What’s this crap, now?

My older brother's reactions to

Genesis' Supper's Ready

"What the hell is this? [sings] 'We crossed the field to see the boy'?? What a bunch of fags"

and when I pointed out Steve Hackett's tapping sections and the fact he was a pioneer of the technique (my brother's a metalhead, and expert at tapping)

"It still sucks"

Gentle Giant's "Proclaimation"

"It sounds like circus music...I can just picture clowns prancing around to it"

to prog in general

"It all sounds the same. It all has keyboards and weird time signatures, it sounds the same" [what the hell? and metal and punk doesn't? if anything, prog is the most diverse genre in rock...by definition, not opinion]

Captain Beefheart

"What the hell!?"

Fantomas' "Suspended Animation"

"What the hell!?"

any prog metal (Tool, Dream Theater, especially)

"Finally, something actually good..."

My dad's reactions to

Yes' "Gates of Delirium"

"It sounds like video game music"

Gentle Giant's "Excerpts from Octopus"

"It sounds...er...very operatic...[switches off stereo quickly] let's listen to radio, shall we?"

Anglagard's "Jordrok"

"I guess this is like what a physist contemplating the nature of the universe might listen to..."

Genesis

"Oh God, not Genesis again"

or

"When will you get the album with 'Mama'? I like that song."

Captain Beefheart

"Have you ever heard Steppenwolf?"

Thinking Plague's "Dead Silence"

"You like this fusiony stuff, don't you?"

Pink Floyd's "Time"

"Listen up. This song's a warning to all kids your age..."

"Close to the Edge"

"Wow, I actually like this song"

ELP's "Karn Evil 9"

"Hey, I heard this in college! I've been wondering who did it!"

Focus' "Hocus Pocus"

"I heard this on the radio when I was in High School!"

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's "Fire!"

same as "Karn Evil 9" and "Hocus Pocus"

My mom's reaction to all of it:

utter indifference...she's not a music person. neither approves nor disapproves.

My friend's reaction to

Gentle Giant's "Knots"

"yes, yes, I know, it's weird, I've heard it"

"Weasel's Ripped my Flesh"

[terror]

My other friend's reaction to it all:

he bought some Yes and ELP albums

Yes- Close to the edge, the organ part in the middle when he first says, "i get up, i get down."

-mom- "is someone having a funeral? This isn't the Yes I know, they were so good in the 90's."

Mom listened to The Final Cut one day and afterwards came to me and said,

"You know, I love you very much, and, you don't want to kill yourself do you?"

I laughed and walked off singing the song, the final cut.

Trouserpress wrote: penguindf12 wrote: "It sounds like video game music" This is quite a common one, isn't it? I've heard it a few times from friends and relatives with regard to Yes, Gentle Giant, Anglagard, Hatfield and the North... None of which remind me even remotely of video game music. Odddd.

Actually, I think alot of prog resembles video game and soundtrack music. It's all very arranged, orchestral. And video games use odd time signatures quite a bit, especially 5/4 and 7/8 for backgrounds to intense sections. "Simpson's Hit and Run" has 7/8 during a car chase (with the Comic Book Guy - something inferred here?), the main battle theme of "Final Fantasy VIII" is in 5/4, and in the case of a TV show, "Inuyasha" has quite a few tunes in 5/4. And, of course, "Mission Impossible" has 5/4.

Video game music isn't really a genre. Anything from punk to avant-garde can be used for it and soundtracks. So it really depends what you mean. But video game music, if it does happen to sound proggy, it's supposed to, because prog came before games.

(on a side note, Incubus' "The Odyssey" is made specifically as video game music [for Halo 2]...and is blantant prog. 7/8, 13/8, 5/4, and atmospheric ambient experiments can all be found in it's 4 movements. The connection is that they wanted to do video game music...and they did prog music for it.)

nimrodel wrote:  "that guy sure sounds gay" my friend's opinion of yes

 One of my friends said the same thing (only in a more derrogatory form), although a couple of my other friends love Yes, Floyd etc. In fact, one of my other friends let me listen to a few CDs from his decent-sized Yes collection which is how I got into Yes. My mom really doesn't care, but my dad'll listen to Pink Floyd (DSOTM, WYWH, and The Wall mainly), Jethro Tull (Aqualung and Thick As A Brick), and Rush (most anything). He listened to Yes, and thought it was the band Styx.

 Anyways, if anyone critizises my taste in music, its usually due to the fact that the songs are "so long."

I let my brother in law listen to some Anekdoten (Nucleus). He's very much into classical music, and has no taste for rock.

His reaction was: well, I don't like music that has no structure at all.  

One of my friends, who is strictly classical, and who thinks all pop and rock music is the same, asked me once: do you still like all that minimal music?

I think the video game remark is accurate, since video game soundtracks are written by actual composers who probably have degrees in music, much like prog musicians.

You know, you guys have some close minded friends and family. My father sees me as a musical sophisticate, while my mom, who only listens to music during yoga sessions, could care less, but apreciates my taste and my own musical talents.

As for my friends: My buddy Zooka took a while to warm up to it, but now he's almost a bigger prog fan than me. He even introduced me to Magma. (Although his father, a die hard Ted Nugent fan calls it church music and comments on its inaccesibility.

My friend Michael, a very open minded person, took right to it. Of course that was no surprise to me since he was a jazz enthusiest beforehand.

My friend and bandmate Paul also took to it. Priar to that he thought Queen was the most progressive music around, but soon his tastes expanded, although Queen is still his favorite band.

My "friend" Evan loves it because when he's high it supports his buzz.

And my friend Julian, haha, his cousin is Joey D'Amico, drummer for cult classic prog band Crack The Sky, he has prog in his blood.

As for your parents, siblings, and friends who think you're crazy, think you're gay, or in some cases, think you're suicidal, good luck

DavidInsabella wrote: And my friend Julian, haha, his cousin is Joey D'Amico, drummer for cult classic prog band Crack The Sky, he has prog in his blood.

Wow,someone else has heard of Crack the Sky.I grew up and still reside in Baltimore and have seen them scores of times live.I have met Joey D'Amico(his vocal work on Safety in Numbers when Palumbo briefly left the band is superb),Vince Depaul and have known Carey Ziegler and John Palumbo since I was 16.CtS is a great,unknown and underappreciated prog band.

beterdedthnred4 wrote: My little sister used to leave the room weeping when I blasted the introduction to Los Endos

LOL.

'Its just a load of farty noises interspersed with crazy drumming'
-Anon, something I saw on the forums here, about ELP
'Yeah, I see what he means'-Mother.

'Oh yeah, I like some of their early stuff too. I bought Follow You Follow Me in 1978!'
-Mother.

Me: 'I love this one. Recent favourite.'
Dad: Yeah it is good...what album's this off?
Me: Trick Of The Tail. It's called Ripples.

Next week I am playing it upstairs he comes up, sings along 'Sail away, away' strumming an imaginary twelve string. w00t.