Men only?

fandango wrote: I am listening to Renaissance at the moment...(Scheherazade if you are interested...) and was wondering what the make up of their audiences used to be, genderwise... ....Blacksword, Peter, any ideas?

Cant say for sure, but I thought I should congratulate you on your fine taste!

I love that album so much at the moment, its gets played to death. I love the orchestrations, the piano playing the production, Haslams voice etc etc....superb..

Anyway, all I know is that every female acquaintence I have played Rennaisance to, has said they quite like it and regard it to be more folk than prog. I dont know where threefates is at the moment, but you may want to ask her, as I think she saw them live a few times.

Bob Greece wrote: Steve Hogarth of Marillion has been asking fans to take their girlfriends to concerts as he was tired of seeing just men. Why is it that prog appeals more to men than women?

Phil Collins made an interesting comment about this in Genesis' excellent "A History" video (find it if you can).

He said much of Genesis' 70s music was too complex for women, a bit sexist perhaps but who knows? Perhaps it's the adventurous imagry of much prog - knights, sci-fi, etc., which appeals more to men.

In the same way, "emotional" music like folk tends to appeal to women more.

Garion81 wrote: Blacksword wrote: I dont know what the OC is, I'm a man I dont watch it!  Seriously, it's a sh!t American soap opera which focuses on the lives of physically beautiful but intensely hatefull and stupid young men and women in some predictable sunny seaside resort, probably in California. It's web of shallow relationships, surfing, and bitchy cat fights....I think...My ex used to watch it, but I wouldn't let her watch it in the living room because I thought it would be bad for our pet cats intellectual development!!   The "OC" is supposed to be based on Orange County, California.  It is the place Walt Disney made his kingdom, Where the Angels baseball team plays and the place the St Louis Rams moved from. It is called Orange County because at one time they had groves and groves of Orange trees. It is also my birthplace and I would never, ever move back there.  It is a place that has been taken over by non native Californians that drove the housing prices through the roof and they build on every square inch they can. Houses, Strip malls, and shopping malls as far as the eye can see.  They have ruined some of the most beautiful areas in Southern California like the canyons behind the hills and the hills of Laguna Beach with their stupid houses and stores. By the way for all of that the show has very little to do with life there. It is really, really bad televison.

Yeah, I figured there was a reality gap

Blacksword wrote: Anyway if you want to make yourself more desirable to women get some tips from Snow Dog, he's been carrying on like a dog with two d!cks today!

Snow Dog has more women in his life than he knows what to do with...believe me; I've met 'em.... of course he labours under the misapprehension that he is the head of the house, but that's only because he is blissfully unaware of the amount of subtle manipulation he is under...

Perhaps you're a lazy bastard who lies down on the couch all day, listening to supposedly underrated Rush albums, live versions of 'Benny The Bouncer', while mumbling something about how life is unfair and bacon prices being high, only to be interrupted by an alarm clock that reminds you of logging onto progarchivs.com, finding the newest post of Poxx, and in a pathetic way, attempt to argue against the ultimate truth.

Perhaps you're just very gifted with musical intelligence!!

When asking this question, you may as well ask why science and sports and other such areas, are dominated by men. The answer is desire.

It's not prog rock in itself, that can't keep chicks interested, but actually just complex and intellectual music overall. Progressive rock, evokes emotions through the mind and intellect, where as simple pop targets emotions directly. This is what is frowned upon, but in fact, having ones mind and intellect dominate ones feelings, is actually a handicap, rather than an advantage. Women are simply better at analyzing their emotions, and acting according to them. Men not so. Regardless, that's how it works, and that's how prog works.

A wise man once said: "You spend your whole adult life searching, craving, grieving and urging, for what you had or didn't have as a child."

Fritha wrote: This may sound too out there for some of you but I personally think (and I am speaking from own experience of course) that prog and music in general becomes a most wonderful venture once the music is let to speak for itself, rather than being treated the way most people treat it (not only women, mind you): as some sort of musical "mirror" for one's own feelings and thoughts. The purpose of music for these people is not to expose oneself to unprecedented feelings and emotions and thoughts but to get a confirmation of one's feelings by the means of 'safe' music. It is what I would call a self-centered way of listening to music and I certainly adopted it in my teens. It served its purpose, of course, but it also prevented me from exploring music's more hidden splendours... I once read a study online, which dealt with women and prog rock, wish I could find the link again... My take on the subject of women and prog is that there are probably more women into prog than is generally believed, but that for most women listening to prog becomes an intensely private affair due to the lack of social support/social sanction for such an endeavour. Then again, I know better than trying to convert my female friends to the ways of prog, when keeping in mind that most women of my age are way too busy bringing up children and taking care of the household, in addition to working outside the house! Many women lead busy lives, they don't have the time or the energy to really devote themselves to something as abstract as music... Thus they prefer to take the "OC route" as somebody here wrote already  It's the female version of winding down by sprawling on the couch and watching sports so don't be too hard on your ladyfriends and wives! lol

Fritha:

That doesn't sound 'out there' to me. It makes sense, and you're right about 'safe music' It is not exclusively a female thing. 

This may sound too out there for some of you but I personally think (and I am speaking from own experience of course) that prog and music in general becomes a most wonderful venture once the music is let to speak for itself, rather than being treated the way most people treat it (not only women, mind you): as some sort of musical "mirror" for one's own feelings and thoughts. The purpose of music for these people is not to expose oneself to unprecedented feelings and emotions and thoughts but to get a confirmation of one's feelings by the means of 'safe' music. It is what I would call a self-centered way of listening to music and I certainly adopted it in my teens. It served its purpose, of course, but it also prevented me from exploring music's more hidden splendours...

I once read a study online, which dealt with women and prog rock, wish I could find the link again... My take on the subject of women and prog is that there are probably more women into prog than is generally believed, but that for most women listening to prog becomes an intensely private affair due to the lack of social support/social sanction for such an endeavour. Then again, I know better than trying to convert my female friends to the ways of prog, when keeping in mind that most women of my age are way too busy bringing up children and taking care of the household, in addition to working outside the house! Many women lead busy lives, they don't have the time or the energy to really devote themselves to something as abstract as music... Thus they prefer to take the "OC route" as somebody here wrote already  It's the female version of winding down by sprawling on the couch and watching sports so don't be too hard on your ladyfriends and wives! lol 

fandango wrote: Blacksword wrote: I hate shoes. I wear the bloody things until they are falling off my feet. I hate shopping for them, and I've never known a man to care about shoes, apart from a few who insist on spending a fortune on Nike trainers, knocked up for a couple of bucks in some hellish sweatshop somewhere! No I dont do shoes.. If I may be as bold as to suggest....pop in to Clarks...their shoes are comfy, practical and above all they last an incredibly long time! If you went and bought 2 pairs, even if you wore one pair all the time, between them they should last you about 4 years...leaving you time and money to think about your CD collection... (more practical household tips will be available in daily installments courtesy of the Fandango)

Another one of those at the same time tomrrow, yeah?

You talk sense, but what would happen if my trendy mates saw me going into Clarks?? I've got an image to uphold round these parts, you know...

I'll bear it in mind though, I could be very discreet...