What's the favorite band of music snobs?

[Radical Activist]

There are certain bands people bring up that label them as having "cool" and hip taste in music. What one recognizable band more than any other would someone bring up in a conversation that immediately identifies them as having better taste in music than other people (at least in their own mind)?

The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa are the first that come to my mind. They're who people casually mention to hint that they're "in the know" and are cooler than you.

[Droopy]

1. Radiohead

They're ok, but I don't understand why they are held in such esteem by some people.

[Radical Activist]

4. Oh yeah. That's a big one.

I have a couple of their albums but they're far from my favorite.

[HughBeaumont]

70. Because not many of their fans have ever heard of the following:

Gong
Aphex Twin
Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk
Autechre
King Crimson

The five acts post-Pablo Honey Radiohead are influenced by/lift the most from.

[AshevilleGuy]

85. I am probably Radiohead's oldest fan.

But I wish they would record on VINYL... I don't like CDs.

[MAGICBULLET]

132. all of them are on vinyl

you just gotta dig for them :)

[realisticphish]

103. well

I would call them the band of pseudo-music snobs. Real music snobs would NEVER listen to such a mainstream band.

[tigereye]

2. Sleater Kinney and Guided by Voices (I'm not impressed by either)

I'm not sure who the hipsters love this decade.

Maybe the Arcade Fire.

[mvd]

16. I'm impressed by Sleater-Kinney and Radiohead

Funny how sometimes I agree with the snob bands, and sometimes my faves are totally different.

IMO, Arcade Fire always sounded like they try too hard to be hip.

[tigereye]

17. I've played in bands that were as good as Sleater Kinney

and seen plenty of all female bands who were as good, or better.

Sorry, just a bit of sour grapes here. ;)

[mvd]

18. LOL - I think..

there's a lot of intensity there, and not much like them. Kleveland and Hedrons are others I like on the harder side of pop/rock.

[tigereye]

30. Scrawl could have wiped the floor with em

I'm from the pre-rrrriot girl era when women were just starting to play punk and some of the K-bands could have as well.


just my o, but I've been seeing alt bands off and on for 30 years. (Look at me pulling out the I've been around this long card! ) ;)

we haven't crossed paths in the "what is punk" wars have we? :rofl:

[mvd]

35. Oh no, we will war for that - LOL

Those were just bands that couldn't make it like the real thing - Sleater Kinney. :-)

[tigereye]

37. we'll leave it at that

:hi:

maybe we can hash it out over a beer someday. :)

[mvd]

38. Or maybe in the mod hot tub

:rofl:

:hi:

[asthmaticeog]

40. Chiming in with a HELL YEAH for Scrawl over Sleater-Kinney.

And I like S-K just fine, but Scrawl? Fuck yeah. :thumbsup:

[tigereye]

42. aw, thanks asth.

:hug:

[mvd]

45. I'll take a listen to them, to be fair

But no guarantees.

[asthmaticeog]

49. They were indispensable for college rock types in the '80s.

Massively influential, but now almost totally forgotten. Knowing what you like, I have a feeling you'd dig 'em if you can find any.

[mvd]

53. Yeah, they don't sound bad

I was listening to samples on iTunes. Somber, but it sounds moving. But I'd need to hear more to really get to know them.

I love Corin Tucker from Sleater Kinney's wail, and that's an acquired taste.

[asthmaticeog]

55. They're on iTunes?

OK, off I go to re-buy all those albums that went god-knows-where...

"Acquired taste" -- very true. I HAAAAATED S-K at first. They really grew on me but good, though.

[mvd]

59. Velvet Hammer is the album I was listening to samples from

But they have 3 other albums from them up.

[tigereye]

95. actually I like their previous albums better

He's Drunk is excellient.

I guess they come from a different time structurally than Sleater Kinney. All I can say is that what I've heard of SK just didn't move me much.

L-7 is another favorite.

anyway.

[enigmatic]

67. Scrawl was fantastic

One of the best bands to ever come out of Columbus; Marcy Mays is a Goddness...

[tigereye]

93. they were my favorite all female band

[Hugin]

3. I obviously wouldn't know...

:shrug:

[BulletproofLandshark]

5. Probably someone like The Mars Volta

One of the most boring and pretentious bands around.

[Tektonik]

12. oh god

I detest the Mars Volta so much, but they're not so much a band that is liked by snobs, rather more so by ignorant college students

[HughBeaumont]

72. They disappointed the shit outta me live.

And apparently, that's where they're supposed to thrive. Omar's guitar sounded like a tinny mess, Ced's vocal sound was reminiscent of Lars Ulrich's snare drum on Saint Anger and the band noodled each song to freaking DEATH, sounding like seven guys fighting over who's the most impressive rather than a cohesive unit.

[Alexander]

78. I disagree.

And I don't understand the antipathy many here have for the Mars Volta.

They do borrow heavily from King Crimson, but then so does Tool, and every Tool fan I've met acts like that band is the second coming of Jesus.

Maybe we've just had different experiences.

:shrug:

[asthmaticeog]

6. The achilles heel of your OP: the word "recognizable."

The Velvets, Zappa, Radiohead et al are only of limited snobworthiness as they've sold millions of albums. Anyone can drop those names and discuss their music knowledgeably. The mark of a snob is the ability to go on for hours about Curt Boettcher, Pylon, David Peel and the Lower East Side or Dilatazione. ;)

[Radical Activist]

11. Very true.

Of course, the easy trick for anyone to seem like a "in the know" music snob is to talk about an obscure local band as though they're the next big thing that most people haven't heard about yet. Or better yet, make up a band name and talk about the band as though everyone else should already know who it is. You'll be the coolest kid in town.

[asthmaticeog]

13. Oof, I've done that.

The fake band thing, that is. Not to put on airs, but to call out a fraud. :D

[Radical Activist]

21. lol

awesome

[tigereye]

15. of course I am looking at a Pylon album cover from where I sit

does that make me cooler than I realize? :rofl:

[asthmaticeog]

25. "Gyrate," by any chance?

That album's getting a fully tricked-out reissue soon. I'm psyched. Hope it sells well enough for them to do it up for "Chomp."

And you ARE cooler than you seem to realize. Barbie still likes to die, you know.

[tigereye]

33. wah wah

I bought that Pylon album for under 3 bucks too, a long time ago.

I have some really old stuff in that album stack. It's embarrassing actually, since we have no turn-table.

[dolo amber]

31. I can't discuss VU's music knowledgeably

:hi:

[asthmaticeog]

36. You like Supertramp.

[Radical Activist]

39. ouch.

That wasn't a very nice thing to say.

[asthmaticeog]

41. She actually does, though.

:shrug:

[dolo amber]

51. You're a super tramp

:P

[asthmaticeog]

52. You wish.

:freak:

[dolo amber]

54. Not particularly

:hurts:

[asthmaticeog]

56. Nice post, Shitler.

:eyes:

[jpak]

74. Pylon - yup

The first time I tried to see them was when they were supposed to have opened for The Cramps at the Georgia Theater in Athens GA back in 1979.

The GT folks decided to close the place that night and would not let Pylon or the Cramps on the stage - even though they said they would play for free.

I left in a huff, only to find out the next day they both played in the loft above the local record store...if only I had known...

:banghead:

Saw Pylon many many times after that. They rocked...

:thumbsup:

[jakefrep]

119. Most likely, a band that has never been mentioned...

...in the pages of Billboard, Rolling Stone, or Spin. Everyone in those magazines is a sellout.

[opiate69]

121. The Velvets have sold millions? Are you sure?

[asthmaticeog]

128. Everything combined, I wouldn't doubt it.

Not enough of any one release to go platinum AFAIK, but given 40 years of releases, reissues, compilations, box sets, overseas (and don't underestimate overseas when it comes to the VU), live albums, bootlegs, yadda yadda, it's absolutely safe to say that millions of people have purchased a Velvets recording. Low millions, certainly, but low millions are still millions.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. VU, Zappa, King Crimson, Miles Davis, Kraftwerk, Leon Redbone, Mojo Nixon

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

20. John Coltrane

[Rabrrrrrr]

81. Sun Ra

:applause:

[tigereye]

96. yes, so glad I got to see him before he jetted off into the galaxy...

Space is the place. :)

[gbate]

8. Wilco and Sufjan Stevens (I think that's his name)

[Radical Activist]

10. Oh yeah, Wilco is a big one in the alternative and alt-country crowd.

I do love their music.

[mvd]

22. I love both of those

Yes, he uses that name.

[Left Is Write]

9. Everyone is cooler than I am, because I like KISS.

[Radical Activist]

14. KISS: its all about the music.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

19. Solar Radio

[asthmaticeog]

26. "Camera Obscura" is a lost classic. Good call.

:thumbsup:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

27. It makes Os Mutantes seem uninspired

methinks

[HEyHEY]

28. Well, anything from the album "The abnormal life of Felix" is good

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

43. The mellotron is my favorite instrument

[HEyHEY]

46. I heard Herbie Sonochuck built one when the band formed.

Cause they didn't have the money to buy one.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

57. I read that in Forced Exposure

He also was one of the 1st to try the wall of sound PA technique.

[MonkeyFunk]

58. Was Herbie

the one that died in the balloon accident, or the one who choked to death on his own foot?

[Radical Activist]

23. Le Tigre!

Doh! I totally forgot Le Tigre.

[HEyHEY]

24. The Archies

[AshevilleGuy]

90. Absolutely correct! Archies fans wouldn't even sit at our table in the

student union!!

Or was it the other way around???? Hmmm.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

:puke:

[mvd]

47. Except for Show Your Bones, which is..

much better than before IMO.

[mvd]

32. A few, besides those listed

Tom Waits (who I sometimes agree with, not a fave,) Scott Walker (disagreed,) Joanna Newsom (disagreed,) Lightning Bolt (disagreed,) Bjork (don't hate, but not a fan,) etc.

[wildhorses]

34. please gawd as anyone heard of stir

holy shit i am no snob and yet no one here has ever heard of stir:shrug:

[Radical Activist]

44. Yes, actually

I saw them in college.

[wildhorses]

60. can i touch you?

you know like in a speacial place:P

:wow:


ten dances....want the lyrics bad, real bad

[Starbucks Anarchist]

61. I haven't heard of them, but will you touch me?

:P

[wildhorses]

62. well, you know i would but,

crimmie might have a fit:hug:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

64. She doesn't have to know.

:rofl: :hug:

[Radical Activist]

65. lol

Yes, I'm easy.
Are they a big deal now? What's the story?

[wildhorses]

just with me--i guess

i heard ten dances on the radio years ago and i had to have the cd. i fell in love with it. but, nobody around here (where i live) has heard of them and nobody ever posts a reponse when i mention them in the lounge. hard to get the lyrics for their stuff and i would love to do ten dances. you know the song?

[Radical Activist]

71. I don't remember the song

maybe if I heard it. They're from St. Louis, which isn't far from where I went to school so they came around a couple times while I was in college and you could hear them on the radio once in a while. I don't have any of their albums though.

[wildhorses]

73. i am putting it on right now--maybe if i post some words it will

jog your memory and yes, they are from the midwest. aware records produced them but, has since been bought out.

'....fairy tales
....
you wouldn't think i'd compare

sang a song
sang it all night log

father said get some
you don't need a reason

i'd love to tell you all the things i know
there were things i know back then

she wore a red dress that day
all the boys would stare

time to play it again

ten dances on a fancy night
pay for it all
no sleep til the morning comes
no sleep at all
ten fancies on a danceless night
pay for it all

get it on
(break)
you lose sleep youre wondering why

you're my one before

well, i think i

i think i touched her soul

of course they are blanks where i don't know for sure what they are saying. the melody is a ballad type, sorta melancholy.

they rock out on other stuff on the cd....songs include:
we belong
stale
one angel
nephew
looking for
lady bug
star
nothing's wrong
don't understand
until now
train
ten dances

[taterguy]

48. Yo La Tengo because of their leader Ira Robbins

He started Trouser Press just so he could plug his own band.

[tigereye]

97. yo La tengo is pretty good, though

[enigmatic]

50. I'll go w/ Slint

"Spiderland" was the album for years that was a secret handshake among uber-indie music hipsters, unlike myself, of course:D

[Initech]

63. GENESIS!!!!

I swear that every Genesis fan I've ever met has this attitude like they're better than you.

[Radical Activist]

66. LOL

That's pretty hilarious considering how much that band royally sucks.

[Initech]

75. It gave us the demon spawn known as Phil Collins - proof that they suck.

[mvd]

69. I guess I'm the exception

I like Genesis (with Phil Collins too,) and my philosophy is the opposite of the music snob.

[Initech]

79. I'll admit that I'm a huge prog rock fan...

I love bands like Pink Floyd, Tool, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Isis, Porcupine Tree, Yes, and so on, I don't like Genesis but some of the more hardcore prog rock fans that I've met usually go on huge rants about who's better, and they always have the music snob attitude.

[mvd]

80. Prog rock is not my favorite style, but..

like any style of rock, it can have good riffs. I'm more into power pop.

[HughBeaumont]

68. Ratatat and Lightning Bolt.

Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine, etc

:P

[Little Wing]

76. Yes, and whatever band that Neil Peart guy is in

[Alexander]

77. Anything in the jazz genre.

I love jazz music and have hundreds of albums from Sonny Rollins to Sun Ra.

That being said, the jazz fans/students I've met around ASU are some of the most pretentious snobs around.

Many of these jazz musicians act as if they are the only "real" musicians in the room, and everyone else is just an amateur. No matter that some of these jazz snobs can't play for shit, and their "style" consists of stealing licks and noodling everything to death.

They are so awful, not just in playing but attitude, that I don't even want to associate with them any more.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

92. Ah, jazz. What an amusing genre.

I love jazz musicians--the real ones, not the smooth jackass knock-offs--to death. This one cat I know never fails to amuse me to tears nearly every time with his tales of jazzer antics and "civilians."

[blondeatlast]

82. The Violent Femmes. I love 'em, but they are XTC clones.

And Andy Partridge is far wittier.

Oh, good lord, I sounded just like a musical snob, didn't I?

My apologies!

But if you don't like the Carpenters, you are beneath contempt. :hide:

[JVS]

83. G.G. Allin and the murder junkies

[JVS]

84. The true snob will not listen to anything that came after Robert Johnson...

because it is all merely derevation from him.

[asthmaticeog]

86. Oh please, he totally swiped his whole schtick from Charley Patton.

:eyes:

[JVS]

89. perhaps, but he was recorded before becoming old and feeble

besides Patton swiped the schtick from someone who never lived to see a recording studio.

[AshevilleGuy]

87. Back in my day, it was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Oh, the parties their music ruined!! Just when we were getting good and high someone would put Deja Vu on, and there went the fun. Booo-ring... If it was warm I would get a six-pack and go out and sit on the porch until it was over.

NOWADAYS, music snobs pretend to swoon over Tom Waits, which to me is ghastly.

[Radical Activist]

101. funny

considering how standard they are on classic rock radio today.

[AshevilleGuy]

126. I know.

It seems like CSNY back then was the band people pretended to like - of course many did like them, I suppose. But they were one of the prime music snob's bands.

Led Zeppelin is all over "classic rock" now, but my group considered them a "B" band. If you had told me in 1973 that a lot of the stuff heard over and over and over and over on "classic rock" in 2007, was popular then I would have been horrified; I thought top-40 from 1971 to around 1978 was the absolute low point in popular music, and I still think that.

You want GOOD 'rock & roll'? Check out 1961 thru 1969!! The British Invasion music was the best!

[Dastard Stepchild]

88. Usually only old skool late 80s/early 90s indie hispters..

will have heard of the Blake Babies. :)

(edited for spelling)

[tigereye]

98. yup

that would be me!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

91. Miles Davis, perhaps, for jazzheads.

I think that liking Steely Dan has made me a music snob, in some ways. Actually penetrable lyrics? How provincial!

:rofl:

[jpgray]

94. None of these are really snob bands. The Fall is a real snob band

Not so much anymore, but they used to be!

[tigereye]

99. in my day it was Genesis P Orridge

only a few people I knew were obsessed with him but they knew more than anyone else, or so they thought.

[mvd]

104. I think that many of them are, but only for the time being

If they go mainstream, some music snobs will move on.

[asthmaticeog]

120. Approximately zero chance of that happening to the Fall, though.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

100. The Juilliard String Quartet.

[MissMillie]

102. Barry Manillow

of course

[mvd]

105. LOL

Tony Bennett's more of the snob fave, but I think Barry's better. Have never been a Bennett fan.

[SteppingRazor]

106. The hands down winner of this contest has got to be Captain Beefheart

Ask any music journalist or other audiophile, they'll swear by him. Ask anyone else, they'll look at you like you have two heads.

[Radical Activist]

109. Interesting

Yeah, the only friends I have who know about Captain Beefheart are in bands or used to DJ at the local community radio station, etc.

[kwassa]

114. A squid in a polyethlyene bag is fast and bulbous.

Beefheart has gone on to become a very successful visual artist.

[ornotna]

107. The Bastard Fairies

If you disagree you're going to hell. :P

[IntravenousDemilo]

108. The Berlin Philharmonic when Herbert von Karajan waved the stick.

Pretty damn fine band.

[PVnRT]

110. POISON

[kwassa]

111. Olatunji and his Drums of Passion.

snob-o-rama

[Radical Activist]

112. I LOVE Olatunji

and yes, you're correct.

Can you name the Bob Dylan song that mentions Olatunji?

[kwassa]

113. sorry, I can't.

Though Carlos Santana had a hit with one of Olatunji's songs.

Know what it is????

Olatunji was one of the best concerts I ever saw, and it was nothing but drummers.

[Radical Activist]

115. Yeah, but I forget how its spelled

Jingo-ya maybe.

Very cool that you got to see him in concert.

The Dylan song is I Shall be Free.

[kwassa]

117. Jingo Lo Ba

which became Jingo Rock for Santana.

I became a big fan of other African artists in later years, mostly soukous players.

[Radical Activist]

124. The only other

African artists I got into were Fela Kuti and some traditional folk compilations I forget the name of. I may work on that though...

[Xipe Totec]

116. Billy and The Boingers Bootleg

http://www.angelfire.com/ak/captainoftheexplorer/bbillyandtheboingers.html

[brentspeak]

118. Believe it or not, but Deadheads could be real snobs when it came to the Grateful Dead

Me, in high school, talking about the Grateful Dead with a Deadhead kid:

"Their music is great! I especially like "Truckin'" and "Uncle John's Band".

Deadhead:

"Dude, like nobody who likes the Dead listens to that kind of stuff anymore. You don't know anything about the '81 Hampton, VA tapes or the 1972 Dusseldorf recordings, do you?"

[cemaphonic]

125. Good call. . .

I find most of their live improv stuff that I've heard to be pretty sloppy and uninteresting, but I really like a bunch of their songs. So both Deadheads and people who write them off as untalented confuse me.

[KamaAina]

122. It's obvious: Oasis.

:hide:

[Radical Activist]

123. lol

Just when you think the Oasis thing is dead and gone...

[Phillycat]

127. Jonny Cash, Eliot Smith

[RedStateShame]

129. All these posts and nothing about Television?

Please, music snobs' heartbeats are in synch with "Marquee Moon."

[Sannum]

130. The Marshall Tucker band

:7

[texas1928]

131. DEF LEPPARD

ROCK AND ROLL

[MAGICBULLET]

133. IMO

Everyone can be a snob no matter what band or musical genre. I especially believe that most DJs or vinyl collectors and enthusiasts, if you've ever been around them, are complete snobs when they're around each other, for example, discussing how they stumbled upon a rare promo 12" copy of Pink Floyd's Run Like Hell extended version, and for only 50 bucks!!! yea, what a bargain... Obtaining a promo copy is a big thing for them, and they sort of sneer if you own a cheap reissue instead of dropping a mighty coin for an original record that only has one or two good songs on it. They're snobs about labels, what's more obscure, what's more expensive, what's been sampled, you name it. This applies to classic rock collectors to garage band collectors and from Funk/Disco DJs to Hip Hop/House DJs.