Q&A: Author David Kamp explains rock snobbery

NEW YORK - It started out as a lark in the pages of Vanity Fair magazine, arcane bits of music information that poked fun at the very topic it held up as manna.

"The Rock Snob's Dictionary," by contributing editors David Kamp and Steven Daly, described sad-sack crooner Nick Drake as "frequently photographed standing dolefully among trees." Glam was defined as "being built around platform shoes, grape-snuggler tights, mime-ish face paint."

Now Broadway Books has released "The Rock Snob's Dictionary" in paperback form, and a snob term of the day is available at www.snobsite.com. The Associated Press sat down with co-author Kamp at the Food Snob-approved restaurant Balthazar to find out more.

AP: Who is this book for? The rock snob or the wannabe?

Kamp: Steven and I like to call ourselves recovering rock snobs. Our glib comment is that we're not on the 12 Step program, we're on the three-chord program. Steven and I are rock snobs who can laugh at ourselves and we think that rock snobs such as ourselves will enjoy this book as both a checklist - got it, got it, guilty, guilty - and as a helpful manual for those we love. What we've found is that a large audience for this book is grateful women who say, "Oh my God, in these pages I recognize my boyfriend, my husband or my ex-husband. Now I get it."

AP: Aren't you a snob enabler, then?

Kamp: Yes. I think a degree of rock snobbery is helpful. What's funny are the people who really hate the book.

AP: Who are they?

Kamp: There are some people who take music so seriously that they can't take a step back and laugh at how committed they are to it. I grew out of that phase.

AP: What are some of the 12 steps of rock snob recovery?

Kamp: 1) Letting go. 2) Letting other people listen to the music. 3) Stop being so proprietary. 4) Admitting that Badfinger really is pretty crappy.

AP: Is a rock snob always a guy?

Kamp: No, not at all. Our stereotypical image of a rock snob IS a guy. Jack Black's characters in "High Fidelity" and "School of Rock" and John Cusack's character in "High Fidelity." That's the prototype, a male in his 20s and 30s. But I've always said that Courtney Love is a rock snob. If you listen to her talk, you hear how she downloads every reference from proto-punk girl groups like The Slits and The Runaways to cheese rock people like Jim Steinman, the guy who writes songs for Meatloaf. Courtney Love is a female rock snob who realized the rock snob dream of becoming a rock god or goddess.

AP: Is that the dream of all rock snobs?

Kamp: No. A lot of them can't play a note of music but are very invested is knowing all the arcana. Almost more than listening to the music.

AP: Is this useless information?

Kamp: Yes.

AP: Why snob? Why not geek? Or nerd?

Kamp: Because snobbery is so inherent to it. There is an overlap between rock snobs and rock nerds, though. Rock nerds like to share and rock snobs are more proprietary.

AP: Let's play rock snob analogies: Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore is to rock snobs what (fill in the blank) is to politicians.

Kamp: New York Governor George Pataki. Beanpole tall, gets a lot of credit for being mysteriously mute, but you're not really sure if there's any there there. Always a look of slight bemusement or confusedness, not always quite sure which. Questionable achievement, but likeable anyway.

AP: The Hammond B3 Organ is to rock snobs what (fill in the blank) is to bakers.

Kamp: A coal oven. They don't make them anymore so it has to be grandfathered in for you to even have one and they produce that crispness and purity of crust the way that only the Hammond can produce that crispness and purity of sound.

AP: Is snob in the eye of the beholder?

Kamp: Yes. Steven and I didn't even agree. We're co-authors and we didn't even agree. Steven makes fun of me for being a wuss because I like Nick Drake.

AP: Give me a one word rock snob analysis of the following items: Britney Spears?

Kamp: Plastique.

AP: iPod?

Kamp: iSnob.

AP: American Idol?

Kamp: N/A.

AP: Blogs?

Kamp: Kids.

AP: Karaoke?

Kamp: Boomer.

AP: Green Day?

Kamp: Refried.

AP: P.Diddy?

Kamp: Luxe.

AP: Toby Keith?

Kamp: Menacing.