# What musical genre has the most obnoxious musical snobs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405 "2009-09-17T03:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/21 "2009-09-17T22:22:49Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > “They’re gods in Luxembourg.” Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/22 "2009-09-17T23:10:40Z")
In general, the degree of music snobbery is in inverse proportion to the popularity of the genre/subgenre. Still, special recognition for snobbery should go to devotees of opera. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/23 "2009-09-17T23:47:24Z")
Don’t the Austin people have their very own TV show on PBS? (the most non-snobbish are the ex-disco queens who are now suburban housewives, who can be spotted singing along to “I Will Survive” and such, in their cars on the way home from the mall on Saturday nights, radios set to The Golden Oldies Disco Party. Non-snobbish because they keep very quiet about their much scorned lurid pasts. Oh, they’ll tell you they’re into Josh Groban or the Three Tenors or Beyonce, to save face. But just play a few bars of “Funky Town” and observe…) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/24 "2009-09-17T23:56:00Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Around the corner from my house is a place called the Eastman School of Music. Hey, my brother-in-law goes there! Maybe you’ve seen him. He’s the guy with the violin! (I know so little about music that I can’t even make a real contribution to this thread. I’m just proud of my brother-in-law, and I wanted to mention that he goes to Eastman. He never seems like a snob to me. Carry on.) ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/25 "2009-09-18T00:14:16Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Hey, my brother-in-law goes there! Maybe you’ve seen him. He’s the guy with the violin! Yes! He was the handsome guy with the violin, right next to the really ugly guy with the violin. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/26 "2009-09-18T03:19:48Z")
Funky Urban Dudes can be really snotty too when they want to be. I bought a Prince record some years ago and the clerk (the funky urban dude) made some comment about how Prince has a lot of obscure stuff that I probably wouldn’t like if I heard it. After I continued the conversation and showed that I had actually heard most of those other records, he gave me this real distasteful look and said “Wow… Prince really has _all kinds_ of people listening to him.” It was a little depressing, how disgusted he was that we liked the same music. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/27 "2009-09-18T04:07:21Z")
I think people who like jazz are a little weird. For one thing, you never see anybody with jazz on their computer or ipod, they always want to see a live jazz show. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/28 "2009-09-18T04:12:46Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I think people who like jazz are a little weird. For one thing, you never see anybody with jazz on their computer or ipod, they always want to see a live jazz show. I’ve got loads of jazz on my computer. My iPod, too, till I left it somewhere. People who like jazz _are_ a little weird. I think we’re trying to get over no longer being cool. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/29 "2009-09-18T04:18:54Z")
Snobs? Yeah, classical. And after that, Vinyl Rock. And after that, Elton John. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/30 "2009-09-18T04:35:01Z")
OK so I’m at this bookstore and they’re featuring a jazz quintet. Electric violinist, sitarist, pianist, bassist and drummer. I’m in the concert area while they’re setting/warming up. I’m talking to the violinist because I’m impressed by musicians and happen to mention that I was taking piano lessons. The guy says"Oh yeah? What type of music do you want to play?" I say “Popular” because it would be kinda cool if I could play my favorite songs. He says IIRC something like “Well, good luck with that”. Not sarcastic but kinda off-putting and the conversation was over. That was my first encounter with music snobbery. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/31 "2009-09-18T05:24:25Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I think people who like jazz are a little weird. For one thing, you never see anybody with jazz on their computer or ipod, they always want to see a live jazz show. I have recorded jazz, but my best jazz experineces have been live. I could say the same thing about The Grateful Dead > [@astorian](#): > > I’m pretty sure Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee don’t take themselves as seriously as some of their fans do. IME that’s true about every genre under discussion ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/32 "2009-09-18T11:06:22Z")
I’ll go with the whole Grateful Dead bootleg crowd. Does it really matter if some 10x dubbed audience tape from 1972 is converted to FLAC or 320kbps mp3? Twenty years ago you were trading cassettes through the mail, and now you’re George freaking Martin? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/33 "2009-09-18T11:36:11Z")
I’m inclined to go with the snobs for groups who are so obscure even their own parents don’t know they’re in a band. Look, I’m glad you enjoy the band’s music, even if you do have to drive across the country to catch their One Night Only gig at a small pub in an obscure Outback mining town. But don’t expect anyone else to have ever heard of them, and do be prepared to consider the fact that if they were any good, they’d be on Triple J or one of the countless community radio stations that are only too happy to play obscure local bands. So the fact no-one has ever heard of them suggests not so much that they’re “Hardcore Indie” or “Not prepared to sell out”, but that they’re, well, Not Very Good. Of course, you can’t actually say that to the Obscure Indie Music fans, but you can have fun with them by making up band names and song titles and acting faintly surprised they’re not familiar with them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/34 "2009-09-18T12:23:52Z")
The important thing is the personality of the people, not the type of music. But since they haven’t been mentioned yet I think we have to give a mention to blues purists. These urbane and suburbane individuals demand slavish obedience to tradition that has totally stifled innovation in the genre. Why don’t they make blues guitarists like they used to? Because _you’re_ the audience! Robert Johnson and B.B. King in their primes didn’t play to crowds of executives sipping $10 beers! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/35 "2009-09-18T12:52:55Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Transcending genre and yet almost a genre unto itself, I’m going to say the “I’m So Eclectic & Deep” people. You know, the ones who have to respond to a “So whatcha listenin’ to?” query with “Oh, _my_ music includes [local indie band] and [music track from Final Fantasy XCVII] and [untranslated Japanese pop band] and [swords & dragons invoking classical music piece] and [untranslated Lithuanian garage band]…” It turns into a game of who has the most obscure bit of music so they can prove how widely varied their tastes are. \ That’s me. :o ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/36 "2009-09-18T14:25:04Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Funky Urban Dudes can be really snotty too when they want to be. I bought a Prince record some years ago and the clerk (the funky urban dude) made some comment about how Prince has a lot of obscure stuff that I probably wouldn’t like if I heard it. After I continued the conversation and showed that I had actually heard most of those other records, he gave me this real distasteful look and said “Wow.. Prince really has _all kinds_ of people listening to him.” > > It was a little depressing, how disgusted he was that we liked the same music. You know, the Prince thing is so fun to watch. Prince is pop. I wish ‘edgy’ Prince fans would just accept that. _Everybody_ loves Prince. I mean, I appreciate that certain guitar afficianados can tell when he is just kickin’ ass and when he is _kickin’ ass_, but I got a newsflash for them; we all like to watch Prince play the guitar. Gonna have to share him with the proles. G. Odoreida , I have been thinking more about the clapping between movements thing. I don’t think I mind when there is a sincere desire by the audience to show appreciation…like when you are at the movies and it is very funny and everyone cracks up; that’s ok. But when you are at a movie and the dialogue is very dry and witty, and some people have to keep guffawing to show how aware they are…that is annoying. I get the feeling lots of people at those performances clap to prove they know where the music ends. But I could be way off on that…it isn’t really my culture. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/37 "2009-09-18T15:01:08Z")
Tuvan throat singing – man, those guys are _assholes_. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/38 "2009-09-18T16:56:43Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I think people who like jazz are a little weird. For one thing, you never see anybody with jazz on their computer or ipod, they always want to see a live jazz show. I’ve got tons of jazz on my iPod. This morning it shuffled up tracks by Miles Davis and Lester Bowie (alongside Dylan, Cocteau Twins, Atomic Rooster, the Doors, and the Rutles). As for live shows, I’d love to see 'em, but most of my favorites–including Miles and Lester–are dead. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/39 "2009-09-18T18:13:15Z")
I have to go with _punk_ or _goth_, since no matter how deeply into the appreciation and knowledge of the music you can delve into, if you don’t actually look the part then you are dismissed. –GargoyleWB, that “Charles in Charge” looking guy you saw at the UK Subs show. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405/40 "2009-09-18T18:47:33Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I have to go with _punk_ or _goth_, since no matter how deeply into the appreciation and knowledge of the music you can delve into, if you don’t actually look the part then you are dismissed. Yeah, I’m old, fat and have long hair - so there’s no possible way that I: [ul] [li]Like Siouxsie the the Banshees.[/li][li]Bought all the singles - on vinyl - when they were new.[/li][li]So fuck off you little snot-nosed brat and…[/li][li]Get off my lawn![/li][/ul] By the way, you mis-spelled “look the prat”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genre-has-the-most-obnoxious-musical-snobs/510405.md?page=3)