You're A Prog Addict When... (Serious Edition)

I don't spend one tenth of what I want to spend ... who the heck are you kidding? And I am not a collector ... at all although I have been told and asked to part with certain things ... that I simply can't ... I love them too much!

 

Excuse me I need to go kiss and unzip those lips!

YEAH! CHAMPIOOOOON!!! I am the lord of the Yes fanboys!  

 

As for the forums, I'm definitely addicted to those

 

Yes, everyday I think about it and post reviews but the real addiction comes from spending so much time here on the PA. The music is listened to everyday but sometimes I need to withdraw to a straight 4/4 band such as The Sweet or industrial such as Gary Numan or something, just to clear out the syncopated rhythms in my brain. The prog beats get in there and you cant get rid of them. its weird. Even if I get on guitar or especially synthesiser I want to play a proggy rhythm.

It's one of my biggest complaints about most "prog" listings here. And then separating things almost because of it. It's just bizarre. For all intents and purpoises, things like Incredible String Band and Guru Guru are so progressive for what they do, and their irreverence for what would otherwise be considered a conventional concept of music, that no one can deal with it. Some of the early Guru Guru is to my ear what Jimi Hendrix probably wanted to do that people around him didn't! ... and the results can be seen in their early stuff and even in their most composed album (Tango Fango) they have a cut that blows it all out and even explains their madness and method. Robin Williamson still talks about wanting to do more with music and even within a theatrical and experimental environment ... but somehow this is not "prog" enough when in the end this is so gutsy and so scary and so adventurous ... and too many bands are being defined with the term progressive simply because they DO have a keyboard, and their music is no more adventurous and "progressive" in every sense of the word, as these, for example, and there are a lot of others.

 

And that is where the terms come in for various different definitions of "prog" ... I love the "goth" one ... and you know that the difference is between this one and any other metal or hard stuff out there, right? ... one special effect on a guitar or voice! ... and that is totally counter the definition and process of what music is all about and specially what "progressive" is all about. Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson, and all the major bands we love and still ddiscuss, almost none of them were about the "effect", they were actually about adding, and experimenting with new instruments, which is incredibly different from the simplicity of just using another effect on the guitar or the mix that so many bands use today ... you would think they are experimenting, and sure it could be said they were, but all in all, I am inclined to believe that the guts to do what these bands are doing today opposite what those bands did years ago .. it's not even close.