Joined: September 13 2011
Location: Pennsylvania
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Points: 62
Posted: November 07 2016 at 22:11
Pretty much Prog 90% of the time. I do listen to orchestral music a lot, but a couple guilty pleasues...probably Ryan Adams more than most others. Today it was Jesse Malin. Cradle of Filth (for really bad days at work), Mercyful Fate/King Diamond. Got to have the right mood.
Joined: July 01 2015
Location: Out East
Status: Offline
Points: 6777
Posted: November 07 2016 at 22:25
Haha yes! It's been a while since I've seen that Weird Al video. Love the part where they have the guy sticking his arm in with the lighter. They should put an epilepsy warning on that instrumental interlude, though.
when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
I don't see why Carpenters would have to be a guilty pleasure. Actually I don't buy this concept of guilty pleasure and it is borne out of elitism/snobbery. If you like it, you like it. Karen Carpenter's incredible phrasing was beyond the grasp of most prog vocalists and both she and Richard were well versed in the American songbook. Annie Haslam said she liked Carpenters and was delighted when in some interview back in the day the Carpenters named Renaissance as one of their favourites. The groups never met, though.
Elitism and snobbery is it's own guilty pleasure. It is unique to everyone.
Elitism and snobbery are the best parts of being a prog fan though. We know we listen to "better" music than the great unwashed and love our disdainful attitude usual borne from decades of resentment. We get it from the jazz snobs who will not explain the concept of swing and we do laugh how rockers get this so completely wrong at times.
Prog has been years in the wilderness and used to be the "guilty" pleasure of some. Well, prog is now trendy and used in popular mainstream media as though these worthless hacks know what they are talking about.
Of course if you ever tried expounding the virtues of someone who is say, pop, to someone that is not a prog fan then even those further down the hierarchy can get all snooty.
The reason for all this snobbery is not a musical one course but one with it's roots in pop culture - or even classical culture. Some of us classical snobs even look down on us prog snobs. There are none more militant though than metal snobs, even more so than punk snobs. The only people who don't care are the fair weather trend followers which is probably even more irksome as these snobs won't even acknowledge they are musical snobs because their cultural identity is rooted in self image and how it relates to current perceptions. So we snobs don't get an argument from those snobs because they are above snobbery. The nerve.
Sometimes we do the snob thing even surreptitiously; on this site. I refer to the intro blurb about Genesis which seeks to praise the '70 - '74 era and, um, progressively reduce the musical stature of Genesis as this band changed. The subtle undermining is about as elitist as one can get even by my standards.
Apparently e.g. Selling England is good to like but Invisible Touch has to be a guilty pleasure without any discernible musical observation but one purely based on "culture" values.
It begins in the intent of album reviews; how a non-prog album in an artist's catalogue is rated less because it is of less (musical?) value than yer actual prog release. This site is oriented toward the prog of course but is that a good reason to mark someone's work down? Of course it is. I do so hope no one thought I would imply the converse.
Anyway I think I shall turn my nose up at this blatant propaganda and rise above it all. We elitists have a world to dominate y'know.
Joined: September 03 2006
Location: .
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Points: 9869
Posted: November 08 2016 at 00:49
^^ That's just the rating system guiding reviewers to consider whether an album is an prog or not because on a prog rock website you want the highest rated albums to be prog. Yes, I am aware of the various forms of snobbery but continue to regard it as a vain and foolish pursuit. One may not like pop or punk or whatever genre and that's fine but how does that give one the right to condescend to tell someone else he shouldn't be listening to this or that?
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Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
Posted: November 08 2016 at 01:51
Is it that time of year again? My answer is the same as was in every other perennial Guilty Pleasure thread: Buck's Fizz, though I believe that on one occasion to break with tradition I also singled out the album The Black Parade by My Comical Romans.
Joined: October 02 2013
Location: uruguay
Status: Offline
Points: 45
Posted: November 08 2016 at 03:57
I don't think we should take too seriously this thing about "commercial" music. Remember that there was a time when the popular songs played on the radio were made mostly by good musicians. Even if the visible "star" was sometimes not that much of a musician behind them there were professional songwriters producers and players who were as good as anyone. Of course, all it takes this days is a programmed beat, some auto tuner and a few hot chicks but that's a different story. The Jackson Five were talented musicians. The monkees were backed by good composers. Abba...well even Mikael Akerfeldt seems to like them so I think they're OK. I was into Kiss as a teen and I still think they have some good songs. John Denver is considered cheesy and some of his stuff actually is but he has some great folk songs . Similar things could be said about many metal bands, if you look at their pictures and album covers you might not even consider listening to them, but you can be in for a few surprises. Manowar might be the chessiest of them all but they have some great albums, if you forget about their image
Surrogate People they walk on by, they walk on by When they replace you They live your life, they live your life
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