Rock snobbery

The topic of rock snobbery seems to have been bandied around lately, probably because there is some new book out on it and he has been hitting the circuit plugging it. But I've always wondered, am I a rock snob? I look at my list of favorite albums I have below and you know, it has Captain Beefheart, who seems to be consistently mentioned as the one that rock snobs really love.

Ok, sure, I didn't hear that album until college, which is probably when most rock snobs are made, but I do think it is a great album. But I'm not sure if I really care about being a snob for other people's sake. Sure I like throwing out there how much I love Metal Urbain or Josef K because of their nice obscurity. So, what is it about the obscurity that I like?

I think the biggest trend in my taste seems to be first albums. U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, R.E.M. and so on, it is all their first albums I love the best. I think that's probably the key for me. With like U2, I will admit that I'm slightly turned off by how their popularity grew but I think it is mostly a feeling thing for me.

I think there are a lot of songs on say like the Joshua Tree that are quite superior to anything on Boy but the feel of the album is different. I like that feeling of first albums, the energy and rawness, the time they are just finding their way and learning how to play their instruments. And since these are likely the songs they have spent so much time on, throwing themselves into to get their break and the record contract, it just sounds different than when they are established and they are more worried about do we record this next album in the south of France or in the Bahamas.

But blah blah blah, I'm totally a rock snob, aren't I? There is just something nice about listening to something that nobody has ever heard before. A funny guide though, if you wish to pursue your own rock snobbery is the one on Your Band Sucks and the followup article . I would say that I even threw in the Cars on my list as sort of that guilty pleasure band. Sure they sucked in the end and were critically savaged after they made it big, but I still have fond memories of listening to their first few albums in 7th grade.

So, anyways, there is this new band that I've been listening to, they are really fantastic, but I'm sure that you have never heard of them...