A curious phrase

Never ‘eard of them.

This phrase has always bothered me. You tend to come across if someone wanders into your listening sphere and asks about the music you are enjoying.

The expression can be delivered with a curious tone that invited further discussion by the enlightened. However it usually is uttered in a dismissive manner, indicating that for some reason, the person making the statement views their lack of ignorance concerning the band indicative of the band or artist’s relative success.

Even worse, the utterance of the phrase if usually made by someone with such pedestrian tastes in music that even Kenny G would cringe at their music collection.

Of course this is ardent musical snobbery but the phrase irritates the crap out of me. Who are you, so well versed in the ways and the history of popular music that finds the fact someone finds music outside of the usual avenues threatening?

Of course the danger with musical snobbery is that you can disappear in a black hole of faux cool chasing bands of such obscurity that the only people that have heard of them share an adjoining rehearsal space.

Still, it is a strange expression.