Top ten Gentle Giant songs

[Vic2012]

I don;t understand why GG, like VdGG, were marginalized commercially

I don't remember these two bands in the 70s. I wasn't into prog/rock back then but I was well aware of the Biggies. The only thing I can think of is that GG and VDGG didn't have a traditional "front man." And yeah, I think Peter Hammill had to be an acquired taste, or something. Just no commercial appeal. The bands that really made it big in the US all had big stage shows too, so there was the visual aspect as well. By the way, VDGG was another band that I liked almost instantly. I don't think I liked Pawn Hearts the first time I heard it but once it took hold I became a fan. I really like Peter's singing and lyrics, and the distorted sax really adds to the sound.

[cavgator]

I don't remember these two bands in the 70s. I wasn't into prog/rock back then but I was well aware of the Biggies. The only thing I can think of is that GG and VDGG didn't have a traditional "front man." And yeah, I think Peter Hammill had to be an acquired taste, or something. Just no commercial appeal. The bands that really made it big in the US all had big stage shows too, so there was the visual aspect as well. By the way, VDGG was another band that I liked almost instantly. I don't think I liked Pawn Hearts the first time I heard it but once it took hold I became a fan. I really like Peter's singing and lyrics, and the distorted sax really adds to the sound.

It's interesting. In 1971, during the flowering of prog rock, I was 15, and at 17, I joined the Army and was stationed in Germany, amidst all of it, yet I didn't hear GG until I was about ready to leave in mid-1976, and didn't hear VdGG until 1980, when some neighbors had their albums. GG was rarely mentioned in the rock magazines of the day and VDGG was virtually never mentioned. I basically saw them as cult bands, away from mainstream rock (which ELP, Yes, Genesis, etc were a part of, rather than the prog label).

In my naivete of youth, I presumed that their lack of commercial success was due to an inaccessibility of their music to the public. IOW, they were marginal. If they were great, the world would embrace them, as they did ELP, Yes, PF, etc. This was, of course, before I learned of the wonderful world of luck, being in the right place at the right time, who you know (the members of the big six were all rather well-connected), the music industry, etc.

As I matured, I came to appreciate the music of GG, but perhaps because I haven't already worn out the grooves of their albums when they came out, as I did with the Big Six releases, their music never really became a part of me. There are times that I wish I could have the time to simply SIT DOWN, put an album or CD in, turn out the lights, kick back, and LISTEN to music, as I did so many decades ago, in order to gain a better appreciation of it. I've tried, but it still doesn't want to stick.

I tried with VdGG as well, primarily because so many here swear by them. I bought Pawn Hearts and listened to it several times. With the jarring vocals, I would rationalize that I liked Gabriel, whose vocals were hardly smooth. I tried to embrace that sax by rationalizing that I liked pre-Lark's Tongue in Aspic King Crimson, which had several pieces highlighted by jarring sax. Still ain't working.

Who knows? In another decade or two, I might finally get it.

I respect both bands, but neither (especially VdGG) speak to me.

[No Pride]

It wasn't until the advent of discussion forums on the Internet that I learned people had problems with GG's vocals. I always thought they were quite good and the fact that all of them (except John?) could not only sing, but sing such difficult contrapuntal lines and pull it off was amazing. Granted, it was generally less than perfect live, but still...

Interestingly, they apparently thought that their music was going to be commercially viable, just because they were good. Just goes to show you that even in the '70s, you couldn't get away with everything.

I think one of the main reasons they never achieved the popularity of the other big whatever '70s prog bands was that there was very little "pop" music in their sound (unless you count something like "Think of Me with Kindness" or "Memories of Old Days" ). Everybody else had generous portions of it mixed in with the "proginess." That's my guess anyway. In terms of musicianship and compositional savvy, I consider them to be at (or at least near) the top of the heap.

Perhaps they were too prog even for prog's heyday.

[Vic2012]

Who knows? In another decade or two, I might finally get it. I respect both bands, but neither (especially VdGG) speak to me.

Don't sweat it. You can't like everything. I don't listen to GG and VDGG that regularly, but I'll go on binges a few times a year, and I never play prog while driving. I like to listen to prog with a good buzz, lying down, with headphones. But I know how you feel. There are certain bands that prog diehards really love that aren't that accessible. I personally don't see what the big deal about Frank Zappa is. But, admittedly I really haven't heard enough. It's just that the stuff by Zappa I've heard doesn't sound like anything so special to me. I just don't find his style of jazz all that brilliant. In the case of GG, I think what really appealed to me was how busy they sound, and I love all those little tunable percussion things they do. To me they are brilliant. VDGG represents the dark side of symphonic/prog. It's never been about image or even attitude with VDGG (from my perspective), it was all the mad themes and lyrics, plus I love the organ and electric piano.

I think one of the main reasons they never achieved the popularity of the other big whatever '70s prog bands was that there was very little "pop" music in their sound (unless you count something like "Think of Me with Kindness" or "Memories of Old Days" ). Everybody else had generous portions of it mixed in with the "proginess." That's my guess anyway. In terms of musicianship and compositional savvy, I consider them to be at (or at least near) the top of the heap.

Good point. All the biggies had accessible radio hits to bring people in. Like I said, I wasn't buying prog albums in the 70s but I liked all the radio hits I heard (Roundabout, Aqualung, etc.). Then Kansas really got ahold of me and that's when I started exploring more proggy music.

[Digital_Man]

^ I agree to a certain extent but I'm trying to figure out what the big radio hits were by King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Genesis(when they were a prog band).

[Facelift]

Advent of Panurge
Pantagruel's Nativity
The Runaway
Just the Same
Time to Kill
Inmate's Lullaby
In A Glass House
Interview
Proclamation
I Lost My Head

[Bucka001]

I liked GG quite a bit a few decades ago. Never amongst my fave proggers, but I enjoyed the albums I had (which I still have): Aquiring the Taste, Three Friends (really liked that one), Octopus (import [to me] with the Dean cover; really liked this one as well), and Interview. Would spin the others at my friends house (he had 'em all) while a group of us drank beer and shot pool... those were the days! I think the reason I'm less fond of them now is because I started to like just straight ahead *rock* a bit more (after prog, I got into some of the punk bands like the DK's [one of the best concerts I ever saw], Black Flag, Naked Raygun, etc). To me, GG were almost too "clever" for their own good. There were parts where it sounded like they were about to actually rock out a bit, but would stop and just go into another weird "interesting" time signature thing with layered vocal parts, etc. Someone (Jeff from Cheer Accident actually) leant me In A Glass House a few years ago and I just couldn't get into at all. I also recently saw a 70s vid of GG where they all switched instruments, which I suppose is really impressive but just seemed an embarrassment to me. My tastes have really changed.

As far as VdGG, if you were living in the States then it makes sense they wouldn't have been on your radar in the 70s/80s. They never toured here during their 70s heyday (except for one concert in NYC in '76, a sellout at the 2,500 seater Beacon Theater). They had an underground cult here at best. But in Europe they were fairly well known, even without the benefit of any "hits" and at least got written up a lot in the music mags / newspapers. In the U.K. they never made it huge and were a cult band, but everyone who was into music at least heard of them and probably heard them on the radio (Peel played them all the time, and he was THE MAN). Lots of press for VdGG in the UK mags (Melody Maker, their Rolling Stone, even put VdGG on the cover, calling them Britain's Most Fashionable Band in '71). And these days the band is highly revered (more than during their heyday in the 70s) and is a real critic's darling. Anyway, I'm with those who believe that they missed out on mega-stardom due to Hammill's voice, which I love but understand can be a deterent. That, and they also were broken up from '72 - '75. That was the period when a lot of their contemporaries/friends (ELP, Yes, Genesis, Crimson) broke through. They missed out on that wave by the time they started playing out again mid-'75. But I love VdGG because, despite the crazy, chaotic shit they're capable of, they never forget that they're a *rock* band and at times rival the heaviest of metal bands (albeit with organ and sax [or violin and cello] instead of grinding bass and crunchy guitar).