Does humor belong in prog?

someone said Robert Fripp is an unfunny man, or something like that. True it may not show much in his music, but he is definitly a man of humor. have u not heard live KC albums? he's "Chuckles Fripp" for gosh darns sake.. haha

Edited by darkshade - October 30 2006 at 23:25

Josepet wrote: In my opinion, Seamus and St.Tropez are not humorous, just silly fillers. The same as JTull's "Hare who lost..." and some Zappa goofy jokes. Those songs just turn me off. On the other hand, Jeremy Bender and The Sheriff work for me. And when I think of a musician who totally lacks sens of humour, Fripp is the man. But that is not bad. In the end, those folks are musicians, not clowns.

    


That's a standard misconception. He actually has a good sense of humor.

A taste of humor can add to a song, as long as it is used sparingly. If I recall, genesis put some little bits of humor in their music and I find their music to kick ass! I guess a band has to be able to 'pull off' the humor though.

Well, IMO, saying humor doesn't belong in prog is about as stupid as saying that the surrealist movement doesn't belong in litterature. Or that Monty Python's Quest for The Holy Grail shouldn't be considered a movie.

Humor is a means of escape and a light yet efficient form of social and behaviourial criticism. It shouldn't be shunned from the entire sphere of human emotions. It belongs in prog because prog is about the expression of the soul through music and damn, if your soul never laughs, you're already dead, my friend.

Peter Rideout wrote: Dick Heath wrote: Many British bands love their puns - Genesis (pun after pun on British retailers amongst others on Can-Utility), in particular! Similarly album titles as puns or word games - although Love had some of the best (e.g. Forever Changes), and I note quite a number of Scandanavian  bands readily can play these games too.   However, my favourite is from fringe proggers Capability Brown: Keep death off the road, drive on the pavement. A little cross-cultural translation is in order here, I see!   That one only works in Britain, Dicklington. In North America, the pavement is the road -- what you call "the pavement," we call the sidewalk.   (For us, "pavement" is another name for asphalt, as opposed to concrete, which our sidewalks are made from).

Peter

The well know Anglophile and travel writer Bill Brysden has written a couple excellent guides to the separation of the English language into British and American. I suppose what shocked a lot of Brit who had thought America has corrupted the language, is in fact than Americans tend to retain old English more than the Brits - 'pavement/sidewalk' is one pair example Brysden quotes - 'sidewalk' being Elizabethan/Shakespearian English,' pavement' is more recent use this side of the Atlantic, possibly because of the use of paving stones from the Victorian period.

I'm reminded of my first stay in the USA - 2 months in Lancaster PA - I used to crack puns and occasionally I would get a smile, and the reaction: 'Hey Monty Pyhton humor' - then after a brief laugh, the further commment - 'I don't understand Monty Python'. However, I get the Capability Brown pun and it is fairly smart to slip it into a song.

Then 'pardon me' is one of those American expressions that doesn't quite mean the same over here. 'Pardon me' is often used in the UK as a half hearted apology for (accidently) breaking wind. So there is the possibility when a Brit is talking to an American, and with the American not quite understanding, then interrupts with "pardon me", the Brit will stop, sniff the air and think the American has silently farted.

Many British bands love their puns - Genesis (pun after pun on British retailers amongst others on Can-Utility), in particular! Similarly album titles as puns or word games - although Love had some of the best (e.g. Forever Changes), and I note quite a number of Scandanavian  bands readily can play these games too.

FZ belongs in prog!

a lot of times his humor comes through story-telling which is timeless.

Is this thread some kind of a joke? Is Peter Gabriel a comedian? Wipe those smiles off your faces, this is a place for serious discussion about prog, which is a very serious genre.

Humor fits to everything, but it makes the subject then appealing mostly to a group sharing the appetite for the humor used.

you find a lot of humor and sex in jethro tull.or elp ''love beach''where they dress like the bee gees in the cover.i cant stop laughting on that one