Why don't most people love our beloved music?

Most people nowadays don't want to be impressed by music that they can't immediately relate to.

They only want music that is blatantly danceable ... or reminds them of themselves lyrically (folk, pop) ...
or they can see themselves playing with minimal training if they actually opted to do so (rap, punk, grunge)

Any music that they can not relate to directly or vicariously
is considered simply uncool or downright pretentious.

Prog was popular during a brief window of time when it was surprisingly trendy to be existential in pop culture.

Since then, Prog has been relegated to niche market
-- just like many other musical styles that require a combination of natural talent and technical skill. 

Of course... What the hell do I know??  I love Prog.
Technically I must be crazy...since I lay waaay outside the thinking of the norm.

cstack3 wrote: It's quite simple, actually....you can't dance to it (unless you want to end up looking like a lurching spastic or something!) Fripp's foray into dance began with "Exposure" and reached its zenith with "League of Gentlemen."  At his Chicago gig, he insisted on a dance floor in front of the stage.  Of course, all of us Fripp geeks immediately crowded onto the floor & crowded up at the stage!!  Dancing?  Nope, not one!!    Sorry, Robert!!   As I see it, the lack of danceable rhythms is the real reason why prog tends to be a guy's sport.  Rarely, prog songs made it into the disco (I think "Sledgehammer" was one).  Look at the effort that David Bowie and others made to produce danceable product.

Really? A dancefloor? I'd like to see Bob get down on a dance floor. Love the cover of their only album. I made it into a poster. I don't think it has ever been releasedon CD. Have to check DGM.

rogerthat wrote: I still disagree.  If it's not in any melody or rhythm whatsoever (regardless of how correctly or not the melody or rhythm is reproduced), it is not music.

Edited by wilmon91 - May 19 2011 at 17:57

wilmon91 wrote: a nihilistic view.

and

Henry Plainview wrote:

pretty much go hand in hand.



Edited by Padraic - May 19 2011 at 18:46

Harry Hood wrote: cstack3 wrote:   Prog was also most popular in the 1970's, when marijuana was widely available & commonly used!  Even the musicians used it (many of them anyway) from what I've read.....TFTO was supposedly conceived during a trans-Atlantic flight, when the band Yes were stoned on hash brownies!!  Concerts in the 1970's were so thick with pot smoke that you could barely see the stage.  These days, concerts are so antiseptic that they are not nearly the "event' that they used to be.   If anything marijuana is more widely used and available now than it ever was back then. In the 70's pot was much more demonized and something of a niche, but these days it's become a major part of popular culture (despite it's illegality), and you can even get a prescription to use it legally in some parts of the world. You can't smoke in venues anymore but that's simply because you can't smoke in venues anymore. But the correlation between decreased marijuana use and decreased prog popularity is just silly.

The Dark Elf wrote: Garden of Dreams wrote: Harry Hood wrote: cstack3 wrote:   Prog was also most popular in the 1970's, when marijuana was widely available & commonly used!  Even the musicians used it (many of them anyway) from what I've read.....TFTO was supposedly conceived during a trans-Atlantic flight, when the band Yes were stoned on hash brownies!!  Concerts in the 1970's were so thick with pot smoke that you could barely see the stage.  These days, concerts are so antiseptic that they are not nearly the "event' that they used to be.   If anything marijuana is more widely used and available now than it ever was back then. In the 70's pot was much more demonized and something of a niche, but these days it's become a major part of popular culture (despite it's illegality), and you can even get a prescription to use it legally in some parts of the world. You can't smoke in venues anymore but that's simply because you can't smoke in venues anymore. But the correlation between decreased marijuana use and decreased prog popularity is just silly. Marijuana is definitely still popular.  Almost everyone at my high school smokes it except me.  Its still part of the culture and I smelled plenty of it at the Iron Maiden and Rush concerts I attended (great shows).   Not so fast, Garden. In the 70s smoking cigarettes was allowed in arenas in the U.S.; therefore, ushers could not ascertain whether joints or cigarettes were being passed back and forth, and so joints were passed up and down rows all through concerts (and any other drug could be purchased in the bathrooms as well). Nowadays, in the U.S. at least, there is a smoking ban in public places throughout the U.S. and concealing pot is much more difficult. You'll get thrown out for smoking a Marlboro, for Christ's sake. I would definitely say the crowds were a lot more stoned in the 70s than currently. Hell, most older fans (including myself)  bring their kids to concerts these days, and that was unheard of back then.  Nope, beers are now friggin' $10 a glass and smoking is being watched.   Harry's right, it aint the same. But that really has no bearing on prog's popularity, really. Concerts just aren't as good as they used to be.

I suppose we have a liking for complexity and invention, whereas the mainstream tends to prefer familiarity and convention. 

Prior to discovering this website by chance back in 2004 I  didn't really classify music at all. Either I like it or I didn't whether it was Tangerine Dream or Blondie.or Motorhead or Rimsky -Korsakov. I was actually looking for something about the Hungarian band Omega and ran into PA in my search ( I had just got my first computer ). Many bands I like just happen to fit into this category called prog rock. In my early days of colecting music back n the mid seventies just about any popular music  that wasn't disco, country, jazz or classical was classified as progressive.
I foud this in my pile of crap. It' an excerpt from a David Byrne article from the The New York Times, Oct.3 1999. The title of the article was "I hate World Music".

" Having the right piece of music at the right time of your life can inspire a radical change,destructive personal behaviour or even fascist politics. Sometimes all at the same time . On the other hand, musiccan inspire Llove, religious ecstacy, catharic release, social bonding and  a glimpse of another dimension. A sense that there is anothertime, another space and another, better universe. It can heal a broken heart, offer a shoulder to cry on and a friend when no one else understands. There are times when you want to be transported,, to get your mind around some stuff you've never encountered before."

I dunno I don't go around saying I'm a progrock fan. If someone asks what do ypu listen to I just say a lot of sh*t that's off the beaten track. A lot ofsh*t that's weird to a lot of people but not weird to me.


Edited by Vibrationbaby - May 20 2011 at 10:06

JeanFrame wrote: I suppose we have a liking for complexity and invention, whereas the mainstream tends to prefer familiarity and convention.

So why does the pop music of today sound starkly different from the pop music of the 50s? Uh, sure, there are retro acts trying to evoke the sounds of the past but that doesn't mean all pop music is exactly the way it used to be back then.  How much of today's pop music would have been found conventional 50 years earlier, I wonder.  These things are not so cut and dry and we have to also consider that not everyone has the stamina or energy to read and gather information about emerging music or less popular music so they get influenced by what the media promotes in the mainstream.  Perhaps, if something daring did get promoted in the mainstream, they may be more receptive to it than we like to believe.  Progheads in the current scenario can network with other progheads on the net and keep tabs on new prog acts but not all progheads keep pace with trends in other genres of music.  Some progheads are not interested in electronic music which is all over the mainstream, for instance.  It's tough, at the end of the day, to devote attention to more than one scene. 

I think this is a silly thread. So clear off, the lot of you.