How did you become a proghead?

Edited by BaldJean - February 13 2021 at 11:08

BaldJean wrote: Rednight wrote: It all started with hearing my brother's 'Tull records as a young nymph in high school. Then he took me to their 'Passion Play concert in '73. Then my friend across the street turned me onto PFM's Chocolate Kings and Genesis' 'Trick' around the time of their release. From then on, it was all downhill. a nymph? nymphs are female; the male equivalent is a satyr

It was a great time to be a young teenager with Woodstock, the Lunar landings and the Beatles (among others) but the biggest aspect looking back was the OPENESS of the rock scene, where young people where looking at the whole gamut of offerings there out in the market. Great example: there was this record store in Montreal called L'Alternatif (the title says it all) where there was a huge aquarium, staff that where always smiling () and the offer of listening booths. I remember vividly picking up Wishbone Ash, Tangerine Dream, King Crimson, Oldfield, Traffic and Robin Trower albums , all in one swoop. There was no labelling or allegiance to just one style , like later decades. All were open to discovery of classical, jazz, rock, R'n B, funk, electronic ,etc... everything flew. Even some pop! 

A Crimson Mellotron wrote: Here's a question that should spawn a variety of different answers. How did you, fellow forum users, become progheads? What was the reason for you to dive into this not-so-obvious ocean of music and what made you stay? Did you discover prog by yourself or did you inherit this good taste from someone? I'm curious to see what stories there are.

I'd take exception to being called a Proghead in the same way I'm able to enjoy broccoli but ain't a vegetarian. At secondary school I was the only person who liked ELP, the Clash, Duke Ellington, Bartok and Black Sabbath in equal measure but didn't have the hairstyle or uniform to match. For me, this is maybe closer to what the original 'Punk' ethos was supposed to be about i.e. the primacy of the individual over communal values. It certainly makes for a solitary path and I still find the myopic tribalism of Prog, Punk, Jazz, Classical and Metal engineered by marketing tiresome and pitiful in the extreme. I've also never needed drugs to open my mind to anything. I think Timothy Leary was a bit of a dick.

My older brother went away to University and on Christmas break came back with a cassette tape that had Fragile on one side and Tarkus on the other...

Listens to As I Am by Dream Theater once.