It's Sunday and I thought I'd post something a little different..
We all know a few snobs, some refer to themselves as "hipsters"
The things is, there's a difference between true "hipsters" and straight up snobs. Snobs are the kind of people that refuse to like something simply because it is popular. Most times they won't even give it a chance. Some times they will stop liking the thing because it went "mainstream"
In the case of music, it's all very personal. An artist may be very popular and you may not enjoy what they'e doing. That's completely fine, naturally there is going to be some music that you just don't like. Straight up refusing to listen to a song because "everyone likes it" is what gets to me. These people try and shame others for listening to what is on the radio, claiming they have no "taste" and that's a pile of crap. Taste is different for everyone, millions don't listen to a song because it is popular - a song is popular because millions listen to it and enjoy it, relate to it. Most times the mainstream in music is actually really good stuff, that's why so many people like it! And so what if the song doesn't have an extremely profound meaning, who said there were rules about that?
Another form that snobbery comes in is writing off an artist because you don't like their personality. Head up: music is a stand-alone product. You don't have to support the person who made it. You don't have to be in the fandom for an artist, you can simply listen to their music and leave it at that! If you wanna go further and see them live, follow them on Twitter etc. then that's also fine! Do whatever you want!
I hear people saying that certain songs are "bad" and in some cases, yes, the music isn't the greatest quality and it could be improved. Just because you don't like a song doesn't mean it isn't valuable, and it doesn't mean people that do like the song have bad "taste" that's like saying people that don't like spinach have bad taste. they don't, their taste is just different. I used to say I didn't like country music but the fact of the matter was, I just hadn't found any country music to suit my taste. It was out there, I just had to open my mind.
What I'm trying to say is please step off your high horse if you brag about only listening to "indie" music because nobody cares. Good music exists everywhere, even in the top 40.