Battle of the Prog Bands R3D5: Zappa vs. Magma

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 Logan wrote:

I still care. I care more about greater understanding than I do simple preferences, though. I don't expect someone to like something I like unless it's someone with very similar tastes, but I still care about trying to convey what makes something special, or important, to me in a discussion setting. I'm also interested in what others like and don't like, and why. I know that other people's opinions, and music they've shared with me, has swayed my own opinions about music and the value of certain music. It's important to me that people recognise that there are valid differences in perception between people, and we don't hear things quite the same.  Music is an art and a language which is interpreted differently by different brains. Sometimes I get a little miffed by all of the "I don't get why others like this" etc. comments. Experience, as well as inherent traits, affects our comprehension and perceptions. Had I grown up with, say, rap rather than classical music, I'd probably like different music. I know I'm digressing horrible, but each of us is on a musical journey, and tastes and perception can alter over time.

Nicely put.  
I never fully understand when someone says something like "I don't listen to music I don't like."  Well, how do you know what you like or don't like?  How do you grow from there?  If I decided in advance like this I wouldn't be able to enjoy a number of musicians or writers who I now claim as favourites.  Some of the artists I most respect are people whose work I looked at awry the first time, I just didn't know how to take it in. Multiple listens (or readings or watchings) got me to a point where I could find an entry way.  The music and art I most enjoy show me a new world or show me the world in a new way, and that won't necessarily be easygoing.

Logan, I also appreciate the gist of the start of your comment here.  I think it's too easy for one to say, "I just prefer this and that's that."  I don't think saying something is a matter of taste or opinion is the end of the conversation.  To say it's all subjective is not the end of the argument.  It's just the start.  I'm less interested in seeing someone say, "I like Magma and I don't like Zappa."  The real issue is by what criteria do you base your judgement?  What I am interested in, genuinely, seriously interested in, is why people like what they like.  In the case being discussed here, Zappa and Vander (et al) are clearly brilliant, talented people. Neither is a joke to be easily tossed aside (except in the emptiest most useless kind of internet criticism). So what specifically about these artists' work most appeals to you?

For me, I went for Zappa in my vote because there is something in the tense contrast of his work that deeply appeals to me.  It's that meeting of doo-wop and Varese, that great aspiration to the complexities of a modern orchestral suite melding and jarring with the inanity of a dog food commercial.  That hurts in a good way.  I love something like, "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary," for this precise reason.  The arrangement of the instrumentation of that composition is staggeringly complex but then the cartoon-type story in the narration brings a whole other slightly dissonant relationship to the piece.  A meeting of Stravinsky and Carl Stalling.  Anyway, that's one of the reasons why I voted as I did.  

Now back to your regularly programmed schedule of shows.

Poll Question: Which artist do you prefer?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Frank Zappa	89	[61.38%]
Magma	56	[38.62%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted