Chicks and Prog

I grew up with prog, so I do like it. my parents were hippies who were into anything that sounded great when they were "flying high", which means all kinds of prog, especially psychedelic and early Kraut, but also Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. which is probably why I don't have any problems seeing both Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple as prog; they were just as much a part of my childhood as Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator, Amon Düül 2 or Guru Guru

Back in the glory days (very early 70s) , girls (and hot ones too) introduced me to ITCOTCK , Renaissance,  GG, Yes, Zappa and , of course, who didn't lose their virginity listening to Echoes? I even saw Soft Machine with my first love and she was groovin to it, so... In fact, it has more to do with the current social trends because I know tons of guys who HATE any kind of prog, labelling it "pompous, elitist, overblown" . Truth is most progheads are frustrated musicians who really get off on a chord change or a technical solo. Most tend to be male, because we are a "nerdier" lot! Somehow a female nerd is hard to picture. I wish I could find a lady progster, good god would we have fun!!!!!!!

jammun wrote: When I was in college, my roommate and I (both heavily into ELP/Yes -- this was 1972), arranged to meet a couple of lovely coeds at their apartment and listen to music, with expectations of a GREAT evening nudge nudge.  So what did we choose as the album to drive them into sexual frenzy?  Um, for some reason that listening to a recording of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was in order.  Result:  Elvis Costello has a nice song call 'No Action'.  The title of that song perfectly describes the rest of our evening.

Maybe you could have tried "Counting out Time" by Genesis

Piglets like prog more than baby chickens in my observation

Girls are socialized not to treat popular music, as well many other things, as something serious with any sort of history or complexity, and receive negative feedback if they go against these expectations.   It's a bit difficult to evaluate the sort of explanations people are offering about women's and men's brains when girls and boys are given different social cues...this is not a controlled experiment!

The boys I knew in high school who listed "I'm into music" among the things they were proud of would not accept that I knew anything about the subject.  We're 20 now, and they're still like this, getting all defensive, trying to prove they know more, subtly belittling my opinions, and seizing upon and making fun of the parts of my somewhat all-over-the-place collection that they don't like.  They don't do this to their male friends who are into music, not in the same way.  For whatever reason, I mostly have this problem with the men I know who have more of a 1960s/1970s period orientation to their taste in music--the sort who might be into some classic prog bands.

So next time you get frustrated that none of the women you know are into your music...well, it might be in part because we've been told time and time again that we shouldn't be.  So the best thing you can do to encourage a change is to act like it's completely normal and good for women to like prog...normal for anyone to like and be curious about anything and everything, really.  Open-mindedness is just a good thing in general.

Ghost Rider wrote: I As to the matter of emotion vs intellectualism, I have never felt that prog was devoid of emotion, or that mainstream love songs were full of it. On the contrary, I find the latter's sentimentalism quite fake, while something like "Epitaph" or "Starless" really touches a chord within me. I may be an exception, but I am not so sure... It's just that I have always tended to think with my own brain (smaller or otherwise), instead of letting myself be brainwashed by what society thinks a woman should be like.

Edited by cacha71 - February 16 2008 at 13:22

Wallium wrote: Girls are attracted towards music that's more alternative most of the time.  They care about how cute the lyrics are more than the music, really.  They never leave that loop until you shove prog right down their throats and show them why Blink 182 sucks.

No comment, really....

Ghost Rider wrote: Wallium wrote: Girls are attracted towards music that's more alternative most of the time.  They care about how cute the lyrics are more than the music, really.  They never leave that loop until you shove prog right down their throats and show them why Blink 182 sucks. No comment, really....

hahahha   oooohhhhhh     Nice Mars Volta review there Raffaella...

Wallium wrote: Girls are attracted towards music that's more alternative most of the time.  They care about how cute the lyrics are more than the music, really.  They never leave that loop until you shove prog right down their throats and show them why Blink 182 sucks.

yaay, it's been getting kind of slow around here lately, this might be fun...

 I get chills every time I scroll down a page and see that avatar

ProgBagel wrote: But to call Porcupine Tree 'prog' is...idk. Love them though, I'd just call them hard rock with ambience and psyche.