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Turning Points |
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Textbook 
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Joined: October 08 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3303 |
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 Topic: Turning PointsPosted: April 26 2012 at 19:43 |
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I was never turned on to prog or hard rock. I literally grew up listening to them. Literally since about 7, I listened to Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, The Who, Led Zeppelin etc because that was my dad's old LP collection and the stuff on the radio I found quite annoying.
However I was quite a snobby rockist and there were plenty of other genres I did get turned on to later in life. This thread is for everyone to share their story about a time where they "saw the light" about a genre they'd previously written off, an artist or album or experience that made you realise that a genre you had dismissed actually had something to offer. I've got a few, but just one for now- electronic music. Being a teen in the 90s I was involved in all that Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim etc big beat dance rave scene and that music was cool and well put together but it wasn't The Smiths or anything. I couldn't imagine people really caring about it. And that was pretty much my picture of electronic music, nerds on computers making big dumb loud sounds to sell a few records on the party scene. But then a friend lent me a personally crafted double disc Depeche Mode selection. I am very skeptical. Three suspicious looking guys standingly woodenly at keyboards. Yeah right. I note one track is called Enoy The Silence. I'm sure I will, I think. No guitars, no proper drums Just Can't Get Enough comes tumbling out of my speakers. I'm horrified. This is *embarrassing*. This is the act that almost single-handedly justified electronic as an art form in the 80s? It's juvenile and tinny and I start hitting skip. But then tracks like See You, Get The Balance Right, Leave In Silence, Enjoy The Silence etc start turning up. There's a wide variety of flavours and style, some of it sounds shockingly modern. Its detailed and crafted, not the start to finish BOOM BOOM BOOM you'd get with rave music. Their music really grows and evolves and matures, going through their singles is like watching someone grow up. People Are People knocks me over on my ass and could've been released this week. Somebody is one of the best love songs I'd heard up to that point. Gahan's singing, with his bitter sense of humour and tendency to woe reminds me of Morrissey and he's actually quite a decent lyricist, tackling economic injustice, racism and other issues as well as personal issues. AND he was doing this before Morrissey was even on the scene so there's no possibility of copying. By the time I properly digest the discs, not only am I a Depeche Mode fan, but I appreciate that big beat stuff better, understanding more about how well assembled it is. DM are almost a course on modern production. Other electronic music sounds more distinct afterwards, more details and individual characteristics stand out. I move on to things Autechre and successfully revisit the Brian Eno Ambient records that I had heard but not understood and begin to appreciate better the ingredients in Portishead, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Bjork etc Electronic still isn't a favourite genre but ever since DM I do give acclaimed records a whirl every now and then. (f**k Buttons is a big modern favourite of mine.)
Edited by Textbook - April 26 2012 at 19:44 |
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darkshade
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Jazz Rock/Fusion Team Joined: November 19 2005 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Online Posts: 10041 |
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 19:57 |
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Ive been into rock music, classical, and some pop music for as long as I can remember. I got into metal when I was 13 or 14.
I got turned on to prog rock at 17, though I had been listening to prog metal like Dream Theater, Opeth, etc since a couple years earlier (but listened to them for their metal aspects, being the metalhead I was back then). Also at 17, I was turned on to jazz-fusion, particularly Return to Forever and Brand X. Yet again, at 17, I got into jam bands and prog-jam bands like Phish, Umphrey's McGee, String Cheese Incident, etc. At 19 I naturally began to get into and appreciate non-fusion jazz, having been into jazz-fusion for a couple of years, and that appreciating grew over time. At 19, I got into funk. I had been into jazz-funk before but didn't explore "true" funk until I was 19; like James Brown, P-Funk, Sly, Lettuce, etc. At 21, I began to appreciate hip-hop, and electronic music, especially proggy bands that incorporate electronic music into their sound. Hip-hop is still one of my least preferred genres of music that I like. At 22, I began getting more into House and other electronic music, like Daft Punk, Deadmou5, etc. Starting at 21, but not gaining steam until I was 22, I began exploring modern prog bands, as I had only been into bands from the classic era, besides a few exceptions, and this continues to this day. At 24, this year, Ive been slowly checking out some Canterbury Scene bands, but only have a few albums. As of typing this, I'm 24, and prog, fusion, and jazz are my dominant music choices, but I enjoy all the music I mentioned to various degrees. Edited by darkshade - April 26 2012 at 20:02 |
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My Last.fm
Jazz-rock conspiracy? Zappa and Miles played at the same festivals in the summer of '69 right BEFORE Hot Rats AND Bitches Brew were recorded. |
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HolyMoly
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 21:17 |
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I've been into progressive rock in some form or another since college (late 80s), and it was at that time that I pretty much said goodbye to heavy metal, considering it kinda moronic compared to stuff I liked like Pink Floyd, ELP, Genesis, and King Crimson. I even generally avoided prog metal. I still liked the Scorpions, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest, but that's about it.
About 3 years ago, I became curious about a band called Sunn 0))) (pronounced "sun", I guess the extra characters are supposed to look like sound waves). Someone told me they produced ultra-low frequencies that could practically change the physical properties of stuff. So I bought their latest album "Monoliths and Dimensions", cranked up the car stereo, and let her rip. What I experienced was a form of spirit music that felt akin to a massage, and I felt a connection. Long drone-centered pieces based on guitar amplifier sound, but also including deep recitation, trombone, strings, just a completely new experience for me. To my surprise, I learned that this band/album was often classified as "metal", "drone metal", "ambient metal", that kind of thing. Metal? Like those turgid peacocks in leather colostomy bags? This wasn't the metal I knew. I did some more searching on the genre and found bands like BORIS who mixed drone into a plethora of other heavy music styles. And on I went, finding more stuff by the week. I soon found there were things like "Experimental Metal" and "Post Metal" that also offered some interesting angles. I had owned Kayo Dot's "Choirs of the Eye" for a few years prior to this, but after developing a deeper understanding of this genre, that album suddenly made a lot more sense to me, and I was able to appreciate it in a new way. So hearing Sunn 0))) for the first time was my "turning point" that entertained the possibility that metal could be cool again, even if I still don't really think of them (or any of these groups) as "metal bands". I still associate that term with the hair bands, I can't help it. But it's no longer a genre I dismiss out of hand like I used to.
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Ambient Hurricanes
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 21:27 |
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I can't even give you a timeline; my musical tastes have expanded so rapidly over the last couple of years that I really can't identify a whole lot of real turning points.
One, however, that pops into my mind happened six months to a year ago, when I first listened to maudlin of the Well. Before this I had been skeptical of the Tech/Extreme metal genre, and I especially disliked harsh vocals, but after a few weeks of Toby Driver indoctrination I started to think, "Hey, maybe these growls aren't so bad after all..." Now I'm the one who tries to convince people that harsh vocals are a legitimate form of musical expression.
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"The hero's journey is the journey from strength to weakness."
- John Green |
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infocat
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 22:27 |
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I've seen a bit of Sunn O))) on YouTube and didn't "get it". But it sounds like that album may be worth a try. The band is named after Sunn Amps, and somewhat inspired by Earth who have a live album Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars. If you like the "drone" sound you might try Earth. They have a recent set of albums, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light (I and II), which I like to listen to when in the proper mood.  Actually, I think of a lot of "post metal" is metal for people who don't like metal.  |
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Frank Swarbrick
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The T
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 22:40 |
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In my case, classical music is what I've known and loved all my life and prog rock and other genres were the ones where I experimented this "turning point". Let's do a extremely brief recap:
Around 13 - Found rock with The Doors, The Beatles, Queen. ~ 15 - Metal with Sepultura, Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Megadeth. ~ 16 - Grunge (STP, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) ~ 17 - Found Prog Metal with Dream Theater, Amorphis, then Explorer's Club, Shadow Gallery, Rhapsody, Liquid Tension Experiment. Then found Transatlantic, then The Flower Kings, Marillion, Spock's Beard. Finally found prog rock itself. ~ 27. Found classic prog. At last I could fall in love with Genesis and some Yes and most Pink Floyd. I never could do the same with other bands. ~ 28 - prog revival with Porcupine Tree, among others. ~ 30 - Found black metal, probably the only form of metal other than some prog metal that remains with me strongly. My experiences with spother genres like Jazz have been more limited (I love a few albums) so there was no real turning point. Nowadays what was true in the past remains true today: classical music is my main music by far but prog rock and metal and some black metal are also among my favorite genres.
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Barbu
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 22:52 |
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10-13. Pop
14-15. Métal 16. Rush 17-22. Prog Prog Prog 22-38. Good Music |
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And all the stars were crashing 'round as I laid eyes on what I'd found...
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Ambient Hurricanes
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Posted: April 26 2012 at 23:02 |
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Thus the sig
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"The hero's journey is the journey from strength to weakness."
- John Green |
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richardh
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Posted: April 27 2012 at 01:41 |
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No such thing has happened to me. I'm never going to like rap music , just never going to happen I've always liked some dance,metal,pop,soul,glam,jazz,classical etc just don't listen to much of it.
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Textbook
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Posted: April 27 2012 at 03:59 |
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I was interested in hearing the stories, the incidents/songs/acts that affected these changes.
Another one for me was extreme metal. I'd always listened to hard rock and traditional heavy metal but the hard out growl growl death roar stuff I had written off as nonsense based on a few snippets. I know it's a cliche, but it was Opeth that turned me around on this. While many extreme metal acts just make the loudest noise they can forever, Opeth uses that extreme sound range intelligently, with purpose. Since then I have discovered and enjoyed many other great extreme metal acts such as Death and Gojira.
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Dayvenkirq
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Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Sparks, NV, USA Online Status: Online Posts: 7299 |
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Posted: April 27 2012 at 20:11 |
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I was on a train from St.-Petersburg to Minsk (or vice versa). Me and my mother somehow got into this talk about The Beatles. "You've never heard anything by The Beatles?!" "Maybe, maybe not." So, one day I come home from school, and there is this music playing in the entire communal apartment (that is, me and my mother had one room, our neighbors had two rooms, and we shared a kitchen and a toilet - all of that in one communal apartment.) Fortunately, the neighbors weren't there. "Wait a minute. I know that song." "Love me do-o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-oh ..." Started listening to The Beatles, and thus my musical fire was kindled. I was hooked on rock-n'-roll and everything else they did. Also, when I was seven, my mother was given this CD, "The Forbidden Forest - Impressions of George Winston" by the Taliesin Orchestra. Didn't dig it at the time, but in 2005 s%$t has changed for me. I learned to appreciate their classical/New Age interpretations of Winston's compositions. That was my first love for classical New Age, although at the time I did not know what New Age was, so I thought it was classical music with modern production touch-ups. So, it was more like a turning smudge than a turning point. I flew to the States with my mother for the second time, and here I am. Been in Nevada for six years. I think I've told that story before in a different thread, but ... long story short, I was in high school, and there were kids who wore those PF T-shirts. What's "Dark Side of the Moon"? Did some research in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and Wikipedia (I should be ashamed of the latter, but that's how I learned about the term "progressive rock"). Downloaded the album. Didn't care about anything except for the first half of the album, "Time" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" in particular. Did some further research on this newfangled concept called "progressive rock". Found out about King Crimson and Yes. David Gilmour placed a huge emphasis on mood and feel. Robert Fripp placed a huge emphasis on going nuts on the guitar, not just in terms of skill, but emotion. I thought: "I want to play the guitar." Those two guys are just ... God's mofo-ing gift. Downloaded "A Saucerful of Secrets". Yes! That's the one right there. The finale of the title track, 'Celestial Voices'. Everything felt right in the texture. The organ and the backing bass vocal were really moving (no matter how lame this sounds). I thought: "Such s%&t, man. I wish I could make something like that. Why don't I? I want to get an organ." $130 and an unfulfilled promise-of-shaving-my-beard later I got the Yamaha keyboard. My stepdad, who moved from CA to NV ages ago, had some DishTV channels, one of which had "Five Easy Pieces" going. In the critique it said " **** " (out of four, that is), and it turns out that it also features Jack Nicholson. Saw the movie, and it's got this scene that has Chopin's 28.4 playing to the montage of images of Nicholson's character as a child. I thought: "What the hell is this? Who wrote that?" Chopin, man. Chopin. He is still my most favorite classical composer of all time. I learned about Eno's "Another Green World" through that book, "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". "Eno. Never heard that weird name before. Is that a solo artist? And what's with that front cover art?" Downloaded the album. Thought it was too cold. Then, one evening, I was mowing my stepdaddy-fascist's front lawn, and then, all of the sudden, 'Spirits Drifting' popped up in my head. It was so moody, so rending. This was probably the first time ambient music worked for me. Other tracks started working, 'Becalmed' in particular. There was a selection of ambient tracks that I download, but I can't remember what it's called. One of those tracks was 'Lauft ... Heist das es Lauft Oder es Kommt Bald ... Lauft', which I personally perceived as cold at first (but later on I got the hang of it, and it turned out to be my most favorite track on "Faust IV".) I did more research on Faust, downloaded their debut, and ... it opens with this loud, freaking frenetic noise. I can't remember my reaction about this noise at the time. I do remember that I loved that sequence with the loud and true-ringing metal cling followed by the heavily distorted vocal swoosh on 'Why Don't You Eat Carrots'. That sequence is a true cling of genius. That was my first venture into the noise-rock world.
Edited by Dayvenkirq - April 27 2012 at 20:41 |
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"Composing itself, in a way, is a simplifying process, just trying to pick some (strands?) out [of] the clamour in the head." - Robert Wyatt.
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OT Räihälä
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 05:18 |
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Listened to classical and some lighter music ever since I was born. When I was 10, I found the Beatles. That's still my great regret - that they had already broken up four years earlier. Found punk rock when 15, then old heavy rock when I was 16-17. At 18-19 I found first bebop, and then cool. When I was 19-20, I found opera. In my early twenties I heard for the first time Le Sacre du printemps - now that was progressive! - and the rest is history.
Prog? Oh, I only found that when I had become an old fart. Losing interest towards all pop music took me away from good pop music when I was 20. Nowadays I'm interested in progressive music, which 99% of prog rock isn't.
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Gerinski
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 05:49 |
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I grew up listening to Prog from my elder brother and sisters, mainly symphonic, and it has always remained my prefered genre.
My dad played Classical music and Jazz and I like both, and although I'm far from an expert in neither this surely fueled my appreciation of Jazz-Rock / Fusion.
I have stayed rather faithful to Prog and JR/F in their different forms along the years without any drastical departure to other genres. I had a Heavy Metal period in my teens, AC/DC, Judas Priest etc, but even then I remained more oriented to the proggier side of Heavy Metal such as Rainbow, Queensryche etc. It didn't last long anyway but it has surely shaped my tastes in appreciating heavier kinds of Prog like DT, Ayreon etc.
Maybe the most worthwhile departure to mention is into New Age in the 90's. The term New Age is often loathed by proggers, but In the 90's there was little quality music being released and some New Age artists provided one of the few ways out for listening to decent music (including legends such as Rick Wakeman). There were actually some very good New Age albums in the 90's and I miss some appreciation for this genre here in PA.
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rogerthat
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 09:40 |
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Having grown up on Indian music, I somehow managed to see why the heavy distortion of Metallica did make sense in a certain way when I was around 19. By the time I was 23, I had immersed myself in lots of metal music and needed to be reminded that soft does not necessarily equate "wimpy", a cliche that some of my metalhead friends earnestly believed in. Jeff Buckley did the trick for me and that somewhere increased my interest in prog rock again. After that, I have listened to more jazz, classical and electronic music than before but it has been gradual and a natural drift into different directions. There hasn't really been a particular turning point since then.
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Dayvenkirq
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 14:40 |
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Crap. Forgot about opera. Actually, I was pretty turned on to some operatic-pop-kind of stuff, like Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Emma Chaplin, not real opera. I didn't really enjoy it in 2004-2005 because my mother would put it on and play it on loud volume, and it would be pretty annoying. Now that I'm in States, every time I think back to that period, I remind myself that this stuff is actually very enjoyable. Another turning "smudge".
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"Composing itself, in a way, is a simplifying process, just trying to pick some (strands?) out [of] the clamour in the head." - Robert Wyatt.
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HolyMoly
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 16:20 |
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Bingo! I admit that. Also, seeing Sunn on youtube is probably the worst way to experience them. I even watched a concert on youtube once, and it was boring beyond belief. But I've heard stories... people who actually go to those shows are never the same. edit: and yes, I have checked out Earth too. I have Earth 2 (hey, that rhymes) and Hex somethingorother. Hasn't made the same connection with me, but I certainly understand that Earth were Sunn's primary inspiration.
Edited by HolyMoly - April 28 2012 at 16:24 |
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Dayvenkirq
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 20:12 |
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^ If what infocat said is true, what would you recommend from post-metal, maybe from these bands in particular?
On the topic: Crap! I also forgot about Pino Danielle and Serge Lama! June 2001 (or 2002, can't remember). My mom was dating this Italian dude who lived in this tiny province Grotta Ferrata near Rome. He gave her that CD, a collection of songs, by Pino Daniele. I was enthralled with his combo of songwriting and performance abilities. He wrote some pretty catchy, upbeat, as well as moody tunes. Quite a growler for Italian pop. Like with The Beatles, I would put that CD into my CD player, crawl under the sheets of the bed, and listen to it in silence and darkness. Ma con musica musica. Blah blah blah blah blah. Ma con musica musica! August 2001 (or 2002, can't remember). My mom was dating a French dude, so we went to Paris, and then to Draveil, where the dude lived. He gave her Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, and Serge Lama. Of the three of them the third one won my attention: C'est te le temp ... de la rogaine, ta ta dimanche ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta ... . Another talented singer-songwriter. OK, maybe not very talented, but he wrote some darn catchy and melodic songs. ...
 ... wait ... were we supposed to be talking about prog?Edited by Dayvenkirq - April 28 2012 at 20:20 |
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"Composing itself, in a way, is a simplifying process, just trying to pick some (strands?) out [of] the clamour in the head." - Robert Wyatt.
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Ambient Hurricanes
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Joined: December 25 2011 Location: Cotopaxi Online Status: Offline Posts: 1974 |
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 20:41 |
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maudlin of the Well. I'm going to keep referring you to them until you finally listen to them
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"The hero's journey is the journey from strength to weakness."
- John Green |
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Fox On The Rocks
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 22:39 |
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Add Isis, Tool, Neurosis and Anathema to that list as well! |
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HolyMoly
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Posted: April 29 2012 at 00:27 |
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I'd just say grab that Sunn 0))) album I mentioned - Monoliths and Dimensions. If it moves you, do some reading, and you will naturally gravitate to other stuff you'd like. That's how it worked for me anyway. One of the more recommendable things about it is that it's not a rock album. It's really treating amplified sound as a basis for modern composition. Might not be obvious at first, but it's there.
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