Intelligent music for intelligent people

[OfSinsAndShred]

Intelligence existed before complex music, therefore the theory is retarded.

That and the fact that I'm sure we all know some really intelligent people who love really simple music. You can understand prog and not like it. You can have a mind like Stephen Hawking and enjoy punk rock. Music snobs of all types are lame. Walk into any music school and you'll find a snob for every genre.

 

[proulxski]

the "symphony x in the '06" thread was not intended to end up that way!

 

[1by4by9]

Prog is not intelligent and from a certain point of view not even complex. It's a trend now and maybe after 50 years people are thinking that plain 4/4 music(with a single instrument perhaps) is complex / intelligent. Iron Maiden has made their third comeback and Harris is thinking whether to come up with new more simple chord patterns (instead of complex "Em C D".)

For me there's some kind mystic element in any song until I've listened it enough to figure out all the layers. Then the mystery
s gone. A no-win-situation. I think this season I'm mostly listening to good old cell phone ring tones. "Beep-be-beep-beep."

 

[NegativeVolume]

I've met 2 kinds of prog fans in my life: jackasses and the curious. But unfortunately, most I ever met were pricks and I honestly can't stand it when somebody comes up to me with my DT shirt on and gives me a sermon on why they rock. It happened at a poker table at a casino once; talk about ANNOYING. But I do come across the occasional curious listener; the guy who understands the music and finds it interesting as to why/how such artists wrote this "progressive" material. I tend to think most people on this board tend to fall under the latter category because plenty of you guys listen to all sorts of everything else.
There's no difference between the average progsnob and the average diehard <insert anything here> fan...they're both dense as bricks and no matter what they say, they're right. I guess this sort of fanaticism is an aspect of life, but I find it interesting that the idea of a "better" band even exists because isn't this an artform, not a biggest dick contest?

 

[AutumnGust]

Different musical styles create different sub-cultures, and different people are drawn to different sub-cultures for different reasons. Prog music might certainly have some aspects that attract thinking individuals in greater amounts than other styles do, but there are always some people who start to believe that the music they identify themselves with creates their intelligence, and not the other way around, as a self-fulfilling profecy of sorts...

 

[NegativeVolume]

Neat point ^

 

[Anonymous]

I think the difference between prog and most other music genres is the fact that prog fans embrace their intelligence. The fans are proud to be smart, and they'll take any chance they can get to intricately form sentences few people will understand. I know lots of people who listen to whatever plays on Much Music and MTV, I can tell they do on purpose to act air-headed. I can't help but get pissed off when people do that for the sake of being 'cool'.

I'd consider myself somewhat of a snob, but not because of the music I listen to.

 

[Trusse]

People cannot really discuss this topic, since none have come to a definition of what it is to be intelligent. You can be intelligent in many ways. Maybe you are good at playing football or music--that is a kind of intelligence. Intelligence is not only being good to mathematics. You can be good at carry on a conversation--that is also an a intelligence!

 

[turke]

Intelligent music for intelligent people

 

[Jaen]

hahaha, that was amazing

 

[Pharaoh]

Here is what I have concluded through the years..
It's an awareness and realization that this genre holds the most true and honest talent that can be found. It's popular with musicians who are striving to excel and learn from those who really have talent to learn from and inspire.
These bands care deeply about what they create, how they present and package it.
It's not a generic, prefabricated product. it's real and honest, and musicians work hard to make it enjoyable. These factors create a sort of personal bond between the bands and their fans.
That's how I see it. I think the "intelligence" factor is just bullshit, really. It's people who care to find great talent within a world of much music that is meaningless, boring, and lacks stimulation.

 

[Kenneth R.]

That and the fact that I'm sure we all know some really intelligent people who love really simple music.

/point to self.

/point to collection of Thirdeyeblind albums.

EDIT: as for those morons who think complex = intelligent, or that one necessitates the other, i direct their attention to the world of mathematics, or other forms of art, in which minimalism/simplicity of expression can be measured in degrees of elegance. scientists often work to unify complex ideas under a single, more expressive, albeit simpler, theory or equation. in the same way, artists have for years explored the limits of the degree to which they can express emotion using only crude/few/simple elements. to me, and if i must i shall say that this is my own opinion, communication is the key factor in any expression of art or knowledge. how the communication takes place, with what tools, or in how many dimensions is secondary.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

YOU LIKE THIRD EYE BLIND! Pfft... you're SOOOOO unintelligent Kenneth!

 

[Kenneth R.]

 

[Kronikle66]

I swear, I've not met another band with a more pretentious fan base than Dream Theater. Sometimes I'm embarrassed to call myself a fan.

 

[Anonymous]

YOU'RE A DT FAN! Pfft... you're SOOOOO pretentious Kronikle!

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Mr. Fast has a point, but i think linguistics has little to do with the music you listen to. Besides, the phrase "intelligent music" is still the part that irritates me in the phrase.

 

[Tubbs]

I think experimental music is more intelligent than progressive music. Just my 3,404 cents.

Progressive actually seems kinda simple pertaining to some bands.

 

[turke]

No music is intelligent. People who make them are intelligent.

 

[Tubbs]

Okay, you have a point. However, since experimental music is all about experimentation to create soundscapes of sorts, I'd say that it's more difficult to accomplish than other genres of music, and therefore the people making the music must have enough knowledge to create it.