^Nobody has to be smart in order to understand what you mean

^Always will be born people with good taste for appreciating a music beauty

I agree with you Iain. We've had these sorts of discussions before, and prog, or any other sort of musical branching, need no intelligent fanbase to grasp the sonic impact. Hell, I've met some pretty dumb prog fans, just as I've met extremely intelligent Miley Cyrus fans. 

Prog 74 wrote: I think we can agree that rock music's peak years were roughly between 1965 - 1975.  Artists were given the freedom in the studio to virtually do as they pleased and this was encouraged by the record companies.

rogerthat wrote: ^^  Well, throughout the 70s, no prog rock band won the Grammy for Album of the Year. There are of course a host of genre-specific categories which I am not getting into but Album of the Year was won by Simon & Garfunkel, S Wonder, Carole King, Fleetwood Mac and Bee Gees.

Edited by jude111 - March 24 2014 at 20:39

I think we can agree that rock music's peak years were roughly between 1965 - 1975.  Artists were given the freedom in the studio to virtually do as they pleased and this was encouraged by the record companies.  Music fans bought these experimental and progressive records and radio stations played them around the clock.  Warner Brothers famously signed the Grateful Dead and allowed them to be themselves.  They wisely did not try to "reign" them in and turn them into something more mainstream.  The more original and creative you were the more likely you would be signed and promoted by the record companies.  By the late 70s that began to change.  The music business became a business first and foremost.  Like any business it's aim was to make money and the best way to make loads of money in the music business was to sign bands that had mass appeal.  The more appealing you were the more likely you would have a top 10 hit.  MTV furthered the situation by saying you couldn't merely sound appealing you had to look appealing too.  A hairy, aging band like Jethro Tull would never get a video played if you were judged solely on "looks".  Creativity was stifled.  Wanting to venture beyond the standard 3-4 minute pop song structure was strongly discouraged.  Prog became a joke to many.  A few great prog bands have boldly defied those trends, but in order to survive it needed to go underground where is still exists today.  It's doubtful prog will ever again attain the popularity it had in the early 70s.  It can be done, but the now struggling music business needs to reverse it's stance on creativity & experimentalism.  The Flower Kings should be on the Grammys instead of just Beyonce, Macklemore or Taylor Swift.  Am I truly believe that any of those artists had a more creative, more imaginative album than Desolation Rose?  Absolutely not.  We need to stop dumbing down everything and instead encourage people to want to think and to learn.  Truly good music, be it classical or prog or jazz, requires a certain degree of intelligence that many people find intimidating.  Being smart, being creative, being different are what I find to be truly appealing and the music business should as well. 

The Dark Elf wrote: Atavachron wrote: The Dark Elf wrote: Atavachron wrote: Hit a nerve, did I.   Well that's life on the streets, buddy. No, you didn't hit a nerve, but to use another tired old idiom, you missed the boat. I don't even think you are at the right dock. Perhaps you should just stay in the tub with your rubber duck and blow fart bubbles.. Wow, I really did rustle your feathers.   Is that the best you got?   Fart jokes?  You are completely incapable of replying in context. Your are incapable of paraphrasing or understanding the gist of a dialogue. I don't know if you use English as a second language, but you obviously can't read. So enjoy the rubber duck and fart bubbles, because I no longer take you seriously.

 

Good one--  actually English is my third language.   Not bad for an illiterate, huh?

WeAreKin wrote: I hold the feeling that I'm not sure that it's particularly important as long as the musical landscapes created and history generated have been absorbed and reinterpreted into something new. Just for example if Beethoven or Mozart were alive today they would be spotting their music in nearly everything out there from a western composition.  ...

Atavachron wrote: The Dark Elf wrote: Atavachron wrote: Hit a nerve, did I.   Well that's life on the streets, buddy. No, you didn't hit a nerve, but to use another tired old idiom, you missed the boat. I don't even think you are at the right dock. Perhaps you should just stay in the tub with your rubber duck and blow fart bubbles.. Wow, I really did rustle your feathers.   Is that the best you got?   Fart jokes?

^ Great question, you might want to post it at JazzMusicArchives