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Re: What the hell is Progressive?



>keets: "Not only did they choose punk style songs over pop for the album, 
>but they've actually made a statement by trashing a pop genre song."
>
>and  "Hmmm.  Maybe that's pretentious, after all."
>
>I think "The Ox" is progressive (by your definition), but it is not
>pretentious.  It is full of playfulness and humor.

Okay, I got the dictionary out to check here.  One definition of 
"pretentious" is that it's making a claim to merit, and I was thinking "The 
Ox" qualifies under that category.  By trashing a pop song, they're saying 
that their punk style is superior.  I'll agree with the playfulness and 
humor, though.  It's how they get by with all those radical statements.  
They can always say, "Hey, it was only a joke!!!"


>I was trying to relate the music of The Who to the Prog Rock sub genre.  To 
>me, Prog Rock is pretentious because it is an attempt to bring more high 
>brow sensibilities (as you pointed out) to rock, which at is base is very 
>low brow.  Pretension is not necessarily a bad thing, but can be annoying 
>when it goes unchecked. One of the great things about The Who is that they 
>have stretched all kinds
>of boundaries in rock but have always been able to maintain a
>self-deprecating sense of humor about what they are doing.

If they weren't progressive, they'd have been dead (as musicians) thirty 
years ago.  Instead, they've always explored new avenues--and the only 
possible evolution has been toward more skill and complexity.  Their music 
has changed and developed with the times, and actually, they've somewhat 
predicted the trends.


>Of course, this was the role that Keith played in the band's philosophy 
>(and John to some extent).  Keith really knew how to deflate Pete's art 
>school bullshit and keep the pretension in check.

Yeah, you're right there.


keets
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