Are you a Prog-Narcissus?

[birdman]

A direct question.
And I want an honest answer from YOU.
I want you to freely disrobe and not disrespect this thread with falsity.

I am going to nip it in the bud right from the start - knowing full-well that most of you responding to this thread will completely ignore this next caveat:

THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT HOW YOU PERSONALLY ARE REVULSED AT THE VERY PROSPECT OF A PROG -NARCISSIST; NOR ABOUT HOW YOU DEEM YOURSELF TO BE ABOVE SUCH (ASSUMED) DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR. I AM NOT INTESESTED IF YOU BELIEVE PROG-EGO IS A DISEASE.



.........

By its very nature, Progressive Rock is the aristocrat of rock n' roll.
On the landscape of music, pre-80s prog stived to be the loner, completely shorn of being meddled with by manipulants.
When the corporates became friskier and began manhandling, the bands were forced the less-lucrative route of private/ lesser-important labels. this usually lead to final band collapse, but their integrity remained to the last.

Prog then is the loner.
In some instances , beyond the rise-above-the-rabble Music itself, narcissistic leader personalities evolved. (You will say, this is no arguement because all rock is full of such - and I will agree with you.)


But this thread is not about narcissism in the music, but about narcissism inherent in yourself: the listener, the forum-poster, the collector.

I will go even deeper: do you look your nose down at certain folk (neophytes) within your own beloved musical volition?


......


I am trusting the moderators to not be unworthy and let this post through.

[trurl]

I do. I pity you all, really.

[at least 100 dead]

My unwarranted yet insufferably grandiose sense of self-worth won’t permit me to partake of the undignified soul-baring about to ensue in this thread.

[NogbadTheBad]

What the frell?

[Mister Triscuits]

My unwarranted yet insufferably grandiose sense of self-worth won’t permit me to partake of the undignified soul-baring about to ensue in this thread.

So you'll just watch in reverence as prog-narcissus is turned to a flower.


















A FLOWER???

[walt]

Are you a prog-narcissus?.

No, i'm a prog Goldmund.

[chalkpie]

burp.

[zravkapt]

I ain't no prog narc.

[Brian Griffin]

Dude

BG

[Poisoned Youth]

A FLOWER???

It is very important to recognize the flower that is your ego in full bloom as spring arrives and new pop sludge will soon be upon us like the stink of fresh mulch. To deny the apex that is the prog is to deny such beautiful structures such as the Eiffel Tower or Grand Canyon. We cannot hide under the bed when thinking these are great things to display in full nudity.

I am shaming.

[Zeuhlmate]

A flower.

What will happen is this: Your root chakra will open and unite you with the actual genuine being - what just is, but we cant see, because all there is, i reality is what is not. After this you will be so overwhelmed by happiness, that you would have to fast for a week, and just utter the word gamurja.

[Splicer]

But this thread is not about narcissism in the music, but about narcissism inherent in yourself: the listener, the forum-poster, the collector.

I will go even deeper: do you look your nose down at certain folk (neophytes) within your own beloved musical volition?

You're going to have to do a better job posing the question if you want an answer. Define "certain folk (neophytes)" and why exactly you believe I would or would not look down my nose at them. Honestly, I have no idea what it is you're asking.

[jkelman]

I will go even deeper: do you look your nose down at certain folk (neophytes) within your own beloved musical volition?

First, to answer: no, I don't. Never have, never will.

Second, though - and I'm sorry, Burdman - this is such a flawed supposition, rendering on elitist.

Prog, as much as I love it, is NOT , "by its very nature the aristocrat of rock and roll." It's just another variant, nothing more, nothing less. Yeah, sure it's sometimes inherent complexity would make it seem to be "the aristocrat," but when a guy like Steven Wilson truly believes there's as much value and challenge in writing a great pop song as there is a Prog epic, it should give one cause to pause. When he enjoys ABBA, the Carpenters, Tears for Fears and Simple Minds as much as he does Crimson, Tull and Yes, it should also give one cause to pause.

If "Prog, then, is the loner," it's only because fans have made it so, IMO...or because they want to believe it...to believe that they are part of an exclusive group that somehow makes them better than the rest.

Bands did not go indie, after the golden days of the '60s/'70s, because of being manhandled and, therefore choosing to go the indie route (though certainly some did); most went the indie route because they were dropped from the majors when, in the late '70s, the music began to implode and, for a variety of reasons, lose its mass appeal. Majors who were once behind innovative bands in the progressive arena big time began dropping them in ever-greater numbers because the groups were simply not generating the sales to justify the label's desire to work with them.

Sorry, but this whole argument is flawed from its very conception.

I love Prog, but I love plenty other stuff too; just as I think listening to jazz or classical music doesn't make me better or smarter than the average bear, listening to Prog only means I like/love it...nothing more and nothing less. When I meet those who can't stand it, I apologize and try to find an entry point into the music for them, based on their existing (important) musical tastes. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes i don't.

It Is what it is.

[Sean]

The measure of a man's worth is not connected to his music collection. Differences in musical taste are pretty trivial in the grand scheme of life. Not worth getting an attitude over.

[moecurlythanu]

I am the Alpha-Bit and the Omega Man. No man cometh unto the Progger but by me.

[walt]

I am the Alpha-Bit .

I am the Frosted Flake.

[Mister Triscuits]

I am the Frosted Flake.

I am Quark, Strangeness, and Lucky Charms.

[chalkpie]

I am Quark, Strangeness, and Lucky Charms.

I'm happy
I'm not happy
I'm sad
I'm not sad
I'm zero the hero.

[NogbadTheBad]

I am the walrus.

[Jerjo]

I am Squonk.

[No Pride]

I am Groot.

[zombywoof]

Man, things are getting silly around here these days!

[MissKittysMom]

Cat food. Again.

[Plasmatopia]

I am legend.

[Baribrotzer]

My belief is entirely the opposite:

Far from "the aristocrat of rock 'n roll", prog is the lowest of the low. It is the "Citizen Capet" of rock 'n roll: a bloated, sickly, contemptible, degraded wreck chained in the stocks, being pelted with garbage by the freed populace, and rolling in a tumbril toward the Place de la Concorde and its long-deserved final ending. Which ending, along with the endings of classical music and jazz, can't come soon enough.

No, if anything, roots music is the aristocrat of rock 'n roll - the true music of the people, glorious with authenticity. A music of sublime simplicity and plain-spoken poetry, forever adhering to its earliest and most genuine manifestations. Once you've heard it, you realize that anything else is just a pale copy, full of fuss and bother to impress the ignorant and gullible. And you realize that there is no reason to listen to anything else.