VDGG, why the world loves them or hates them?

    It's no secret that VDGG is a band that gets lots of, "I just can't get into them," and, "I don't understand the hype."  So being a huge fan of the group, I would just like to here the reasons that people do or don't like them. I don't want to argue with anyone, I'm happy that everyone can have their own opinions with what music they do and don't like, I would just like to get a better understanding of what goes through people's heads with this particular group.


   On a side note, I would like to mention that I've grown up in the U.S.A and that even after initially listening to bands like Rush, Pink Floyd, and Genesis, I have allowed myself to adapt to the likes of more "wierd" and intriguing bands like that of the Krautrock, R.I.O, etc. Some of my favorites include VDGG, Henry Cow, Can, Magma, Captian Beefheart, and you get the picture.

I have had van der graaf generator albums since I was a small kid.  I sort of liked them.  Nothing to write home about, but also some cool tunes.  I FAR MORE preferred the 80s Alt Rock Hammill -- PH7, Future Now, Sitting Targets, Black Box.

I think it was Black Box that made me really appreciate Hammill and thus Van der graaf.  To this day I think of Vdgg like Absinthe or Cognac.  You certainly wouldn't want to chug it at a barbeque, but when you sip it slowly and on an appropriate occasion it is like a perfect essence.

The first three albums are magical and twisted.  There is some angel dust on those tapes and I think the band themselves were concerned by the spirits their music conjured.  When taken with the "band" tracks from Hammill albums thru Nadir, there is a DARK Frightening energy in the music.  Genesis sometimes gets there with Salmacis and Trespass, but ultimately lost their dark edge when their vocal pitch went a bit higher.

For me the last great vdgg album was Godbluff.  Certainly there were amazing and excellent songs on the subsequent albums, but Godbluff was a dense wasteland battlefield of incomprehensible music, not "songs" per se.  There was menace and magic and death and madness in those songs.  I didn't feel that madness in the last two albums of the classic period. 

For me, the VDG album that followed (Zone...) was basically songs by Hammill, but the shock was gone. 

Now, years later, after thousands of listens of Yes, ELP, Genesis, I started to crave something darker and with heavy substance and I found those early albums to fit the bill.  I finally "GOT" them.

It took many years, but now I am a hardened fan.  I feel those albums are scarier than any by Sabbath, Crimson's metal period (red). 

Anyway, enough from me, I'll just await my exorcism...

It's a shame one would deny a band like VDGG considering how wide their sound can vary. 

It is felt that the music of VDGG is wonderful. It is also true to have influenced Voivod and La Rossa. In john Lydon, having been indirectly influenced from Hammill is also true. However, I still have the element of the difficulty in the music character and directionality for Solo of Hammill.

I don't mind complex or dark music but VDGG's Pawn Hearts goes a few steps too far here for my taste.

there's a great (and long) album to be compiled from the solo hammill albums of 72-74.

Black Room is amazing!

Blacksword wrote: Man Erg wrote: The thing that I have always loved about VdGG is the extremes. They can break your heart with beautiful melodies and lyrics.Scare the sh*t out of you or just put you into rapture, especially when they get into a 'groove'. I think that is when they are at their best,When they play as an 'organic' unit. Totally and utterly unique, I think this hits the nail for me. VDGG shift between the beautifully melancholic, and the psychotic and sinister. Clearly not everyone is going to like a group that can sound so unhinged at times. To say that they are an acquired taste is putting it very mildly. Their lack of guitar and solos generally may be an issue for some proggers to. If you consider flashy synth solos and shredding lead guitar work, to be a pre-requisite for good prog rock, then VDGG will profoundly let you down. But that's not me, so I love em!

People say they are an acquired taste, but if you really dislike VDGG initially it is doubtful you are going to learn to like them.  I think it is more the case that a lot of fans of the band had the same experience that I had.  When I first heard the band, I thought "wow this is very different, its pretty good but I dont like it that much."  Then, with more listens, I began to love hammills voice and the emotions their music creates and I really fell in love with the band.  So, it was an acquired taste for me in that with more listens I went from just liking their music to loving it, but that does not mean that everyone who dislikes the band from the start can learn to like them with more listens.

an interesting point brought up about solos and guitars and whatnot.  I think interesting and captivating song writing is so much more important than the trappings of "progressive rock".  The moogy synths playing Hammer/Powell-esque solos and the uber D-R-A-M-A guitar solo-ettes can be fatiguing.  To hear something that achieves the same level of creativity and disorientation with a different palette is exciting and that's why I love vdgg.  Plus, not being a twiddly musician myself, I'm probably jealous of the musos who can twiddle convincingly and thus gravitate to those whose talents are more harmonious with my own...

Sorry to wreck your premise, but since I haven't tried them I have no opinion.