Prog Music - the whitest music, ever!

SteveG wrote: Once again, the marginalized banjo is forgotten. Now that's musical bias.

Edited by cstack3 - August 10 2017 at 18:50

skog_prog wrote: This article is such a joke. Apparently they don't realize a lot of prog bands are heavily jazz influenced. Not to mention the non white bands in prog (Cabezas De Cera, Animals as Leaders (guitarist), Osibisa, and Ruins just as examples)

siLLy puPPy wrote: I believe Demon Fuzz was another African prog band although more in a proto-prog fashion in 1970

More like proto Slipnot!

Edited by SteveG - August 11 2017 at 11:40

I finally read the Atlantic article and it was predictable. Written by an American maybe and away from the east coast we are too infatuated with the blues to be able to appreciate prog. Our ears are not culturalized (is that even a word?) to it. Many Americans love prog, but not nearly as many as do in Europe.

Anyway, as an American prog lover, I long ago learned to accept the fact that others will never graduate to that level of appreciation for a music that only occasionally, I admit, actually fulfills its promise of enrapturing you in aural bliss. But that it does so at all is astonishing considering the magnitude of the challenge facing it. Genius, after all, is rare enough, and then to focus it as classic prog did using revolutionary new tools for creating sound, and adding its own unique harmonic signatures - never again perhaps will I experience what I experienced back in my college days (1972-1976). My roommate had model study habits, but I couldnt keep my paws off the LPs at the time: Nursery Chrimes. Close to the Edge. Trilogy. Wind and Wuthering. Birds of Fire. There were so many milestones along the way. The first time I heard this. The first time I heard that. And then poof, within a year or two, the magic was gone, but not totally gone for ever, thankfully. There is Big Big Train, Radiohead, Bjork, IZZ, Porcupine Tree, Moongarden, Isuldurs Bane, White Willow, The Tea Club, and many more. Not all prog maybe, but all good.

So, but when something touches you so deeply, it can take patience
understanding why others arent able to enjoy what you enjoy. I sum it up like this. I grew up in a classical music environment and played piano from an early age. And I learned that Europe, not America was the source of the music that I played.
Ok, "white" Europe if you will. And then along comes prog and it is mostly coming out of the UK. My ancesters came from Derbyshire Co, not too far from Manchester. So, but in a way, this is all I need to know. My Americaness doesnt extend to my tastes in music at all. This has caused me endless frusturation in life. I wonder what people listen to now up in Derbyshire Co., and if we are really still kin. Very likely we are. I imagine that not only do they listen to a little prog now and then, but non prog from the UK, and other nearby countries as well. Iceland. Norway. Bjork. Uni Wilhelmson. I dont know. Anyway, of course its all "white" music. What do you expect? I guess what Im saying is that if you are based anywhere in the world outside of the UK, the true ancestral home of prog, critizing it is a little like me critizing mararachi music. Its just that it gets judged on the basis of what it isnt (blues based rock), rather than what it is. Why is it ELP gets judged to be one of the "worst ROCK bands ever" when its no more rock to me than it is gospel? C'mon people. I know, not everyone. in the UK liked prog either. In fact, there are class issues here, and I acknowledge that these can be especially strong in the UK. But the never ending war that rock purists wage against other forms of music, particularly classical, it is all irrelevent to me. What IS relevant to me is my ancestral roots as it relates to my tastes in music. You guys in the UK wrote from the heart, and it touched me deeply despite my being 300 years removed from that world. For that, I feel a bond with you that will last forever and wish, half seriously, that I could meet you all on a prog cruise. We can throw the critics of prog overboard. Prog only lasted 30 seconds, duh.. Maybe it lasted only 30 seconds to them. Their ears couldnt comprehend it in that short a period of time, so they just abandoned it forever.

Edited by aldri7 - November 08 2017 at 01:13

Prog music white? Sh#t.

Articles that identify the "whitest" aspects of any artistic subset are the whitest things ever.

Anyone I suppose that doesnt use the blues scale in their rock risks having their music labeled as too white. In the 60s, rock could go either way. Both the Beatles and The Beach boys wrote songs using the blues scale as well as songs that used more traditional major or minor scales. But then rock diversified into diffent genres, and some were bluesy almost by requirement, while others, like prog and folk rock, stuck more to major and minor scales (hence, they were perceived as more "white"). Interesting, in the US, bands out of California, like the Laurel Canyon artists (CSNY, mamas and the poppas) were too white for many of the rock purists. Prog met a similar fate. But the battle between the scales didnt end there. Punk was the rock purists answer to non bluesy prog. But also, I always felt a reverse situation took place later in the 90s with grunge and alt rock. Alt rock is a genre that almost seems defined by its lack of use of the blues scale. And was it a rebellion against heavy metal, which arguably overused it ad nauseum?


I wonder how many rock musicians are even conscious of the exact scales they are using when they write. Somehow, I imagine that the Beatles were, because Lennon seemed to know that kind of stuff. A lot of other guys, though, might go "well, should we write a major key song, or a minor key song?". Thats something everyone understands, but then if they choose minor key, they might go on to use the blues scale without really realizing it. Little might they know the consequences, i.e. acceptance or rejection by the rock purists, due to their innocent choice of scales, hee hee :) On the other hand, though, I doubt very much that they care..




Edited by aldri7 - November 08 2017 at 02:53

That's funny you say that because I think "knots" is one of their best songs. :D To each their own I guess. 

Blacksword wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: That's funny you say that because I think "knots" is one of their best songs. :D To each their own I guess.  Indeed. To me it's unlistenable I'm not a big fan anyway, but it blights what is otherwise a pretty good album IMO.

You might appreciate it more if you'd ever seen them perform Knots live like I did in '76.  4 guys singing accapella counterpoint in front of 20,000 screaming Yes fans.  That took big balls  

The.Crimson.King wrote: Blacksword wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: That's funny you say that because I think "knots" is one of their best songs. :D To each their own I guess.  Indeed. To me it's unlistenable I'm not a big fan anyway, but it blights what is otherwise a pretty good album IMO. You might appreciate it more if you'd ever seen them perform Knots live like I did in '76.  4 guys singing accapella counterpoint in front of 20,000 screaming Yes fans.  That took big balls

I appreciate that it's very clever and technical, like most of their music. It just kinda makes me cringe. It would take balls perfoming it under those conditions though, I agree.. Did they go down well generally, supporting Yes?