Nerdiness and Progressive Rock
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Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71787
Printed Date: August 23 2025 at 20:48
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Topic: Nerdiness and Progressive Rock
Posted By: sealchan
Subject: Nerdiness and Progressive Rock
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 14:13
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In the CNN article below there are some interesting comments about being nerdy and liking odd time signatures.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/09/29/warriors.of.rock.nerds/index.html?hpt=Mid - http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/09/29/warriors.of.rock.nerds/index.html?hpt=Mid
Is there a relationship between nerdiness and an appreciation of progressive rock? Are those who appreciate progressive rock finding in the complex music a substitute for the complex social experiences that nerds may, due to their natures, be missing out on? Do more socially adept and less nerdy individuals need less complexity from their music because they get this complexity from their social interactions?
Now I know I am flirting with stereotypes here but I am in a position of some experience on this matter and find the question still has merit. I work in a very nerdy business and I have many years of experience with customer interaction and was promoted for my relative abilities in this area, so I feel that in spite of the fact that many nerds are socially adept, they may still find that their social adeptness is still somewhat at odds with their great concern with the technical side of things (whatever that may mean). One of the main points of conflict is that a nerd is more concerned with the truth of how a thing works in fact and less concerned with how someone might understand how a thing works (lacking the knowledge that a nerd might quick move to acquire because of their personal proclivities).
The article above re-inforced a perception I have long had that complex music helps "thinking" types to approach feelings by embedding them in complex forms that in themselves help to capture the attention of the thinking type and allow them to open up to more emotive experiences that otherwise brazen, pop-style music might not be able to achieve. Its akin to the idea that you can give someone a nasty tasting medicine (feeling-emotion) if you dissolve it in something more palatable (complex, abstract form).
This perspective is embedded in a Jungian (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) psychology-philosophy.
Anyway, any thoughts yea or nay would be welcome to me.
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Replies:
Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 14:43
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Prog fans are not known to be the most popular people around, for obvious reasons. We like music that is, by its own nature, not intended to be popular. But that doesn't mean we're nerds. Sure, quite a few prog fans are, but there are plenty of normal, socially adaptable prog fans (such as myself) as well. Just because we like a certain type of music doesn't mean we're nerds... I never completely understood the correlation there (even though it's sometimes fun stereotyping prog fans  ).------------- 
Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 14:48
It seems that anything which involves using one's intellect is considered nerdy by those who don't value intellect. I find those kind of people very boring, and that is simply uncool in my book.  ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: dan_awesome
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 15:17
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Personally, I would consider myself a nerd. I am, however, a nerd with considerable social skill and a large, consistent, close-knit friend group, but a nerd nonetheless. I'm also an engineer, and I think that may have something to do with this as well. As an engineer, and a moderately intelligent individual, I can appreciate the complexities in the things around me, and that reflects in my musical tastes as well. I'm a musician myself, and as such, I'm a big fan of chaotic, super-technical progressive death metal, with tons of time shifts and key changes. Music that just makes you take a step back and mull over how exactly the musicians came up with what they're playing. The band Unexpect is a good example of this. Much of their music just leaves you scratching your head in awe and wonder, but it's fantastically chaotic and interesting and surprisingly listenable. I think there is a pretty good correlation not necessarily between nerdage and technical or progressive music, but between engineers, software developers, or other technical professions (and their associated personalities) and prog. I think the percentage of people who listen to progressive/technical music is quite a bit higher in technical fields, or among very intelligent people. That being said, however, I'm proud of being a nerd and listening to progressive music, and I have no qualms about being typified as such.  ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/danAwesome/?chartstyle=pliscnd"> 
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Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 15:30
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I hate stereotypes, I hate a lot of popular culture, and I don't give a toss what people think, to be frank. I LOVE prog, and if that makers me a nerd in others eyes, then so be it. It's their intellectual loss that they feel the need to categorise in the first place.
------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: sealchan
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 15:49
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I think that there has been a gradual acceptance and growth of appreciation/recognition of nerdiness very slowly over time from the time of the first Revenge of the Nerds film to the more recent TV series The Big Bang Theory. Whereas nerds were mainly relegated to academia and engineering, now we have a whole new class of nerdom supporting fields in the computer sciences, technical support and web development fields. And the percentage of people who simply use computers is obviously grown over the decades further blurring the lines between nerds and the rest of the population. One has to almost invent a new catagory of nerdom for those who relish the social web sites who are playing games derivative of D&D continually and spam everyone with their emails...
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 15:52
I've been on a similar discussion and path on this board for some time.
The music discussions, specially in this board, have to get better and beyond "I like it" ... and the article is making fun of the very typical attitude with "kids", that just like the music and are not interested in anything else.
The article forgot one thing ... Dr. Pepper!
In general, if all someone can say about the music is a time signature, I would state right off the bat that they are not listening to the music, and more than likely also have no idea what it is about. ...
The Rock Band thing is great if it is being used to help kids learn music and such ... but if it is simply being used as a toy for bigger kids to try and live out their stoned and drunk fantasies ... it won't last and eventually the fad will die down.
I do think it nice for RUSH that they benefit from sales and advertising, but really sad that their music is reduced to ... fan stuff ... and not worthy of attention and intelligence in discussion. That alone is a serious dig and very disturbing comment about the music business itself ... a business that couldn't careless what something was or what time signature it was if it didn't sell!
In the end, this whole article is a dig by one parent because his child is wasting his time on those games and that "music" that is horrible and bloated. ... now you see the difference?
You would think that CNN would be more sensitive and intelligent when it comes to discussing their very readership, but sadly, an article like that only exposes their ability to even care about a segment of people ... Rock Band, has become like everything else in America ... sell sell sellll sellllll sellllllll selllllllll and if you say something different, you are a jerk!
You might as well call all the classical music and jazz music listeners a bunch of morons and unintelligent people that can not appreciate music wihtout "having to think" about it. Ohhh ... and almost everyone in this board as well, then!
You gotta let trash like that go and not give it any attention ... I would kill the thread in the board since the article is so insulting that it is not worth the time and effort to reply to it.
The music that we love is NOT going to get credit and respect ... as long as we don't show those folks ... that they are wrong. And it is there because there is a lot more to the music and people that have appreciated a piece of music for so long ... than what the article has the guts to mention or discuss ... might as well bash the throng in Rock Band ... World of Warcraft has too many millions of customers that would nail you ... and Rock Band is not selling a whole lot anymore!!!!!!!
It's a selling ploy and nothing but! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
sealchan wrote:Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 16:02
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I think there are more geeks than nerds, if that makes any sense at all. I for one don't think of myself as a nerd... if there is anything I can't understand is technology and math. ------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 16:02
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It takes a certain nerdiness to go from "Wow that's hard to dance to," to taking the time to actually say "That's in 11/8, cool." Similarly, alot of what makes prog prog is A) complexity and B) Being willing to say "Screw what's popular." Both of which appeal to nerdy folks (like me.) BTW, a nerd to me is someone who gets into an interest to an obsessive degree, to the exclusion of normal life. Lots of guys try to fake it by being sports nerds, but they're just as socially awkward.
------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 16:05
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Every time I see "nerd" used in a forum thread I am reminded that I still don't have any Roche's CDs in my collection.
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: sealchan
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 16:26
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Of course saying nerds have less social skills really begs the question of what group you are socializing in...some may take this as an insult...but if, or maybe we should say when, relating to the world becomes a skill with mainly technical dimensions then the norm for how we social relate to one another may shift from empathetic modes to more nerdy modes of technical accuracy.
I would define a nerd as someone who has a primarily technical outlook or an outlook that makes the strongest appeal to the precise meaning of one's words as a basis for sharing knowledge especially where that attitude tends to preclude other aspects such as empathy, intuition and sensory aspects.
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Posted By: 40footwolf
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 17:55
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Relevant to the discussion: This didn't used to be the stereotype. I was talking to my mom about prog and mentioned how it was typified as being the nerdiest genre of music, and that surprised her because she said back in the '70s, pretty much everyone she knew who was majorly into ELP, Yes, King Crimson etc. was either a pothead or hugely into psychedelics, and that the common stereotype for people who listened to prog wasn't "nerd/elitist" but "burnout". For that reason I'm more inclined to say it's a shifting cultural value rather than anything that has to do with the music itself. Tool and Muse are probably the biggest prog bands in the world right now and I've never heard either typified as only being listened to by nerds. ------------- Heaven's made a cesspool of us all. |
Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 19:45
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I do think that progressive rock, as a whole, does draw in a particular breed of individuals. I'd characterize them as people willing and capable of noticing/appreciating threads of complication. I think to truly 'notice' music you need, in some fundamental way, to be a nerd. Or a geek, in my case: longtime Tolkien obsessee, YA and steampunk enthusiast, Ursula LeGuin fixation etc. I've made numerous friends who have an interest in prog, and they generally fall into three categories: Nerd: is either intensely technically or musically minded, or both. I have a friend who teaches classical conducting at the University here, and is a rabid Gentle Giant fan. I've also met numerous engineering students that can get pretty enthusiastic. They do tend to obsess over the moribundly technical death metal groups, too. Geek: Like me, a literature-obsessed bookworm, someone who primarily enjoys prog for its lyricism and emotional evocation. I think prog can be the perfect accompaniment for the lit geek, actually - it bears many of the same trappings as the poetic excesses of the Romantics, and certainly has a baroque appeal. It also accompanies fantasy and science fiction, for obvious reasons. Hipster: A prog fan who justifies their enjoyment of prog by getting off on its uncool, partially-forgotten appeal. He/she is into it as long as it's away from the mainstream. These folks are usually obsessed with Radiohead, first and foremost. Also ELP, I have no clue why. ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: 40footwolf
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 19:56
Really? All the hipsters I know who like prog tend to gravitate to King Crimson, probably because they're the most "respectable" prog act from that age along with Pink Floyd. Sometimes early Genesis too, but rarely. ------------- Heaven's made a cesspool of us all. |
Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 20:24
Maybe I know some defective hipsters. Which really isn't all that surprising. ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 20:30
I consider myself more of an "outcast' than a nerd. But I hate it how these people are stereotyping us and then telling us how the songs should be, after all isn't rock about rebellion?  (and making little kids whine that they can't beat this stupid Rush song!)
------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: The Truth
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 20:57
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I am not a nerd. (OK, I'm in denial, your point?) ------------- http://blindpoetrecords.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow">  
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Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 21:10
Dude, that is so meta. .  .------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: CloseToTheMoon
Date Posted: September 30 2010 at 21:15
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I'm not particularly smart. I found the appeal of prog because I got terribly bored with almost everything else in the music world. I am a geek in a general way. I don't read Lovecraft, I buy comics occasionally, I don't understand math, but odd time signatures excite me.
------------- It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. |
Posted By: progvortex
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 02:01
Me: Nice, you have King Crimson vinyl? Hipster: OMG, i love King Crimson! Me: Yeah, same, let's give this album a spin. Hipster: I don't have a turntable. Me: Aww, okay. I love Larks' Tongue in Aspic. Hipster: Huh? What's that? *facepalm* Yep, hipsters "listen" King Crimson. ------------- Life is like a beanstalk... isn't it? |
Posted By: friso
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 02:27
| Well... feeling for high quality art often goes paired with slight abnormal behavior. But I don't think most of us are weird artists. Today it's just to confronting for other people if you tell you put all this effort in the music you love. Others that might not have a love for music don't understand the effect it can have on your life. |
Posted By: OT Räihälä
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 02:59
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For me, prog is a form of art music, like baroque, classicism, impressionism, minimalism, serialism, post-modernism... I would never think of a person being nerd just for liking art music. ------------- http://soundcloud.com/osmotapioraihala/sets" rel="nofollow - Composer - Click to listen to my works! |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 03:09
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I am a nerd and I like odd time signatures... ------------- 
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Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 06:20
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I find the CNN comments offensive. I am not a nerd, my friends are not nerds, my wife and brothers are not nerds and we all love prog music and odd time signatures. CNN is stereotyping in a big way. There is a big difference between a nerd and an intelligent person. My family and group of friends who are big prog fans are not nerds, just intelligent people who enjoy complex music. A bunch of us were and still are jocks-yes there are intelligent jocks! To say prog rock fans have to be nerds is insulting. It's also insulting to assume that all guitar hero players may be nerds too. My son and his friends definitely are not.
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Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 06:37
Which subgenre is "nerd"?  I think that definition applies to Symphonic Prog, isn't it? Let CNN and similar play videos full of dancers and empty of music. I can't care less. Long life to BabyTV. ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: freyacat
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 08:57
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Is it nerdy if you can only dance in 7/8? ------------- sad creature nailed upon the coloured door of time |
Posted By: Pelata
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 09:47
| If liking Prog makes me a nerd, then a nerd I be... |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 09:53
Well if the music is a waltz, that might be a sign.
I myself only dance when the music is in 11.
Or at least that's my excuse. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 10:06
I am not a nerd...I am a geek.  ------------- 
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Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 10:43
Personally, I don't really think that being a nerd, or a geek, makes you a freakish outcast of society. What's so terrible about admitting that you might, just possibly, have a bit of nerd in you?  ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: Pelata
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 10:45
That's a hell of a protest...
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Posted By: Mr. Maestro
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 11:16
------------- "I am the one who crossed through space...or stayed where I was...or didn't exist in the first place...." |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 11:40
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I can see how many people consider prog fans as nerds. Indeed, we are always looking into long pieces of music that does not appeal to the radio listening population, we pride ourselves of having a vast music collection by bands most people never heard about, we run to a used record store we see on the street, to look for an old album of which only a few thousand copies were issued back in the day, we talk about odd meters, bombastic music, virtuous playing, we enjoy long instrumental pieces, and have terms like RIO, proto-prog, retro-prog, prog Gothic-metal, etc, so to the average person, that's not only weir, eccentric, but very, very nerdy. I don't consider myself a nerd, even though I prefer to be left alone to listen to my music, but I can relate to the world and be able to communicate with most people, even though I prefer not to discuss my music preferences with most individuals.
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Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 11:40
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The whole idea of consumer profiling to fit a particular brand might have a vestige of relevance for groceries, but it really has no place in the realm of musical tastes. It eventually becomes self-fulfilling e.g. if you convince enough record companies that nerds like Prog, they will deliberately target that audience in their marketing.
------------- 
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 13:11
Oh my gawd ... you're out of date ... should say ... "quote vampires" ... or "harry potter" ...
 Both terms are strange and ... more of an obsession for movies and prime time TV than they are reality. It reminds me of the stereo-typing of blacks in TV and the movies for many years and it wasn't until Melvin Van Peebles and many other black film makers started coming up that a lot of that stereo-typing begun disappearing. And even having Bill Cosby in "I Spy" and then his own show, was massive ... not to mention the likes of many musicians that broke the "stereo-type" for black music.
I had come from a house with 3k albums of classical music and many operas. And even in Brazil, I had heard Beatles, Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan ... and so on. Being in a literary house, you can imagine what we all thought of the lyrics and the music that was being passed around as "popular music", which was always looked down upon ... however the media is now in control of things and they will try to improve their sales and try to sway your opinion, 40 years later!
When I first heard ELP, it was nice, and more of a thank you to a lot of classical music, as well as showing something that most here don't usually state ... "my generation" also knows music" ... and that I loved dearly and appreciated. And I still look at it as "my generation" knew music and did better music than many other generations ... and I suppose that it is one of the reasons why I fight for it and its intelligence and strength so much. It's about you and I ... and us all ... not some freak of nature that was drug induced and had no respect for anyone and was simply out to pick up some more girls ... how insanely silly is that?
In the end, a lot of the folks that became known as "progressive" were actually better musicians than the average ... and wanted to do more with their work. It's really very simple. And it has nothing to do with "geek" or "nerd" ... but it does have to do with the respect that most people have for each other ... and some publications don't have any respect for people when it comes to supporting their product ... that's the nature of advertising, isn't it? ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 13:53
Of course I'm out of date. I'm a twentysomething that listens to classic progressive rock.  ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: October 01 2010 at 19:28
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We like complex music... get over it
------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: October 02 2010 at 02:40
| My feeling is these days a 'normal person' is simply someone who takes absolutely no interest in any of the arts beyond the casual, who cannot have a meaningful conversation about current national or international affairs and is mainly interested in work related gossip, gadgets especially mobile phones and great places to eat for the night outs. Maybe by such a definition, I am a nerd who likes prog rock...in that case,so be it, I find gossip and mobile phones terribly boring topics to talk about. |
Posted By: friso
Date Posted: October 02 2010 at 03:00
Agreed upon. Nerdiness is always better the being ordinary these days, though I not percieve myself as being a nerd (except for my abnormal Magma obsession of the past year). |
Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: October 02 2010 at 07:55
I'm not suggesting that nerds, geeks, or any other classification-which are silly in themselves-makes you an outcast of society. I just hate when these broad, usually incorrect, and ridiculous stereotypes are made by groups and organizations who really don't know anything about what they are saying. Nothing wrong in saying you may be a bit of nerd, though I don't think I fit that category-LOL!
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Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: October 02 2010 at 07:58
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: October 02 2010 at 13:46
Personally, CNN is simply showing us their intelligence level ... and if they can not write about anything else except their level of intelligence, then, let them die ... sooner or later their credibility will fall off and no one will give a damn who CNN is ... I don't even bother with CNN anymore since it has become the best place for "mis-information" and tabloid stuff. They are so bored with news that they would rather intelectualize the tabloid stuff these days ... I say let them continue on ... we don't need CNN to prove the music is worth it and that the folks at CNN are the nerds and the very geeks they are talking about that have no education or appreciation for anything except using names on people in order to validate their articles.
Let them die, as stupidity usually does! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: topographicbroadways
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 06:20
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i am definitely a bit of a nerd, not to the level of spending 7 hours a day on World of Warcraft or doing 12 hour star trek marathons, but i do listen to almost solely progressive music and classical music and i went to college all of my friends who were musicians chose the Music Performance course, i however went for Music Tech, much more interesting but definitely quite a nerdy choice, but way more fun than being in metal and rock n roll wannabe bands for 3 years. and plus everybody has an inner nerd, prog helps us unleash it -------------  
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Posted By: Antennas
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 08:34
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I see no problem with being called a 'nerd' whatsoever. Rather the contrary.
In my book, nerds are intelligent people, who don't care about what is considered 'trendy' but in stead go their own way and follow their own dreams, not uncommonly viewed as being 'weird' by the hoi polloi - all of which I rather take it as a compliment than as an insult!
I guess a lady with a brain for maths and logics is considered a 'nerd' by definition, btw.  ------------- 
Jesus never managed to figure out the theremin either |
Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 09:07
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It's the whole need by institutions to label groups. There is this insistence that we must have a name for every conceivable behavior, status, etc. My attitude comes from my experience in high school-I was a very smart, very athletic kid, but all that was seen was the athletics, I was labelled a jock. Add to the fact that I had shoulder length hair and listened to Yes and Genesis, etc. It didn't bother me too much-I've done a pretty good job all my life doing what I want, and being who I want to be, but it did bother me that people who didn't know me would act like I was a dumb jock. I know that much of this behavior is a result of our societal needs, but it would be nice if we could break some of that down. Sometimes, for a country that says we are so open minded, we act rather narrow-minded.
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Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 10:34
This is very well-spoken. As a society, we really like our labels - it allows us to process reality without really thinking much about it. I was a complete geek for all of grade school, middle school, and high school - and I suffered intensely based on the presumptions people made. Then I went away to college, and suddenly I found myself surrounded by dynamic, like-minded people. It was a shocking, pleasurable, mind-altering experience. Now, a decade out of the public school system, I find myself free from intense labeling. I'm a very social, very functional human being, with many friends. However, I had to survive the grueling gulag of high school in order to get here. How stereotypical is that, anyway? ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 11:04
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Stereotypes are stupid, here in Peru, Prog is the genre most popular among the guys who surf (hardly considered nerds), still today we join in summer and some of them with 50 or 60 years come to the beach in ther SUV's listening Rush, Yes or Genesis out loud, to surf with their kids and even grandkids, who also love this music..
One of my best friends studied chemistry and he had a lot of nerd pals in the faculty but still he was the only one there who listened Prog, most were happy with the Bee Gees and Disco music, while others didn't cared for music and just listened what the radios played.
Nothing works as simple as this guys try to paint.
Iván
------------- 
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Posted By: thehallway
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 15:38
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I'm a musician, not a nerd.
We're automatically cool, right?....
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Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 15:47
I think it strongly depends on the instrument(s) you play. Guitar = visionary artist. Drums = moron who likes to hit things (unless they have splash cymbals and/or rototoms, which suddenly makes them hip). Bass = Loner, possible poet, probable pothead. Theramin = geek. There's just no way around it. And then there's the flugelhorn. I have no idea what that makes you. ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: topographicbroadways
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 15:50
and then theres the flautist who likes to wear various outfits from a flower to a tramp costume -------------
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Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 15:52
fix'd ------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: thehallway
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 15:53
I'm a keyboard player. At the moment the "sit in a corner of your bedroom practising classical music with headphones in your piano" type. But in a few years perhaps I'll be the much cooler "rock out with 20 moogs and shove knives into a hammond" type.......
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Posted By: Lozlan
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 16:15
Well...yeah. ------------- Certified Obscure Prog Fart. http://scottjcouturier.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - The Loose Palace of Exile - My first novel, The Mask of Tamrel, now available on Amazon and Kindle |
Posted By: Antennas
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 18:12
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I sense the 'nerd'-verdict is still regarded as being touchy stuff over here.
Am I the only one who doesn't really sense the 'problem'?
Much rather a NERD than a hipster, might just be me. -------------
Jesus never managed to figure out the theremin either |
Posted By: prog4evr
Date Posted: October 03 2010 at 18:46
| I resemble all these remarks... |
Posted By: sealchan
Date Posted: October 04 2010 at 14:46
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Yes...let us not hate so much the labels if we recognize that one can have many labels!
I am a nerd and a musician (though I haven't played much music in recent years).
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Posted By: Ruby900
Date Posted: October 04 2010 at 15:35
I dunno....... ------------- "I always say that it’s about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place". Rick Wakeman |
Posted By: cronholm
Date Posted: October 04 2010 at 16:03
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Not sure how much it matters if we resent the stereotyping as long as the great Majority out there consider us nerds/geeks. I find it unlikely we'll ever convince them of the opposite: "No! I'm just cleverer than you are. It's all the people listening to Britney who are the nerds!" Don't think that will fly ...
Wave the geek-flag proudly, I know I do in class. The thing is, even the toughest, hardest teenagers I have to teach history to tend to grudgingly accept that as not totally uncool. Teenagers know a thing or two about being outcasts/social rejects and when they see the tattooed, long-haired freak with the PT-t-shirt up front being quite happy about that status - and yet still functioning socially - it resonates.
Were all geeks. Embrace it. ------------- Open your eyes, it's full of surprise, everyone lies, like the fox on the rocks, and the musical box. |
Posted By: chemebien
Date Posted: October 04 2010 at 16:35
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ok, I am Nerd then ------------- 
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Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: October 04 2010 at 17:07
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek I'm not sure what's exactly the difference between nerd and geek (ah, the subtleties of English language), but I think I get the picture. There's no black or white - each of us might be nerdy/geeky to a certain degree. Being a prog rock fan doesn't mean one is a nerd, but I guess if we express one's nerdiness in percentage, we might spot a correlation between it and a percentage of 'prog fanboyism'. Now that's a nerdy answer! That being said, I'm unsure how to 'rate' myself. I love browsing Wikipedia about math topics, but I couldn't live without flirting with girls (in real life, not on the Web). ------------- |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: October 04 2010 at 20:25
I think it was Doris Lessing that said that the country that has the best ability and the biggest potential never uses it.
Between you and I, this board has a bit of that too! ... specially when it comes to trolling on various threads and not add to the discussion ... I'm thinking of asking for a serious side on the board and trolls are not allowed and will get removed from the threads ... it really takes away from the work at hand. In school, or college, or university, your instructor would nail you for it ... and rightly so!
It may not be the best "paper" ... but a troll comment is not even close to the paper and what it has on it. It doesn't even say how you feel ... it just says ... "I don't care!"
This is not directed at anyone in particular, for I believe that they have the right to say anything they want, but they should respect the discussion and comments a bit more. I don't go after their threads and make silly comments either, because in my book the polite thing is to not say anything when I don't feel qualified to speak on a topic.
So you could say there is a lot of "geek" and "nerd" here ... the "jock" thing ... just ignore it ... if people can't see you for who you are, you don't need to be around them anyway. But it is a sad comment about the viciousness, the hate, the distrust and the history of ethnocentricity racial hatred ... and in many ways those terms are nothing but a continuation of the samething. And it needs to die and be gone forever ... but can't as long as we continue to use it and abuse it. And I like to say ... I don't want to be close, or a part ... of the very thing I dislike and believe to be totally wrong.
But I have seen and heard -- still today 2010 -- things that are just as bad or worse ...that just show the disparity and total social condemnation ... and in my book we need to help stop it. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: CCVP
Date Posted: October 05 2010 at 10:40
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If proggrers weren't nerdy f**ks, we wouldn't need millions of websites and a forum to discuss if we are or are not nerds. Case closed. -------------   
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: October 05 2010 at 15:35
That depends ... do you play for the band DEVO?
  ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 01:58
Artsy, funny and produced by Brian Eno if I remember correctly. One of the few good things of the post-punk era.  ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: ShipOfFools
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 17:13
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I am a full blown nerd, and I can admit to liking some current pop acts. I am a huge fan of Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo, Robin Thicke, Katy Perry, among others. That being said, I don't think that nerdiness really applies to whether or not you'll like prog rock. That's just a stereotype. ------------- 
"Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace" - Buddha |
Posted By: Calculate900
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 19:57
| I can agree with that. I'm a nerd/overachiever, and I catch on to time signatures if they're odd or asymmetrical. Two that come to mind right now are "Solsbury Hill" and "EleKtriK." |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: October 10 2010 at 21:55
| It's not wrong to be a Nerd, according to Bill Gates. At a high school graduation, Bill said "Don't make fun of nerds, you might end up working for one of them". If I'm a nerd for liking progressive music, I welcome it, it really beats the alternative. |
Posted By: KingCrimson250
Date Posted: October 11 2010 at 11:08
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I personally have always thought that the whole "Prog nerd/geek" thing has come more from the heavy fantasy/sci-fi influence in a lot of Prog than the complexity itself, or at least that's been my experience. I find that if you play someone something like Anekdoten or maudlin or even a good chunk of Crimson's stuff, they might be a bit put off, but they'll also often be a bit intrigued, or at the very least say "Well I guess this is what you like to listen to, then" without any real value judgments. On the other hand, play them something like Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, or a Gentle Giant song, and it's like "What the hell is this fairy crap?" That's just my experience, anyway. |
Posted By: sohraab
Date Posted: October 11 2010 at 11:58
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great topic. i would like to contribute in it as well if i get free from my own mess that i made with my posts!!! i see ur interest in psychology so invite you to take a look into my topic: forum_posts.asp?TID=72092 - Epic songs: two Dreams sorrounding one Reality? in same lounge. maybe interesting for u as well...
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Posted By: michellemjk
Date Posted: October 12 2010 at 00:46
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I'm a female computer science graduate student. I really love music -- I've never seen anyone who loves music more than me in my real life (not here), of course mostly prog music, other than that, I can say Bach -- IMO, he is the most favorite musician of mathematicians. Other than my study, I'm also interested in Physics. Sometimes, I feel I'm not a normal person. Am I really a nerd? |
Posted By: ergaster
Date Posted: October 12 2010 at 17:03
Yes. And that is a good thing. ------------- We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty. Captain Malcolm Reynolds Reality rules, Honor the truth Chemist99a R.I.P. |
Posted By: michellemjk
Date Posted: October 12 2010 at 21:59
Thank you! |
Posted By: bucka001
Date Posted: October 13 2010 at 15:28
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I've been to several concerts by Yes, Van der Graaf Generator, Genesis, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, and Peter Hammill...
and I've never seen as many quintessentially nerdy and geeky people collected into one space as I did Monday night at the Belle and Sebastian concert that my wife and I attended here in Chicago. They made VdGG fans look like Hell's Angels... ------------- jc |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: October 13 2010 at 15:44
NO.
You are a person ... and you happen to enjoy music ...
At least you can say that you have the heart inside to be able to appreciate one of the most beautiful things that the human condition can offer to the world out there ... if only we would stop and try to make a commercial endeavor out of it so people would be less unappreciated for their own work!
So you know, almost all "synthesizers" were defined and put together by CLOCK MAKERS ... which is a mathematical thing in a way. So, you're not alone ... and you can see where all this went ... these folks now have taken the advent of the synthesizer and created DAW's with it.
And pretty soon George Lucas will look quite silly for having characters playing music in an interstellar casino! Should have had a computer or machine ... not characters playing it!
Hehehe! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Formentera Lady
Date Posted: October 13 2010 at 17:22
Female, computer specialist, love for music, preferences for prog, Bach, physics...ok, I am a nerd, too.  |
Posted By: Paravion
Date Posted: October 13 2010 at 17:26
Welcome to the club
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Posted By: michellemjk
Date Posted: October 13 2010 at 19:01
I'm always grateful for my loving music. IMO, the passion for music is programmed in your hardware level so it is almost inviolate as long as you don't switch your brain. Sometimes, other people only can achieve it by serious brain damage or even electric shock. |
Posted By: MyElbowsFellOff
Date Posted: October 15 2010 at 10:57
| For me it is probably more to do with being ADD more than anything. Pop music with the same ideas recycled time-and-time again just bores me to tears. I want something more challenging and more creative. Whatever, if liking prog doesn't make me a nerd than playing Baldur's Gate, studying Science Communication or reading Daniel Dennett probably does. |
Posted By: Jazzywoman
Date Posted: October 17 2010 at 11:22
| Oh jeez....these kinds of threads always remind me of my highschool days, being made fun of for wearing a Rush shirt because it wasnt popular...because I said whatever! Rush rocks, and you can live with it lol. I would consider myself a nerd though, i dont really care haha. |
Posted By: JeanFrame
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 02:21
| Prog does attract a lot of nerds (what am I saying!) but I'd say it was a more of a quirkiness, a search for something individual that isn't the boring old mainstream with it's cheap attachment to the mundane, the banal. The downside is that people (nerds?) begin to think of themselves as a superior race and get smug, like jazz audiences do, ceasing to discriminate when the musicians on stage are doing much the same thing in their minds, playing endless solos that are technically clever but going nowhere, creating non-songs that are really just colourful tapestries of trash, striding the world like Roman Emperors, but with no clothes, being allowed to do so by the mindless adoration of the masses who, unbeknown to themselves, have become every bit as much dung-fodder as the chart-hopping bunnies they despise. |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:01
MOOOHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But seriously what are you on about? ------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:07
| Sometimes I like nerds.But nerds like Devin Townsend.He says for himself that is a nerd with pride. |
Posted By: JeanFrame
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:16
So are you saying that you subscribe to the notion of being a nerd, and/or a smugly superior being who is entitled to lord it over the masses? What I'm saying should be self-explanatory, if you don't like it, ignore it, that's easier. |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:31
I subscribe to Nerd Monthly. I am superior, I've chosen to listen to music that is an art form, not a marketed image put to sound. ------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:32
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^ If Prog was marketed in an identical fashion, would you still like it?
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Posted By: JeanFrame
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:37
Haha! You got me going there! |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 05:45
Ke$ha prog. ------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: Andy Webb
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 16:59
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then there's the ultimate question: are nerds attracted to prog or does prog make nerds? ------------- http://ow.ly/8ymqg" rel="nofollow">  
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Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 17:04
Both.But I think that the 2nd usually happens. |
Posted By: Andy Webb
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 17:18
I think that's what happened with me ------------- http://ow.ly/8ymqg" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 17:27
| Did you become a nerd because of prog?Really? |
Posted By: Andy Webb
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 19:38
i like to believe that ------------- http://ow.ly/8ymqg" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: CloseToTheMoon
Date Posted: December 28 2010 at 14:43
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I'm conscious of my nerdy tendencies, so my brain only allows so much indulgence into things like Dr. Who or novels by Terry Brooks. I'm certain this is the part of my brain who enjoys Prog and not the part that enjoys LCD Soundsystem or Daft Punk. ------------- It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. |
Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: December 28 2010 at 14:46
Nice!!! |
Posted By: Rockjf1
Date Posted: December 29 2010 at 15:05
| This is a question of how you see people, music as for ever been related to styles and tendencies and the way people act I mean, If you look at those preppy Kids these days listening to Rap and crap but there still very influenced by that music, Nerds in the other hand have another way of seeing things and I mean Prog. rock music itself is very conplicated but magic to ears, and I just think that its not the fact that they are nerd that prog rock is the music they listen too Its just that Nerd I mean real nerds don't socialize as much as normal people do so they just don't care about whats hot these days they just listen to what they like and what they like is prog |
Posted By: Mr Lemonhog
Date Posted: December 29 2010 at 18:31
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I was totally cool and very hip until one day I heard my first prog record. Then slowly, as if I was seized upon by some horrific malady, I was transformed into a prog nerd, roaming the streets shouting lines from the first Comus album and stomping my feet in 7/8 time. I would awaken the next morning, naked and drooling, holding a battered copy of Nursery Cryme . Shunned by my peers, I traveled untold miles into the dank underground lair of the prog archives where others of my kind lurked and plotted. |
Posted By: Renfield
Date Posted: December 29 2010 at 19:37
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I think only one person has mentioned this, but I think the "trappings" of prog turn a lot of non-nerds away. If Steve Hackett wrote songs about nailing chicks instead of songs about Narnia, maybe he'd have more "normal" fans, regardless of the complexity of the music. (I'm oversimplifying to be funny, of course.) My point is, I think a lot of people who might be willing to give it a chance are turned off by some of the D&D / sci-fi imagery of the album covers, songs titles, what have you. So the majority of listeners who stick around are the ones that like such things anyway (ie, geeks). For my part, I don't let it bother me. I love Zappa but I can also appreciate something dumb like KISS or Foghat.
I recently found a vintage Iron-on of Todd Rundgren in his Midnight Special glitter-rock get-up and I wear it proudly to my local mall. Screw 'em!
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Posted By: The_Jester
Date Posted: December 30 2010 at 10:25
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Nerds... These guys are not nerds, they're geeks. Geeks like prog metal, hard prog and metal and nerds like the Beatles and the music they play at school. ------------- La victoire est éphémère mais la gloire est éternelle! - Napoléon Bonaparte |