Coming back from class tonight I had the privilege of riding on one of NJ Transits new double-decker affairs. I don't actually know how new they are as this is the second one I have ridden on. Still, the first was on Monday, so we aren't talking any great length of time here. When I went to get on the train the first time I really thought I might have been on the wrong train. It was pristine and it waited at the station for a hell of a long time considering it was an intermediate, not high volume, station. I opted to sit on the nearly subterranean level (more like subtrackanean since the track is raised up but you get the idea). A quick google search just now shows me I am waaay out of the loop as apparently this guy caught the inaugural ride on December 11, 2006. But like the old NBC rerun mantra goes: if you haven't seen it, it's new to you. On this second ride, I was really hoping to sit up top just for some form of comparison but, alas, impatience won out and I just took the lower-level.
And rather than continuing on about boring trains that I'm out of the loop on, how about musical elitists. I never get tired of these people. Sometimes I think I used to be one of these people, and then I remember I listened to Good Charlotte and Blink182. "What, those are my favorite bands," I can hear you saying. Hey, I'll still pop them in for a listen. I tossed on some Blink to clean my room as recently as the last couple of weeks. I can remember the time I spilled the cup of…shut up. And I'd still rather hear The Anthem than read Anthem. The point is there really is nothing wrong with this type of music. The fact that I struggle to say the same for bands like Slipknot and even a large volume of elsewhere beloved country music just goes to show that, to someone, I probably am a musical elitist. There is a distinction between music I don't like and music that actually sucks, but I am not about to make it.
Still, I'm not the type of people I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people whose playlist includes Radiohead as the only band you've ever heard of. These people constantly have to be on the cutting edge. Shit, that's what I have friends for. Without my friends I wouldn't know shit about shit, and I still don't, but at least sometimes I can track down a good song or album. And because I basically haven't listened to the radio since coming back from Hawaii, Soulja Boy is still a novelty to me. Fox seemed pretty slick for rockin' it during highlights of last Sunday's Giants/Jets game but, then again, Monday Night Football blasted Maroon 5's Harder to Breathe back in the day. What the fuck am I getting at? As with many things in life, music is never good just because you say so.
Band discovery is always a topic of much contention. I won't deny that my parade has been piddled on in the past when people tell me how awesome a band I've known of for years is, or when someone I despise happens to have similar music tastes to my won, but for a full-blown elitist this is a diarrhea shitstorm with corn niblets everywhere. Don't even get me started on the idea I like to call retro where it still might be cool for an elitist to look Justin Timberlake (and hey, sometimes I like him). And since I'm bordering dangerously on both my bedtime and making sweeping, mostly unfounded generalizations about indie rock and hipsters among other things, I'm pulling my own mic.
Quickly then, a word from myspace user Barcoder via google search of "musical elitist:"
I don't think there is anything wrong with being a musical elitist. In fact, I think it's wholly desirable. It shows a natural progression/evolution of one's musical taste leading to the will to defend that which you have taken the time to acquire.
Take the average popular drivel that is played on the radio stations. I used to love that shit when I was 9. But i'm above that now. Some people, however, will still be eagerly lapping up that nauseating, mind-rape dreck when they're in there 50's and onwards. Sure, not everyone takes music as seriously as I, and are therefore less likely to progress musically as a result. But some people do love music and are spiritually satisfied by pop. I'm more intelligent than them. End of.
Don't deny your musical elitism. Revel in it. Just don't persecute those who have musical tastes different to your own. Unless they like The Scissor Sisters cover of "Comfortably Numb". In which case make it look like like suicide.
Where we differ is that, to me, implicit in being an elitist of the musical variety is precisely to "persecute those who have musical tastes different to your own." Go laugh about Dashboard while I cry listening to it (note: this is exaggeration. I am not saying I have not and do not cry, but I do not cry listening to Dashboard). In conclusion then, opinions are like assholes: everybody has one; and my opinion is that your opinion is wrong. Honestly though, I'll bet there are people out there who don't have assholes. Don't worry though, I hear their lives are a lot less shitty than our own.
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