Is Robert Fripp Overrated? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

I suppose it depends upon whose 'rating' we are going by.

Are we talking about musicologists? The academics who get paid to analyze and research music? Speaking from the point of view of a progressive rock fan, I suspect they under-rate him (or ignore his significance which to me is the functional equivalent of under-rating him.)

Are we talking about a general audience of popular and/or rock music fans as of 2015? I think many of them will tend to under-rate him due to lack of appreciation, knowledge or both.

I suspect you are talking about progressive rock fans though. Proggers generally hold him in very high esteem. Fripp has done some interesting things, that's for sure. I don't feel like he is the Mozart type of genius, the kind who is so incredibly and eloquently adept at advanced music composition and performance. He is more the Philip Glass kind of genius. And by that I mean he is a polarizing man of ideas. His genius is in his approach to music creation more than his pure musical ability.

I also suspect I may be in the minority with this opinion. The majority opinion is probably that he is a genius not only in his innovative and creative ways of thinking about music and approaching music creation but also in other important musical ways like his guitar playing and his actual music composition skills. (Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he is a weak guitarist nor that he is a lousy songwriter.)

So, given that I rate him as one type of genius and I believe that the majority of prog fans rate him as a multi-faceted super-genius, I suppose my own personal answer relative to the majority of rock fans is...

drumroll please...

Yes.

I think Fripp is slightly over-rated. But with a rating that high, it would be really hard not to be at least a little bit over-rated, wouldnt it? So it isn't meant as an insult.

Edited by progpositivity - February 06 2015 at 13:29

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here, i can see that. outside here, f**k NO!!!!

Edited by Michael678 - February 06 2015 at 14:13

Progrockdude

Catcher10 wrote:

ProgMetaller2112 wrote:

Yes or No?

Yes

Fripp makes Rush look like a bar band.

Average Fripp solo is sparse as all fox.

Seriously: the proof is in the pudding. How many Fripp solo lps/cds you got in your collection. If you got more than 5 - somethings the matter,son.

You need to be seeking out MUSIC.

(I have League of Gentlemen & the two he did with Andy Wotsit. Eno Evening Star and the first Eno/Fripp.

Never listen to them.

I've heard two of his latest cds (wot I got from the library). Utter tedium. Fox that sh*t.

Dead boring repetition. I believe he claims playing repetative guitar is a skill.

Frippertonics, loops, dark soundscapes since frigging 1979.
Eno's "Music For Airports", Fripp's "Music For Restaurants". Right. Ambient dross.

Scholarly artists like this talk the talk imposingly enough, but when it comes to the music...
One (rather proggish) exception -who has written a book on music - is German,Peter Micheal Hamel.
I have 4 or 5 by him. Yes, can be repetative, but unlike Fripp, there is some substance and sticking-power here.

I have never been overly impressed by Robert Fripp's style, and I've never been blown away by one of his leads. There are any number of other guitarists I'd prefer to hear jamming.

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twosteves wrote:

great New Yorker article-- Thumbs Up

I knew someone on this site would appreciate it.

progpositivity wrote:

I suppose it depends upon whose 'rating' we are going by.

...

I'm sorry ... but it is like asking if Paganini was better than Darryl Way or Jean Luc Ponti ... it's a horribly pathetic way to discuss music and its players.

You don't sit here and say that Wagner is better than Mozart, or that this person was better than that one 100 years ago .... the issue is that someone is not willing/capable of listening to Robert Fripp within a context that makes sense and helps you understand what and why they do what they do ... because you can NOT do it!

The only overrated thing here is the question!

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Robert Fripp hasn't been revered enough. I would say he is one of the most innovated and influential guitarists of the 20th century, certainly in progressive circles.

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." -Tyrion Lannister from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire