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VANITY: Are There Any Gen-X or Gen-Y Fans of Progressive/Art Rock?
Self | August 31, 2002 | Self

Posted on 08/31/2002 5:55:28 PM PDT by Illbay

Ever since I began subscribing to the Rhapsody listen-on-demand online service, I have been building an extensive "library" of music both old and new, including many albums to which I haven't given a listen in twenty years or more. Many of them I owned only in vinyl all those years ago, and it is fascinating--sometimes BREATHTAKING--to hear them in digital remasters, with all the clarity and depth that provides.

Now, I have a VERY eclectic taste in music. I went through my adolescence in the early to mid-70s; I turned 21 right about the time the Sex Pistols were romping their way through their one and only U.S. tour, and although I was slightly older than the typical fan of New Wave music, I absolutely ADORE the Eighties.

But during the Seventies, my particular tastes--while still somewhat eclectic even then--ran mostly toward the so called "Progressive Rock" (back then, we called it "Art Rock" or "Classical Rock").

In fact, during most of the day as I've been catching up on some office-work, I've been having my own private Genesis festival. During the past week, I've had hearings of Yes, King Crimson, Rush, Gentle Giant, Mike Oldfield, OLDER Pink Floyd (hey, it was all downhill after "Meddle", IMO!), Wishbone Ash, and the like.

It occurs to me that this was one very complex genre of popular music that seems never to have had a "revival", however.

Normally, pop music goes through cycles that are very often characterized by "reaction" to that which has immediately proceeded it.

Thus, the Art Rock, Glam Rock, and Power/Supergroup era, characterized by extravagant production and stadium venues gave way to the "punk" revolution, with minimalist instrumentation (often played by musicians with minimal talent) in small venues.

The ethereal, hopeful tone was replaced by stark cynicism.

Punk seemed to have fed upon itself and committed suicide (though it's nearly always with us), and soon itself gave way to the New Wave movement, heavy on electronics and "wall of sound" instrumentation, simple, danceable melodies and an attitude that ranged from the wide-eyed ("Tears for Fears") to the cerebral ("Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark") to the simply fun-loving ("Go-Gos", "B-52's").

Without belaboring my point, other "movements" have come and gone since then.

But whereas many of the music and musicians of the late-70s through the early 90s are appreciated as "roots" of the current "serious pop" genre--my 24 year old son is and always will be a big fan of the Police, for example; while his younger sister still spins the Violent Femmes, The Cure and The Smiths--the ProgRock era seems to be lost in the mists of time.

Modern recording technology, meeting up with the very meticulous analog production values of the late-Sixties/early-Seventies when this music was first laid down, ensures that we will have the oeuvre of these incomparable artists in perpetuity. But I wonder if people like me, about age 40 and up, are the only ones who are listening to this music?

When my kids were very young, in the early 80s, I would spin Yes, Gentle Giant or Genesis quite frequently for them to hear (and my son LOVED "Trick Of The Tail" when he was just learning to talk), but I've asked, and it wouldn't even occur to them to listen to any of this "old music" with any degree of seriousness, any more than I would listen to, say, The Beau Brummels with high respect.

Well, that's my kids, but are there others of that generation out there, maybe in FReeperdom or among the sons and daughters of FReepers, who REALLY ENJOY classic ProgRock?

In attempting to keep up with stuff, I've learned that there are some groups from the late Eighties or Early 90s that might loosely be considered to have some Prog roots--Tripping Daisy comes to mind, as well as Enigma--but it's really not the same. I don't hear anyone out there doing Concept Albums, or doing anything like "Supper's Ready" or (perish the thought!) "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". Considering that Genesis and her components such as Peter Gabriel departed from that voice in the early Eighties and never really returned to it, one wonders if they consider it the sins of their youth.

Interested to see if this is a topic worthy at all of discussion.


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: fans; progressive; progrock; rock
Well?
1 posted on 08/31/2002 5:55:28 PM PDT by Illbay
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To: Illbay
Sure, I loved Genesis during the mid to late '70s.Saw them a few times up to 1982, but after Hackett left, so did the sound that was unique to them.I'd put Bowie and Roxy Music into the prog/rock category too, or at least ecletic.Some great stuff was made from '72-79, and it holds up well, much better than any US prog bands could do.Tough to beat Suppers' Ready live ;-)
2 posted on 08/31/2002 6:05:36 PM PDT by habs4ever
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To: Illbay
Check out Dream Theater.
3 posted on 08/31/2002 8:29:42 PM PDT by SunTzuWu
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To: SunTzuWu; habs4ever
Yes, yes, I'm sure we all have our druthers and our opinions.

But my REAL question is: How old are you guys?

4 posted on 08/31/2002 9:46:05 PM PDT by Illbay
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Illbay
I'm 20. I listen to all kinds of music except for rap and the premanufactured pop crap that's on the radio these days. 70s prog rock is definitely my favorite, though.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is one of my all-time favorite albums. As for the "mainstream" artists, my favorites are Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Pink Floyd, ELP, Yes, Rush, Steely Dan (Aja is another one of my favorites), Jethro Tull, and Dream Theater.

As for the more obscure stuff, I really like Van Der Graaf Generator (especially Still Life) and Gentle Giant. I heard Anekdoten a while back which I really liked, but I don't have any of their albums yet. I also saw Porcupine Tree in Philly last summer, that was a great show.

A friend of mine who's my age is also a big prog rock fan, in fact his dad introduced both of us to a lot of it. For that, I am eternally grateful. :)
6 posted on 09/01/2002 12:18:03 AM PDT by mn12
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To: mn12
And another thing: I just got Steely Dan's Two Against Nature on DVD-Audio. There really is a difference, the instruments sound more realistic (especially the horns) and there are more subtle details than on the CD version. I'm really looking forward to more DVD-Audio releases, hopefully if 2vN is out now, other Steely Dan/Donald Fagen albums aren't too far behind!
7 posted on 09/01/2002 12:25:35 AM PDT by mn12
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To: mn12
Yeah, you're the kind of guy I had in mind.

So tell me: Are there any current acts that tend in that direction? I guess my main curiosity is why the same ol'-same ol' "grunge"/garage band stuff seems to come out with great regularity. It's mostly vapid music, and I suppose, very easy to play, but I can't figure out why it remains the stuff of choice for the current generation.

It would be like if the "garage band" acts of the sixties just begat more and more garage bands just like them, for fifteen years or so.

Instead of Yes or Led Zeppelin or King Crimson, we'd have more and more Beau Brummels, Dave Clark Fives, and Kingsmen. It would be totally stagnant.

In fact, there is a wide variety of stuff out there today--I listen quite a bit to jazz and so-called "trip-hop" (most of which is heavily influenced by Be-Bop), as well as lots of 70s-80s stuff that, as I said, sounds very fresh with the updated recordings, and of course also Classical.

There's not much I DON'T like, except for the "strictly commercial" junk, whatever the genre.

But I can't stop wondering why the "younger generation" hasn't evolved their musical tastes as you have. It seems they could start making their own complex music, instead of just more twanging guitars.

BTW, I HAVE heard several by Phish--which is actually a long-running act that started I believe in the 80s--and I do like what I've heard, but they don't have much company.

8 posted on 09/01/2002 7:01:42 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: mn12
And another thing: I just got Steely Dan's Two Against Nature on DVD-Audio. There really is a difference,...

I, too, am a big fan of SD--and I have the DVD video release of 2vN, as well as the CD. I wasn't aware that there would be much difference in the audio tracks (I admit I'm not really up on the latest audio technologies that I suppose are geared to the "home theater" environment).

I first heard Steely Dan when I was about 15, when they had "Reelin' In The Years" and "Do It Again" out on radio! When I was a teen growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, there was a local FM station that played what we then called "underground" music--where I got to hear a lot of the ProgRock stuff that I enjoy today. Anyway, they often played entire LP sides, and I first heard "Countdown to Ecstasy" that way. Even though I hadn't heard it in years, when I bought the CD reissue of CtE, I was amazed at how well I remembered "Boddhisatva".

Just some off-topic meanderings. I MUST be getting old.

9 posted on 09/01/2002 7:07:21 AM PDT by Illbay
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To: Illbay
BTW, I HAVE heard several by Phish--which is actually a long-running act that started I believe in the 80s--and I do like what I've heard, but they don't have much company.

You might want to check out the Furthur Network which is basically a Napster/Kazzaa like program for live music of bands which allow fans to tape their shows. You can find plenty of Phish and similar bands I'd imagine you'd be interested in. You can find the software at www.furthurnet.com. Jeff
10 posted on 09/01/2002 8:16:23 AM PDT by jmc813
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To: Illbay
There are no mainstream bands that have any prog/art rock influences to my knowledge. The way I see it, current popular music pretty much consists of teeny boppers who lip-sync (N-Sync, Britney), bands that thrash on electric guitars and scream (Linkin Park), and dorks who strum acoustic guitars and whine (Dave Matthews, John Mayer). Actually, Dave Matthews isn't all that bad as current pop acts go..

As for current but non-mainstream bands, Dream Theater has some really good prog rock albums. They have a lot of Rush, Pink Floyd, and Genesis influence without sounding overly derivative. However, their latest album, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, has a much more mainstream sound. Not that it's bad, but it's not really what I'd consider art rock. I haven't heard all their albums yet, but so far Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory is my favorite.

Spock's Beard is another current prog act. I have one of their albums (I forget which); I wasn't too impressed with it. It was musically all over the place, and one song in particular was a ridiculously blatant and quite annoying Gentle Giant ripoff.

I also have several Phish albums, I like their music too. Junta is very good and rather unappreciated. You mentioned listening to jazz--do you have any Dave Brubeck albums? No music collection is complete without Time Out!

I've given a lot of thought to why most people my age don't care about decent music, and I really don't understand it. The only thing I can think of is that with people having other sources of entertainment (more TV, Internet, etc.) and generally having more hectic lives, music gets pushed into the background. It's just background noise for working, driving, eating, etc. Therefore it just needs to have a catchy melody, be easy to sing along with, and that's about it. Not many people have the time or willingness to load up the CD changer, turn the lights out, and just sit and enjoy the music. If they did, they certainly would not stand for the crap that is released these days. :)

As for DVD-Audio, it allows music to be stored at a much higher resolution than CD. Plus it allows for surround sound (which I don't use). DVD-Audio-capable players are just now becoming affordable and fairly widespread. However, I doubt that it will catch on for two reasons: It's not backwards compatible with CD, and CDs are more than good enough for boomboxes, most car stereos, $200 all-in-one stereos, etc. Then again, when the CD came out back in '82, many people thought it would never catch on because existing cassette tapes and LPs were "good enough", so who knows!
11 posted on 09/01/2002 8:18:12 AM PDT by mn12
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