[MarchHare]

Telling someone else what they should like/listen to/support is nothing short of obnoxious and self-serving. It's not their place to tell me what I like, nor what I consider good.

Eh? When did I ever tell anyone not to listen to Nickelback? In fact, I said at least twice in this thread that people should listen to whatever they like, and I won't begrudge them.

What I did say, however, is that even though somone's taste in music is entirely subjective, it is certainly possible to objectively rate a band. And objectively, Nickelback is uncreative, derivative, uninspired, and not particularly lyrically talented. That is not opinion.

As for why I'm able to better assess the quality of musicians because I am one myself...I thought this would be self-evident. A craftsman of any type is in the best position to critique his peers because he realizes what requires the most effort or highest amount of skill. Just because Nickelback records a catchy tune that becomes popular doesn't necessarily make them talented; Nirvana was super-influential and sold a boatload of records, but as a guitarist Kurt Cobain was decidedly second-rate. I realized that when I was 13 and started learning how to play guitar...while most of the other bands I liked were beyond my skill as a beginner, I could play virtually every Nirvana song as a neophyte guitarist.

Or to put it in hockey terms, someone who has actually played the sport is better able to appreciate subtle details that make some players better than others. A casual fan, for instance, might look at Andy Delmore's offensive stats and think, "hey, here's a really good defensemen," but anyone who knows about the game probably wouldn't want Delmore on their team.

As I said earlier, there are people who think that Deuce Bigelow is a better film than Casablanca. Am I a pretentious film snob to say that they're wrong? Is it just my personal opinion that Casablanca is the better picture? Absolutely not; it's completely objective to state than one is demonstrably better than the other. Likewise with music.

Dont be a music snob...with age comes the realization that whatever you consider "sucky" today, changes in time.

You're quite correct that musical tastes change with time. What I liked 10 years ago is not what I listen to today (although some music is timeless). I will; however, always think that Nickelback sucks. I'm not going to suddenly appreciate their musical genius five years from now.

You may have also mistaken me for someone who *only* likes indie music and loathes anything mainstream entirely on principle. Quite the contrary, as you're just as likely to find U2, Coldplay, The Beatles, and Simon & Garfunkel on my iPod as you are any of the other bands I mentioned previously. There's also a ton of really crappy indie music.

Unless of course your an "age snob" as well.

What does that mean?