Comments so far

Annoyed, NYC
Now "rock-snob" or however they like being labeled, is really just another attempt at being "better" or "more informed" (hah!, Good One)than someone else who also enjoys and is passionate about whatever music they listen to."Oh, you like them? *Scoff*" really is passion in music isn't it? No. It's elitist bull, another attempt at being "better" than someone else. Is rock really about having the most obscure record I.E. : "The Crusty Eyeballs", or is it about standing up to authority, depression, love, anger, stupidity, or, my personal favorite, EQUALITY. If anyone gets anything out of this comment, it's to choose quality over obscurity, furthermore, if someone doesn't know an UNKNOWN, UNPOPULAR, and non-MAINSTREAM band, let them in on it, no scoffing, no elitism, no condescending sarcasm, just PASSION and EQUALITY.

lord snooty - snootington hall
when i'm not buffing up my monacle or shooting pheasant i'm a rock snob, but why let it end there, i mean council estates, what's that all about? the working class only know how to drink and gamble badly, these frightful buffoons need taking in hand

ian curtis - macclesfield
people are'nt fit to be in my company if they can't name at least four smiths albums or know where nick drake used to go for his fruit & vegetable shopping. we snobs make the world go round, all hail the music snob!

paul ashford kent
i dint see any problem every other week i go to local gigs to suport local bands

bob belfast
There are two type of music snob. the worst kind are the ones who collect artists like trophies, the more obscure the better to confirm their elitist position as a complete arse who has missed the point of music, these people wear music taste like a membership badge to the hip club, but luckily they are easy to spot and ignore as the mentally wafer thin. BUT there is another kind of music snob that is motivated by there passion for music they too will seek the obscure and evangelise about great artists overlooked, fueled by the gross injustice that "artist A" produced a great work of art and no one noticed. Then "artist B" influenced by "artist A" was better looking, better marketed, and gave better interview went on to sell millions and become a household name. this is frustrating to anyone who is passionate about music and why music nerds can talk for hours about overlooked artists. their motivation is good and they are a good people to know.

Joyful K Amsterdam
Oh come on gentle souls, let us delight in our differences. Simple fact is I listen to beefheart or MBV because I like it, frankly i'd rather be popular than odd, I was just blessed or cursed with an ear for the slightly more esoteric end of the music spectrum - doesn't make me clever, doesn't make everyone who buys Daniel Blunt's single stupid, anymore than enjoying caviar over jam does.

Sayzy, Edinburgh
People who 'like everything' clearly have no taste in music.

Terry W, Blackpool.
Talking about musical snobbery? I'm afraid none of us are in the race compared to the opera snobs! They tend to sneer even at other classical music lovers, pretending to enjoy the sound of sweaty fat blokes warbling with their false vibrato, and paying absurd amounts of money to hang around Covent Garden wafting their programmes. I guess the music snob food chain is : Opera snob, classical snob, jazz snob, Joy Division-esque snob, prog-rock snob, punk snob, 80's "Indie" snob, 90's "Indie" snob, err chart music "snob", errrrr... Crazy Frog ringtone "snob", then right at the bottom, Coldplay "snob".

soto@superleggra.com
...too bad there was no mention of Stiff Little Fingers or TRB...why does ABBA always surface as an "irony" and not Hanoi Rocks? or Anthony Maynell?

Graeme, Southampton
I reckon the publication of a dictionary of Rock Snobbery is a wonderful idea... it'll separate the weak from the chaff. Any rock snob worth their salt knows that it takes years of deliberately rejecting other people's opinions to become one. So, read the book and completely ignore everything in it. Bingo! Welcome to the club!

Noboby Special from Lurgan
WHAT IS UP WITH PPL NOT LIKIN ROCK IT'S JUS WRONG! ROCK AND ROLL AIN'T NOISE POLLUTION!(ACDC) IF ANY1 SAYS THEY PREFER DANCE/RAVE/TECHNO RUBBISH 2 ROCK MUSIC THEY NEED ME 2 DECK THEM! SERIOUSLY, I COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT ROCK OR R+B R HIP HOP MUSIC. I DO LIKE SOME POP BUT IT AIN'T SHIZZU COMPARED 2 ROCK AND ROLL! THANX 4 LISTENIN ;~P

Bungle, Oswestry
Snobbery only results when some people have better taste than others, that is a fact of life, unless you subscribe to the tyranny and lowest common denominator of equality.I fear that once the rock snob is fully understood his days are already over and the age of the designer hipster, with his ticked off, peer group approved list of cool artists filled in, is with us.

paul hoyle. carlisle
i have been into nomeansno and alice donut and most of the artists on their respective labels (wrong records and alternative tentacles) for a long time. these bands never get airplay but tripe like coldplay (the most boring band in the world), keane, travis, etc seem to be hogging the airwaves. why oh why do we have to put up with this trash!!! and don't get me onto oasis utter drivel, and what was so interesting about the blur vs oasis battle for number one. genesis = pap. phil collins = utter pap. robbie = absolutey brilliant sorry pap. there is nothing wrong with being a rock snob and i am pleased to be included under that banner.

Lee, Gloucester
Re Alex, Ashford, Kent. All hail the Anti-Rock Snob... How original..... How predictable...

Dave, Cardiff
Daniel Johnston man, Don't be a rock snob, tell everyone! Unknown to most folks but imagine if he was a household name ...

Jason from Chester
oh, how i hate the smugness of 'as if chocolate could melt in my mouth' Dido. Hands-up if you just hate that winey, foke-esc voice sending pulsating shivers not only down your spine but through your whole nervous system. the reason why she's sold so many albums is that the so-call 90's yuppies, who are now middle-upper class posers, buy them with their excess cash they've saved on the interest rate they received. they think there 'hip' by buying something popular that has a so-called edge to it because eminem used it as a sample. please, don't encourage them. ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Darran, Manchester.
To be a Rock, Jazz, Classical (or any other genre you care to mention) snob is to be the enemy of musical eclecticism.....and that's not a good thing! Down with snobbery in all it's guises, let's just keep it restricted to it's rightful domain of Radio 3!

Dave, London
Big up to Alex for being spot on. He probably should also have mentioned that The Beatles are little more than an over-exposed skiffel band. I do envy Nicole's ability to be a musical whore. How I wish I would listen to anything. It would be lovely to listen to commercial radio without wanting to hunt down every DJ with a comedy name and staples their eyelids to the ceiling...

Chieffy,Liverpool
Correct me if I'm wrong,but my interpretation of a rock snob is someone who,when engaged in conversation about music,will mention bands and artists that hardly anyone else has ever heard of? Never made the Top 40,that sort of thing....correct? If this is true-ish,then surely Alex has got the wrong end of the stick.U2,Pink Floyd,Paul Weller,Led Zeppelin,Beatles,Oasis,Genesis,Velvet Underground,Doors and Queen....hrdly obscure are they??

Laura Nesbitt, Bristol
There is nothing wrong with being a rock snob at all. In fact, I love meeting them. I don't have enough knowledge to put myself in that bracket yet, but it is something I am working towards. Head knowledge isn't everything though, it's how much they are passionate about the music which I like, you can't get passion from reading all the Rock Dictionaries in the world. And anyway, don't we need something to separate the compilation junkies from those with such random gems as The Legendary Stardust Cowboy in their ever-growing collection (oh, that will be me then!). Long live the Rock Snobs and all who graze with them.

Charlie Mingus London - Hingland.
Rock snobs??? Do me a favour!! Jazz snobs beat allcomers to this particular musical high ground from the 1940's onwards !! what ever rock & rollers did to grab headlines etc you can take it for granted that some jazzer did it decades before. Drugs? jazzers started it..sexual misdemeanours - you KNOW that jazz started in brothels right?...work it out for your self. Jazzers can out play - out drug & out muso anyone one on the planet - and if 6 Music didnt know that before I enligtenend you - shame - you should know better - or pehaps change your name to 6 Indie Music - and stop pretending youre experts! Down with the NME - down with the perpetuation of the rock myth.... Charlie

Nicole, Wycombe
I used to be a Rock Snob till I realised I was the most ignorant Rock Snob ever. Turns out I'm really just a music whore. Frankly, I don't care who you've stolen your "inspiration" from. If I like it, I buy it. It may sound cruel but I don't lose any sleep because the Sex Pistols get the credit for inventing punk that really belongs to the Heartbreakers or so I've been told. But I completely agree that rock snobs serve a purpose even if it's only to remind the latest "innovator" that there is nothing new under the sun and it all has been done before and probably better.

Alex, Ashford, Kent
Where do I start? U2: Over hyped nonsense. Pink Floyd: Noodling drivel. Stop smoking dope & admit it, along with Paul Weller, they are the musical emperor’s new clothes. Radiohead: Self-pitying, pious dirge. What happened to music as entertainment? Led Zeppelin: a bit like Motley Crue, in that they are more fun to read about than listen to. The Led Zep snob is second only to the Beatles snob in his ability to talk rubbish about their favourite band. Beatles: While we are about it.... no, no, no. Oasis: Fun for 2 albums but how can a band that derivative be considered? Genesis: Damn you for even making me think about them. I hope your TV blows up on Christmas Eve. Velvet Underground: You are just being pretentious. The Doors: Morrison was a fatuous egomaniac that co-wrote a couple of nice ditties – that’s it. Queen: I know no one has mentioned them yet, but they will, so let me get in there first - We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, We Will Rock You.... so basically the soundtrack to TVs 'Gladiators'. What do I reckon the biggest band is? I am a hardened cynic of a rock snob, my job is to rip into your choices, not to supply my own.