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Joined: December 13 2011
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2111
Posted: July 21 2014 at 19:26
Progosopher wrote:
Both iterations of the question yield the same answer for me: Pink Floyd. I have the vast majority of their albums, but only a few of Zappa's. Uncle Frank was brilliant in many ways, but I often find his humor and criticisms sophomoric. Hot Rats is a great album, but I find We're Only in it for the Money to be rubbish. I think I like him best when he just shuts up and plays his guitar, and he was a devastating guitarist. Pink Floyd is clearly the more popular and justifiably so. Their music actually said something and, as many others on this forum have said, has an emotional element to it - it effects people in a way that is not just intellectual. At the same time, it is also intelligent. Great combo! Zappa was no Forest Gump, not by a long shot, but he frequently came across as the worst kind of intellectual: one who can't distinguish his head from his rear end.
Very well stated.
“Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov
Joined: May 12 2009
Location: Coolwood
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Points: 6472
Posted: July 21 2014 at 19:05
Both iterations of the question yield the same answer for me: Pink Floyd. I have the vast majority of their albums, but only a few of Zappa's. Uncle Frank was brilliant in many ways, but I often find his humor and criticisms sophomoric. Hot Rats is a great album, but I find We're Only in it for the Money to be rubbish. I think I like him best when he just shuts up and plays his guitar, and he was a devastating guitarist. Pink Floyd is clearly the more popular and justifiably so. Their music actually said something and, as many others on this forum have said, has an emotional element to it - it effects people in a way that is not just intellectual. At the same time, it is also intelligent. Great combo! Zappa was no Forest Gump, not by a long shot, but he frequently came across as the worst kind of intellectual: one who can't distinguish his head from his rear end.
The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"
Joined: December 13 2011
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2111
Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:54
zachfive wrote:
LSDisease wrote:
Pink Floyd. Frank Zappa was a great character, some funny songs, not agreat composer.
You may be able to have an opinion, but this statement here is completely false.
Zappa by a mile on this one. Ain't no one style the man can't master, create a disaster, satirize, and completely make his own. In terms of "progressive", hard to name another artist that more aptly fits the term. An advocate of free speech and a pioneer in self awareness, a personal hero of mine.
Floyd is Floyd. The gap between their most creative output and their lowest point is too close for me to deem them anything other than slightly above mediocre.
I agree with LSDisease that Zappa was far from a great composer. Have you actually heard some of Zappa's attempts at classical music? Absolutely a disgrace to the genre IMHO. A Ravel, Shostakovich, or Bartok he was not! I also disagree about the 'mastering' of styles. I mean who cares? This doesn't make him a viable, emotional force in music. If anything, he alienates listeners and if this thread is any indication still continues to. I'm not saying he wasn't a good musician, quite the contrary, but I don't think his music has been able to establish any kind of foothold because so much of it is nonsensical and unemotional for many listeners.
Edited by Mirror Image - July 21 2014 at 17:55
“Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov
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Joined: May 13 2007
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Points: 37575
Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:53
Frank Zappa was a character but great is subjective, none of his songs are funny the second time of hearing, but he was a great composer. The answer however, is still Pink Floyd.
Joined: September 03 2013
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Points: 1607
Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:51
It's been since a long time here that I've been surprised about so much love for virtuosism, but I shouldn't feel this way, given the fact I'm finding out it's been always present in prog. Virtuosism has bored me quite a bit times, I think it's because of the level of importance given to it in a composition. Could it be just the reason why I never managed to enjoy FZ music? I don't know, maybe. However just the opposite happens to me with S.Hackett music. Anyway, another curious fact is that most of the virtuosists of the Classical Music that I knew quite rarely bored me. OK, people would advise me to go away to a CM forum: this is not a clever advice, thanks to PA there is a lot of prog I happened to become a fan and a lot of it still to be known.
Oh yes, about this thread - my avatar speaks for me.
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." LvB
Joined: November 13 2005
Location: Kitsap WA
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Points: 770
Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:46
LSDisease wrote:
Pink Floyd. Frank Zappa was a great character, some funny songs, not agreat composer.
You may be able to have an opinion, but this statement here is completely false.
Zappa by a mile on this one. Ain't no one style the man can't master, create a disaster, satirize, and completely make his own. In terms of "progressive", hard to name another artist that more aptly fits the term. An advocate of free speech and a pioneer in self awareness, a personal hero of mine.
Floyd is Floyd. The gap between their most creative output and their lowest point is too close for me to deem them anything other than slightly above mediocre.
Joined: December 13 2011
Location: United States
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Points: 2111
Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:25
Xonty wrote:
Both are over-rated though
Ah, come on! Are any progressive rock band that gains any kind of success considered overrated in your view? For me, any band that creates progressive music is underrated by an automatic default because they're already choosing music as an art form over fame and fortune.
“Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
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Points: 20617
Posted: July 21 2014 at 16:04
chopper wrote:
Well, the question at the top is "who is the most popular", on that basis it has to be Pink Floyd, as they have 3 albums in the PA Top 100 and Zappa's highest album is number 36, but then you've confused things by saying "<span style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Please vote for your favorite " so now I don't know which to vote for. I</span><span style="line-height: 1.2;">f the question were "who do you prefer" then I would go for Zappa over the rather soporific Floyd.</span>
Ok Chop. I changed it to 'who do you prefer'. After all, we not going to change the world with this poll.( At least I don't think we will.)
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Zappa Vs. Pink Floyd
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Progosopher wrote:
