Inside the mind of a music snob

I have an annoying personality trait. Actually, I have many. And one of them is that I am a music snob. I don't mean to be. It's just part of who I am. You might say I have discerning taste. You might say I'm pretentious. I think I just know what music I do and don't like. I'm actually a lot better about it than i used to be. I used to never listen to any band that was played on popular radio. Especially during the boy band/Britney Spears years. But I don't think you can blame me there. Now, I at least have an open mind about what I hear on FM radio and I even like some of it! Maybe that's more of a testament to FM radio than it is to me. It must be getting better, I dunno.
But at the root of all the music snobbiness, is my desire to discover and love them first. I have been teased for saying this before, "I listened to them before they were famous." It's really a pretty annoying thing to say out loud. It's at least equally as irritating as hearing, "I told you so." But truthfully, it is very gratifying to discover something new on your own. And kind of bittersweet when everyone else discovers them too - you're happy for the band's success and of course, that feels like some sort of validation for your own taste, but then you know you won't be able to see them play in those small venues again (unless you're really lucky) and you'll probably hear their music overplayed on the radio or on some commercial on TV.
Of course, with the technology surrounding us today and with the way that many people, at least of my generation and younger, listen to music, it truly isn't very difficult to discover new music anymore. Pandora, iTunes - these music sources "suggest" new artists for you to check out based on what you're already listening to. It's makes the search for good stuff a lot easier.
Here's a good example of one of those bands that I obsessed over and now they're just on that verge of everyone knowing their name: I was watching TV a couple of days ago and a commercial came on for the Windows phone and I heard a song playing in the background by Sleigh Bells, who I first heard last year. Once you hear them on a commercial, you know everyone will know who they are soon.

So, if you want to say you heard them, well not first, but before the entire world knows who they are, go download Sleigh Bells now. Infinity Guitars is an amazing song, and so is Rill Rill.

Don't adjust your speakers, they intentionally over-modulated the sound so it sounds super raw and tasty. And then go listen to some Yeah Yeah Yeahs for dessert. Yum!