What bothers you in Prog Music? ( Pet Peeves ) - Progressive Rock Music Forum

One of my peeves is when prog bands employ a bloody orchestra instead of a proper Mellotron. Seriously.

I mean, what did ELP get out of their orchestra period, except for a pile of unpaid bills and bankruptcy?

If it ain't got Mellotron, it ain't prog.

I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!!

people who don't like cats!

what wrong thread?

miamiscot wrote:

Pet prog peeve: awful singing. If you can't find a good vocalist then maybe your band should be instrumental.

Couldn't have said it better.

PROGMATIC

Some people complain about prog for the sake of prog, but I have a beef with pop for the sake of pop in prog music. Like when a band tries to write a really catchy sounding chorus in a song that really doesn't need one, especially when the lyrics aren't very poppy.

I think the first time I noticed this was Dream Theater's Solitary Shell (from 7 Degrees of Inner Turbulence)... in the live version from Score, James LaBrie shouts "Sing it!" during the chorus. Uh, no James... I can't understand a word you're singing. Now, if your chorus is "Woah, halfway there, woah-oh, livin' on a prayer!", I can keep up. If your chorus is:

He's a Monday morning lunatic
Disturbed from time to time
Lost within himself in his solitary shell
A temporary catatonic madman on occasion
When will he break out of his solitary shell

Then just no.

And one big big offender is Big Big Train; take Keeper Of Abbeys - catchy song; almost sounds like I'm listening to Great Big Sea. The lyrics to the chorus?

Keeper of abbeys
His name was carved in the grey stone
It was the angel of the north

That's not very chorusy at all... it barely looks like lyrics. Fortunately, the song goes into a lovely jam with violin and electric sitar solos, so it's not completely a waste.

Edited by ForestFriend - May 17 2018 at 21:12

My prog band - Boreal Kinship

Cookie cutter anything.

If I can predict the arrangement upon first listen, I lose interest immediately.

It's not progressive if it's just a 4/4, ABABA intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus/close rock song with keyboards added.

Edited by Frenetic Zetetic - May 18 2018 at 02:02

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021

Hi,

NOTHING!

In my view of things, the only way something can bother you in "Prog" is if you are not listening to MUSIC, and instead your are confusing the SOUND for the MUSIC.

And this is a concern (even Bill Bruford mentions this in his book!), since people are "into this or that" and in general it has to do with a SOUND, and is not centered around the music work itself. If you unplug it, does it still have the elements that make it MUSIC ... and to my ear, it doesn't, and it should not be considered "metal" just because of the amplification, and this was the difference between the original "metal" (like Black Sabbath) and the rest.

It's just scary ... how we do not differentiate the "sound" for the "music" itself. And I tend to think that too many discussions are just mired in the world of confusion in a discussion. And suggesting that it ain't this or that because of one instrument, is even worse for my mind!

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

Long boring nonsense posts by self opinionated blowhards. Oh and harmony vocals with too many keyboards.

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

I don't get peoples problems with fade-outs, they rarely phase me and can sometimes even benefit a piece of music.

To answer the question: when the artist not only decides to disregard any compositional flow, but decides it needs to be framed in a 10+ minute piece of over-complexity.

New album!
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385

superQuizzie wrote:

Sometimes there are things that bother me in prog music.

Lastly what bothers me is when songs are too short.

This is sort of funny. On more of a silly whim than anything else, I made a Spotify Play List of Short Progressive rock songs, arbitrarily limiting the list to songs under 4:30. 64 tracks so far.

Edited by twalsh - May 18 2018 at 10:35

More heavy prog, please!

irrelevant wrote:

I don't get peoples problems with fade-outs, they rarely phase me and can sometimes even benefit a piece of music.

It depends on the music that is being faded out. If the music is something great and that one would like to hear developed further, then it can be quite frustrating to hear it being faded out. But otherwise, fade out is just one of a number of ways to end a piece of music. One interesting way to end a side of a vinyl album is for the music to continue into the run-out groove where it repeats ad infinitum.

No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man.