Worst prog band?



Roman maroni said:
If you're not into Yes, why do you own a load of their stuff? If I'm not into a band l wouldn't have it in my music collection.
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I was aware they were considered one of the "big" prog bands and saw a load of their vinyls at a market stall one day for hardly any money so I bought them to give them a try.
 
mad maxim said:
Hocus Pocus. They must be forgotten but never forgiven for the yodelling song "Focus".
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Lad who ran the pop quiz at our local had a really strong Geordie accent and we begged him for yonks to include this in the quiz.

fyl2u said:
Indeed they were, before they went pop in the 80's.
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The BOFs went crackers when Trevor Horn joined:lol:

Butcher's Coat said:
Faust
Can
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Is Krautrock classed as a sub genre?
I don't do Prog but like some Kraut.
 
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mad maxim said:
No idea which way round, I just think of it as "Hocus Pocus Focus", or "the completely shite yodelling song".

Seriously, if there's anyone reading this thread but doesn't know that "song", if you really want to hear the utter extreme depths of depravity that prog rock was capable of plunging down to, book a therapy session then inflict the noise on yourself. Truly terrible.
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It's a great song Man! OK the yodelling's a bit naff but the guitar work is great. So is the drum work, and the bass work :lol:. The second guitar solo is..I can't say breathtaking, but it's nearly breathtaking! Fast guitar shredding can be pompous and "look how fast I can play", but Jan Akkerman does it very well and tunefully.
 
Scimmy said:
It's a great song Man! OK the yodelling's a bit naff but the guitar work is great. So is the drum work, and the bass work :lol:. The second guitar solo is..I can't say breathtaking, but it's nearly breathtaking! Fast guitar shredding can be pompous and "look how fast I can play", but Jan Akkerman does it very well and tunefully.
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Great guitarist,very influential.
 
Tex said:
Good shout. I’ve said many times they were all impressive musicians but the sum was never greater than the parts, and by Christ was there ever a band more in need of a decent singer to replace that strangled parrot trying to shit out a house brick?

I think another component of a lot of prog rock is the use of fantasy imagery in the lyrics. See Rick Wakeman and ‘King Arthur ...’ or Rush again “we are the priests of the temple of larynx” etc.
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You've got a proper way with words mind :lol:
 
Tex said:
I remember seeing them on Behnd the Music. The band was formed by the guitar and bass players. Then they got DeYoung in with all his cheesy bollocks - Babe, Sailing etc which they hated cos they wanted to rock out but that’s what sold all the records and concert tickets so they were stuck with it all.

More recently they wanted to go on tour. DeYoung said no cos his voice wasn’t right so they went on tour without him, then his voice suddenly recovered and he went on tour with a symphony orchestra or something. Rock and roll!
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Dig a little deeper and listen to Crystal Ball, Queen of Spades, Renegade, Blue Collar Man, Snowblind, Rockin` The Paradise. They`ve done some great songs and they are brilliant live. very entertaining and have some top class vocal harmonies. They don`t do Babe anymore either and haven`t for years. They did a UK tour with Thin Lizzy (without Phil) and Deep Purple and everyone expected them to be crushed but they surprised everyone and pretty much stole the show.

Captain Slackbladder said:
It was in the main shite.

Thank fuck punk followed by a load of new wave stuff came along.
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There`s space for both. Strangely enough a lot of Punk`s actually liked Prog but just never admitted it.

Daylight said:
Listening to Rush is like listening to nails on a chalkboard.
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I love Rush but totally understand people who don`t get them. Maybe the mid to late era of the band would be easier on the ear when Geddy Lee dropped an octave or two.

Tex said:
Good shout. I’ve said many times they were all impressive musicians but the sum was never greater than the parts, and by Christ was there ever a band more in need of a decent singer to replace that strangled parrot trying to shit out a house brick?

I think another component of a lot of prog rock is the use of fantasy imagery in the lyrics. See Rick Wakeman and ‘King Arthur ...’ or Rush again “we are the priests of the temple of larynx” etc.
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That was 1976 written when they were in their early 20`s ( and a multi million seller, so they did something right). From Permanent Waves (released in 1980) they sang about more current affairs/political stuff and never returned to the sword and sorcery/sci-fi stuff of their `70`s days.
 
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fyl2u said:
I don't really know much Genesis other than the pop hits. They were never a band I could motivate myself to explore properly to find out what the fuss was about.

Fish-era Marillion for me was my first real step into what I thought at the time (mid 90's) was "old" prog rock. I'd never heard anything quite like it and I loved it, so I listened to those albums a lot. Later I realised they borrowed a lot from a certain era of Van Der Graaf Generator but I still find Marillion more listenable.

I guess my taste in prog rock/prog metal tends to be "mostly regular rock/metal with a bit of prog in there but not too much". If it's too wanky it loses me. It's why I've never got into Yes (despite owning a load of their stuff on vinyl).
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Just didn't get the whole tweeness of it all ,(genesis ,yes)fiddly diddly tunes and daft lyrics .Clever ? Yes but dull .When Marillion appeared the comparison was obvious but to their credit they found fans
I got switched on to Peter Gabriel because he was darker and used rhythm much more .I like the prog side which is expressive and uses interesting time changes but can't be done with capes and wizards .
 
JAZZMANB said:
Just didn't get the whole tweeness of it all ,(genesis ,yes)fiddly diddly tunes and daft lyrics .Clever ? Yes but dull .When Marillion appeared the comparison was obvious but to their credit they found fans
I got switched on to Peter Gabriel because he was darker and used rhythm much more .I like the prog side which is expressive and uses interesting time changes but can't be done with capes and wizards .
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Yeah, me too.
 
Scimmy said:
It's a great song Man! OK the yodelling's a bit naff but the guitar work is great. So is the drum work, and the bass work :lol:. The second guitar solo is..I can't say breathtaking, but it's nearly breathtaking! Fast guitar shredding can be pompous and "look how fast I can play", but Jan Akkerman does it very well and tunefully.
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Uninteresting fact - Focus were formed from backing musicians involved in the original Dutch stage production of Hair.
 
Talking of capes and wizards, my mate has got to know Rick Wakeman quite well and says that he’s really very down to earth and sees his whole career as a bit tongue in cheek, Donning the cape with a bit of a wink these days etc.

He told him a story about a recent tour when all the other musicians (can’t remember which of the many versions of Yes this was) were twiddling about and he had nowt to do. Night after night he would sit there bored off his tits while the others indulged in musical wanking. So he decided to order a curry and sure enough managed to get a take away curry delivered to the arena which he sat and pouched on stage while the others were going about their business, all the while them giving him the stink eye for not getting into the spirit of the occasion!
 

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