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Frasse
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 22 2004
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 758
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Posted: May 24 2007 at 10:05 |
The whole situation reminds me of late 70s Genesis and very few prog fans has ever forgiven them so why would we forgive Mr. Wilson when Porcupine Tree makes it really big? Wilson will in fact be the next "love-to-hate" guy after Mr. Collins.
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Padraic
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 16 2006
Location: Pennsylvania
Status: Offline
Points: 31169
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Posted: May 24 2007 at 09:59 |
Man Overboard wrote:
They're a new band, so you probably haven't heard of them, but they're called Porcupine Tree. I totally identify with their debut album, Fear Of A Blank Planet! I hate how people try to understand me, but their lyrics are so cool and make me wanna fight the man! I love getting stoned at the mall, and the video is sooooo awesome, it's just like my life!"
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She then went on to say, "Yeah, and they had on 'soundscapes' some dude named 'Robert Fripp'. I wonder if he's also new on the music scene?" At this point Aaron passed out.
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StyLaZyn
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 22 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 4079
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Posted: May 24 2007 at 09:55 |
Trademark wrote:
Artists can get lost in a kind of no man's land where their old fans accuse them of selling out and their new fans are fickle and won't support them when the next "big thing" comes along and takes their place. Look at poor old Kansas as an example.
Once you start down the top 40 road, there's often no turning back. |
Perhaps once you start down that road, you have no intention of turning back, especially when the money is good.
I am guilty as the next person who has dropped listening to a band because of the "sellout", but I have also found myself to be the loser when I realized I need to change my perspective in order to appreciate the new direction. Being a music snob hurts only the listener. The artist could probably care less.
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Trademark
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 21 2006
Location: oHIo
Status: Offline
Points: 1009
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Posted: May 24 2007 at 09:37 |
"Is this the audience Wilson is trying to reach?"
Ultimately, this is the audience everyone must eventually try to reach. Artists who are unhappy with increased sales are "rare to non-existent" and increasing sales will always lead to to this person once the pool of moderatly intelligent consumers has been exhausted.
The more important question might be, "What is Steve Wilson willing to do to hold onto this caliber of 'fan'?" It's awfully hard (both emotionally and in a business sense) to go back to selling 75,000 albums after you've had a taste of gold and platinum.
Artists can get lost in a kind of no man's land where their old fans accuse them of selling out and their new fans are fickle and won't support them when the next "big thing" comes along and takes their place. Look at poor old Kansas as an example.
Once you start down the top 40 road, there's often no turning back.
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Viajero Astral
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 16 2006
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 3118
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Posted: May 24 2007 at 04:34 |
BTW, hey Ricco, listen The Festival of Death watching your signature, its really scarry
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GoldenSpiral
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Joined: May 27 2005
Location: United States
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Points: 3839
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 15:09 |
Please don't misinterpret my earlier statement. I think it's a good album, it's better than many things in the quasi-mainstream at the moment, but even when compared to PT's earier 'accessible' material like In Absentia, FOABP is vastly inferior. They break no new ground, the lyrics are trite (which i believe was the point of my previous post), and the music is less diverse and not as well composed IMO.
This is not to say that PT is not still great, they are still one of my favorite bands, but I am definitely expressing a certain disappointment in this record. I find something wrong with a 40 year old guy writing about how much it sucks to be a teenager. There's already enough teenagers doing the same thing.
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Passionist
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 14 2005
Location: Finland
Status: Offline
Points: 1119
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 15:07 |
I would most probably have told her everything I know of PT, and *make* her listen to the old albums as well.
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Arsillus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 26 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 7374
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 15:02 |
Well, look on the bright side - Porcupine Tree is now reaching new audiences.
But someone really needs to get with the program if they think Porcupine Tree sounds like Korn.
Maybe you could introduce her to other progressive metal-like music and use her as a test subject to see if progressive music can really make people smarter.
I'm sorry you had to endure that Aaron.
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debrewguy
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Joined: April 30 2007
Location: Canada
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Points: 3596
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 14:48 |
StyLaZyn wrote:
debrewguy wrote:
Hey maybe, PT is already set upon building a sect of people who thought they were good until they became popular. Kind of like the Gabriel/Collins divide in Genesis, Barrett/Waters/Gilmour era Pink Floyd, or Dream Theater fans & non-fans. You know the type - " I used to love them when they were good".
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I don't think bands actually target a type of listener. Usually they write music they like. Their following is the type that like it as well or have found a new sound.
I could be mistaken, but I think when the audience changes, it merely is a result of a band changing direction. Good bands don't end up "sucking", normally. The listener just doesn't like the kind of music they changed to. |
Seems simple enough, eh ...
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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Bj-1
Special Collaborator
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Joined: June 04 2005
Location: No(r)Way
Status: Offline
Points: 31377
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 13:59 |
Man Overboard wrote:
So I'm at work, and listening to Evergrey at a nice, respectable volume. This woman comes up and she's like "I LOVE HEAVY METAL! I LOVE KORN AND DISTURBED AND SEVENDUST AND LIMP BIZKIT!"
I kind of shake my head a bit, but she won't go away, and she says (though not as eloquently as I'm typing it, her grammar made my head hurt), "Oh, and there's this new band I heard recently, they're as good as Korn! They're a new band, so you probably haven't heard of them, but they're called Porcupine Tree. I totally identify with their debut album, Fear Of A Blank Planet! I hate how people try to understand me, but their lyrics are so cool and make me wanna fight the man! I love getting stoned at the mall, and the video is sooooo awesome, it's just like my life!"
Is this the audience Wilson is trying to reach?
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I just had to laugh when I read this.
I always try to get some info about a band I just checked out before opening my mouth to others
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RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on!
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StyLaZyn
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 22 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 4079
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 11:34 |
debrewguy wrote:
Hey maybe, PT is already set upon building a sect of people who thought they were good until they became popular. Kind of like the Gabriel/Collins divide in Genesis, Barrett/Waters/Gilmour era Pink Floyd, or Dream Theater fans & non-fans. You know the type - " I used to love them when they were good".
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I don't think bands actually target a type of listener. Usually they write music they like. Their following is the type that like it as well or have found a new sound.
I could be mistaken, but I think when the audience changes, it merely is a result of a band changing direction. Good bands don't end up "sucking", normally. The listener just doesn't like the kind of music they changed to.
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Drakk
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 09 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 340
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 11:34 |
I don't think the lyrics are meant to be "whiny" or whatnot. "Stoned in the Mall again, terminally bored, shuffling through the stores", "Xbox, is a God to me". I don't think Wilson is trying to relate to that crowd in anyway, much like In Abstentia, he's talking about some of the attitudes of the younger generation. Hating parents, doing nothing, and being bored all day.
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[QUOTE=darkshade] [QUOTE=Sckxyss]
I'm disappointed - neither of these players are avant-garde!
Al di Meola.
[/QUOTE]
haha i know. but the poll itself is avant-garde
[/QUOTE]
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debrewguy
Special Collaborator
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Joined: April 30 2007
Location: Canada
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Points: 3596
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 11:28 |
Melomaniac wrote:
GoldenSpiral wrote:
FoaBP is definitely a nu-metal album. It has all the traits except the rap. The subject matter (mommy doesn't love me, think I'll go do some drugs) is just like any Korn or Papa Roach album.
Yeah. it's unfortunate, but PT has reached a lower common denominator.
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What is more important is that the quality of the music is not inferior. Hell, any band that can manage to become mainstream with high quality songs over 10 minutes in this day and age deserve everything they get, and I'm happy for Wilson and PT. FOABP is an amazing album that, for once, has some proper promotion, and we all should be happy for them...
Music is what counts, not the hype... or are you people just listening to underground bands to be able to say you are "in the margin", and as soon as your favorite underground band starts getting the recognition they deserve while being true to themselves, you spit on them ?
That kind of attitude digusts me, to say the VERY least... |
Hey maybe, PT is already set upon building a sect of people who thought they were good until they became popular. Kind of like the Gabriel/Collins divide in Genesis, Barrett/Waters/Gilmour era Pink Floyd, or Dream Theater fans & non-fans. You know the type - " I used to love them when they were good". I just leave it to the group(s) to play what they want for whatever reason they want. If I don't like the new stuff, I still can play the old albums. And I see NO reasons why one would take it so seriously. As if it was something personal. But some people think they "own" the band. I do take offense in seeing Limp Bizkit, Korn et al described as metal. Sure, they got tagged with the nu-metal name, but it wasn't the "rap" aspect that I don't care for, rather the fact that the style got copied by so many crap bands, so quick & so shallow. 7string low tuned guitars, whiney "poor poor pitiful me" lyrics; after a bit you wonder if they can write anything even slightly different.
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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StyLaZyn
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 22 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 4079
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 11:19 |
Man Overboard wrote:
Is this the audience Wilson is trying to reach?
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I have a very difficult time believing this is the case. I would see the situation as actually ironic. FOABP is commentary more than anything. Maybe the relation this woman found will open her eyes to what a waste her life might have become.
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Melomaniac
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 07 2006
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 4088
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 11:09 |
GoldenSpiral wrote:
FoaBP is definitely a nu-metal album. It has all the traits except the rap. The subject matter (mommy doesn't love me, think I'll go do some drugs) is just like any Korn or Papa Roach album.
Yeah. it's unfortunate, but PT has reached a lower common denominator.
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What is more important is that the quality of the music is not inferior. Hell, any band that can manage to become mainstream with high quality songs over 10 minutes in this day and age deserve everything they get, and I'm happy for Wilson and PT. FOABP is an amazing album that, for once, has some proper promotion, and we all should be happy for them...
Music is what counts, not the hype... or are you people just listening to underground bands to be able to say you are "in the margin", and as soon as your favorite underground band starts getting the recognition they deserve while being true to themselves, you spit on them ?
That kind of attitude digusts me, to say the VERY least...
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"One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio
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GoldenSpiral
Special Collaborator
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Joined: May 27 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 3839
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 10:55 |
FoaBP is definitely a nu-metal album. It has all the traits except the rap. The subject matter (mommy doesn't love me, think I'll go do some drugs) is just like any Korn or Papa Roach album.
Yeah. it's unfortunate, but PT has reached a lower common denominator.
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Chicapah
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 14 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 8238
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 10:00 |
Well, we couldn't keep Porcupine Tree a secret forever...
Next we'll be seeing Steven Wilson on the cover of People Magazine...
and pegged as Britney Spears' new beau....
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"Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain
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chopper
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Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 20030
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 09:35 |
Scary.
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Heptade
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 19 2005
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 427
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 09:10 |
Major label, metal riffs, video...I mean, presumably they want to sell records, which means they have to reach beyond the cozy boundaries of ProgArchives for a bigger fanbase! Sure, some people are gonna think it's their debut. If it smartens her up a bit after listening to it a few times and allows her to quit Korn, that's fine!
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The world keeps spinning, people keep sinning
And all the rest is just bullsh*t
-Steve Kilbey
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mystic fred
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Joined: March 13 2006
Location: Londinium
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Points: 4252
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Posted: May 23 2007 at 02:13 |
Man Overboard wrote:
So I'm at work, and listening to Evergrey at a nice, respectable volume. This woman comes up and she's like "I LOVE HEAVY METAL! I LOVE KORN AND DISTURBED AND SEVENDUST AND LIMP BIZKIT!"
I kind of shake my head a bit, but she won't go away, and she says (though not as eloquently as I'm typing it, her grammar made my head hurt), "Oh, and there's this new band I heard recently, they're as good as Korn! They're a new band, so you probably haven't heard of them, but they're called Porcupine Tree. I totally identify with their debut album, Fear Of A Blank Planet! I hate how people try to understand me, but their lyrics are so cool and make me wanna fight the man! I love getting stoned at the mall, and the video is sooooo awesome, it's just like my life!"
Is this the audience Wilson is trying to reach?
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wasn't "this woman" really your boss who walked in...?
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Prog Archives Tour Van
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