Zappa Vs. Pink Floyd
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Topic: Zappa Vs. Pink Floyd
Posted By: SteveG
Subject: Zappa Vs. Pink Floyd
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 14:38
| Who do you prefer: Zappa or Floyd? |
Replies:
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 14:45
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From years 20-35, it would have been Zappa without a question. But it would have always been close. Today, and for the majority of my life, it's a slam dunk for Floyd. I got so immersed in Zappa culture and got quite close up views of many of the personalities involved in the Zappa empire, and I've just lost most of my taste for it. Part of it is I associate FZ with a fairly difficult period of my life that I'd like to distance myself from. I have met some wonderful people from that world though. And it is like a separate world. So, Floyd. I've loved them since my preteen days, and never lost my taste for them. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 14:49
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Pink Floyd no question about it. This said, I have most of Zappa's discography and while I'll occasionally spin Zoot Allures or The Grand Wazoo, for example, Zappa's music doesn't have the same emotional hold over me like Floyd's music. Zappa's music is also technically very impressive, but it's short on substance IMHO and not music I return to very often.
------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 15:30
| 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 "Please vote for your favorite " so now I don't know which to vote for. If the question were "who do you prefer" then I would go for Zappa over the rather soporific Floyd. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 15:43
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PF is obviously more popular.
FZ is (probably) obviously my favorite. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 15:58
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Floyd. Zappa was a genius but I don't actually enjoy listening to his music much. I suspect others may hold the same opinion.
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Posted By: LSDisease
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 16:00
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Pink Floyd. Frank Zappa was a great character, some funny songs, not a great composer.
------------- "Du gehst zu Frauen? Vergiss die Peitsche nicht!" |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 16:04
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chopper wrote:Posted By: hellogoodbye
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 16:21
ZAPPA ZAPPA ZAPPA .  |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 16:27
You may be right. +1. ------------- 
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Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 16:43
| Zappa, and the results are already botched due to the idiotic phrasing of the question. |
Posted By: Xonty
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:15
Pink Floyd on both questions, so it doesn't really matter about the contradiction. Both are over-rated though 
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Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:25
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 |
Posted By: ghost_of_morphy
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:27
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I prefer Zappa. No doubt. Except for Floyd's early period, I find them boring and predictable. Can't ever say that about Zappa. ------------- 
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Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:32
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I like Zappa until he opens his mouth. ------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:34
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They once shared a stage together:
You start to hear Frank around the 4 1/2 minute mark I think.
------------- Magma America Great Make Again |
Posted By: smartpatrol
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:41
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Zappa was a genius, Floyd were great but a tad overrated. ------------- http://bit.ly/1kqTR8y" rel="nofollow">  The greatest record label of all time! |
Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:44
I think Pink Floyd were geniuses in their own right, especially Roger Waters who conceived so much of Floyd's music.
------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: zachfive
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:46
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.
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Posted By: Rick Robson
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:51
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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 |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:53
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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. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 17:54
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.
------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: smartpatrol
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 18:16
------------- http://bit.ly/1kqTR8y" rel="nofollow"> The greatest record label of all time! |
Posted By: Imperial Zeppelin
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 18:26
| Frank Zappa is cool and all, but he is not Pink Floyd. Easy one for me. |
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 19:05
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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" |
Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 19:26
Very well stated. ------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 19:49
Yes I think the musicians who worked with him would say he was a brilliant composer. I've heard Mike Keneally talk about how incredible he was in that department. As for the poll I had to vote Floyd. Both choices here were innovative with some great ideas over their careers but the music of PF appeals to me more. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 20:24
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As much as I appreciate Zappa, he just doesn't match up to Floyd. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 20:52
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Two of my all-time favorites and it depends on my mood really.
Zappa this week, Floyd the next one. ------------- |
Posted By: Wanorak
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 21:19
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No contest-Floyd. ------------- A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!! |
Posted By: Metalmarsh89
Date Posted: July 21 2014 at 22:19
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I almost didn't read the question. Pink Floyd has the second highest selling album of all time in Dark Side of the Moon, so I would definitely classify them as more popular, even in Zappa's homeland. If asked which one I prefer, I'd be torn between the two. ------------- Want to play mafia? Visit http://www.mafiathesyndicate.com" rel="nofollow - here . |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 02:52
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I have to vote Floyd, as much as I love Zappa. I listen to Floyd more. They are easy to dip into at any time for me. I have to be in a certain very strange mood to sit through an entire Zappa album, with perhaps the excapetion of Hot Rats and Grand Wazoo which I can appreciate any time.. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 03:18
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 03:28
Exactly  until his death, he remained to be a great composer, i.e. to release such great albums.
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 05:18
| Love Uncle Frank dearly, but Floyd will always be closer to my heart and soul..... |
Posted By: Libor10
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 08:36
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Floyd for me easily. I was never interested in Zappa. It's strange as I've been listening to a lot of different music, but Zappa isn't in there. And mind I'm not such big fan of PF... And the question hasn't any impact on my answer. I's answer the same on any other type of question (better, more popular, more interesting etc. etc.). Maybe only musicians skills could lead to different vote as I've never consider Floyd's to be grand masters of their instruments. But then what. This isn't the main point for listening music. ------------- 
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Posted By: Evolver
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 09:04
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Pink Floyd - good
Frank Zappa - exceptionally great ------------- Trust me. I know what I'm doing. |
Posted By: ProgPassion
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 10:08
Frank Zappa didn't believe in music as a way to convey emotion. The fact that Pink Floyd are winning this poll is a travesty. Frank Zappa is a far, far greater artist.
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Posted By: KingCrInuYasha
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 10:47
On the one hand, there have been much worse people in that regard. On the other hand, I do agree that a few of his arguments were kind of dumb. For example, saying that didn't believe in music as a way to convey emotion. If that really was the case, he wouldn't have crafted a good chunk of his work to be funny, offensive, or some combination of the two. Not to mention songs like, say, "Starless" by King Crimson make such a philosophy completely unappealing. Now, if he was saying that he didn't believe in using emotion in music as a form of commercial commodity (e.g. propaganda or an excuse to whine about trivial matters), I can get on board with that. Back on topic, I can't pick. Both had their moments. ------------- He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball! |
Posted By: The-time-is-now
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 11:41
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Pink Floyd. -------------  One of my best achievements in life was to find this picture :D |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 14:11
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Posted By: addictedtoprog
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 14:23
| Roger Waters' era Pink Floyd. |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 14:53
None  . I care for both------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 15:17
I think Floyd songs mean something to far more people. There is an emotional attachment to Floyd that Zappa simply cannot match, and a lot has to do with Zappa simply doing too much satire and parody over the years. The comedy bits just wore thin. So it is not a travesty at all. Many rock fans grew out of the scatological jokes of Zappa, but Floyd still was listened to as they grew older. That, and Zappa has a very specific fanbase; whereas Floyd has fans from punks to metalheads. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 15:20
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Posted By: ProgPassion
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 15:27
Even if we ignore all of the comedy and satire he did, there still stands a body of work of unparalleled brilliance. Although, personally I feel more emotion in his music.
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 15:29
I haven't slightest idea what you are referring to. You obviously have never read one of my posts wherein I am actually annoyed.  ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 15:35
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Posted By: Michael678
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 17:47
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Floyd for the win!! all respect for Zappa though BIG TIME! i mean, we were born both in Maryland not far apart from each other even though neither of us lived to see the light of day (he died in '93 or '94 and i was born in '99) one from Baltimore and other from Prince Frederick (living in Lusby). guess which one is Zappa! ------------- Progrockdude |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 18:42
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That's another thing. I never thought Floyd was particularly emotional, in general. Unemotional is far more accurate, but that can be resonant in its own way. I feel more emotion from Zappa is something like "Packard Goose" or hey, "Watermelon in Easter Hay" than any Floyd. "Comfortably Numb" is over-dramatic more than emotional. I think Zappa cared more than Floyd ever did. |
Posted By: ProgPassion
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 19:09
I can't even begin to describe how much I love Watermelon in Easter Hay; for me, there is no piece of music that is more beautiful. In that guitar phrase, Zappa captures the full spectrum of human emotion.
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Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 20:17
 If you can't feel any emotion in Gilmour's guitar playing than God help you. You're a lost cause. ------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 20:29
Regardless of what Zappa's intent with his music was, at the end of the day, more people connect with Pink Floyd. It's as simple as that. Zappa was not an emotionally direct musician, although he does have some moments where the satire was kept to a minimum and his heart was able to shine through, but these moments are few and far between. Zappa may be the 'greater' artist, but this means nothing when it comes to trying to convey a message with music and actually saying something and, most importantly, touching people. Pink Floyd did this without all the smoke and mirrors and is a big part of why they're still revered amongst listeners and musicians alike. You can't deny their influence. Zappa appeals to a niche audience whereas Pink Floyd seem to have broken through and were able to reach people who maybe don't even listen to rock music on any kind of regular basis.
------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: King Crimson776
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 06:32
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More people connect with Floyd but most of them are casual music fans/stoners. I like Gilmour's guitar playing but the music is too simplistic to be all that emotional for me. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 06:50
The people who voted for Floyd here probably enjoyed being called casual music fans/stoners just then immensely . 
------------- What? |
Posted By: KingCrInuYasha
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 08:15
True, but it could be worse. I could be Sting. ------------- He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball! |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 08:56
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Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 09:43
I highly disagree. One has to wonder whether you've actually heard a Pink Floyd album before. On the surface, Pink Floyd's music may seem simplistic but this has to do more with its emotional directness than the actual music itself. The Wall taken as a whole, which, in theory, is one large work, it is one of the most complicated pieces of music in rock music. Anyway, I'm not here to convince you to change your mind, but I am here to tell you that you're WRONG!
 ------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 09:48
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Let me also say that while I agree casual listeners can find enjoyment in Floyd's output, the music itself is also complicated enough to keep musicians and serious listeners like myself interested and engaged.
------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 09:58
 but I was wondering if you play guitar? |
Posted By: hellogoodbye
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 10:29
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There are three things predictable in life : "Death, Gazpacho and a David Gilmour's solo". Emilio Duckinson, from the collection of poems : "The cake on the lake". 1875.
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 14:09
| Silly. There are only three things predictable in life: Death and a David Gilmour solo. And that Pink Floyd would win this poll. |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 21:18
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Posted By: Rick Robson
Date Posted: July 24 2014 at 09:02
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^Hi HackettFan, what does this album sound like? I'd just downloaded one of these days the tunes Packard Goose and Watermelon in Easter Hay (mentioned here) and the latter surprised me about the guitar melody style, quite enjoyed it, in someway it reminded me of some songs I have from Eric Clapton that also have this slowly paced guitar melodies, quite interesting, I'm just curious about Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar, is this more a jazz based one? I still can't be clicked by this syle unfortunately, anyway happily there are always exceptions that could make me get better its feelings... thanks if you can help me.
------------- "Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." LvB |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 24 2014 at 16:53
Floyd Wins! What a surprise!!  
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Posted By: proggman
Date Posted: July 26 2014 at 22:24
Pink Floyd.------------- When he rides, my fears subside. For darkness turns once more to light. Through the skies, his white horse flies. To find a land beyond the night. |