Most Pretentious Moments In Prog

Henry Plainview wrote: To hate. For some of us the hate is the only thing we have. I don't agree with him in this instance, but that's the only reason I'm here too. ;-)

presdoug wrote: the lyrics to Rush's song "The Trees" from Hemispheres

Harry Hood wrote: This forum, and its collective thoughts and discussions, are the most pretentious moment in prog. I'm serious. "Oh why did ELP make Love Beach?" "oh why did Kevin Moore leave Dream theater?" "Oh why don't I understand why the Flower Kings are the best prog band?". You guys spend so much of your time discussing hypothetical non-music that will never be made, that you could theoretically go out and make yourself if you were so inclined, as opposed to asking the artists to deliver your impossible expectations. And how many "Construct Your Own Supergroup" threads are there every month? Really devoting such time and cyberspace to such patter is the pinnacle of pretention. I've never seen a single prog musician do something I'd consider "pretentious". These poor guys are just trying to make a living. In some cases they try to make a living doing something they love. in some cases doing what they love involves pretending to operate an invisible lawnmower or playing two saxaphones simultaneously. Why should we judge them?  They're not being pretentious at all. By d Discussing the hypothetical pretentiousness that you see, however, is as pretentious as it gets. The self important basement dwellers are so much more pretentious than the artist could ever be. And yet you're all too pretentious to see it for yourselves. That is the most pretentious moment.

Stonebolt wrote: Good point, but couldn't you like anything if you took years to do it?

Well I wasn't torturing myself with a lifetime of listening to it. I just thought the music was haphazard, a lot of quite good ideas strung together with no form.

In fact it's very a detailed de- and re-construction of the song. Really it's a challenge for progressive music listeners.

It's all a bit difficult in the music world and I can only thik of one example of pretension which is the Nice vocal on Dawn. It is so Spinal Tap.... There are (IMHO!) awful things like say Greg Lake's more nauseating winsome efforts of balladry (Works 1) or hugely expensive Jon Anderson box sets of his demos which unsurprisingly all sound like Yes songs needing Yes to fill in the important bits.

So as  for pretentious... shall we look at this another way? What is unpretentious mean? Something that is exactly what it is and does not pretend to be any less of itself? Making music as plain and ordinary as one can get (80s pub rock?) Or those artists (in the prog rock and art rock genresspecifically as well as others generally ) with the talent to challenge themselves and their audience? Most of the time they all succeed too.

boo boo wrote: Moonchild isn't any more noodling than a lot of avant garde stuff that gets a lot of critical acclaim, it was at least ahead of it's time.   I actually like the noodling section of the song, a soothing and surreal atmosphere and I like freeform stuff, though I agree that for 9 minutes it goes on for too long. But hey the 40th anniversary version cuts out like 2 and a half minutes of the improv, a wise move I think.

Good point, but couldn't you like anything if you took years to do it?

I listened to In the court of the crimson king for the first time a few days ago. I gave it a three star review.

Prog is organized pretentiousness working with itself without defined limits of conformity.

InClouds wrote: thechrisl wrote: ELP -- The Endless Enigma pt. 2 when the vocals kick in.  Mainly because it is wedged clumsily in between two of their best tracks: Fugue and From The Beginning. See also 80% of Dream Theater. Why does DT get so much hate around here?  I'm thoroughly baffled.  There are certainly much more pretentious prog bands then Dream Theater, that's for sure.

Edited by boo boo - August 13 2010 at 17:26

I've heard and read that Patrick Moraz can be quite a douche in the studio and on tour.