Van der Graaf Generator vs Pink Floyd

So you go for a Generator album and then for Animals?

iluvmarillion wrote: This is not to say that one band is better than the other, but I voted Pink Floyd simply for the reason that I can listen to Pink Floyd any time of day or night, whereas sometimes I'm just not in the mood for listening to VdGG.

sukmytoe wrote:  I'm suprised that Generator has so many votes in this poll against the obvious winners. I mean, hell man, PF only released an album that could still be in the top 100 album of all time chart. Me, I go for "Dark side of the moon", "Animals", "The Wall" etc. etc. easily over anything that VdGG did.

kit-kat wrote: sukmytoe wrote: Me, I go for "Dark side of the moon", "Animals", "The Wall" etc. etc. easily over anything that VdGG did. Me, I would take anything over The Wall  And even DSOTM... Animals is good background music I guess. But VdGG is just otherwordly (but I can see why people aren't into them, I'm still glad they have that many votes against the Floyd). Now I just need some more posts so I can finally vote for my beloved Generator

keep posting my friend

Pink Floyd, but just by a little. Both are great though 

This is practically IMPOSSIBLE for me to vote - 2 absolutely AMAZING bands where the music connects with different parts of my psyche. rarely is there such a music which affects me so much. No vote from me, sorry. (And the album 'Space Shanty' from Khan, closely followed by Caravan's 'In The Land Of Grey And Pink', sums me up perfectly).

Pink Floyd will win because they are way more popular. I voted for VDGG though. Both bands are in my top ten but VDGG is in my top five.

VDGG- best albums: H to he who am the only one; Pawn Hearts; godbluff; still life

Pink Floyd- Best albums: Atom Heart mother; meddle; Wish you were here; animals

Absolutely love Pink Floyd!!!!!

That being said, VDGG

What an interesting thread; read the whole thing before going to sleep last night. Like some others, I like Pink Floyd the most up to and including Meddle.

I love both bands, really, and can't easily choose between them.  A few years ago I definitely would have voted for VdGG, and before that definitely Pink Floyd, but now I really appreciate both.  Like someone else earlier in the thread, though, I do tend to want to skip Pink Floyd tracks unlike with VdGG albums (though I have been tempted to skips sections of VdGG tracks). 

It might have been Rogerthat who mentioned the genius of using common sounds in music that Pink Floyd utilized, and that struck a chime with me since it was a song like Time with the clocks that just had this immediate resonance with me.

Regarding an earlier comment:  Not that it's a requirement, but  I find VdGG very hummable/ sing-along-able, and I think they have beautiful and memorable melodies.  I don't know how many times Refugees, House With No Door, part of Man-Erg and A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers has come into my mind, or I've sung other music.

At first I really disliked Hammill's histrionics (still not hat keen on them), so I gravitated to the mellower tracks.  Also I found that there was too much bombast at times, and contrasts with crazy parts that I wished weren't instrumentally and vocally, and sometimes those felt really forced to me.  Various Prog bands do much the same by adding noodley parts, and disjointing the music, which has sometimes affected my enjoyment of music. I came to accept that happily with VdGG, though, as I do like contrast in my music, and for me it only makes the beautiful or majestic parts stand-out that much more and become more poignant.  I find much the same with various Magma music too.  It can seem a bit like from the ridiculous to the sublime to the ridiculous to the sublime at times, but I love the music on the whole even if I don't love every moment.

I have heard people say that VdGG has no sense of melody, but how can this for instance not have a sense of melody? One may argue that VdGG "loses" its melodic way at times, and that intentional use of discordant, or chaotic discharge doesn't always work that well for me. Some say that music has no melody when I clearly notice melody (sequences of notes), so I don't get where some people come from.



By the way, my favourite Pink Floyd albums are Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother.  The Ron Geesin/ Pink Floyd collaboration the Atom Heart Mother suite.


Edited by Logan - December 17 2013 at 13:27