prog when friends are around

Me and my friends usually hang OUTside so there isn't really a place where I can get them to listen to prog, but when they're at my house, I crank out some Birth Control, Uriah Heep, or Rush, for the sake of good ol' Heavy Prog, judging by the fact that Classic 70's Hard Rock is a main source of music for my friends. I do have this one friend who really likes Frank Zappa and Rush, so every time he comes to my place, we crank up some Rush, again, heh.

progmatic wrote: I know my friends' musical tastes and try to find something within my collection that we both can enjoy. After playing something he or she is familiar with, sometimes I'll try to expand their horizons a bit by surprising them with something new. What I have a problem with is in the summer, when enjoying prog in the car with the windows down. If I come to an intersection, it seems as though the most abstract or intense part of the song will be playing and I almost always want to turn down the sound. Do I need to see a shrink for this? ???????

In addition to this: When I listen to progressive prog and other people are around I sometimes find the music much weirder then when I'm alone! This is just so strange! People looking odd at me for my music can make my own music experience stranger. Does some-one else have this fenomonon?

kingfriso wrote: progmatic wrote: I know my friends' musical tastes and try to find something within my collection that we both can enjoy. After playing something he or she is familiar with, sometimes I'll try to expand their horizons a bit by surprising them with something new. What I have a problem with is in the summer, when enjoying prog in the car with the windows down. If I come to an intersection, it seems as though the most abstract or intense part of the song will be playing and I almost always want to turn down the sound. Do I need to see a shrink for this? ??????? In addition to this: When I listen to progressive prog and other people are around I sometimes find the music much weirder then when I'm alone! This is just so strange! People looking odd at me for my music can make my own music experience stranger. Does some-one else have this fenomenon?

Absolutely.  I certainly do.  One hears the music in a very different way.

And music that I normally love ceases to be enjoyable when other people are acting like that, and I feel more critical towards, and embarrassed by, the music.  SOmetimes music I love so much normally even makes me groan when I see that it's making other people groan.

Anyway, I do try to cater the music I play to the individual's tastes, but music listening, despite discussing it at PA, is a very personal experience for me, and I find it better not to share the music I love over-much (unless I really feel that another will appreciate it).  I don't try to force my peculiar tastes on others (though maybe I do that at this site to an extent).

Logan wrote: kingfriso wrote: progmatic wrote: I know my friends' musical tastes and try to find something within my collection that we both can enjoy. After playing something he or she is familiar with, sometimes I'll try to expand their horizons a bit by surprising them with something new. What I have a problem with is in the summer, when enjoying prog in the car with the windows down. If I come to an intersection, it seems as though the most abstract or intense part of the song will be playing and I almost always want to turn down the sound. Do I need to see a shrink for this? ??????? In addition to this: When I listen to progressive prog and other people are around I sometimes find the music much weirder then when I'm alone! This is just so strange! People looking odd at me for my music can make my own music experience stranger. Does some-one else have this fenomenon? Absolutely.  I certainly do.  One hears the music in a very different way. And music that I normally love ceases to be enjoyable when other people are acting like that, and I feel more critical towards, and embarrassed by, the music.  SOmetimes music I love so much normally even makes me groan when I see that it's making other people groan. Anyway, I do try to cater the music I play to the individual's tastes, but music listening, despite discussing it at PA, is a very personal experience for me, and I find it better not to share the music I love over-much (unless I really feel that another will appreciate it).  I don't try to force my peculiar tastes on others (though maybe I do that at this site to an extent).

I completely understand, it is the exact same thing I think when I try to play some of my favorite prog for non-prog lovers.

TODDLER wrote: Progosopher wrote: Dean wrote: depends who they are and how long I want them to stay.   If it's someone who appreciates music then I'll probably adjust my playlist to suit what they like, but try and play stuff they might not have heard that I think they'll like as well.   If they don't appreciate music then I'll play whatever I would have played if they weren't there unless they specifically ask to hear something. As Steve said: If they don't like it........TOUGH!!   When I want them to go home I put some of my own stuff on.     ...or Cradle of Filth I have found that the best way to clear a room is to put on The Residents.    I have a broad enough collection that I can correspond to almost anyone's tastes, or at least some reasonable approximation of it.  I once put on some Steve Vai for a friend I hadn't seen in quite a while, and he asked me to take it off because it was way too interesting to listen to while talking.  Generally, though, I don't put on music that's too demanding on the listener when I have friends over, unless they want to really listen carefully.  One good listening experience centered around Last Autumn's Dream by Jade Warrior.  My buddy is a guitarist, keyboardist, and all-around great musician.  I put the album on, and we just sat in silence and listened to the whole thing.  When it was over, he said he hadn't done that in years.  Besides all that, the misssus likes pretty much anything I listen to, except The Residents.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all.  You have a friend that listened to Jade Warrior with you? I suppose my shock is due to my residence in Green Acres, South Jersey. Does up on cripple creek ring a bell? Back in 2002 I was conversing with Tirill from White Willow. She had a entire different perspective on progressive music than most people I've met in America. There are many great informative prog people here in the U.S., no doubt. But in Europe it feels like more people live for prog. At least of all that is the impression I got from conversing with her. I believe that finding the correct environment has got to be the answer to all our problems(or those who have encountered the same as me), but here in Green Acres there is one path only for most regarding musical form. I realize all too well that most progressive rock originated in Europe, but to live there in a environment of prog fans that is consistently more than less would bring my spirits to the highest level. Is this a fact about Europe or is this a hypothesis that American proggers have?

Well... europeans live for prog? really? didn't notice that Now, seriously, if my father hadn't listened to a Pink Floyd cassette when I was 9, I don't think I would have had any knowledge of prog.

My friends are nerds like me. My best friend (known as The Block around here) and I are huge progheads. Whe he's over we'll be crankin' The Flower Kings, Genesis, Dream Theater, and Spock's Beard. Around my other friends I don't ever bring it up (just cause I don't want to get beat up). I just say I like some of the 'cooler' bands (which I do like). According to them, I'm all Beatles, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. While it's not that cool, it's definitely more popular than Anglagard, Ayreon, and Glass Hamer

-Jeff

Nuke wrote:   Citizen Erased wrote:   Muse and Radiohead aren't indie Not like this proves me right, but on last.fm they are both more tagged as indie then they are as progressive rock (well muse is about equal). Apparently though the taggers overwhelmingly classify both of them as alternative rock. Dunno, I always classified them with indie music and most of my indie friends love those two bands.

Maybe not indie, but they are an alt. rock band first.

My closest friends are also into prog or at least like it... I must be a lucky man! I prefer to listen to prog when I'm alone though, as I can listen to the music without being interupted. I don't mind prog as background music... actually, most prog seems to work pretty nice for listening while doing something else. Bands like VDGG aren't really suited for background music though... I remember friends of my parents coming over once, and they asked me what music I did listen. My reply was "mostly 70's bands like Pink Floyd". They asked me if I knew Jethro Tull, which I did, and that they used to listen to prog too. I suggested to turn on a CD and they agreed... this CD was Pawn Hearts by VDGG. The CD was playing at a very low volume, because of course conversations were going on, but about at the point of "The Cloth Thickens" they asked me if I could turn the music of because it made them nervous. 

My friends are all as big of music fans as I am, so even the ones who don't necessarily like prog still have some respect for it. but most of them do like Rush, ELP ballads, The Court by KC, Fragile by Yes, and some of the newer Porcupine Tree stuff.  And none of them like my VDGG but that doesn't stop me from putting it on once in a while.

My prog friends are very few and i did not seem them in a while (that's because now they live in other cities).