On a related note, there's an undercurrent inherent in the kind of musical snobbery being talked about here that I've always found rather... I dunno, unsettling, I suppose. It basically comes down to the idea that having a critical perspective on art (music in this case) seems to be more about disliking things than actually liking them, finding something wrong in the taste of the less educated. IE: "That thing you like sucks because this thing you've never heard of is better" instead of "That thing you like is sort of like this thing that I like that you've never heard of, but here's what's cool about my thing." There's something of an ugly undercurrent of art-as-social-currency in that, as well as a... for lack of a better word, laziness or lack of understanding at least.
Although I guess it is difficult, since as was pointed out, reasoning here is based more on emotional response and personal passions than any kind of objective logic. Still, I think it's unfair to assume one can't take a scholarly approach to popular music just because most people don't default to doing so.
And for the record, I enjoy a lot of Nirvana, Minus the Bear are alright now and again and Radiohead are good but far from untouchable.
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Like carnivores to carnal pleasures, so were we to desperate measures...
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