Is prog kitsch?

The closest to kitsch that progressive rock musicians get is probably on their Christmas albums. 

I'm sure more has been written and discussed about sillier.

I always thought kitsch was a word to define hironic imitations of pop. If so, hell yeah, Residents are pretty kitsch!

Listening back to some Heep old stuff....Yes it can be...

thellama73 wrote: thehallway wrote: The Hemulen wrote: thehallway wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: ^ Mmm...isn't there a possibility that one man's kitsch is another man's knowingly derivative? Yes. What is The Court of the Crimson King derivative of though? I don't know the specifics, and I'm not as well acquainted with everything on that album as I probably ought to be, but I think I'm right in saying it's an album which emerged broadly out of psychedelic rock, with a good sprinkling of jazz. It's innovative, for sure, but it's not an album totally without precedent. Nothing is created in a vacuum. Well, of course you're right, but by that argument, everything is kitsch!  As for the 4/4.... it's a perfectly good time signature that's almost essential to music, original or otherwise. To condemn that would be a bit like calling any art kitsch if it uses paint. That was kind of my point. I was making a joke.

Jokes are so kitsch......

I agree. Kitsch requires a widely recognisable reference point (cliché) that is used so far outside its context to be considered risible. As you say, ITCOTCK (and the Prog pioneers) can only be viewed in the light of kitsch if their original innovations are transposed into another completely inappropriate medium (like an album cover reproduced on bathroom towels) Excuse me now as I've just got to phone the patents office....

thehallway wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: ^ Mmm...isn't there a possibility that one man's kitsch is another man's knowingly derivative? Yes. What is The Court of the Crimson King derivative of though?

I don't know the specifics, and I'm not as well acquainted with everything on that album as I probably ought to be, but I think I'm right in saying it's an album which emerged broadly out of psychedelic rock, with a good sprinkling of jazz. It's innovative, for sure, but it's not an album totally without precedent. Nothing is created in a vacuum.

ExittheLemming wrote: ^ Mmm...isn't there a possibility that one man's kitsch is another man's knowingly derivative?

^ Mmm...isn't there a possibility that one man's kitsch is another man's knowingly derivative?

The Hemulen wrote: thellama73 wrote: While I agree with you that it is meaningless to say the language is degrading, thereby placing a value judgment on today's slang viz a viz yesterday's slang, there is a general tendency for language to become more regular  with time, which I think destroys a lot of its characteristic charm. One of my pet peeves is the disappearance of many irregular past tense forms. Example: the past tense of "to dream" used to be "dreamt" but now it is usually "dreamed." Likewise "leapt" has been mostly replaced by "leaped."This is happening all throughout English and I think it's a shame. Yeah, I can't argue with that. Still, the one crumb of comfort with that is we, as individuals, still have the power to resist anything we see as unnecessary change. I still use dreamt and leapt in my writing because the alternatives just look wrong to me. Likewise, I steadfastly refuse to adopt the American "-ization" of -ise words, however often spellcheckers attempt to force it upon me in the name of "standardization" (or "standardisation", as I'd prefer).

I'm an American, but a bit of an Anglophile, so I tend to insert British spellings into my writing such as colour and glamour. The alternative just looks so crude.