'Oh you know, just hangin' out with Elton'
I can't decide whether I am a bit of a music snob or not. See I definitely am in the fact that uneducated fungi that fester at festivals (Oo good title) make me want to rip off their fluorescent Ray Ban knock offs to poke them relentlessly in the eyes with and only stop when they can name me another line of Sex on Fire that isn't 'Your sex is on fire, doo, doo, dooo.' But I'm also not, in the essence that, I'm not afraid to have my car windows open at a red light with Wet Wet Wet, Love is All Around on whilst singing the Love Actually, Bill Nighy version.
I love music. Fact. But I love LOTS of music. I don't hide the screen when my iTunes library is open just because it encompasses Britney, Christina, Spice Girls and to some extent... Green Day (Who, by the way, are apparently a band you probably shouldn't put in your 'Music' section on Facebook if you want to keep any friends. This is ridiculous. I will gladly stand up and say that I love American Idiot. Blame that album for the 'grom' infestation as much as you like but Billie and co inspired a heck of a load of kids. I know, I'm one of them.)
See to me, songs are not just songs, I'm pretty oversensitive about them. I will just cry. Sometimes I'll find an epic piece of instrumental music in a song and I’ll just loop that over and over. There's one song that always gets me, by my favourite band and I swear I could actually listen to that 1.13 minutes of music for the rest of my life.
Whenever I am asked what my favourite band is (Idlewild, in case you were wondering), I always add a disclaimer beforehand, as I don't want to come across as the kind of person who will purposely name a band nobody else has heard of, just to come across as superior. Oh dear, people that do that must seriously have no friends. It's as though a gig would only be worth going to if only they and the band showed up. Losers. Screw them and their quiffy haircuts and smelly, vintage shirts.
One thing that does annoy me, and truthfully, I'm SEMI guilty of it, is when people expect you to know every bloody fact about a band in order to validate your like for them. Otherwise, you're just a poser in their eyes. Oh give us a break will you? Jeez, the only band I seem to delve into the personal life of is McFly and that's only because their information comes with yummy photos and silly boyish jokes (Just because I don't know Ian MacKaye's favourite colour does not mean I don't know who he is.)
And I am guilty at both ends of this spectrum. I once owned an Iron Maiden t-shirt, not because I liked the music but because I liked the design on the front and years later I'm still being abused for it. I did this, yet at the same point in my life, I was under the impression that you had to name at least 5 songs by a band in order to wear their t-shirt (Practice what you preach, I know, blah blah blah). Now I think it's 7 songs? No, an album? No, all respective members’ dates of birth? Ah who the heck knows?
Perhaps one thing that makes me less of a snob is that I'm proud to say that I discovered everyone's favourite, 2010 indie princess at the grace of my dad. Yes, Florence and the Machine's album Lungs was played in my dad’s car long before I could even drive my own. This is another album that 'grinds my gears' (Thanks Peter Griffin) too because now it seems a little bit unfashionable to like her. Of course, we do have Sky1 and BBC3 to blame for overusing its songs on their adverts but I can't understand how people can then turn this annoyance into denying that Florence Welsh has any talent. It's just one of those things in life like; The sky is blue, salt and vinegar are a couple, Jake Gyllenhaal is beautiful and Florence Welsh can sing.
I suppose really it’s the ‘fashionable’ element to music that bugs me the most. I do wear skinny jeans, pin badges and Vans but the difference is; I did it when magazines told me I shouldn’t and got ridiculed for it by people that I remember announcing they thought the RHCP were ‘goff’ music. I think that’s where music sort of loses its credibility now because people are too quick to either jump or dump the next big thing (Most of which I think you can‘t tell the difference between). I don’t know if I would prefer it if you had to prove your worth when you associate yourself with a band. Maybe introduce questionnaires on the door at gigs? Keep receipts when you buy an album to show you’re not on the bandwagon? Okay now I’m being a snob… I’ll stop.
Love L x
