The Prog Mind

To me, life certainly has a value and a meaning, even if the meaning of life is sometimes hard to find.  But everyone of us has the potential to enrich the world by contributing to the creation of new and beautiful things, and to the construction of a better society with a higher quality of life for everybody.  I call this the "progressive mindset", and I feel that it is important in progressive rock (especially in classical progressive rock, most pronouncedly in the music of Yes; but also in later progressive rock styles).

Progressive rock thereby differs fundamentally from many of the music genres that have been fashionable since 1975, such as punk, hardcore, gothic and extreme metal, which express a nihilistic mindset according to which life has no meaning and all one can thrive for is to grab as big a stash as one can before one dies.

Progressive rock is refreshingly different from that, and it tells a lot that despite researching the matter for years, I haven't yet found any progressive rock that expresses extreme-right ideologies (though there are some right-wing bands, like Sol Invictus, that sometimes sound much like Tool, but that is a different, independent usage of the word "progressive rock" that has very little to do with the music of Yes, Pink Floyd, Rush, Marillion, IQ, Dream Theater, Spock's Beard etc.).  Progressive rock simply is too permeated by the progressive mindset to be a viable option for those who seek to express hate and cynicism through music.

Whu gives a ****.

dr wu23 wrote:     "Nah, I absolutely believe that human existence has value (but no meaning)   How can there be any 'value' if there is no meaning to existence? It all becomes arbitrary and totally  subjective.....kind of like prog rock reviews.               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(personal_and_cultural) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life

Well, duh. Life is arbitary and totally subjective.  

 

Edited by dr wu23 - August 23 2013 at 23:44

progbethyname wrote: Lol. Nihilism? A person who rejects all religious principals and believes earnestly with extream skepticism all philosophical theories are obsolete. Dean, could this be you?

Nah, I absolutely believe that human existence has value (but no meaning). Having read up on nihilism since, they strike me as being miserable buggers and I'm the diametric opposite of miserable.

I am definitely more of a music guy than a lyric guy, and for most music I seldom take the time to figure out what is being said. In fact there are for example Beatle lyrics I've sung for 40 years I never really thought about the meaning of. For me they are sort of like an instrument, and the sound of the word is musically more important than the meaning.

warrplayer wrote: Well, while I agree with you whole heartedly about the ultimate pointlessness of human endeavor, my point was that philosophers do engage with scientists now days and this leads to verifiable experiments. You can go through any examples I provide and say, well, that is neurology, or that is psycology. But, if the experiemnt came about because of musings between a philosophy major and a neurologist then I stand by my general ascertion that philosophy can ultimately lead to greater human knowledge. Are you thinking if we went back in time and kept assasinating Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle that when we returned to the present we would find the world just as scientificly advanced as it currently is?

warrplayer wrote: Sorry, What is a nillist? Someone who doesn't recognize a misspelling. : )

warrplayer wrote: Dean wrote: Everyone assumes that philosophy does nothing but good, yet there is little evidence of that. In its basic form, philosophy does nothing and gives us nothing, it has never produced anything of value, for every philosophical thought there is an counter train of thought that states the opposite view. One man's philosophical panacea is another man's anathema. You seem to be confusing philosophies with philosophy. while I might agree that fully formed philoshopies of life are little better than religions, the actual job of modern philosophers is to think about and pose questions about the human condition, human behavior, etc. this is usually no longer done in a vacuum, with philosophers dialoging with socialogists, pyschiatrists, neurologists, etc. Much of this if done well, can lead to intersting thought experiments which can then lead to actual experiments that lead to new facts about the humn brain or human behavior.

Second Life Syndrome wrote: How important are the philosophies and ideas in prog to you?  I find more and more that I often appreciate the lyrical message more than the music, at least at first.  The lyrical content often opens up the door for me to fall in love with the music!  One example: Riversea's "Out of an Ancient World".  This album is a masterpiece in my opinion, but the philosophy is what gripped me at first.  Truly, prog is music for thinking men! If not, share your feelings about this topic!

I have always felt Prog to be music & literature combined; and I use the word "literature" here to define a style of lyric writing that included literary references, philosophy, scifi, fantasy, spirituality, and even political and social commentary. A style of music with a unique duality, with its own body & spirit, some of it good, some of it not so good. In my case I'm going to use Genesis (Gabriel-Hackett era) as an example, (Now I'm aware we all have our favorite(s)), because Genesis was a storytelling  band combined with great music, and they were one of the best at it.

At the time, ('70's) I was really into English folklore, William Blake, Tolkien, Greek mythology, some scfi, to name just a few. What appealed to me was discovering some of these references and influences in their music and I was hooked. At the same time there was an element of irony with a light  humor that kept me sitting there entertained and still listening. Now, sorry, I didn't mean to get all "high-brow" about this, but it was the first time I had found a musical mindset that coincided or balanced out with mine with all the elements mentioned above. Of course there were other bands & artists that fell into place for me. And if there is such a thing as a Prog Mind then that's when I discovered mine. There was no going back.