Cheezy music.....overblown and cheap-sounding; blatant copying using inferior recording equipment and instruments; lacking authenticity or feeling.....no soul. Trans-Siberian Orchestra.....Xmas cheese; later-era Styx.....processed cheese; GTR.....Howe cheese hacketted to bits!The 80s were full of cheese.....Jefferson Starship built a city of cheese; Europe's final countdown to the cheese; the Bugles killed a radio star made of cheese.....there was no shortage of cheese during the 80s.
Some cheese is fantastic.....that Emerson moog synth solo on "Lucky Man" - one of the tastiest bites of cheese in progdom.
I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there.....
Joined: June 04 2012
Location: babylon
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Points: 55
Posted: September 01 2012 at 03:38
show business is 'cheese' .. but this thread shows that that there are many different flavors/interpretations... it allows 'us' to enjoy in so many ways/or disdain.. either way.. peace
Joined: July 20 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Status: Offline
Points: 7542
Posted: September 01 2012 at 01:27
Vibrationbaby wrote:
cstack3 wrote:
smartpatrol wrote:
I think the only truluy cheesey/pretentious Prog band I've heard is ELP. Still like em, though.
Hmmm...I'd agree with that! Emerson wrestling with a Hammond organ onstage, plunging a dagger into the keyboard with great drama, would seem to fit the bill.
However, many of the greats seemed to wallow in a sea of cheese! Sir Richard Wakeman? This photo reeks of prog cheesiness!
I don't know if you've read his book Grumpy Old Rock Star but in the photo section he has a whole page of photos of himself dressed up in robes caoes & sh*t. The caption reads " It was the seventies, why else woould I look like this?"
Haven't seen that one, must check it out!!
I tend to forgive extreme prog cheesiness IF the music & talent levels are high! So, even though I laughed at Rick with sparkles in his blonde hair at the GFTO show (all the better to reflect the lasers), I took it as what it was, cheeky showmanship!
I don't suppose the cheesiest prog comes close to the cheese of the 80's hair metal bands, with all the pouting, posturing, silly haircuts, etc. Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt, Dokken, Cinderella etc. etc.
Man, that was some heavy cheese!! Ugh!! Never got into much of that stuff, if at all (although I did like Randy Rhodes as a guitarist).
Joined: February 13 2004
Status: Offline
Points: 6898
Posted: August 28 2012 at 10:55
cstack3 wrote:
smartpatrol wrote:
I think the only truluy cheesey/pretentious Prog band I've heard is ELP. Still like em, though.
Hmmm...I'd agree with that! Emerson wrestling with a Hammond organ onstage, plunging a dagger into the keyboard with great drama, would seem to fit the bill.
However, many of the greats seemed to wallow in a sea of cheese! Sir Richard Wakeman? This photo reeks of prog cheesiness!
I don't know if you've read his book Grumpy Old Rock Star but in the photo section he has a whole page of photos of himself dressed up in robes caoes & sh*t. The caption reads " It was the seventies, why else woould I look like this?"
Cheese doesn't have to be bad, but bad cheese has a reek of its own.
No bad cheese reeks as badly as bad prog cheese....true or false?
I just wonder if proggers are maybe more forgiving of cheesey prog than say, metalheads are of cheesey metal?
(Given that metal is way more popular than prog)
Joined: December 05 2005
Location: Singapore
Status: Offline
Points: 415
Posted: August 26 2012 at 23:48
hahaha grilled cheese sandwiches!!! add to that cheeseballs and cheesebuckets...............
i think most prog metal and esp the symphonic end of it is utter bad cheese, wtf its all Disney On Ice seriously innit.....Trans Siberian Orchestra is really the baddest cheese
Some Alan Parsons Project songs are quite cheesy, especially the Stereotomy album but now THAT i love..............
Joined: July 20 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Status: Offline
Points: 7542
Posted: August 26 2012 at 22:57
ExittheLemming wrote:
Drew wrote:
Gentle Giant
(ducks- runs for cover)
A strange sentiment perhaps....although they do certainly polarise
opinion within the Prog fraternity but (apart from the latter stabs at
commercialism on say Civilian) I'm puzzled at the charge of cheesey?
Interesting exchange! Gentle Giant aren't one of my favorites, but I wouldn't apply the dreaded "C" label upon them!
Sometimes, bands try TOO hard to be unique/different/creative! When I saw the "Relayer" tour in 1974, the band Gryphon backed them up....they are highly regarded on PA, but I thought the stage act (with Medieval clothing) was a bit "over the top." They touched the cheese IMHO.
Now Starcastle were a bunch of grilled cheese sandwiches (and I knew the band!). Cheese doesn't have to be bad, but bad cheese has a reek of its own.
No bad cheese reeks as badly as bad prog cheese....true or false?
A strange sentiment perhaps....although they do certainly polarise
opinion within the Prog fraternity but (apart from the latter stabs at
commercialism on say Civilian) I'm puzzled at the charge of cheesey?
Joined: September 26 2010
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1281
Posted: August 24 2012 at 21:42
cstack3 wrote:
Check this video out....I saw this tour, it was amazing!! Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond just KILLS on bass!! Any lesser musicians wearing outfits like that would have been hooted off of the stage!!
Is it just me, or does it sound like the band was exposed to a helium leak in that video?
He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!
Joined: July 03 2012
Location: New York
Status: Offline
Points: 7
Posted: August 24 2012 at 21:03
Tool cheesy? I don't know about that. Rush, Asia for sure, and though I hate to say it, I agree that Dream Theater can really bring the cheese. Someone here mentioned "Another Day." That's the one song that I just can't listen to by them. Mostly I blame it on James LaBrie, Liquid Tension Experiment doesn't have this problem IMHO.
Joined: July 20 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Status: Offline
Points: 7542
Posted: August 06 2012 at 22:42
Prog_Traveller wrote:
I don't want to imply that all newer prog is cheesy by any means. However, back in the day during the first wave of prog things were different. Back then bands didn't set out to play prog. It just happened. Now, because of the whole history bands know what they want to do and have something called "prog" to be influenced by so the music making process is often more contrived and less organic. With newer prog and especially a lot of neo prog it's easy to play the game of "spot the influences." For me personally(and there are some exceptions)I think it's ok for a band to be influenced by other bands(in fact it's inevitable)but unless it's obviously intentional(which does happen with some bands like maybe Red Sand or No sound or maybe even Starcastle)it comes close to being cringeworthy and that's when it's hard to take the music seriously let a lone enjoy it. Some bands just sound too much like who they are influenced by and for me personally I would rather hear something slightly more original(without necessarily being avant garde). At least TRY to have your own sound for crying out loud.
Thanks for this!! I've played in all sorts of bands & settings, from the inevitable "blues jam" (ugh! White middle-class guys playin' da blues!!), to covering tunes from UFO, Led Zep, Queen, etc. to original prog compositions!!
It's almost impossible to shake off your earliest influences, and it is also something of a kick to pull off a "me, too!" prog composition that apes one of your favorites! I've done some stuff that had folks compare it to early Genesis or Yes (I can do a viable Chris Squire on bass & vocals), and I was proud of it at the time....however if we tried to publish it, PA folks would give it the old "wannabe-heave-ho" rating!!
THE most original band I was ever in was late 1980s....back then, rack-mounted guitar effects were all the rage, and bands like The Police held sway. We did an instrumental 3-piece thing called "What They Say" where the drummer really held down the music (he was a Stewart Copeland fanatic, an amazing drummer!), the guitarist generated vast walls of ambient sound washes with layer upon layer of effects, and my bass guitar was the lead instrument!! (I play with a plectrum & am as fast on bass guitar as on lead guitar, and I'm really fast on lead!).
I never post this stuff due to copyright issues and respect for my bandmates, but when I listen to those tapes, I get goosebumps by how good AND how original we were! My bandmates have scattered to the four winds, someday I'll try to work with this formula again.
Joined: May 29 2005
Location: Bucks county PA
Status: Offline
Points: 1474
Posted: August 06 2012 at 10:46
cstack3 wrote:
Prog_Traveller wrote:
A lot of neo prog is considered cheesy especially early Marillion(who I still like).
I have to agree! A lot of the oldsters like Peter Banks & John Wetton have trashed neoprog....
I once read a description of neoprog as sounding like "music you'd hear when you entered a Renaissance Festival."
I heard one Italian neoprog band & could visualize them playing in funny, baggy Pinocchio costumes!!
Some of these bands just try TOO hard! You can't force prog....it is a product of the band chemistry, the skills of the musicians and the particular moment in time when all come together.
Sitting down to try to compose "prog" generates some very cheesy music (and I'm just as guilty as many others!!)
Powerful composition and skillful playing heals all wounds!! Ian Anderson is a master of cheese, as was Zappa!!
Check this video out....I saw this tour, it was amazing!! Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond just KILLS on bass!! Any lesser musicians wearing outfits like that would have been hooted off of the stage!!
I don't want to imply that all newer prog is cheesy by any means. However, back in the day during the first wave of prog things were different. Back then bands didn't set out to play prog. It just happened. Now, because of the whole history bands know what they want to do and have something called "prog" to be influenced by so the music making process is often more contrived and less organic. With newer prog and especially a lot of neo prog it's easy to play the game of "spot the influences." For me personally(and there are some exceptions)I think it's ok for a band to be influenced by other bands(in fact it's inevitable)but unless it's obviously intentional(which does happen with some bands like maybe Red Sand or No sound or maybe even Starcastle)it comes close to being cringeworthy and that's when it's hard to take the music seriously let a lone enjoy it. Some bands just sound too much like who they are influenced by and for me personally I would rather hear something slightly more original(without necessarily being avant garde). At least TRY to have your own sound for crying out loud.
Edited by Prog_Traveller - August 06 2012 at 10:47
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