How not to be a music snob?

[Ceylon]

To be completely fair I think there's enough of a cultural difference between the West and South Korea that it's not entirely fair to judge K-pop by Western standards.
As in, I think what little I've heard of it was pretty rubbish. Not worlds apart from 90's boy bands/similar acts that were more aesthetics than even formulaic pop but which I might still have more of an emotional connection to and thus be more disposed to liking. But K-pop was made for an entirely different demographic than mid-20s Scandinavian dudes so in that sense it really doesn't matter whether I like it or not. Some of my friends like it and they probably have a more open mind towards it, so good for them. My point being I can't tell a K-pop fan what they're listening to is shit because it was never there for me to get.

A band like Greta van Fleet on the other hand was probably made more with my kind of demographic in mind so there I feel more justified in thinking and saying that it's absolute wank that should have never made it out of the garage it started in. Their existence and relative success offends me on a bunch of levels and I think it's largely because as someone who grew up with Zeppelin I know exactly what they're trying to do, I know I'm not missing something and that it really is a watered-down but otherwise unchanged re-hash of something that was the shit 50 years ago. The fact that you can get away with something like that on today's music scene just really de-values not only the industry but the state of "rock" music as a whole.

Are there stages to music snobbery? Is dissing on something you don't get the same as dissing on something you do get and just find to be bad?

[fuzzjunkie]

“I wouldn’t listen to T H E M if my own mother was in that band!”

Seems harsh. That to me is being a music snob. It was said to me years ago after a Cure concert when I asked some casual friends if they were going to see the next Goth oriented band that was touring.

Well, I think most musicians are more open minded as far as music appreciation goes than more casual listeners. There are genres I don’t actively listen to, like Nashville country, hip-hop and P&W, but there are plenty that I do; African Hi-Life, Afro-Caribbean, Turkish, Korean folk, European classical, American Jazz, French Ya-Ya, British psychedelia, American post-punk, British punk, Goth, Alt-Country and Americana.

Boy bands, wether Menudo, Back Street Boys or BTS, I just don’t understand and can’t appreciate, but I am not and never will be a 13 year old girl.

I still think that’s more open minded/less snobbish than the hundreds of casual listeners I have known that won’t listen to anything outside there chosen genre, whether it’s Disco, Dark Metal, or Goth, and often only 2-3 bands in that genre are accepted.

I have heard a K-Pop song or two that was listenable. I watched the two SNL clips of BTS and don’t hear or see anything that New Kids didn’t do 20 years ago.

“I wouldn’t pay to see them if my own mother was in the band!”

[eggwheat]

BSB’s did a solid cover of the Beach Boys..https://youtu.be/SYa-eAFlRXo

I like anything that hits the spot. Anything. I’m biased to certain genres for sure and I will partially avoid certain genres as on aggregate they hit the spot a lot less. There’s not enough time in a lifetime to sift through everything.

IE if I listen to 20 black metal tracks Ive never heard before, I’ll get far fewer hits than from 20 Post-punk tracks I’ve never heard before. (And I’ve listened to a lot of black metal having a mate who runs a label in that genre!)

Couple of things.. I find if I’m left to just listen, no DJ, no introduction, no video to see.. I can much better judge it on music alone. If I’m on YouTube I always watch it blind in case the visuals annoy me. Good videos are rare.

Or live..I like to go see bands I have no interest in..the majority of time I will come back impressed and with much more respect than I had before.

Conversely I will often see a buzz band that I think I might like and discover they are awful live..The Orielles is one..seen them twice.. both awful gigs imo.

[DrQuasar]

The live vs. recorded isn't something I thought about until you just mentioned it.

I've seen the Pat Metheny Group live twice and it was mesmerizing both times. Wonderful, wonderful shows from top to bottom. But I didn't buy either record and wouldn't have listened to them again if I had. I would see him live again without hesitation and would encourage any music enthusiast to see him play live if you can, even if you hate jazz in general or his style of jazz in particular. The recordings are almost actively boring but to hear and see it live is euphoric.

[shadowplay]

Couple of things.. I find if I’m left to just listen, no DJ, no introduction, no video to see.. I can much better judge it on music alone. If I’m on YouTube I always watch it blind in case the visuals annoy me. Good videos are rare.

Same here, I've always thought the pop video was a waste of money and I try to know as little as possible about something new other than the tune.

D

[shadowplay]

On good thing about K-Pop is that it might soften the attitude of some English speaking kids to 'foreign' music and also encourage more people to sing in their home language. Not sure if my music life would be as happy if I was limited to English speaking releases, not Kpop really, it's a mite sugary for me but I've always bought a fair amount of the German in particular and if you are interested in minimal synth you'll quickily pile up the French speaking releases.

One of my most beloved finds in recent years is an artist I should really have known due to my big interest in post punk and minimal wave and years of collecting. That I didn't know Lena Platonos (Greek) until five years ago when I bought this (100 only very mild re-edit) 12" Shadow Of Blood (most translators seem to agree it's Bloody Shadows from Afar) is one of my musical regrets and I've adored the reissues on Dark Entries of her elpees Γκάλοπ (Gallop), Μάσκες Ηλίου (Sun Masks) and Lepidoptera and the wonderful remix EP's they've put together. Worth going and listening here. I have zero idea what she's prattling on about but i love it all the same.

I always mean to ask if OSG's resident Spartan Yannis/Zhivago knows her.

Markos is a particular favourite.

D

[s_mcsleazy]

i dont think kpop is really softening peoples ideas on foreign music since usually the people who are into k-pop tend to only be into k-pop. plus with a lot of k-pop bands, they tend to be marketed like 90's boybands. aka looks/appearance first then music second. personally i think idol culture in asia is horrific. read into how a lot of the artists are treated. letters written in menstrual blood, fans causing a car crash just to see their idols, breaking into hotels, sexual assault. plus the conditions these people are forced to work under can be just as bad because idols have short shelf lives so their often overworked. say what you want about babymetal but at least their manager doesn't overwork them and underpay them.

if we're speaking non-english speaking music. i'm super into dengue fever. i know their american based but their heavily influenced by cambodian music and not too many songs are in english.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7buePna7zY