Originally posted by Pharoah
Guys, it all goes back to my original thread where I mentioned (in my opinion), that I think the commercial music market is bulls***, and I referred to prog as "good". I didn't feel a need to explain in detail my "opinion". I enjoy this Forum and would never want to offend anyone, I respect and value others' opinions. Harp Heaven has some interesting comments. I suppose I am a "Prog Elitist". I think many fans in the Forum are too!
I can only go on what I have experienced firsthand for many years about the business of music. Far too many talented and sincere musicians have become victims of manipulation by the system (the ones who control the money). It often becomes a fine line between self-preservation and self-sacrifice. The buying music listeners are in turn manipulated and quite often deceived by prefabricated products that are manufactured and churned out by the "machine", passed off as "good music". If it has a video, if it's nominated for a Grammy, if all the other kids in class like it, etc. etc. it MUST be good and certainly MUST be substantial. It is an illusion to me. It has been this way for a long time and will continue.
This is where my bull**** word fit in, because this is how I feel.
I am thankful to have found an alternative in this genre of music, because it seems to me that (for the most part) the creators of this music are honest, sincere, extremely talented, and choose a path to distribute it by means that do not alter their creative freedom, or build walls between themselves and those who respect them for it (and pay money to obtain it). That's my "good music" comment. There is a lot of good mainstream music, and there certainly is something for everyone's taste. Music is wonderful. I just can't appreciate the manipulation for mass profit and gain. Sure, contracts are signed and paths are pre-determined. But...true talent is often overshadowed and many are victimized in this business. Many are comfortable with it, too.
I only wanted to mention here my personal reasons for the comments. Actually, all I wanted to know was how good musicians find each other in a certain area! Yikes!
Harp Heaven, I saw Zappa perform in a gym where there were only 16 other people there! It was very interesting, as he dismissed the band after a 2 hour show and spent time writing some new songs. So, we watched him sit on his amp while he wrote 3 songs for his "Apostrophe" album.
WOW!! The part about Zappa is too cool. You were very lucky!!
