[atlantaprog] Re: Stumbled across this essay...

...(...the guys in Rush didn't just listen to Genesis and other classic proggers; their first album was a virtual Zeppelin clone).

More than that, the great unspoken-of influences on Rush are the Who and the Byrds. The band themselves talk about the Who all the time, but no one seems to listen. I'll always remember the first time I heard "Behind Blue Eyes" (after getting into Rush, BTW) and hearing those crashing chords toward the end. "A-ha!" my ears said.

He's right about Van Halen; his influence was massive, and I'm from the cohort that started playing the guitar largely because of him. Their debut was one of those events like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, in a more limited sense. It's interesting that the metal guys got into VH's thing so much since I never considered VH metal.

It's certainly close enough to be an influence. Don't forget Randy Rhoads, though, and even Vivian Campbell. There was definitely shredding of a sort even before Yngwie. I understand that even Al DiMeola is an influence, and he's much farther from metal than EVH is.

What's surprising to me is not why there isn't a heyday now, but that there ever was one.

I suppose so. Of course, I keep saying that if it happened before, when it was totally inconceivable, it ought to be able to happen again in some way, now that we know it can happen.

But as someone else pontificated somewhere on Usenet: The industry *wants* mediocre music. Out-and-out *bad* music is too hard to sell, and really good music raises the audience's taste and gives musicians too much power. What the industry wants is apparently "okay" music, just good enough to sell, usually by connecting it to various social and cultural currents.

I haven't heard squat by Banco or PFM.

Same here, except for a piece called "Mr. 9-to-5" by PFM that I happened to catch on "Stonehenge" one evening. I liked it; I was surprised. They don't really sound like ELP, but it's no accident that they were on Manticore.

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