Am I A Music Snob?!

I feel a little worried. A little weird, and slightly strange. I just don't seem to get it like everyone else apparentely totally is. Let me explain. Last night, I watched the Reading and Leeds highlights. This seems to be an annual thing, because I remember exhibiting the same feelings almost exactly one year ago when I saw the footage of the Arctic Monkeys and just remember thinking 'what the hell has happened to these guys?!'

The highlights that were aired last night was of bands that are obviously popular right now, but want I don't understand is, well exactly that; what is popular right now. Bands like The Drums; they just seem to be all about the image, of the band as a whole and of the musicians individually but, and this is just my opinion, the music sounds awful. Just like it was an after-thought; 'well we've got the image, now maybe we could try writing a song?'

Disappointment was also on the cards, for of the 'comeback' acts that were performing at the festivals (2 out of the 3 headliners infact) I was gutted at the overall performances. I used to love Guns n Roses but, and to be fair, Axl Rose has still got an alright-sounding voice, he could barely finish a single line without losing the last few syllables to general out-of-breathness. And obviously the rest of the line-up was made up of session players; the drummer seeming to be more of an R&B performer rather than a heavy metal tyrant. And of Blink 182, I was dumbfounded at the sheer state of Tom Delonge's voice; I mean, he never was the world's greatest singer, and I only heard 'I miss you', but his vocals were absolutely awful, just so broken and screechy and all over the place, generally out of key. Why did these bands feel the need to cash-in on a comeback? Why not quit while you're at the top of your game, leaving the lasting memories of your legacies of when you were at your best. If Bon Jovi came back in ten years time, as Jon Bon Jovi and session players, him out of breath and having put on weight, squeezing into a leather shirt and cowboy hat, I wouldn't go anywhere near it. In fact, I'd be gutted.

In short, I am worried I am becoming a music snob. I saw a great performance from Paramore, and have only heard good things of Mumford & Sons. I like to think I have a diverse taste in music; there are very few styles or even sub-genres that I dislike, but the point is, I know what I like, and it just doesn't seem to be what everyone else likes. I don't claim to be a fan of the purely avant-garde and obscure, and obviously the bands I do like have decent enough fanbases, but I don't know many of the artists that are in the charts because it's all the same regurgitated dance crap and I just can't stand the new-wave of 80s inspired synth bands and the image-mongrels cluttering up the festival circuits. Again, this is just my opinion (and, upon re-reading, a seemingly angry one at that!) and I don't want to offend fans of all the new stuff that's going on. At the end of the day at least they're out there making a living and I can only dream of one day following in their footsteps. I can only hope that, when I do, I make enough of an impact as bands such as Green Day, Bon Jovi, The Stones, etc; enabling me to span across generations, and through the changing tides, remaining strong and constant and still apparent when everything else around me is changing. One can only hope.