The Rock Snob's Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Rockological Knowledge

by David Kamp, Steven Daly

At last! An A-to-Z reference guide for readers who want to learn the cryptic language of Rock Snobs, those arcana-obsessed people who speak of "Rickenbacker guitars" and "Gram Parsons."
 
We've all been there--trapped in a conversation with smarty-pants music fiends who natter on about "the MC5" or "Eno" or "the Hammond B3," not wanting to let on that we haven't the slightest idea what they're talking about. Well, fret no more! The Rock Snob's Dictionary is here to define every single sacred totem of rock fandom's know-it-all fraternity, from Alt.country to Zimmy. (That's what Rock Snobs call Bob Dylan, by the way.)

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Humor, Reference, Pop Culture, Rock N Roll, Comedy

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2005

About the author

David Kamp is an author, journalist, lyricist, and humorist. Among his books are the national bestseller The United States of Arugula (Broadway Books, 2006), a chronicle of America’s foodways; the critically lauded Sunny Days (Simon & Schuster, May 2020), a history of the Sesame Street-Mister Rogers era of enlightened children’s television; and, as collaborator, Martin Short’s bestselling memoir, I Must Say (HarperCollins, 2014), Ron Howard and Clint Howard’s joint memoir, The Boys (William Morrow, 2021), and A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap (Gallery Books, 2025), with Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A found-on-the-street item from 2005 by two Vanity Fair writers who either are huge music fans or know how to hire researchers. My aim in reading it is, of course, to ensure there's nothing in here I don't already know (alright, I didn't know the name of the recording studio where the 4th White Stripes record was made), looking for actual mistakes ("bassist Greg Ginn"), questionable judgements ("My Bloody Valentine's dud 1991 album Loveless"), odd interpretations from slim evidence (Charles Ives' "symphonic experiments in...microtonality" - of Ives' oeuvre of several hundred pieces for every imaginable ensemble there are only three short quarter-tone pieces for piano - I suspect the authors of showing off that they know what microtonality is) and so on. Also I cannot find a single serious Dylan fan who refers to him as "Zimmy".

Part of the problem with the premise is, as with the whole "trivia" thing, knowing anything at all has become suspect. You hardly need to be willfully esoteric to have heard of a Moog synthesizer, and having some sort of name for the fourth Led Zeppelin record ("Zoso") just means you grew up in the 70s or 80s. It's obviously meant to be light-hearted and there are many hilarious aperçus but it's a bit steeped in the condescension that characterizes many writers of the glossy magazine class.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel seen and understood and mocked all at the same time. A+ no notes hilarious

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. You’ll want Spotify or similar nearby. Can’t say all the music has aged well but I learned a lot. Written by music snob critics about the music they probably wrote about. Mostly trivia.

[Hank Stuever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny because it's true.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't believe the left out Belle and Sebastian.

[Jlawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two admitted rock snobs (music journalists/critics themselves) collaborated on this brief, amusing dictionary that's a combination of snarkily taking down obscure works and artists they feel fellow rock snobs have over-praised while also displaying their own snob-knowledge/occasional faves.

As a recovering rock snob, I nodded sagely with the entries I agreed with, got stereotypically peeved at ones I didn't, and was pleasantly surprised by how many entries I *didn't* know anything about in advance (both because it was fun to learn and because I proved... maybe I was never that much of a true rock snob!). This was especially true of many entries that covered colorful/innovative/vile producer personalities from various music industry eras.

(Most fun fact I discovered: Kimberely Rew, Robyn Hitchcock's fellow guitarist in The Soft Boys, went on to play for Katrina and the Waves and wrote the 80s hit "Walking on Sunshine"!?)

Uber rock snob Greil Marcus good-naturedly says it best in his quote on this book's back cover:

"These people have no idea what they're talking about. They think they're cool. They don't even know it's not the music, it's not who played on what, it's WHO DESIGNED THE COVER! WHAT TYPEFACE THE LABEL IS IN! I mean, I mean-"

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this much less than the other two, probably because I am actually interested in food and wine, but rock music is just a thing that was ambient in my life because of when I grew up, not something I actually care deeply about.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, seminal book based on a Vanity Fair column. Condenses rock'n'roll history into bite-sized chunks and is a good way for snobs to check their own prejudices. Very good on cult stars and the cliches rock criticism, and holds up surprisingly well 20 years after publication.

[Maxwell Panetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, alright, ok

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! If you have any interest in popular music genres you will find this informative and humorous.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pure rock snob fun. I know this bothers some people but it really shouldn’t. Us rock dorks sometimes have nothing better going for us so let us revel in the importance of a mint-condition, first edition of "Tago Mago" and "Safe As Milk" simultaneously in peace.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

First let’s start with the title. Obviously the real rock snob dictionary is Ira Robbins’ multi volume ‘Trouser Press Record Guide’, so the title must have been a mistake. I guess I’ll blame an editor for that.

Next I have to ask about some glaring omissions. Any true rock snob will hold in the highest regard the three kings of cool; Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and David Bowie. None of the three get an entry in this dictionary. Oh they’re mentioned here and there, but they don’t rate their own individual entry. Must be because they are just so obvious, of course they are cool everyone knows them, why include them in the book, that would be bland, boring, redundant. That must be it.

But wait, the worst omission is from my own era of rock snobbery. Obviously the coolest era is around 1977 - 1983, (my own high school years of course). Every cool rock know-it-all knows that this is the true epitome of creativity in rock history. Surely there is an entry for the band that defined that era, the band that will stand the test of time, the only band that matters, The Clash. What!!! Nothing? Not even a separate entry for Joe Strummer!!! Deduct two stars from the rating!

This is an oddball collection of snarky comments on so called cool rock scenesters. Unusually strong emphasis on alt-country types, maybe that is because that type of stuff was kind of popular around 2005 when the book came out. Though there is a nice percentage of somewhat unknown business people and other behind the scenes types. Pretty funny overall, though weirdly random in who is included and not included. By now it’s pretty much out of date anyway so I wonder if anyone reads this book anyway. Check out the Ira Robbins book for some well written insight on what is cool and relevant.

[Todd N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a birthday book from my mom. I used to have a regular show as a DJ on a local college radio station, KFJC. As someone who is not naturally hip -- though I am naturally cool -- I had a lot of catching up to do on my music knowledge. Fortunately this has led to the discovery of some of my favorite music.

KFJC doesn't have "rock snobs" as so much as people who care deeply about music. There is a base level of music knowledge that is required if you want to benefit from their insights and recommendations. After a while, it slowly dawns on you why KFJC adds every Wire bootleg we can get our hands on.

This book is a handy reference for getting a quick overview of some of the most influential, but not popular, musicians and bands. It's heavily skewed toward prog and rock. A few cursory nods to other popular genres or movements are made here and there, mostly with a single entry with the title of the movement.

I'm glad I read/skimmed it. Fortunately or unfortunately I agreed with most of the entries, though a few of them were snarky to the point of conveying only attitude with no information.

If you are interested in this book, you might want to look at Music Lust by Nic Harcourt before buying it. Or High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (though I've only seen the movie not read the book.)

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit The Rock Snob’s Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Rockological Knowledge was probably not meant to be read from cover to cover like most books. Really, who sits down and reads the dictionary?

I did, and it was a little exasperating. Mostly because the definitions started to get a little samey. How many times can you use the word hirsute in one book? Apparently 48 kabillion. Ditto lodestar. In fact, those two words were used so often that I started to count each instance. But then I decided that was insane and stopped.

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[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those fun books because of the chatty writing style. Has loads of bite sized little entries about anybody who is a rock snob favorite ie: Brian Eno's seventies albums like "Another Green World", and "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy", green world is a personal favorite which I guess makes me a rock snob--ooh, don't I feel lucky.

[Gloria]

Don't know enough about rock to really read this book! Gave it to Brian, who is a rock star, and he thinks it is great, though. Will need to borrow it when I do need to look up a definition (like there has to be a better definition for Emo music than music that kids listen to when they cut themselves).

[David Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a rock snob myself, I found the entries -- from Acetate to Zoso -- drily humorous but accurate, enough so that the text was strangely useful to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. A snob-worthy addition to your rock library. Ideas for post-2005 entries: Rodriguez, Radiohead, Bear Family Records, Auto-Tune, vinyl.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a funny book. Me lady gave it to me for a birthday present a few years back and it was fun researching all the hipster shit it throws at you. Knowing about Blind Willie Tell and the music supervision in the Soprano's. Really for total music nerds, which is a lot of the people I know.

[Jason Cupp · Rating 4 out of 5]

no matter how snobby you are, there's always someone snobbier.

i imagine the sequel will cover such overlooked entries as; the fairchild 670, 180 gram vinyl and the fact that the preferred snob nomenclature for morrissey is 'steve'.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors take us through the salient and choice bits of rock snobbery, the who's who and what's what that those in the know know and tend to sneeringly share when debating the salient and choice aspects of rock with a capital R? Plus it's just interesting. And funny in spots.

[Brian Kovesci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 2005 but not relevant to music in 2005. I figured it was going to cover all rock, but it had a focus in alt-country rock and I think the authors have an unhealthy obsession with Brian Wilson.

[Mary BookHounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I actually use this book as a cheat sheet. This is all stuff that I should know but there is not enough room in my brain. Some of the information is pretty common knowledge but there are some gems in here. I do kind of wish there was an index though.

[Fadwa Rizek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this when they were still articles in Vanity Fair. Amazing, I still have some of the cut-outs.

[Rachelandthecity · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to keep on the back of your toilet.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny/informative.

[Davy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bathroom reader for the hipster music-inclined. Entertaining enough, but still a throwaway.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love music books...I love trivia books....it's all of that plus more wrapped into one lovely book that you can fit into your bag.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is only for (rock) snobs. Others need not attempt.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great overview of obscure widely overlooked musical knowledge.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rock snob n reference term for the sort of pop connoisseur for whom the actual enjoyment of music is but a side dish to the accumulation of arcane knowledge about it.