Is obscure, difficult prog deeper or more ...

That you can only know when you're old.

 

You live with whatever you like the most, obviously. I have no idea how old you are, I just meant that if you are for example 40, you may say that you found your main taste at 20-25, but you can not know if that will still be true when you will be 55, maybe then you will say that you found your most loved taste at 45. Or not, who knows until you will be there. And at 75?

 

I thought it was obvious but apparently I had to explain it: you only know your past, your future not yet.

 

Obscure does not mean better, and familiar does not mean worse.  These terms are just a matter of popularity.  Note that several highly rated albums and artists on this site were extremely popular.  Pink Floyd, Yes, Jethro Tull were majore acts at one time, and Floyd is one of the biggest rock bans ever. I have to admit though, that obscure bands interest me because they offer a bit of an adventure - the chance of hearing something that I could not hear anywhere else.  Obscure also depends on where you live.  Journey was an important band to a lot of people in my area when was a teenager, including me and my friends, but that was before they became major hit machines; we loved their first three albums, which were not that well known.  They became popular because they changed their sound to one being more accessable.

 

Difficult can apply either to complexity or to a challenge to one's taste.  Again, neither necessarily means better, but I do tend to prefer my music with enough complexity that I can hear different aspects and nuances over repeated listens.  That is, of course, if I like the music in the first place.  If it challenges my taste, then, as stated above by ?, I will listen until I get some sense for what is going on but only if it intrigues me in some way.  If I don't like it at all at first listen, there is little incentive to continue.

 

Nor do I think that obscure or difficult is mutually opposed to pleasant or rewarding.  Barclay James Harvest is not well known in my region, but their music is very pleasant.

 

I think it takes us all a while to realize what it is we really like, and that some of us find that sooner than others.  One aspect of that is that we need to hear a variety of styles and genres before we can be certain about it.  Otherwise we are just taking in what the commercial interests are feeding us.  Many of us on this site can tell the same storey: we were listening to the mainstream but then someone played something that just blew our minds.  For me, it was hearing whole albums by Pink Floyd, ELP, Jethro Tull, Yes, and Deep Purple.  The important thing is to listen to what you like, and if that requires some searching, then so be it.  What else would you do?  Listen to the same pap that's no longer satisfying?

How about actually adding to the discussion? If you don't want to then why on earth are you on the site anyway?

 

this

But then again, that's how my brain works specifically. It's all subjective.

 

 

hahaha- I go to underground punk shows in Columbus like 2 days a week for the atmosphere. 95% of the bands are... let's just say they are... boring.