critical masses
posted by boolz at 09:28 pm
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Cute, but is it meant to be comedy or commentary? Maybe the stick figure on the right is August Rush?
That is a HYSTERICAL comic strip, and i totally got a HUGE chuckle out of me!!!
Yes, hysterical, but is it commentary? I thought so. I was wondering what people mean by “music snob” and remembered this cartoon. Lot of people are annoyed by music snobs, but are they all meaning the same thing?
1) Is it like the guy on the right, who uses musical terms and thinks specific ways of doing things count as ‘art’, ie aesthetically pleasing.
2) Or the guy on the left, who I read as thinking only certain genres of music deserve such analysis. Or does he mean something else?
I think of these two as examples of the “geeky” vs. “picky” readings of snob. Other examples I can think of:
3) Geeky: The person who likes to talk about particular musical moments and uses real or invented musical descriptions to do so. This one is me all over. I see this as no different than talking about a passage of a book I like, and why.
4) Picky: The person with very narrow genre interests, and derides ones they aren’t interested in. For example, saying that nothing on the radio these days is any good, or that they won’t listen to something because it’s too _____ (insert your favorite genre to hate: pop, country, rap, opera, gamelan, whatever)
5) Geeky: The person with encyclopedic knowledge of artists or instruments and compares every performance with every other one they’ve heard. This would be me, except for the basically missing “knowledge” part.
6) Picky: The person with very narrow artist interests. They’ll listen to anything done by their one or two favorites, which is just picky, imo. Snobby comes in if they then shake their heads at critics who “just don’t ‘get’ it”.
I’m sure there are other sub-species I’ve missed. But I’m wondering if we’re all music snobs and just get annoyed at sub-species different from ourselves. Or if there are people who are neither picky nor geeky. Music sluts, so to speak.
Or maybe the problem isn’t either geekiness or pickiness, it’s the blabiness. I suffer from that one, too. Ha!
I like your analysis, Boolz. Not sure exactly where I fall, but I know I’ve said things (some of them here) and then looked at them and thought, “What the heck do I know?” Maybe I’m a work in progress.
The video is hilarious.
First of all, welcome back.
I have been interested in this topic as well. What exactly IS a “music snob?” I like your analysis…I agree that the “snob” comes in (or maybe SHOULD come in) when the dismissal happens. There are those who dismiss others’ tastes and believe those tastes inferior to their own. They then expound upon their musical superiority ad nauseum, hoping to convert you and make you see the musical light. In my opinion, that is the only “snob.”
However, I don’t like labels, and I believe the label “music snob” has been inappropriately applied to those who are simply more knowledgable, and who enjoy sharing that knowledge and analyzing music on a deeper level. I think the label is applied to these music lovers by people who either aren’t interested in the conversation, or who don’t feel knowledgable enough to participate, so feel personally threatened by another’s knowledge and/or opinions. Really quite silly, isn’t it?
Anyway, just my two cents. Again, welcome back. I love the new design and direction, and wish you the best of luck in your latest blog pursuit!