Prog in unexpected public places.

Guldbamsen wrote: purplesnake wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: purplesnake wrote: Well I'm 15 so last year in grade 9, we had to do this project for french where we had to pick a song (that was french) and make a presentation about it, at first i picked The Strands of the Future by Pulsar but this kid in my group said it hurt his ears :( so i didnt want to argue we went along with some sh*tty song but then at presentations time.. My friend, from a different group, had chosen Harmonium! and I was barely familiar with Prog at that time but they played Harmonium (the song) and after our teacher was like what genre is this (cuz we had to record it on our sheets) and I was like "Prog rock!" And they were like "I think its Folk".I feel like there are lots of people out there who dont know anything about music, but there are many others who could understand and come to like prog if they were seen to it. I'm lucky, I used to listed to just classic rock and stuff, but fortunately alice cooper played Yes and Rush from time to time (on the radio) and with some internet searching I soon got into prog. Now I can't listen to anything else! You should feel blessed by the fact that the world of music and wonders opened up to you at such a young age. Just beware not to fall in the trap, that some proggers do - when they think they´ve suddenly reached some form of higher moral ground - just by listening to a certain type of music. One should always remember that out there in the big wide world, - there´s probably somebody just like you - getting the same kinds of goosebumps, just over Lady Gaga.  I loooooove Strands of the Future by the way Thanks for the advice, yeah... Music is really hard to explain. The thing is almost everyone I know listens to stuff like lady gaga, and it's so difficult for me to not get angry. But now with people who I like as people who don't understand much about music I just try to change the subject when it comes up. But that's kind of hard to do when the subject is what controls my life (I play guitar, bass, piano, and flute and comepose/write music). But I think when I get into sticky situations I will always think back and remember your post. And yeah, strands of the future is absolutely beautiful... I know exactly what you mean. The thing is, when your music starts moving you on a personal level, it suddenly gets very difficult talking to people, who generally just follow the radio and just use it as background atmosphere - maybe the occasional dance. But maybe they find those same "mind revolutions" but in books, paintings nature - or their loved ones. You just gotta believe they "get it " too - we just so happen to do it through music that´s it really Just keep playing music doing your thing - PA is always open, so you´ll always have somebody to talk to about music, and how stupid the rest of the world is for not getting it

Yeah! Exactly. It's not like music is the only art. My mom was a dance teacher and she'd always be pissed because no one understood the art of dance and everyone would consider dance as like just hopping up and down or some sort of competitive sport, when really it was a form of art that takes a lot of work... just like music! So yeah. What you say is very true.

And thanks, yeah, PA is mighty awesome (:

Back to the subject: I remember it was in a small cinema in Lyon in the early eighties, while waiting for the film, we could enjoy King Crimson's 'Starless'. And with my wife, on purpose, we used to play on a jukebox in a small town near Marseille, on the French rivieria the Doors' 'Riders on the Storm'. Imagine in August, in a region which has not a rock tradition.

About 2.5 or 3 years ago, I was in convenience store-type place on my college's campus, and the music playing was the whale song section of Pink Floyd's "Echoes".  Yes, it isPink Floyd, but you generally don't hear "Echoes" being played at convenience stores.

Prometej wrote: About 2.5 or 3 years ago, I was in convenience store-type place on my college's campus, and the music playing was the whale song section of Pink Floyd's "Echoes".  Yes, it isPink Floyd, but you generally don't hear "Echoes" being played at convenience stores.

Now that's the kind of thing I was talking about in the original post.  Anything that's got enough radio play isn't particularly surprising.

I don't think Pink Floyd really counts. That's as mainstream and accepted as prog is likely to get. Heck, I hear Money used as background music on the evening news during finance stories all the time. Great Gig In The Sky is very popular with news programmers here, too. 

OK, a new one!  I was in an immense grocery/general goods store (called Meier Thrifty Acres hereabouts), and I heard Blondie's "Heart of Glass" on the PA.  That started me thinking about those days, when Bob Fripp was chasing Debbie Harry's skirts etc.  

I've been to probably 20 Atlanta Braves baseball games in the last 3 years and at every game I've been to they've played Dream Theater's "The Dance of Eternity". The first time after getting over my shock I looked at my dad and was like "You know what this is, right!?!?" and thankfully he did. The second time I was just surprised to hear it AGAIN. Now I just wait for it before every game. They've played "Metropolis Part 1" before several times as well.
They also typically play "Summer Song" and "Satch Boogie" by Joe Satriani.


Edited by TheMasterMofo - September 18 2011 at 18:32

When I went to see Rush the venue was playing prog before the show and during intermission but i guess it doesnt really count since Rush is prog anyway.

I love salami, but I don't have patience for bananas.

Conor Fynes wrote: I once got a friend who was the manager of McDonalds at the time to play maudlin of the well's Part The Second on the PA system while I ate my nuggets. Can you guess how long it was before there were complaints?

I used to work at a small independent used/new bookstore called The Aspen Bookshop.  I often tended the store and got to play the music.  You bet I put together some nice book browsing prog assortment tapes.  No complaints and the occasional inquiry about what was playing.


Edited by Slartibartfast - September 20 2011 at 19:06