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Topic ClosedIs Progressive Rock truly pretentious?

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Mescalito19 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 19 2012 at 21:27


Depends on why a musician is creating music.  For ego attention or to heal others? 




Edited by Mescalito19 - January 19 2012 at 21:34
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 20 2012 at 20:56
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 20 2012 at 21:14
I would think that prog rock is post-tentious at this juncture. It was pre-tentious several decades ago. It's silly to call it progressive at this point, just as it's silly to call another genre alternative rock. An alternative to what? Wink
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 20 2012 at 21:20
It does pretend to be pretensioussesnessesses verry hard.  Epic fail. Tongue




I swear it was what the cat was thinking, not me.


Edited by Slartibartfast - January 20 2012 at 21:21
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 20 2012 at 21:47
 "Pretentious" is a pejorative term, so it really depends on whether you like what the artist is doing or not.  If I like it, I don't call it pretentious.  Doesn't mean it isn't for someone else.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 20 2012 at 21:50
Ohhhhh heeeeeeeeeell yes!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2012 at 05:56
It depends on you.

For example, I'm a pretentious snob LOL
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2012 at 06:06
Originally posted by ole-the-first ole-the-first wrote:

I'm a pretentious snob LOL


I always take that accusation as a compliment.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2012 at 02:05
Much prog is pretentious, but is that so bad?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2012 at 09:08
Prog has a tendency to be pretentious and over the top, but that's down to the individuals lack of sense and taste. It needn't be like that.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2012 at 09:35
Originally posted by Chozal Chozal wrote:

Pretentious : "Making unjustified or excessive claims as of value, or standing".


Based on this definition, I would say GOOD prog is not pretentious, though there is much potential for the musicians making it to get arrogant....
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 22 2012 at 01:29
Knowing when to draw the line is the answer; sadly many dont pay heed.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 23 2012 at 14:54
Who even came up with the drivel that Prog is Pretentious? Compared to what?

Pop Music - nope, that is more pretentious (Dance and Lipsync shows! Beef costumes, music written by company hacks.... presented as Artists)

Rap music - nope, that is more pretentious (millionaire "gangsters" full of "pain" in ill fitting clothing with gold chains and swearing and degrading women...)

Country Music - nope that is more pretentious (We Love Jesus! We Really Love Him, and Our Country, we sing like bumpkins and pretend to be "earthy" but we are millionaires)

... etc.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 23 2012 at 19:20
Originally posted by RoyFairbank RoyFairbank wrote:

Who even came up with the drivel that Prog is Pretentious? Compared to what?

Pop Music - nope, that is more pretentious (Dance and Lipsync shows! Beef costumes, music written by company hacks.... presented as Artists)

Rap music - nope, that is more pretentious (millionaire "gangsters" full of "pain" in ill fitting clothing with gold chains and swearing and degrading women...)

Country Music - nope that is more pretentious (We Love Jesus! We Really Love Him, and Our Country, we sing like bumpkins and pretend to be "earthy" but we are millionaires)

... etc.



Handshake

Can't agree more.

Pretentious is an adjective added by people who believe everything they don't like is crap, they are the true pretentious.

Iván
            
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 23 2012 at 19:42
And even if it were pretentious, what's wrong with that anyway?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 24 2012 at 09:31
Progressive rock without its pretentiousness, bombast and self-indulgence would be as dull as ditch-water.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 24 2012 at 09:55
It's only pretentious if they wear capes onstage.

Edited by spknoevl - April 24 2012 at 09:55
http://martinwebb.bandcamp.com

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 24 2012 at 11:02
Originally posted by HolyMoly HolyMoly wrote:

And even if it were pretentious, what's wrong with that anyway?

I think that some people who use this term think that there has to be a balance between skill and emotion. Other people know that there can also be a balance between skill and fun. As long as there is a balance of some sort, the artist or the band is not pretentious. The artist/band just needs to know when to stop with the exhibition before it turns into just cold, brainless, self-indulgent flash that will turn people off.

Wait. What people? All people? Chances are that can't be. Some people? Most people in the audience?

As Ricky Nelson once wrote: 

Quote Can't please everyone so you ... got to please yourself.

Which is also a problem. You still can turn off lots of people if you choose flash. 


Edited by Dayvenkirq - April 24 2012 at 11:03
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 24 2012 at 11:48
If the music is not made with any clear emotional, musical, lyrical or technical goals in mind, it is in danger of coming across as a pretentious affair.  I don't think there is anything inherent in the nature of prog that makes it more likely to be pretentious, contrary to the stereotype.  On the other hand, I do find the idea of guitar God albums pretentious.  Is it really necessary to promote it as a music album...why not just as a guitar demonstration/instructional instead because the songwriting is often crap in these albums.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 24 2012 at 12:43
^ ^^ ^^^ and ^^^^ .... *sigh*
 
When the snide and smarmy rock journalists in the late 70s called Progressive Rock "pretentious" they were not being complimentary. They were not criticising the complexity or grandeur of the music but their (wholly negative and disparaging) perception of the musicians that played it and the fans that liked it.
 
While some Prog bands like Yes and ELP were bombastic and showy and therefore were an easy target for ridicule, that wasn't why the word "pretentious" was used - most of the Prog bands at that time were not bombast or showy, yet they were still called "pretentious". If the reason why Prog was called "pretentious" was because of the second meaning of the word (ie ostentatious) then it would imply that everything was just for show... a facade, and that clearly isn't the case (even with Yes and ELP). They used the word in its primary meaning - arrogance - pretending to be important - delusions of grandeur -elitism.
 
 
 
What?
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