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I introduced progressive rock quite a while ago to my best friend of almost 25 years. He finds my Italian prog especiallly appealing and likes Le Orme and Banco very much. It has to be real prog to satisfy him, no Prog related will do it for him. I basically told him a bit about it, and then we would listen to it together, and I mean really listen, without dialogue. We have done this over and over for many years. He is a bit of a special case, as he did not grow up with any popular culture-no television in the home, and had not any exposure to any rock music of any sort before I met him. His musical tastes were towards classical music and traditional Celtic. Some of my prog he finds "bizarre" and unaccessible, like Terje Rypdal or some Nektar. I am now a Facilitator, and with my first class, brought some prog in at the last session. (Wallenstein's No More Love) One student grew up on 70s prog, but doesn't listen anymore. He had never heard of Wallenstein. Another younger student asked me if Rush were prog, and I said yes. My fellow co-facilitator found the Wallenstein interesting.
Great post Doug. I have an old friend that I too got lured into prog by way of RPI. I remember playing Capitolo 6's Frutti per Kagua to him, and after that he was absolutely sold Great track!
Since then he's ventured into all the classic bands and has developed a similar taste for Krautrock as myself, although not quite as strange yet (he'll get there though, if I get to have my way!).
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
Joined: August 11 2009
Location: Canada
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Points: 8448
Posted: December 06 2014 at 13:00
When I first got into prog I tried to 'introduce' people to it, but of course my goal was not to enhance their listening pleasure, but to show them how much better what I listened to was so that they would realise how flawed their music taste was and listen to prog instead and we could talk about Genesis and Yes and Beardfish and Moon Safari and all the other bands.
Just joking. But I think it's a common thing to try and get someone into progressive rock instead of just thinking they'll like something. Like if I show a friend a band, I then have to go into the history of that band, point them down the road of a dozen other they might like, list the bands they should listen to and their historical context, spend a few hundred hours getting to know them and understand why they are just so much better than everything else out there.
That's crazy. I show people songs or bands sometimes if I think they'll like it, and the fact that it's prog doesn't have to come into the mix, nor does them liking it having to lead to me overriding their musical taste. I showed a friend Secret Chiefs 3, he liked them so I told him my favorite album, he listened to it, liked it. We ended up seeing them live together and he enjoyed it, he's done some further digging. But he hasn't listened to any other avant bands or prog bands because of it, hasn't even dug into Mr. Bungle, and that's fine. If you just show people music and they can like it for what it is or not, rather than their being some ego of "this is what is right to listen to and better than the crap you've been brainwashed to like, and if you like this let me introduce you to two hundred other things that are also better than everything you listen to", people are more receptive.
Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
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Posted: December 06 2014 at 16:42
Hi,
There is another funny way to do it.
In our house, my dad was a music fanatic and on any given day, you come home, and something is playing blasting in the living room ... and of course, some things end up sticking with you ... I mean, when you hear Renata Tebaldi show up Birgit Nilsson and then have it out with Mario del Monaco, or when you hear Maria Callas belt her way through Carmen, and then you turn around and hear Boris Christoff do Boris Godunov ... and then I heard Gigli's Tosca ... what a treat ... a lot of rock music sounds really vain and stupid all of a sudden, not to mention sophomoric and childish, and with very little talent to be able to play it.
By the time I heard a lot of rock music, it did not exactly inspire me, except the folks that had the emotion to shake your knees and your heart, and they were Jimi, Janis and Jim, for example ... you would never forget that strength and those feelings.
So, your kid might hear it and one day go ... who was that dad? ... and you know you got their ear.
Today, is different. 40 years ago, we did not have the conglomeration of music that all kids had today ... you did not even have a little radio that burned up a battery in one evening, to hear a station far away ... that sounded horrible playing "Whole Lotta Love" and "Light My Fire" ... you could barely make out "Me and Bobby McGee".
Kids today are so ingrained in the pop music and top ten, that hearing something different is going to be harder, I think ... I'm not sure that these youngsters, playing rap full blast in their ears from the iPod's will develop any appreciation for classical music, or any other kind of music in their lifetimes ... they are a product of their "generation" and this is all they know and learn, and there might not be enough time in their life to realize how much else they missed!
I just hope/try to help people see there is more ... regardless of what it is. There is a world out there ... go see it and visit it!!!!!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
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Points: 16148
Posted: December 06 2014 at 16:52
Hi
(Funny note about the above!)
I wrote this before, since my dad knew his classical music really well. So I brought him for his birthday Tomita ... Snowflakes are Dancing ... and he heard two pieces and said "... how very cute ... " and walked back to his office. So I went up to him, with my mom there and called him a snob! i said you sit here and think Wendy Carlos is good, and then you hear something different and similar and you don't think it's good. It's a very faithful rendition of Debussy, for the record. ... and I left.
A week later, my mom said he listened to the album twice that night, and that he finally admitted to mom that it was very pretty and very nice. That it added to Debussy a touch of fantasy, that otherwise, most classical music tends to hide!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
Joined: October 03 2008
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Posted: December 06 2014 at 17:14
So, if I understand you, to make people like some genre of music: 1) breed them; 2) indoctrinate them; 3) yell at young people only listening to rap and pop, like any old geezer would do, just like parents did in the 50's when Rock'n'Roll appeared; 4) SUCCESS!
Joined: December 23 2009
Location: Emerald City
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Points: 17497
Posted: December 06 2014 at 17:29
I don't....Prog is a music genre that you progress to from psych rock or classic rock, where bands like PF and Yes can be considered. You have to want to explore new music and the general public is not interested in looking for new on their own.
Plus you would have to introduce them to such old music from the 70's which is very difficult since these bands are now old codgers with long stringy hair and never smile, and new prog does not sound like prog.
Joined: September 10 2010
Location: Earth
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Posted: December 07 2014 at 00:20
SteveG wrote:
It's not often that we get a chance to introduce prog to non prog music fans, but it does happen from time to time. How have you introduced people to prog? And if you've never had the opportunity, how would you do it?
Oh yes one band alone among others has been my triumph card, Pain of Salvation, female friends who have no idea what is prog nor particularly listen to great instrumentals, I blow them away with
Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
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Posted: December 07 2014 at 02:37
I think you should not start by just letting someone listen to some Prog music. The world of Prog is much more than the music as such, it is a universe in itself, like a giant maze full of amazing things waiting to be discovered by those who dare to venture into it. We serious Prog fans care about much more than the simple pleasure of listening to a nice piece of music. Once we have got deep enough into the maze's entrance we start appreciating many other wonders beyond the music itself: the lyrics, the artworks, the individual musicians with their character and their skills, the often tumultuous stories of the bands and the relationships between their members, the relationships between bands and sub-genres, the chronological-historical aspects, the instruments... And places like PA where all those things can be discovered and discussed with other nice people. And when you are deep enough such as a frequent PA visitor, you know with certainty that the maze is so big that you can never possibly discover all of its hidden wonders, the source of Prog nectar is inexhaustible.
So what you need to get someone possibly interested into Prog is not playing them a few songs but somehow let them feel that aspect of Prog, let them see that there exists some obscure endless world, a hidden sub-culture, where someone who dares to have a peek and stay for long enough to start appreciating what lies in there has big chances of getting sucked and be revealed an endless source of wonders, an endless trip of exploration and discovery going far beyond enjoying listening to some music. If they understand this they may get intrigued into starting exploring the maze's entrance by themselves.
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
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Points: 10616
Posted: December 07 2014 at 05:03
Um... I only have introduced someone to Van der Graaf Generator.
He didn't like it first, but now he's the biggest of fans.
Funnily enough, the guy that introduced me to Van der Graaf, was not a prog fan. He liked Roxy Music and the thought "Sleepwalkers" was not unlike Roxy.
I tried to introduce people to prog, but they 'extraduced' themselves as soon as possible
I have far more success getting people into new music when I don't brand it beforehand. I may use such aural terms as 'old school' and 'weird', but will most often resort to more hands-on explanations: 'Y'know can I play you some music that feels like you're jumping on a whale's tummy in the Indian ocean?'
I think a lot of this internet business creeps up on you - certainly the different boxes and names you assign to music, but I think it's important to know when to leave them behind - as fx you should when you actually listen to the music, and perhaps more specifically in regards to this thread: when talking with potentially new proggers, but still people who aren't in the know.
No sense in showing off your nerd glasses on the first date if you know what I mean? Let the music speak for a change.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
Joined: June 25 2013
Location: Portugal
Status: Offline
Points: 10215
Posted: December 07 2014 at 05:44
^ Yeah, I noticed other people look me with that "who's this freak"
look when I say that I listen to Progressive Rock and playing the music
doesn't help either From
my experience, I'm glad I got there on my own (and now with the help of
this fine community). I wanted to find challenging music that did not
bore me. I found it
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How have you introduced people to Prog?
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presdoug wrote:
Great track! 
