Prog rock affinity

it occurs to me, quite suddenly, that my uncle had more of an influence on me than my mum and dad. Maybe not necessarily in my choice of what I listened to, so much as in my love for music. My mum’s younger brother was the one who had travelled the world, and been to so many concerts and festivals, and worked at one of the two local AM radio stations. (Apart from the student radio station, we had no FM stations in my hometown when I was growing up.)

Edited by nick_h_nz - January 20 2021 at 01:34

My mother was never all that much into music. Though she did like 70's and 80's pop music, which are some of the first things I got to like. It was my grandmother who had some prog LP's... she particularly liked Focus, specially Hamburger Concerto, and so I got to like that one when I borrowed it. She also had Harmonium, though I don't think she ever payed that much attention to that album... yet I got to love it too thanks to that. And then, she also had, Jetrho Tull's Live Bursting Out and Yes' Relayer (even though I didn't get that much into those ones at the time, it was later on that I looked for those ones too). She also had some other classic rock albums from the 60's and 70's that I borrowed and enjoyed. Among a lot of classical, which is which she really loves most (and I didn't check out anyway).

No.  And in fact, I don't come from any kind of serious rock/pop background at all. We did have tapes of Beatles and ABBA at home.  And Santana's Supernatural.  Dad read a glowing review in the papers and bought it. At the time, it felt like a whole other world of music from our vantage point of Indian music. The track Yaleo from that album might be the first time I was exposed to the concept of extended instrumental sections with soloists (there is a piano solo before Santana takes over, sort of like jazz). 

Humorously enough, my daughter is not too big into prog, some Floyd, a bit of Tull (she plays flute and bass), and that's about it. What we talk about and listen to together is Sinatra, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong. And her boyfriend is into blues, so I take out my Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Son House and Skip James albums and listen to those, as well as jam the blues (he plays guitar also). It's pretty hilarious these 20 somethings are listening to more of my dad's stuff than mine (the ol' man when he was alive could tell you in detail about albums from Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Satchmo, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, etc.). 

Edited by The Dark Elf - January 19 2021 at 18:21

My dad is a big fan of classic rock radio. That's the sort of stuff he grew up with. I know the first band he was into (like many boys in 1978) was Kiss. Later on though he learned a bit about prog since he was in a couple garage bands in the 80s and some of the other players were into Rush and Maiden and Queensryche and stuff like that, and of course listening to the radio long enough he knew about Yes and Pink Floyd and 80s Genesis. After he got done with garage bands I think he went in a more folk singer-songwriter direction with his listening. Lots of James Taylor, David Wilcox, Louden and Rufus Wainright, Jeff Buckley, etc. But he never totally stopped listening to classic rock.

My mom and dad were into Türk Sanat Müziği (Turkish Art Music) mostly. My father is supremely talented in music and he even learned to play the violin without any help or education, together with several other string instruments like cumbush and oud. His voice is also awesome. I think I got my talent in music from him. My mum is just the opposite. Zero talent! Haha. (Though she is very good at drawing and painting, and my dad, like me, has no interest in those and probably no talent too.)

My older and only brother and I were sharing the same tastes in music for a long time, but he got into the Pink Floyd depression in his teens, and I chose the metal mania. So, I still can watch horror movies and my bro cannot. We are like day and night with my brother now. Though, he began to listen to metal again and is still listening. Yet, he likes folk metal and stuff, that I have almost zero interest in.

What was the question, prog rock affinity? Well, I can say I met Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd's earlier albums  thanks to my brother. (I bought The Division Bell myself, my first acquaintance with their albums. I loved and still love High hopes, but the rest of the album was boring for me.) Anyway, I loved prog rock in the 2000s via the internet. 




Edited by Shadowyzard - January 19 2021 at 16:18

Both my parents were Country and Western fans. They tolerated rock music as long as it had lyrics and basic song structures, but once I started listening to Prog, Jazz, J/R Fusion, and Classical, my mom asked me why I was listening to that "long-haired music." So, no musical affinities between generations there.

My parents were into classical music and my dad despised rock music and looked down on most pop music. The only thing he would share his utter derision for more than the Beatles was Louis Mountbatten and pineapple on pizza.

Funnily enough, one of his best friends was a lyricist in soundtrack pop music and for a time after he left military intelligence my dad managed a music hall. We would often have small classical music concerts in the house when growing up, but playing rock music in the house would have been almost taboo (not that my brother cared and he exposed me to lots of stuff). So I got used to keeping my music to myself (or when at friends' houses I'd listen to what they listened to -- they got me into Zep, Cream, Yes, CCR etc.).

My children don't like my music, and I haven't tried to push it on them -- they haven't shown any interest. My son isn't really into music although he sometimes makes music for fun on his computer (he's a maths and sciences nerd). My other child listens to certain kinds of pop stuff used for making videos.

My Australian grandma, who I didn't know very well, loved ABBA, as does my wife. I like ABBA too.

The closet to prog my mum and dad came was Abba, which is to say, not very prog. But, like SW, I can definitely identify the progressive nature of Abba’s pop music, and their enjoyment of Abba transferred down to me. I can’t say I listen to Abba these days, and I couldn’t tell you when I last did (it would be years ago), but for sure, I think that was part of my grounding in and entry to prog, even if it were not actually prog per se.

Most teens today listen only to Porcupine Tree and Radiohead.. that is their idea of alt prog......OMFG !!!