Pretentious music fans

[sonic]

Are prog fans the most pretentious of music fans?
...Endless debating on the meaning of 'prog'/what is prog; endless micro-categorization of the genre and genres fans feel are related (read fusion); big P vs small p debates (whatever that means); aggrandizing their music as the most complex (therefore superior) and inventive music ever made in the history of music and judging all music by the degree that it 'progresses' and the number of odd time signature changes that occur within a single song; a desperate need to label every music a fan likes as prog using whatever twisted logic necessary to achieve that aim.
Have you ever thought how bizarre prog fans must seem to outsiders? They(we) are a musical version of Trekkies complete with their own geek-speak and even have a made up language to boot (Kobaďan).
Discuss!

[zravkapt]

I think some metal fans are worse.

[NogbadTheBad]

Nah, hipsters beat us out.

[Scott Bails]

Definitely hipsters.

[sonic]

Here's an article to assist those who want to become better snobs:


HOW TO BE A MUSIC SNOB: THE ART OF BEING PRETENTIOUS (http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2011/12/how-to-be-a-music-snob-the-art-of-being-pretentious/)
Only like something if you know at least 50% of other people won’t get it
It’s simple, really–if people think you “get” something that they don’t, you will immediately seem more knowledgeable than them. Anybody can like The Beatles, but enjoying the newest progressive art-rock/noise-pop quartet from Eastern Europe isn’t so easy. Of course, nobody really likes the shit, but if you say you do, and come up with some intelligent sounding but nonsensical reasoning, you’ll put yourself at the forefront of a new movement, and the lemmings will follow.
...
This one is very relavant for proggsters:

Always choose a band’s “older work”
This is some Music Snob 101 shit. According to music snobs, a band’s earliest, most obscure work is their best, 95% of the time. If somebody says, “Did you hear (insert sell-out band name here)’s new album,” you answer, “Yeah, it sucked. I only like their early stuff.”

[Scott Bails]

Only like something if you know at least 50% of other people won’t get it
It’s simple, really–if people think you “get” something that they don’t, you will immediately seem more knowledgeable than them.

Ohhh....in that case, RIO/Zeuhl/Avant fans are the most pretentious. :D

[Jymbot]

Aspiration towards musicianship perfection and complexity is deemed thoroughly running counter to the (supposed) essence of (goodtyme) r&roll. (This is the stuffed-shirt's domain of jazz and classical. So they maintain.)

As long as you cultivate a certain degree of sport, it is less likely you will be tarred with the all-too-easily-available brush of pretentiousness.

You would be wise to play the sense of joviality card:

I REMAIN IMPERTURBABLY TRANQUIL IN MY EXAULTED STATE OF ASSUREDNESS.
I AM YOUR OWN SELF-APPOINTED GUARDIAN OF PROG WORTHINESS. YOU WILL LIST TO WHAT I RECOMMEND YOU AND SLAVISHLY DROOL AT MY EVERY WORD.
AS SUCH AS I AM, I AM A PWOG MASTERMAN, AND YOU ARE NOWT, JIMMEH.
ON YOUR KNEES!

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/Daahling.jpg

...
On a slight diversion:
is pretentiousness more down to the actual PERSON , or is the word more to do with the WORK?
This is as best a definition of P. as I can think of: The offender produces a WORK towards which clearly -to others only - he has bit off more than he can chew. Yet he acts as if he wields it rightly and has produced that which he aspired to - and more.
This goes beyond high-mindedness, audacity,arrogance.

....
Look upon my avatar Ye Mighty and weep.
It is the true face of affectation. (But tomorrow I will change it to one even better.)

[moecurlythanu]

When I listen to Prog, I always wear white silk gloves and sip Drambuie. ONLY Drambuie. Sometimes I have a white poodle in my lap, but not always.

[Jymbot]

I recall an article (in French) from the old 90s days of PAPER prog fanzines. I think it was in Harmonie : The Syndrome of Narcissus. Prog is the dandified aristocrat of r&roll.

...
Frilly cuffs...and an expensive silk carpet.

[Jymbot]

Oh sorry : I just now realize the topic is FANS.
Not the work or the artist.


As to the fans - sure they are all assholes yet.....
Be not afraid to avail yourself of and be steadfast to ... Pwog. It is natural to Nature and it is God's Love you do so.
Do not be ashamed.

[Jymbot]

I see you are from Japan.

You know what is worse than the pretentiousness of prog fans?
Its the punter (more often than not, Japanese) at the local record show going up to the vendour and asking ,proudly, "Do you have a copy of that Led Zeppelin lp with , you know, the moving disc-thing on the cover? The real rare one."


"Yeah. There's five copies there . Under "L". Five buck."

[80s were ok]

just by thinking prog fans are the most pretentious..makes you pretentious. Bottom line....every genre of music has die-hard fans who think their music is greatest music and everything else sucks. If someone thinks there aren't people who love Motown the way prog fans love prog, then they not only pretentious, they are living in a bubble.

[Jymbot]

Octavio Trimmingham.

Now that IS pretentious.

[Jerjo]

Music majors are really insufferable. I knew a number of them in my college days and have worked with a few over the years. They think they know everything about music when in reality anything outside of their narrow confines baffles the living shit out of them.

One of my best friends in high school went to another college. Even in our high school days, rock (especially hard rock) befuddled him. One weekend when we were all in college, a few of us from my university ended up staying at the house he lived in while going to school. This was a house with nothing but music majors. After many beers they began talking about rock music and what they were "in to". I was of the callow opinion that most guys my age had a clue about what was cool. At one point one of the guys from my school said to me, "it's like listening to nuns talk about sex". They had no clue about lyrics, some notion of chops but none of soul, and vocals had to be as pure as that of a Broadway diva. Which is fine if you are into only show tunes or opera but to try to apply those standards to pop, rock, R&B, or blues was pretty insane. But they did anyway.

I'm not saying this is the way with all people who graduated with a degree in music. I have a cousin who has a BA and taught high school music for eons. His tastes run opera to Howling Wolf to Miles to Springsteen. But then again, his wife was a choir queen and by god, she fits the stereotype to a tee. Let's just say that the subtle appeal of anyone with a rasp in their voice is lost to her. But she can go on for hours on opera singers and show tunes.

[Jymbot]

I think some metal fans are worse.

Supposing that prog came out of the ivory towers and art schools and gentle,long-haired, beaded,effeminate hippies; and street-wise metal was born of the gutter, which would you expect to be the most in-your-face pretentious-effective?

[Jymbot]

To quote myself -which in itself is rather pretentious- I just posted this response to Regal Zonophone II forum:

"Being as I am a Masterman, I do not have to substantiate any claim I make.

Wallace will not have Wallace's authority questioned any further on this matter."

Pretentious, moi?


Just stating it as it is,sir.

[Octavio Trimmingham]

Octavio Trimmingham.

Now that IS pretentious.

Thank you, I'm glad somebody out there gets it.

[trurl]

Blues.


Fans.

When I'm in with a group of hard core blues guys, the ones that own functioning 78 rpm turntables, I make an offhand remark about how amazing Jimmy Page is and how Zeppelin really made those crappy old Willy Dixon songs awesome, and then eat my popcorn :D The more modern kind, I just ask innocently, "so who is better? SRV or Kenny Wayne Shepperd??"

[notallwhowander]

The most pretentious babble I've heard came from a punk who got into jazz. Boy did he crap all over prog.

It kinda made me want to lock him in a room with nothing but Rockpommel's Land just to watch his head explode.

[Oreb]

Opera buffs and Indie Hipsters are way more pretentious than proggers.

[sonic]

You know what is worse than the pretentiousness of prog fans?
Its the punter (more often than not, Japanese) at the local record show going up to the vendour and asking ,proudly, "Do you have a copy of that Led Zeppelin lp with , you know, the moving disc-thing on the cover? The real rare one."
"Yeah. There's five copies there . Under "L". Five buck."
Record collectors, pretentious? Sure.
I'll tell you though ....Whoever it was that got that Led Zep record for 5 bucks was very happy ... he took all 5 copies back to Japan and sold them for 200 bucks a piece. :)

[Vic2012]

Are prog fans the most pretentious of music fans?
...

Only on internet message boards. Over the last 12 years or so I've met plenty of people who like it all (classic/rock, prog, etc.). People my age and younger, etc. I've met people that went to concerts in the 70s and saw all the big names (Yes, ELP, etc.), and none of them are pretentious, or snooty about music. They're just people who grew up with classic/rock (which included art/rock, or "prog"). The only pretentious, snooty, insufferable prog/fans are here on the internet.

[Jymbot]

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/troll12.jpg

....
Note the avatar has changed.

I am going for humbleness.

[3LockBox]

Anyone who listens to music with an agenda puzzles me. Its great to know a little history about your favorite genre, but some fans develop a dogma regarding their music.

Also, musicians tend to be rather pretentious, or at least insufferable. They know who's great, who's a hack, who sucks, who you should think is great, why your opinion is under-informed, blah blah blah. Just start a thread about great (insert favorite instrument here) players - by page 3 or 4 it will devolve into a pissing match. Its like when serious jock guy shows up at a pickup game of (insert favorite game here), you know the one; the guy who coulda been a pro but his AAU coach didn't like him, blah blah blah.

[Jymbot]

Record collectors, pretentious? Sure.


No. You got me wrong.

I was not intimating that record collectors were pretentious.
What I stated was that there are things worse than toplofty proggers.
There are The Japanese at record shows whose concept of the height of vinyl rarity is the Davey Jones solo album.

[Camelogue]

Yes some of the most pretentious.

But.........

[sonic]

No. You got me wrong.

I was not intimating that record collectors were pretentious.
What I stated was that there are things worse than toplofty proggers.
There are The Japanese at record shows whose concept of the height of vinyl rarity is the Davey Jones solo album.
That hasn't got so much to do with pretentiousness as it has to do with the value of those records in Japan which has traditionally been a a big market for soft rock and artists usually downplayed in the West. This was often purposely done by record companies to avoid competition in the marketplace. That's why an early '90s 'Tiffany' album would sit in the 50 cent bin in the US, but be a collectable here in Japan. Those records were marketed here at the time and were very popular, thus their nostalgia and monetary value now. That is why you will find Japanese at record conventions in North America jumping on albums a North American would look down his nose at.

[Jymbot]

"Yes some of the most pretentious.

But......... "


http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/0_zpsb8306482.jpg

WHAT was that which just buzzed by?

[JKL2000]

We're kind of like these guys:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6qukspaJp1r011oco1_1280.jpg

[battema]

Let's just get this out of the way then:

http://www.i-mockery.com/visionary/geek-hierarchy.php

[zombywoof]

It can be found anywhere. It has nothing to do with the music, its just human nature to want feel superior to others sometimes.

Which by the way, I wish the word 'pretentious' would disappear from our vocabularly. I'm really sick of hearing it, because in the hands of music critics, it was a way of making the critic feel superior to others...

[tom unbound]

"We're kind of like these guys:"

Too many women in the pic, can't be Prog. ;)

[lycialive]

Are prog fans Pretentious? I don't think so, at least I haven't met any. Investigative might be a better word. Anybody who is passionate about something can always over-glorify it. It's human nature to compare one thing to another, to find faults, strengths, weaknesses, and periods of most delicious output. Spock out.

[Jymbot]

I wish the word 'pretentious' would disappear from our vocabularly

As I have said on many a forum, Pete Townsend (Townshend?) said we should construct huge letters of that word then burn it down to the ground. Extinguish its usage from the language forever.

[Camelogue]

here here.

[Toothyspook]

Are prog fans the most pretentious of music fans?

The answer in your mind must I guess be yes. Or else why start a thread with this title.

[Jymbot]

here here.



http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/judgementtime.jpg

[Mikhael]

Who really gives a flying @#$%?

[JKL2000]

Pretentious? Moi?

[moecurlythanu]

I think I saw Lycia play live, once.

[Amy]

You would be wise to play the sense of joviality card:

I REMAIN IMPERTURBABLY TRANQUIL IN MY EXAULTED STATE OF ASSUREDNESS.
I AM YOUR OWN SELF-APPOINTED GUARDIAN OF PROG WORTHINESS. YOU WILL LIST TO WHAT I RECOMMEND YOU AND SLAVISHLY DROOL AT MY EVERY WORD.
AS SUCH AS I AM, I AM A PWOG MASTERMAN, AND YOU ARE NOWT, JIMMEH.
ON YOUR KNEES!



LOL

[Jerjo]

We're kind of like these guys:


Third guy in from the left: it's a blonde, younger Lino

[Superfly]

Prog fans who think they are somehow better than 'indie hipsters'...(are just lying to themselves)...but you're not foolin' anyone else :lol

[Yves]

I only pretend to be pretentious.

[nycsteve]

We're kind of like these guys:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6qukspaJp1r011oco1_1280.jpg



Is this still from Ball Of Fire? Looks like the same set and old lady but one of them looks like Danny Kay. What movie?

[Jymbot]

Is that a mellotron behind that elaborately-carved wood cage?

The skirt is saying, "Today my offer is only to bald men."


(Lino-Kaye is pissed with this.)