Author |
Topic Search Topic Options
|
octopus-4
Special Collaborator
RIO/Avant & Zeuhl, Neo, Post/Math, PSIKE
Joined: October 31 2006
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 14974
|
Posted: November 15 2010 at 09:35 |
While I'm writing I'm listening to Ashra's "Lotus": 17 minutes spent on two repetitive major chords and I'm everything but bored. I can't stand a whole Michael Jackson's song instead. It's because when I listen to music part of my attention goes to it. It's never "just a background". Dancing or not is a consequence. When you dance you just need rhythm and have to be concentrated on your body if you don't want to fall to the ground. This is the difference. Prog music is for people who wants to go over the body's boundaries. People who stays on Earth is bored. Prog is for travelling into space-time, with or without beers. Commercial or Mainstream don't mean nothing. People is bored of what he doesn't understand. Before understanding prog you must be able to trip with no chemical aids.
|
I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution
|
 |
SonicDeath10
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 06 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 282
|
Posted: November 15 2010 at 11:32 |
How about this: prog songs are long and complex and that's simply uninteresting to most people who want instantly catchy melodies and cool, danceable beats. The lyrics are usually incomprehensible and aren't relateable to most people. How about we don't simply bash non-complex music or people who like it? Why must so many people who like prog say condescending things like "prog is for people who use their head (i.e. the smart, the elite) and not for people who just want to dance (i.e. the idiots, the dunces the "proles")? Can't you just accept the fact that non-prog music has a PURPOSE a REASON and is often very well composed, very interesting and sometimes much BETTER than a 20 minute song with 12 sections and constantly soloing?! It's a taste thing. Fine, if you really honestly just think most non-prog music is boring that's your taste, I accept that. But don't try to make other people, who do like non-prog music look stupid by making your taste seem more intelligent and superior.
|
"Good evening hippies." Bobby Boy
|
 |
rogerthat
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2006
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 9869
|
Posted: November 15 2010 at 11:43 |
Not only that, 'danceable' songs can also be complex and interesting but we should not disturb the beautiful illusion of prog elitists for they have forgotten how to like this vast ocean of other, 'commercial' music.
|
 |
BH3bass
Forum Newbie
Joined: February 25 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Status: Offline
Points: 13
|
Posted: November 15 2010 at 17:53 |
i agree with much that you say. To worry about progs popularity is
futile. who cares. be happy that we have the music. If you want it to be
more popular, dont preach to the choir. Go out and support the art form
with your attendance and dollars.
BHT bass
|
 |
samus88
Forum Newbie
Joined: September 05 2008
Location: Buenos Aires
Status: Offline
Points: 27
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 02:01 |
I've developed this theory (in the colloquial sense of course) on why people find prog boring... because they don't like music. As simple as that. People listen to singers sing peotry with some background music to go with it. That's all there is to it. I asked tons of mainstream radio-friendly music listeners to hum songs and none of them could hum the actual music aside from the vocal melodies. And even some of them would not hum the melody itself but actually SING the words. People still think a song is a poem sung with background music.
I on the other hand, listen to music. Which of course includes the vocals, but no the lyrics. People don't understand how "i do it", but it's rather simple. Do you know every language in the world? Then either you only listen to "music sung" in the languages you know, or you know how to listen to a melody without paying attention to the words. I listen to every song as if it were in a language I don't understand. That's how most of my favorite prog albums are sung in italian and I don't know a single word. The singers melt my heart with their voices and melodies, but I don't know what they say. It doesn't take away from the musical experience. For most people a song they can't understand is useless. Well, music has no language, that's it. If you want poetry, read poems.
Another example to add to my claim is that when you introduce a song to someone like that, the first thing they ask you is "what is it about?". They're unable to enjoy a song on the merit of the music itself, they need words or it's not good to them.
Edited by samus88 - March 14 2015 at 02:10
|
 |
HackettFan
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 20 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Status: Offline
Points: 7951
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 11:25 |
I don't know what people are thinking of as prototypical Prog, since it's not often that non-Prog fans are even aware of what it is. It could be the energy level, but they're listening to the wrong Prog, if that's so. It could be the length, but there are plenty of short Prog songs and plenty of long mainstream songs; Free Bird anyone?
Tit for tat, I find a lot of mainstream music boring. Not much intrigue in much of it to activate my mind. Unlike the OP, I do consider Rap boring (as well as annoying). The same with various kinds of thrash. But then a lot of people find a lot of things that I find interesting boring, not just Prog. The answer is simply that they're boring.
|
 |
tszirmay
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: August 17 2006
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 6673
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 12:45 |
Boredom is a state of mind that precedes any kind of musical or other form of expression. Anything can be boring if one is already predisposed to being apathetic and disinterested. Prog is mood music , so I am always open to any challenge , technical wizardry and/or melodic disposition. I find the alternative scene to be utterly boring (Nickelback and such...)
|
I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth.
|
 |
The Dark Elf
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline
Points: 13417
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 20:53 |
What makes people find Prog boring?Endless circumlocutionary discussion threads nearly 6 years in length with tedious prog fans prattling on in a boring manner. And still not figuring out why people find prog boring.
|
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
|
 |
Padraic
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 16 2006
Location: Pennsylvania
Status: Offline
Points: 31169
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 21:16 |
samus88 wrote:
I've developed this theory (in the colloquial sense of course) on why people find prog boring... because they don't like music. As simple as that.
|
Total BS. Why can't people accept that other folks have different tastes without resorting to these ludicrous assertions?
|
 |
Polymorphia
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 06 2012
Location: here
Status: Offline
Points: 8856
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 22:12 |
Because it's old people music. Prog is why old men drive slow. If they drove faster they couldn't finish Selling England by the Pound on their way to the bingo night.
|
|
 |
Horizons
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: January 20 2011
Location: Somewhere Else
Status: Offline
Points: 16952
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 22:53 |
Idk hearing wonky keyboard solos over and over (the only kind of true prog), can get kind of boring to me too.
|
Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
|
 |
Littlecarrots
Forum Groupie
Joined: August 12 2011
Location: Uruguay
Status: Offline
Points: 86
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 23:05 |
There are lots of reasons. Though I guess one important reason why prog as a whole genre (or subgenre) isn't quite popular has to be with the fact that music business is way more centered on relatively short, catchy singles than ever before, at least from the sixties til now. Prog songs aren't usually short and are way more concerned with progressions and structure, etc. than with making catchy recognizable themes that get stucked on everyone's minds. People usually find boring whatever is not on the radio, I have come to that conclusion with some of my friends, who didn't like some artist or even a song until they heard it on the radio til their ears bleed. Our taste is not completely independent from our socialization process, we don't live on a vaccum, that's why the music our father's listened to, what's popular at the moment, the things that are on the media, and even some socio-cultural and economic factors have an impact on the definition of our taste.
We also live on a world where people usually have less time to do stuff, young people have more and more extracurricular stuff to take care of, older people have to move around cities more and more to get to work, sometimes even have to have more than one job to make a living. Prog music usually demands dedication, for the listener to listen carefully, attentively, calm and if possible not doing anything else at all. In this world, most people just don't have the time, strength and/or interest to invest themselves in listening to prog.
But, putting all of that aside, everyone should respect everyone's taste because who really cares what other people listen in the end? One of the greatest things about music is that everyone enjoys it in a different way.
|
 |
addictedtoprog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 16 2014
Location: india
Status: Offline
Points: 1422
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 23:24 |
Along with what others have said, i wud add that "Lack of Experience" is one of the major reasons why people can't appreciate prog. It takes quite a while getting used to the complexity... For an untrained ear, the transition from mainstream music(any kind) to progressive rock (before prog) must be very smooth and gradual.
|
 |
addictedtoprog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 16 2014
Location: india
Status: Offline
Points: 1422
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 23:40 |
I wasn't introduced to prog by anybody..neither did i stumbled upon it all of a sudden...it took a few years as i slowly and gradually developed my taste..,my journey from the likes of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison etc to Yes, VdGG, TMV has been wonderful..
|
 |
addictedtoprog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 16 2014
Location: india
Status: Offline
Points: 1422
|
Posted: March 14 2015 at 23:49 |
From- "Prog is boring" to "Nothing is as exciting as prog"... The journey is quite long which not everybody can be expected to be able to undertake.
|
 |
The Sloth
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 05 2013
Status: Offline
Points: 115
|
Posted: March 15 2015 at 00:20 |
People would have the time for demanding (usually rewarding) things if Facebook, Twitter, Netflix "binging", reality tv...wasn't such a big part of their lives. The social networking obsession is time down the toilet for a whole lot of people, every single day. Crack open a book, you daredevils.
|
 |
rogerthat
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2006
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 9869
|
Posted: March 15 2015 at 00:31 |
And yet here we are, discussing our beloved music on an internet forum. One of the problems plaguing prog is the musicians are not the best at putting together a great album. There's a lot of amazing musicianship in tracks that may be either awesome or very middling. Pink Floyd knew how to just make great albums and they are one of the iconic rock bands. Perhaps if some of the other bands had drawn a leaf out of their book, they too would have enjoyed wider appeal. I would take John McGeoch's short but unforgettable leads on You never knew me over Howe's guitar dentistry any day, thank you. Less is more a lot of times in music but prog works with the diametrically opposite philosophy of playing as many notes as possible.
|
 |
Pastmaster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 23 2015
Location: Spiderwood Farm
Status: Offline
Points: 1774
|
Posted: March 15 2015 at 00:43 |
Polymorphia wrote:
Because it's old people music. Prog is why old men drive slow. If they drove faster they couldn't finish Selling England by the Pound on their way to the bingo night.
|
^This 
Anyways, I just think it simply all boils down to taste. The term 'progressive rock' is a pretty loose term if you think about it. Yeah, I love Rush and Gentle Giant, both progressive rock bands, but at the same time I don't really like Genesis or ELP. I don't think it has anything to do with people finding prog boring, I just think people like and dislike bands. Just because two artists belong to the same genre, doesn't mean they sound the same.
|
 |
The Sloth
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 05 2013
Status: Offline
Points: 115
|
Posted: March 15 2015 at 00:54 |
Rogerthat, you're simply taking the self-hating side of the coin. You know great prog isn't about the number of notes played, and you also know that this forum is more valuable than Twitter. There are people on this site discussing music which has meant something to them for 40 years.
|
 |
Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15926
|
Posted: March 15 2015 at 01:03 |
This is a good question.... Usually, the notion of a piece of music lasting longer than 5-6 minutes scares most folks away. Maybe it's the attention span of certain listeners. Those that haven't been exposed to the possibilities of lengthy, musically technical forms of 'song' are also dismissive about Prog. Maybe they're satisfied enough with idiotic sh*t like Black Eyed Peas, I don't know.......but I'm ever so glad that Prog is not something that's lapped up by the masses, it just wouldn't be as special then.
|
 |
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.