Fanboyism in progressive rock

Toaster Mantis wrote:  It's probably more accurate to say that people's musical/literary/cinematic tastes are products of their personalities and the personality includes things like social identity.

Toaster Mantis wrote:   People insisting that other sub-genres of rock'n'roll don't have proficient musicianship or ambitious concepts at all. I can't remember a single member of this site claiming that he/she only listens Prog, but if somebody considers that a determined genre (Like I believe about RAP) is hardly a proficient genre....It's just a personal opinion and personal taste. Treating progressiveness or stylistic complexity as something that's good in itself rather than as a means to an end. That's the reason why I don't like Gentle Giant, because IMO they are complex for the sake of complexity. Endless nitpicking over what's "really" progressive and what isn't, which starts to look like an excuse to dismiss artists and albums out of hand if they don't live up to some arbitrary and possibly revisionistic standard of what progression really is. This is a Prog site, and if people want to add non Prog bands, we are in the duty to oppose, as any Punk fan will object adding Emerson Lake & Palmer to Punk 77. If you come to a Prog site, is to talk and discuss PROGRESSIVE ROCK, if you want an open site for all genres, you always have the General Music Forums, if that's not enough....Go to Allmusic. Whenever someone doesn't like progressive rock, it's treated as a sign of either some malicious conspiracy or stupidity on part of whatever group of people that's perceived as not appreciating progressive rock enough. That would be a naive approach, most of us know Prog is not or ever was the most popular genre and would be absolutely arrogant to believe that most of the people are stupid because they don't like what we like Only really liking music from other genres (e. g. jazz, metal) on the condition of how much it resembles (or is influential to) progressive rock. Haven't met a person of this specie....But if they do, It's their right. In general having a very "sacred cow" attitude to artists and albums that are seen as classics of the genre. Something I always admired in Prog fans is that they know what they like, we don't follow a band,. we follow the music (unlike a typical Britney or Eminem fan who will say everything they do is perfect)...I seen people protest against  a determined album by their favorite band, never seen a Yes, Genesis,  Jethro Tull or Pink Floyd fan that says all their albums are perfect.

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - February 14 2011 at 22:11

rogerthat wrote:   But prog is a spirit, an approach, not a genre. How can you love it over "other music"? Progressiveness is found in many forms of music, not just prog rock. If you like prog rock at the exclusion of other progressive music, doesn't that smack of some amount of bias, regardless of whether you're entitled to your prejudices?

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - February 15 2011 at 11:51

yes the genre does suffer a rather terrible stereotype , a loyalty that goes beyond admiration,the point is as you get older most become wiser about his/her choices in music, and the scope becomes wider.Hopefully the fanboy type of thinking (i.e everything that a personal favorite band or genre is not so significant anymore, but the creative or concept is more important than style i.e metal,classic,jazz) that will remain to the listener so that everything a certain band releases is not seen as a masterpiece, but has flaws or can be an all out waste, as i said earlier as we get older things can change.

I know that you specified that this wasn't what you were talking about, but I'm definitely someone who tends to love (almost) everything from my favorite artists.  But that's what makes them my favorite artists in the first place. 

In general, not just with my favorite artists, I'm not someone who tends to think that either song-to-song or album-to-album quality varies that much for most albums/artists.  That's not a popular opinion, but that's how I tend to react to albums and artists.

Re what you were talking about, I'm pretty guilty of this: "Treating progressiveness . . . as something that's good in itself."

I took out "as a means to an end" because I tend to be a formalist, so that I see the form as the end.

Really, what I like best, in general, is music with quirks, delivered via material that has at least some roots in the traditional and at least slightly sophisticated melodic and harmonic craftsmanship reflected in pre-rock era pop music. I also have a strong attraction to anything with funky or "grooving" rhythms. The above doesn't mean that the music has to be pop. I just want it to have some roots in the melodic and harmonic craftsmanship that pre-rock pop exemplified. (Think of standards like "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".)

I'm not really that genre-oriented. I'm just quirk-(and groove-)oriented as above. Usually the further afield something moves from some combination of those three factors--quirkiness, melodic and harmonic sophistication with some structural relation to traditional pop music, and funkiness/groove-orientedness, the less interested I am in it. There are exceptions--for example, some ambient music is among my favorite stuff, but that's generally the key to whether I'll like something and just how much I'll like it.

My sons are 16 and 18, and to me, music looks a lot less 'tribal' then when I was a teenager in the late 70s.  We used to get attacked by skinheads for having long hair!

Fanboys can be narrow minded but not always. I have noticed there are a lot of Rush fanboys. To me it can get annoying. I'm talking about people who act like there are no other bands on the planet except Rush. I came close to being like that with Yes at one point but instead I used my intense interest in Yes(and Rush and Genesis too for that matter)as a starting point to discover other bands. So for me Yes led to Genesis which led to Rush and PF, KC etc. Things just kind of snowballed. A fanboy is maybe someone who is caught up on a certain sound and only likes one or two bands who make that sound(ie Rush). With Rush a lot of their fans seem to like heavy metal and only listen to heavy metal which is weird because Rush aren't heavy metal. That's fine I guess because there are those who only like prog rock. So I guess there are those who only like a certain genre(and not just a certain band)and get caught up in that at the expense of everything else. Like I said a lot of Rush fans are like that but there are fans like that with other bands too. I'm probably not a total fanboy for Rush and Yes even though they are two of my favorite bands because they have put out stuff that is less than perfect to say the least. Fanboys tend to think band x can do no wrong. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - July 28 2017 at 14:35

you don't need to be a fanboy (or fangirl) to be a completist

M27Barney wrote: Ahhh but what prepares the mind for prog? It's like when you eat eggs & bacon - then drink breakfast tea - who hasn't noticed how good the tea tastes after the palette has been prepared! Perhaps a little bit of pop (or some-other music) - prepares the consciousness for prog and the appreciation of the genre..... Maybe this is why the fanboy suffers such duff taste-buds? Maybe even prog band's themselves used this tool - "More fool Me" as an example in there lurking like the ice-berg amongst the pinnacle-works of symphonic prog.....

you probably mean "palate", not "palette"