08-04-2017, 09:55 PM
(08-03-2017, 12:49 AM)Viktor Wrote: How about you? I heard you've been big intro prog rock.
Well I am, or... was... or sometimes I guess?
I don't live and breathe prog like I did some 20 years ago but then again I don't listen to a ton of music these days either. At least not for entertainment (reference listening is another thing, and this I do regularly). I don't know if I'm a weird kind of musician but I actually find it easier focusing on my own composing if I'm not exposed to other people's music 24/7. So I'm definitely not as interested in discovering new stuff as I used to be. I will happily embrace things that I come across and like but I'm not on the lookout for new things to listen to per se. I asked this out of curiosity, as it's always interesting to know what people's backgrounds are and what music helped shape their own music.
But yeah, I'm into a lot of the classic prog bands like Rush (probably my #1 favorite band of all time), Genesis, Kansas and Jethro Tull; neo-prog like Marillion, IQ and Pendragon, and prog metal bands such as Dream Theater (probably my #2 favorite band of all time, though I'm still pissed at them for The Astonishing), Symphony X, Fates Warning, Shadow Gallery and Pain of Salvation.
I do listen to other stuff as well besides prog and orchestral. Sting is a personal hero of mine and his nineties albums had a HUGE impact on me as a musician. Same with Peter Gabriel, another musical genious that makes interesting and challenging pop music. I was a U2 nut back in my teens and I love their eighties albums, though nothing they've done after Achtung Baby has really appealed to me. Likewise I was heavily into Dave Matthews Band for a number of years, but they sort of fell by the wayside after a while. I still enjoy going back to Before these Crowded Streets and Crash but I felt they were releasing too many albums in too short a time for a while there, resulting in a lot of forgettable and going-through-the-motions music.
I don't know what else to mention? Tori Amos, definitely. And David Bowie! No Doubt was also a great band that I kind of miss. They did that white reggae/ska thing with a modern edge to it that I loved.
And of course, one of the metal bands that got me into playing music in the first place: Iron Maiden. These guys have become a parody of themselves nowadays but seriously, at their peak they WERE awesome. Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somwhere in Time and Seventh Son -- wow. Actually I think it was all of those Steve Harris 15 minute epics that laid the foundation for my interest in prog rock/metal.