Adam Hinz: The Blog
late night post with Conan O'Brien
On 2006-11-17 at 11/17/2006 04:45:00 AM...
The Beatles - Oh DarlingAnother late night. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and I'm in a generally down mood. But this is normal for this time of year; as the weather changes and it gets colder, so do I (wow, that was a little too emo). However, these slumps usually pass after a coule days. Thanksgiving is going to be great.
Anyway, time for a story.
People who know me well enough to know me know that I tend to take a somewhat arrogant posession of musical tastes. While I think that is kind of a harsh statement, there is some truth to it. For example, I tend to think less of somebody if they regularly listen to, say, the new Justin Timberlake CD (sorry Josh), or if they regularly listen to music that put you in a loving trance that make it possible for all white boys to dance, (techno, not ben folds, sorry Kolski), or if they regularly listen to super heavy metal based around 3 power chords (sorry Brandon), or if they listen to, oh hell, Dave's musical tastes are perfect.
So yeah, call me elitist. It's my flaw, I'll hold it.
Well, last week at the beginning of my physics class, I heard two people talking about what one guy called "progressive rock." I think Dave is the only one who will find the humor behind the term "progressive." The other asked him what he meant by "progressive rock," and his response was "Pink Floyd," or the song "Baba O'Riley," or "The Shins." This is a class that I prefer to lay anonymous, so I just sat pretending to read the paper and continued to listen.
The guy explained that progressive rock is music that tries to stray away from the mainstream. He also gratefully explained that any music that is mainstream, that follows the normal mainstream formula, is utter crap and should not be given any consideration whatsoever. The other asked something along the lines of "what if an indie band becomes popular. Would you still listen to it if it's in the mainstream?" His response was that he would if he started listening to it before it was popular.
Class begins, end of discussion.
The thing that kills me about this conversation is that I know for a fact that I have had this about a hundred times. And everytime I am the arrogant snobbish ass who is telling everybody else that their music sucks and mine is the best.
I think hearing the conversation from a third person's perspective in turn put the whole idea of musical eliteness into a new perspective. What is that perspective? That it's retarded.
Stop being a music snob. Nobody likes you.
night
-adam