Does humor belong in prog?

Soft machine and Caravan and several others of the Canterbury Scene had humor... Don't forget Gong!!

Edited by Dreamer - October 23 2006 at 14:02

A balance between humour and seriousness is needed. Many bands would really benefit from being less serious and having more humour in their lyrics and music. But ultimately, it's a matter of taste . Some people just don't want humour in their music and some want loads of it.

Being humorous and serious are not opposites, and if you believe they are; well, then you're f**ked from the start. A quite good example is "Naked Lunch" by William Burroughs; most of the time the book deals with dead serious stuff, but without the often humorous, bizarre, and vulgar presentation, it would've lost all of it's punch. Same with Beefheart; his genious wouldn't be without humor.

Edited by Zweck - October 23 2006 at 14:52

bhikkhu wrote: Absolutely. Humor belongs everywhere. Pink Floyd showed humor with "Seamus" and "San Tropez."

Dreamer wrote: Soft machine and Caravan and several others of the Canterbury Scene had humor... Don't forget Gong!!   EDIT: I didn't notice the post above, he beat me to it.

in short, yes, humore does belong at times, what was so bad about the 90's music was the lyric s, everything was so intense and depressing, too much to take if it is all serious!!!!   Caravan comes to mind as well as some Nektar and def Zappa, also the canterbury scene had great music and great humor together!!!

Off course humor belongs in prog... for ours it's just another art form, and there's not ONE art form that takes itself that seriously as to forbid the entrance rights to irony, comedy.... even music's crowning summit, classical music, allows for a lot (and I mean A LOT) of humor in its works (starting with Mozart up to Shostakovich, anybody listened to the latter russian master's ninth? When the soviet authorities, Stalin himself was awaiting a NINTH, a glorious, NINTH-LIKE NINTH, he delivered a short, woodwind instruments-lead parody of what a NINTH is supposed to be).... so please, don't take ourselves too seriously, for if the true scientifics of the art joked with us every once in a while, we, prog-rock lovers, can afford to laugh, too.

In my opinion, Seamus and St.Tropez are not humorous, just silly fillers. The same as JTull's "Hare who lost..." and some Zappa goofy jokes. Those songs just turn me off. On the other hand, Jeremy Bender and The Sheriff work for me.

inpraiseoffolly wrote:   That's exactly what I planned to point out.  However, humor doesn't always work, as seen in Jeremy Bender and Benny the Bouncer, both by the ELP.  It's really a hit or miss affair.

I was actually about to point out how fuuny Jeremy Bender, Benny the Bouncer, and The Sheriif really are.  The lyrics themselves are not the actual comedy of the pieces. They more stand as a way to make fun of the kind of music ELP are writing. All of the songs are take offs of more classic and less rock themes as much of ELP's music is, but these are taken much less seriously than say Tarkus, Karnevil9 or Endless Enigma. While I'm certain that ELP took themselves seriously it's kind of refreshing to know that they are able to take a step back and see a little bit of humor in what they are doing. This is something that i find many prog musicians/bands lack.

Check out Emeson Lake & Palmers songs
like
"Benny the bouncer" -Brain Salad Surgery
       "The Sheriff" - Trilogy