Responses to “CLARIFICATION: I AM NOT A MUSIC SNOB”
on 26 Mar 2007 at 11:35 pm # neuroticwonderboy
sometimes nickelback fans act like “super”-fans, which is depressing. I read an article last year that said nickelback’s last album alone outsold the entire combined catalogues of these bands:
deathcabforcutie
the white stripes
the shins
the strokes
the donnas
(I think that’s who it was – my reporting isn’t reliable – the first two are def. right)
scary, huh? It’s like when you watch Jesus Camp and realize where Bush gets all his votes.
on 28 Mar 2007 at 7:43 pm # papasquid
That’s messed up. I can’t believe that many people actually really like Nickleback, though, in the way folks like deathcab, white stripes, the shins, etc.
But those numbers are depressing nonetheless, considering the white stripes and the strokes are considered “big sellers” of the acclaimed music field.