Minimum Length For An Epic

I don't really know what to vote for. Maybe you should've made less possibilities and bigger differences (i.e. 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 25 min). I don't think we really get a big use out of this thread, maybe a tendency.

Also it's hard to define epic for me, but maybe i would consider the following the best prog songs ever (prog songs!!! there are other bands i like equally, but their songs are not as long, so i wouldnt call them epics):

Anglagard - Jordrok (11 min), Caravan - Nine Feet Underground (23 min??), every GY!BE song (~20min), Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother Suite (24min), Camel - both Nimrodel (9min) and lady fantasy (11min), genesis - both musical box (11min) and cinema show (12min??), King Crimson - both Starless (12 min) and 21st century schizoid man (7:30min)

Maybe you can't call 21st cntury schizoid man an epic, so I won't include it in my vote... so the shortest one is: Nimrodel (9min), i voted for 9 min!

I voted 7 minutes, because I know some songs that are pretty epic at that length. But then I thought about it, and 10+ is actually a much better number for it.

6 inches.

If an epic doesn't stretch to 15 minutes plus, well, they're just not trying!

Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is considered as an all-time classic epic by lots of people. It clocks in at just under 6 minutes.

Joren wrote: This poll is useless. Sorry, but what's the point?

Bit harsh there, J.....

There are over 2550 topics on the forums so far, not all of them worthy, by any means.

You been taking subtelty lessons from a certain reincarnated circus performer??

Very difficult to put a figure on it, as an epic is not really defined by its length. For example, "Can utility and the coast liners" by Genesis is for me, everything an epic should be, yet it's about 5 minutes.

On the other hand, "Facelift" by Soft machine is about 20 minutes, but I see it as a jazz fusion improvisation, and by no means epic.

I'm gonna say 6 minutes because that time is roughly in the middle of the range of song length's on Genesis's "Trespass".  Once I understood the album I noted that all the songs have 20 minute epic feel.  the somgs are just as rewarding as well.  Don't forget Peter Gabriel's "Family Snapshot", it's definately a 20 minute - 4 minute song

I think it all depends. "Epic" is a term that can be used pretty loosely. But I think to be qualified as an epic, the song must tell a story. All four of the long songs on Selling England by the Pound could be considered epics with that criteria. But these songs would be just as epic as they would be with the extended instrumental sections, especially in Firth of Fifth and The Cinema Show. The problem is, take those sections out and they lose part of their dynamic structure, and would not be a prog as they were without it. But a song doesn't have to be long to be prog, YYZ is undoubtedly a progressive piece, and only clocks in at 4:24. An epic song can just as easily be summed up in 5 minutes. A Day in the Life is certainly an epic, but of course, it isn't really prog.

You see, in order for a song to have epic and progressive qualities, it must be long for the story and music to both play their part. Xanadu is both, but would it still be both without the five minute instrumental intro? I don't really think you can put a label like "all songs over 15 minutes" are epics, since A Day in the Life and Xanadu are epic and under 15 minutes. It really depends on the song, just as there are songs over 15 minutes that are certainly not epics.

All:

Swinton seems to be going in the right direction by suggesting that the word "epic" needs definition (sort of like "prog"...).  However, it can also be looked at from the opposite direction.

If 9 minutes - or even 15 minutes - is "epic," then what word (other than "masterpiece"...) do we use to describe compositions like "Supper's Ready," "Thick as a Brick," "Zarathustra," or any other 20-minute+ composition?

Conversely, if we describe those (properly, in my opinion) as "epics," then we need another word to describe the compositions offered thus far.

Peace.

Edited by maani