Prog lover = low self esteem

How many times have you used the words "prog rock" in conversation and you eventually learn that the person you were talking to reveals that they thought you were talking about "Prague rock", like some sort of Czech branch of rock music?  Happened to me twice recently!

I`m actually embarassd to use the phrase progrock  because many people don`t even know what the hell it is. Just saying that I listen to all kinds of freaked out sh*t is easier.

Vibrationbaby wrote: Speaking for myself I listen to all kinds of other sh*t.

So do I, but not always by choice.  I was in a public washroom the other day....

Sorry. Ignore the above drunken post...

I thougt prog was cool ?
So is punk (outside the radio stuff) , country (apart from the corporate country), metal (except for the coroner report like lyrics), classic rock (though I just listen to the music that has been played less than 472 times on the radio), R & B / Dance (the good stuff like the old Stax Motown , yes even Hall & Oates (& fripp, Donna Summer), Bluegrass ( some of the best musicians play it. No, really). jazz (no Kenny G please, replace with Grover Washington. Miles, Coltrane, Brubeck rule), Pop (like the Beatles, XTC, the Finn family of groups, Nick Lowe and many others), classical (prog without beethoven ???) reggae (even their white boy wanna bes like the Police), Blues (please, the SRV grimace playing the beat up strat is overdone. And nobody's going to beat RJ, HW, BB, JLH, and others. Maybe Clarence Brewer).

The coolest though - the Banana Splits.

or rather  - the ultimate point to this thread - the coolest music is the one that you are enjoying listening to now. And later.

ClemofNazareth wrote: Darklord55 wrote: Ya but, I'll never be able to understand why  a person would  like country or rap.  Someone please explain.           For that reason alone we need a progetariat.  Power to the proggers!! No excuse for rap that I can think of, but without country we wouldn't have country rock, which means no Allman Brothers, no Buffalo Springfield, no 'Freebird', no Neil Young, no CSN; and no alt.country which would mean no Wovenhand, no Holopaw, no Calexico, no Kings of Leon, .... this would not be good

Max Roach thought highly of rap. Boiling down the essence of sound to rhythm .

Prog lovers shouldn't feel bad at all about listening to prog. Attacking prog is like attacking Bambi. Bambi is so innocent and peaceful that anyone who ridicules Bambi is a flat-out moron because it's basically hating the idea of sentimental innocence. That equally goes for symphonic prog. It's such an open target, of course you could trample it if you wanted to, but why would you want to in the first place? People who think Genesis' Cinema Show or Marillion's Jigsaw are embarrassing might just have a few unconscious insecurities within themselves. That's their problem, not the prog lovers. The music has benefited me personally rather the other way around, THATS for sure!

American Khatru wrote: Thanks for the kind words Anderson III (assuming by "dem beatz" you meant mine and not RZA's).  I'd love to hear yours.  With mine it was definitely a fine and minimalist approach, with music theory thrown in, and not a dirty and expansive approach (though I dig that too - can you say Company Flow?).   PS. Love your avatar.  That's the perfect picture.  If I showed it to my mom and gave her 10 guesses what that man does for a living, there's no way she'd say rock guitar legend.

Oh yes, I forgot to point out "dem beatz" were indeed yours! A friend of mine and I just finished creating tracks for our album, and we're heading to Netherlands in august to record the studio versions. I will then definitely put a link here if you're interested! The songs are pretty progressive, I think each has it's own personality and there's a number of sections in all of them. No choruses, no repetition, no effing around - and it's quite intense!

And you're right: that avatar is definitely something! Bob looks so cool...

JJLehto wrote: Actually, I had my lowest self esteem/depression/moodyness and bleak out look back a few years ago. As my musical tastes got more and more progressive my overall mindset has actually gotten better!

Me too!  I rediscovered prog via this web site a few years back which indeed changed my disposition.   I also started listening to metal of all shapes and sizes.  This helped deal with some anger issues.   From this,  to that.    It's great therapy!!

American Khatru wrote: Anderson III wrote: jammun wrote: [QUOTE=Darklord55] Don't worry. I'll take care of the rap thing... The way rappers use the human voice as a musical element is actually quite unique and remarkable. As a rhythmic instrument it's definitely my favorites, because one can experiment with all these different tones and express any emotion easily. Unlike in other styles of vocal music where the lyrics are usually built within the melody, in Hip Hop it's in the rhythm - which actually insinuates that when done right, rapping is more versatile than drumming. But there's more: when the rhythm is put into rhyme, the correspondence of sound actually makes it "flow" beautifully. I can't say I'm surprised that PA members don't like Hip Hop beats very much. After all, they are similar to standard Rock 'n Roll: loud and minimalistic. But of all the genres that focus on hard-hitting beats, "hooks and loops", Hip Hop is still without a doubt my absolute favorite. I guess it's a question of taste, but I'm in love with filthy sounding music! I also prefer a clever arrangement of samples from various sources (rock, jazz, prog, funk, etc.) to that boring old guitar riff. Even if you're one of those who just like to sit back and marvel at the technique of the musicians, Hip Hop still has something to offer! There are MC's like The Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truthskeaper and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony if you want to go "how do they do that?". Plus rappers have attitude! And do I even have to mention Hip Hop as a performance art? The spectre of Rap has moved things a bit off topic, and got me thinking... (Exhale...) Alright, I'm coming out of the closet.  I spent a little time into Rap (though not at the expense of everything else) when I thought that it was exhibiting what you might call progressive tendencies (I don't mean that I go about programmed to consciously accept or decline music based upon specified parameters; I just mean that, in retrospect, I think I know why my tastes fell where they did).  There where actually two periods.  One was when Three Feet High, Nation of Millions, By All Means Necessary, and Paul's Boutique came out (1987-89).  Then 'gangsterism' caught full hold (despite protestations from Rap's brightest at the time) and I thought, "well, there's that."  The second spot was from the surprising Wu-Tang Clan member's: The Liquid Swords and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, both beautifully produced by RZA (1995).  These two records really made me think that Rap was going to highly interesting places with it's music; but, alas, it would not hold.  (BTW, I'm not addressing the matter of lyrics here at all, but I guess I'll say two things: with Liquid Swords I do like many of the lyrics, I guess because there's a sadness and regret about them, a human power; I don't know what Raekwon is talking about (((WHO DOES?))), but the poetic flow on Cuban Linx was fascinating to me.  But yes, I too can do without deriding women and the rest of the crap that goes on in most rap lyrics.  Admittedly these rappers are not speaking to my experience, so I can't really comment.) However, in the inspired interem, I started to put together an idea for music in Hip-Hop form.  I would produce some tunes without vocals by an almost classical approach, perhaps interest someone in them.  It took longer than I expected to put together the means though (life got "interesting" for me in the late 90's and also money was an issue, plus I knew nothing then about computers), and it didn't happen for me ("official" interest I mean).  And in the end this was probably for the best.  However I did make what I think are some interesting instrumental, or should I say sample-based, tracks.  (All an admittedly 'white' approach, I know .) If you care to (here's the part where I "come out") you can hear some of these things on my MySpace page.  I'd love to know what people think of course, and I would like more 'friends' and 'comments' if you care to .  If you want to take the time I suggest listening through them in order, as if it were an EP.  At least one tune should make people here laugh, others I guess are more "serious". (Note: I write about the stuff on the lower left of the myspace page, under "The music in the player..."  Double Note: I highly recommend NOT viewing the page in Internet Explorer because the formatting comes out all crazy.) Thanks, and sorry for the off-topic.  But I've unburdened my soul somewhat this morning.

Listened to Liquid Swords today! 

Dem beatz be pretty tight, but a bit minimalistic for me. My own approach to Hip Hop is currently quite aggressive, but I have my calmer tracks too.