It was the worst of times and the best of times

Actually, I dislike a number of synth sounds. The synth Tony Banks used on SEBTP, for example, was awful. I can't remember the particular instrument but it sounds terrible. That being said, he upgrades for The Lamb, and that one sounds much better. I also think that the synths are far and away the worst part of Images and Words. Kevin's a great player but his tone is pure cheese. Not that Ruddess' "poor man's guitar" is all that much better.

But I guess that while I'm not a tremendous fan of synths, 80s synths were especially bad. Like, that is just the worst of the worst right there. I don't think it's even physically possible to get a worse sound than that. Even the synths on Dun's Eros can be a bit too much for me, and that's about as inoffensive as the 80s got.

Then when you put those awful sounds in the context of more awful sounds, including drum machines, cheesy vocals, and an entire production philosophy that seems to based around the assumption that adult contemporary is the only thing people listen to, it just becomes unbearable.

Anyway, all that is to say that no, I will not defend 80s Genesis. They did not make good pop. They made terrible pop.

Some good ideas there

Henry Plainview wrote:     How old are you?   And yes I know people who have the same feeling about 70s synths and bluesy guitar licks.   So it is a generational thing, though I grew up in the 90s so maybe I wasn't overexposed to it, but I enjoy a lot of music from the 80s (very very little of which is prog, the 80s was a terrible decade for prog) and I think it's a pretty underrated decade overall.   I don't know how a prog fan can have problems with synths, but even the electric drums doesn't bother me, then again I'm a electronica fan. As far as the 80s is concerned, I'd take new wave groups like Talking Heads and The Police over Marillion and astonishingly boring stuff like IQ without a second thought. 20, and it's ok if people don't like bluesy guitar licks, I don't have much patience these days for classic rock. The point is not the synth itself, it's the synth tone. To someone who wasn't exposed to them at an early age, they're bafflingly awful. It's impossible for me to even understand why everybody thought that was a good idea. It's like listening Steve Howe play a chord, or Nickelback playing the same chord. I have no comment on The Police vs. Marillion because I don't know or care much about either. Except that Message in a Bottle is a pretty annoying song.

Someone needs to be drastically educated on the greatness of the 1980s.

Wishbone Ash: There´s The Rub was brilliant but the follow-up Locked In was awful.

and how could one forget Deep Purple, from the enjoyable "Perfect Strangers" to the totally forgettable "House of Blue Light"

Textbook wrote: Non-prog but Doves sure did this. 2002's The Last Broadcast was possibly my favourite record of the year and the 2004 follow-up Some Cities was so bad I gave my copy away.   In proggier waters, Porcupine Tree may have done this with Fear Of A Blank Planet to The Incident. The Incident isn't horrendous, but it's certainly a sharp and alarming decline.

I'm puzzled by the comments about Porcupine Tree although I realise you are not alone.For me PT reached an absolute peak with Deadwing with a very slight slide after with FOABP and The Incident both being not quite as good.

If Pop is Mozart and Dixieland also would be folk music and Gosspel ( as soon it was popular) .

Oh its great some finne discussion!

No, I wouldn't but I don't open myself up for criticism of my art. Any artist is an open target it goes with the business

  How can you, as an artist and writer, think that you are not opening yourself up to criticism on your work? ... It is visible after all, isn't it?   The question is from the artist stand point, and the history of the arts, that if I do not stand up for what I see and do as an art, it won't go far anyway. The better I can define my work and myself, the better I can present it to you.   I can NOT, present my work in your words! You must see that. Picasso can't paint with your words or ideals. He paints with what he SEES.

 

I suppose that it is important to me when we think that the media and critics have the right to strip the person of himself/herself.  You will not have "art" at the end of that.

 

Do not confuse your view with another view. And the fact that because you are taking a "public" view, you have the right to dictate what the artist/person must do. There would be no change if that was the case ... just more lawyers confusing the law, but that's another issue.

 

So, in a fun example, when you see "Amadeus" take a look at the court and the "critics" ... guess who you sided with? ... yeah ... the one that said .. "too many notes? ... that's what it seems like to me. You have to make room for the person and the individuality, or the music stops living.

 

There is no Peter Hammill or Van Der Graff Generator without this ability or freedom to a very large degree, is one of the best examples I can give you. Or a Roy Harper in my book!

Henry Plainview wrote: ] I like Metal Machine Music.