Are you looked up as an outcast of society?

I would prefer to be an outcast by choice, because I didn't enjoy what the mainstream was doing. If I do enjoy what the mainstream is doing, there is no point in being an outcast.

My musical taste has little influence in people considering me awkward or weird. My personality and other things (including my weird accent) do more. 

Originally posted by CPicard I'm into Metaaaal. So, no one dares to mock my musical tastes and my personality. At least, no one alive.

Do you like Megadeath? I heard them for the first time a few days ago,and was really impressed.

Music is and always has been my main passion, and my taste in music has only gotten wider and wilder with age.  Most people I know are aware that I'm into music, and some probably know I play in a band, but there are only a small handful of acquaintances/friends that I really feel I can talk to about music.  I just think there's not much point in trying to get people excited about your specific area of interest (unless they ask, of course).  I try to remember the mindset of the movie buff -- I know people who are very interested in film and could talk for hours about this movie and that, and all sorts of obscure films few people have heard of.  But personally, I don't share that interest, and when that subject comes up, my eyes just glaze over.  I don't doubt there's a lot of great art out there just waiting for me to discover, but I just don't care that much.  I figure a lot of people probably feel the same way about music - and just because I'm really passionate about it doesn't mean everyone else is.  For those people, I usually converse (if at all; I'm not much of a conversationalist) about more common ground, such as toad licking.


Edited by HolyMoly - August 20 2012 at 16:16

Originally posted by akamaisondufromage Yes, as I occasionally wear socks and sandals.

Oh, you're a German tourist?

I think socks with sandals is a great idea.  If it weren't a fashion faux-pas, I think more people would choose to do it.  Sweaty feet get kinda yucky in sandals sometimes.

This is a "mouse trap" I dealt with for decades. For me...this dates back to the madtimes when prog first hit America. Prog was being promoted by huge record companies, kids my age who listened to "Hard Rock", Acid Rock, and Rock N' Roll were enjoying ELP because the band put on a full scale "Rock Show" and everyone around me thought it was cool to play with substances and watch them in concert. However...there was still that certain crowd of people who blasted prog and those who listened to it.

Face facts that we are a minority. In America we are a minority living on the same land with a majority who will never understand our music. It's because they don't have a reason to understand it. They have no appreciation for it because they don't understand the purpose for it. On P.A. you may run across people who introduce you to new Chamber Rock, Symphonic , etc. But try approaching people on the street with a microphone...asking them if they ever heard of this music. A majority of them will state that the music is useless to pursue because there is no money in it. Many closed minded opinions of prog music are based around the high ideals of making money in society to further a career. For example...the rich Dad whose daughter is dating a prog musician. The Dad wants what is best for his daughter and puts pressure on his future son-in-law to sell out. Many attitudes regarding prog music derive from the way society has been set up to motivate the process of money and not so much a personal opinion on music itself. You may have a decent amount of prog fans on P.A. who will converse with you, recommend music, tell the old stories, and make you laugh...but try walking from one end of  a small town to another asking people if they know this music and then you will see it is a majority that do not.  Sum up the percentage of people in America who are unaware or hate our music geographically across the nation. You have prog fans in the popular cities ..such as Baltimore, N.Y., Philadelphia, and so on. That measurement is small compared to the majority of average small towns across the U.S where people have no clue that music like this is present in the world. You would be lucky to find a music teacher in the public school, a few musicians who touch just the surface of prog, and possibly someone who has a family living in Germany that grew up on progressive music. It never pans out! These people do not work or play well with others. If you were to talk about prog like the drop of a hat...you would in general...appear to be a freak. Much of this is discussed by Erik Fromm in his psychology books. Psychologists have helped entertainers who felt like they couldn't escape the hounding society in their life. They have the life of a musician figured out and they are accurate at summing up just how and why prog music is not accepted by the norm and why people who listen to it are laughed at or outcasts.

It's funny, you know, in the world of classical music, I find my big focus on what are called HIstorical Recordings (recordings made before 1960), makes me feel i am sort of on the edge of things. There are not many people in the world that listen to the older classical recordings like i do anymore, or are even aware of them. Classical people are not into listening to conductors like Arturo Toscanini or Wilhelm Furtwangler anymore, it is a real shame.
          I remember hearing from a Classical music store clerk saying that most people come in wanting "the best digital sound" which means something very recently recorded. Toscanini or Bruno Walter recordings? They have no concept, and probably never will. They could care less.
               But there is that snobbish attitude among classical music people that TODDLER pointed out that really bugs me, though. A rock group like ELP or Triumvirat playing classical composers in a rock context? Huh? WTF? They have no concept, and probably never will.
          


Edited by presdoug - August 21 2012 at 14:32

Originally posted by Jim Garten Originally posted by Blacksword ...not sure how strangers percieve me though, to be honest. I dread to think. Depends if you're carrying a Pallas album Originally posted by Smartpatrol I despise society Oh, purleeeze!

Yeah, I concede, stumbling drunk through the centre of London, waving a copy of The Sentinal could be seen as slightly odd behaviour..

Still, could be worse, it could have been Love Beach. In which case I would like to think that one of you would have done the right thing and had me sectioned!