Referencing it because I can, Urban Dictionary defines a rock snob as "an especially irritating breed of tool." Yes - in life's tool box, rock snobs are right there next to the guy who thinks he's the Fonz. Even if they have a characteristically, well, snobby attitude, rock snobs are a proud subset the music community can't exist without. Rock Snobbery is a badge one should be eager to both wear and hide - like the STD badge for Girl Scouts. While being ahead of the curve and the eliteness that come with being a rock snob are admittedly desirable, it's a slippery slope and quick fall down to you simply just being a douche. To help you carefully extract out the bad rock snob qualities from the good ones, I offer this checklist - hash too many of these, and you, sir or madam, are holding your nose too high.

- You hate music everyone else likes (and, consequently, love the music everyone else seems to hate).

- As much as you wish them the best, you have an unvoiced desire for your beloved "secret" band to never be discovered.

- You brag about never listening to the radio.

- You secretly judge people at as they browse through the record store.

- You've committed to memory each and every single vinyl record you own that way you can tell people all about it.

- You secretly judge people as they talk about a band.

- Rather than admitting to not knowing about a particular artist, you go straight to saying how you simply don't like, for the vaguest of reasons, the aforementioned unknown.

- Once you've agreed that a certain artist is great, you flowchart your way to either loving or hating that person based on the album they like best.

- You always arrive at a concert wondering how the hell everyone else heard about the band you're about to watch.

- You go out of your way to prove you heard about a band before someone else did.

- You start to question just how much you reaaally like a band once their gigs have upgraded to better and/or higher-capacity venues.

- You automatically scrap anything that's considered "mainstream" from your listening sessions.

- You cringe a little every time a song you like is used for a commercial and/or immediately stop listening to that song, or even band, entirely.

Rock Snobbery Mix (artist name leads to site & all songs are right click - save as):
Bishop Allen - Vain
The Brunettes - The Record Store
CSS - Music Is My Hot Sex
Captain of Industry - Greater Than Greater Than
The Chalets - C'est Supercool
Frightened Rabbit - Be Less Rude
Great Northern - Telling Lies
The Pigeon Detectives - I'm A Liar
Team Genius - I'm Just An Idiot
The Wave Pictures - Leave The Scene Behind
We Are Scientists - This Scene Is Dead

Labels: Mix