Neil Peart on Progressive Music and Porcupine Tree

[Troy]

Satisfaction= not pretentious
The Stones Steel-Wheelchair tour 2005= Pretentious

I agree with Jar. There are modren artists out there who are hipster darlings here like Siggy Ros or Bjork (damn Icelanders) that are WAY more pretentious than Rush or Porcupine Tree. Mercury Rev? Flaming Lips? Pretentious to a fault!

You telling me that Radioheadwith their faux tortured-artist BS is less pretentious than Rush ? Carumba!

Pretentious:
1. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified.
2. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious

By THIS definition, (for example) The Ramones are pretentious with their uniforms, haircuts and mannered style. No room for changing musical style or growth in THEIR manufactured and Mcfranchise-like universe. The Ramones were all about fashion and style anyway, not music, otherwise they wouldn't have changed the words to the same damn song 400 times.

The Ramones are WORSHIPED. Why? How is Rick Wakeman's cape any more pretentious than the Ramones uniform? I've never been able to figure it out.

It comes down to this:
It's just a Coooool mannered fashion/style to YOU. You buy into the whole Ramones (or Radiohead or Murky Rev or Bjork) product line. I don't.

[Davey]

Satisfaction= not pretentious
The Stones Steel-Wheelchair tour 2005= Pretentious

I agree with Jar. There are modren artists out there who are hipster darlings here like Siggy Ros or Bjork (damn Icelanders) that are WAY more pretentious than Rush or Porcupine Tree. Mercury Rev? Flaming Lips? Pretentious to a fault!

You telling me that Radioheadwith their faux tortured-artist BS is less pretentious than Rush ? Carumba!

Say what you want, but most rock music is made by pretentious assholes that I'd never want to know. If you think Neil Peart is somehow different than the rest when he writes that pseudo-intellectual babble, that's fine. But I think he's on the wrong track when he says that his imagery is less pretentious than his fellow rockers, who it would seem, by his own writings, are mostly a bunch of pretentious wads unless they are in a prog band.

Ya know, I actually like a lot of Rush music. Not as much during their prog period and I do still cringe at some of Neil's clumsy lyrics, but there's a lot of kickass rock and roll in most of their records. Bjork doesn't seem pretentious at all to me, but I think we've been down that road before. I'm constantly amazed at the way she turns out novel phrases in a language that isn't hers, in ways that I would never think of. Sometimes able to distill a whole complex image down to a simple phrase. Really, I don't know quite what you base your definition on for most of the bands you list. I'd definitely agree with Radiohead being pretentious, that's much of their attraction, but that aspect kind of reminds me of Rush.

But in any case, I think you're taking my comments way beyond what I said. The Ramones? Whatever. Read Neil's comments. If you don't think that it's pretentious to belittle other bands and complain about how critics view your music while you are making tons of money and selling millions of records, well......

Also, note the winky here and above. It's just for fun. No "real" Rush bashing intended, Dave.

[Troy]

Say what you want, but most rock music is made by pretentious assholes that I'd never want to know. If you think Neil Peart is somehow different than the rest when he writes that pseudo-intellectual babble, that's fine. But I think he's on the wrong track when he says that his imagery is less pretentious than his fellow rockers, who it would seem, by his own writings, are mostly a bunch of pretentious wads unless they are in a prog band.

Yeah, we agree 100% that its ALL pretentious twaddle.

My point is, the music press (and listeners that buy into the music press's views) insist that stuff like The Ramones is not pretentious and that Yes is. Peart is merely turning the established view on it's head. I can only imagine how tiresome it must be to be called pretentious every day by the media. What he seems to be saying is that progrock is no less pretentious than anything else in rock music. And I agree with that idea.

Look, saying something is pretentious is tantamount to saying something is crap. The reality is that it's all just opinion. One guy's pretentious is another guy's rebellion . . . or art.