Screaming Girls and Music Snobbery

I hate music snobs. I hate the type of people who sneer condescendingly down their nose at you because you don’t know everything about a certain musical someone. Just because you don’t know every little detail and piece of backwards gossip about the history of a band doesn’t mean your right to say you like/dislike a band or their music is automatically removed. How is knowing the name of every song and every album and every band member for any given band that comes up in conversation really going to change how you feel about their music?

You are entitled to like a band just because. Even if you can’t articulate why. For me a lot of the time I like a band because I’ve heard a song and found it catchy. It doesn’t make a shred of difference how many albums they’ve released, who listens to them, or who they were influenced by. I like their music, knowing everything about them is unlikely to change that. Let me reminisce for a moment.

Fall Out Boy. Friday February 20, 2009 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with supports Hey Monday and The All American Rejects. Walking in among the crowd of predominantly mid-teen girls wearing various band-tees, converse shoes, and spiky hair I look somewhat out of place. But you know what? I don’t give a damn. I’m there to jump around in the mosh pit, sing along to my favourite songs, and all in all have a good time. Just because I was mocked by my brother, my boyfriend, and my housemates for going to this gig was not going to stop me.

They might not be the coolest obscure indy type, or be a hardcore metal band, but that doesn’t mean I can’t think they’re awesome. I might not know (and when I say might, I mean don’t) everything there is to know about them, but that’s not going to stop me digging their music. I might be an amateur when it comes to the music industry, but that doesn’t make my opinion any less valid. Sure it might be different to yours, but so what?

When was the last time you let someone tell you what to think? For me it stopped when I was about five years old and realised that I had a brain of my own. When was the last time you let someone else shout down your opinion just because they think their own is more valid? In all honesty, for me it was probably on yesterday. But really, what’s the difference? Just because I don’t like the same bands or know everything there is to know about music doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion about it. And just because you might know everything there is to know, doesn’t mean you should be snobby about it.

I don't know everything about Fall Out Boy but I do know that I wasn't the only 22+ year old having an absolute blast at the Brisbane gig. So if someone tells me one more time that Fall Out Boy are only for snivelling thirteen year old girls who are in love with Pete Wentz I think it will be time to resort to violence. I'm thinking about cutting off their noses. At least that way they can't look down it to snub me.

Me and some fellow Fall Out Boy fanatics, prior to being drenched in the sweat of some eight something thousand teeny boppers...