Uriah Heep and the critics

 you could always rewind back to page one and re-read the thread from the beginning if you need to refresh your memory.

I'm not a reviewer, I'm not a critic, I rarely offer my opinion on a band and I seldom give recommendations. I'm more than happy to talk about a band however. 

Dean wrote: "Remember: those who can, do; those who can't, teach."

Dean wrote: Hercules wrote: Dean wrote: "Remember: those who can, do; those who can't, teach."  I "did" both (researched and taught) and I can tell you, the teaching is by far the harder thing to do well. I look at the papers I published and wonder what use it really did. Is radiative transfer in stellar atmospheres and solar magnetohydrodynamics REALLY going to change anyone's life? I look at the students I taught, see their achievements since and, truthfully, I get far more satisfaction out of that. That's why, towards the end of my career, I did less and less research and more and more teaching, but that meant I wasn't earning my corn as a department member (not enough research grants), so I retired before I was pushed. But critics are often bitter people who failed at both and like to denigrate those who succeeded. Heep succeeded despite the critics and are one of the longest extant bands around with an enviable (though admittedly a bit patchy) discography. Sales of around 20m albums mean someone likes them even if the critics don't. I married a teacher so I know how much work goes into it, hence my quoting Shaw and putting it in quote-marks rather than simply stating it uncredited. Whether that is actually harder than doing is difficult to ascertain and it must depend on the individual and those being taught to a significant degree, as well as the subject itself. Of course if you don't know your subject you can neither do nor teach, but anyone can criticise. There are many bands that succeed in spite of what the critics say, Heep, BJH, The Enid and even ELP to name but four.

A good teacher is one who can teach people (successfully) who don't want to learn!!
Teaching people with a thirst for education is a lot easier!!!
I like to think that I can judge a fine specimen of Symphonic prog and spot a blooper!!! I reckon that outside my thin slice of specialisation my opinions are a lot less meaningful and are loaded with opinionated bias....I accept that as a norm for most people judging stuff from a genre that they don't particularly like...