Innovation vs. Emotion - Progressive Rock Music Forum

This is one instance where I would have preferred a 'both' option.

The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"

O666 wrote:

... often music which you identify as being innovative in fact is not, you simply don't (yet) know the artists which were copied from.

Words for every artist / "artist" to remember, I'd say.

O666 wrote:

Innovative definition in Progfreak :

Music which avoids copying the style and ideas of other artists and focuses on creating something unique instead. This is easier said than done, and often music which you identify as being innovative in fact is not, you simply don't (yet) know the artists which were copied from.

http://progfreak.com/Artists-Albums-Tags-50698.html?path=tags/musical/musical_attributes/innovative

I pick Emotion .

OK, I think going with this very literal perception of innovation would be a little bit extreme... and it would leave just about every artist/album/song we consider innovative out of the definition. However, you somehow convinced me to vote for emotion now.

Dellinger wrote:

O666 wrote:

I pick Emotion .

OK, I think going with this very literal perception of innovation would be a little bit extreme... and it would leave just about every artist/album/song we consider innovative out of the definition. However, you somehow convinced me to vote for emotion now.

Hi. Honestly You convinced me to pick Emotion by your first post. I like your Point of View about this topic and Agree with you. Thumbs Up

I'm not convinced that emotion is something inherent in music, as opposed to a subjective - and to an extent culturally programmed - response to it by the listener. The music that makes Fred happy might make Joe sad and have no effect on Matilda. Particularly if Fred is Italian, Joe is Japanese and Matilda is from Arcturus.

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If music doesn´t wake my emotions, I don´t have no reason to listen it. Most of today´s music just doesn´t do that and that´s the reason why I listen so much older music.

Neither or both. (to prevent any misunderstanding, I'm saying up front that the following is highly subjective)

The thing with emotion it's only good if it's an emotion you can relate to. Lot's of emotional stuff out there that is just silly, whiny, or bitchy sounding, or just plain pathetic.

The thing with innovation is that it's only good if it's worthwhile innovation. It's not uncommon to hear something brand new and think... well, there's a reason nobody's done that before; it sounds like crap!

Dopeydoc wrote:

I admire innovation in prog

I love emotion in prog

I agree!

“Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.”

I don't know if I'll be able to answer this in a precise way, but I'll try.
Innovation/progress is a double-edged sword and can be a bad thing, and I'm not talking about music, but in general.
Anyway, back in the 70's punk was really innovative and was deemed "the new thing" and yet it was extremely regressive, almost a primal movement. Some liked it, some not, but you can't say you like "innovation" as a whole unless something's really f'd up with you.
Prog rock has a set of rules, it's not innovative in the sense that it is not a meaningless name that encompases every new musical fad (hip hop, boy bands...).
I don't look for innovation in music, I already chose a genre I love, and I expect that genre to mantain some form of internal coherence.

Emotion is highly subjective. You can elicit emotions with your songs, but you can't make emotional music on purpose.

To make my point clear: since innovation is out of your control (you don't like the new cult that forbids words and worships the mighty axe-wielding mecha dinosaurs, for instance), and emotion is a highly personal and subjective thing and means something different for every one of us, there's only one logical answer to this poll.

Edited by Upbeat Tango Monday - August 13 2018 at 16:51

Two random guys agreed to shake hands. Just Because. They felt like it, you know. It was an agreement of sorts...a random agreement.

Don't understand this poll really. ALL music has emotion. It may not be an emotion that you are aware that exists or that you feel comfortable experiencing but it is impossible not to have an emotional reaction when experiencing any type of music. Innovation needs to be defined better since any time an artist writes a new song but switching a few chords around and adding new lyrics, it could be considered innovation albeit only slight. In short: answers may vary according to music experienced. Some music clearly is ONLY concerned with evoking some sort of emotion whereas some is all about going where no artist has gone before. For me it's ALL good.

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Poll Question: What is more important for music?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Innovation	12	[32.43%]
Emotion	25	[67.57%]
You can not vote in this poll