Comments on: Sucking rats: Tarkus by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

By: Rob T.

Rob T. — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:03:43 +0000

And here you are, making irrelevant remarks (Who cares how old the thread is? I just now happened to find it while searching for something else, and left a quick comment), and mischaracterizing the tone of others’ remarks (e.g., complete tone-deafness to my irony). *shrugs*

As for prog fans’ having a sense of humor about prog, they do–as I mentioned, they just don’t happen to find this bit of puerile vulgarity particularly amusing. This strip, on the other hand, is pretty funny:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/pictures/tarkus1.jpg.

So is this:

http://www.vintageprog.com/index.htm.

The Lego Tarkus is a riot:

http://camelletgo.tumblr.com/post/72782618/lego-tarkus

There have been one or two pretty funny Tarkus battlebots constructed over the years, too, but I can’t find any good images online right now.

And frankly, I’d like for you to find an ELP fan who didn’t get a laugh out of the Tarkus which appeared at some of ELP’s 1972 concerts and shot foam at the audience:

http://www.keithemerson.com/images/EmoArchives/ElpDundee1972-Tarkus.jpg

Anyway, sorry to upend your misplaced sense of superiority. I am sure, though, that I couldn’t reverse your misperceptions if I were a combination of Bruce, Carlin, and Monty Python. So, signing off, now.

By: Paul Raven

Paul Raven — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:29:55 +0000

And yet here you are, taking umbrage to the light-hearted ribbing of a band long gone, in a post nearly two and a half years old, in exactly the aggrieved paternal tone used by almost every other commenter above… *shrug*

You wanna generalise about me on the basis of what I do, go right ahead. Science fiction’s had a long time to get used to people taking the piss out of it. Give it another decade, maybe prog’ll catch up.

By: Rob T,

Rob T, — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:08:33 +0000

“So much for the old cliche about prog fans being humourless nerds, eh?”

The assumption here is that the “Tarkus” piece is actually funny, and therefore if ELP fans don’t agree, then prog fans in general are humorless. Since Paul likes to generalize about the personal qualities of progressive rock listeners on the basis of a highly limited sample, perhaps it’s also fair game to generalize about the logical and analytical abilities, or lack thereof, of sci-fi bloggers.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:11:42 +0000

WOW some of you guys get real riled up, hey it’s just rock and roll not the word of God! Quite funny really his review. The Weevill pictures etc.
I suppose I may be accused of having a strange sense of humor though.

By: Jim Heaton

Jim Heaton — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:12:05 +0000

Well well well, After i had revisited ELP after finding the videos on Youtube i “stumbled upon” this site as i was “looking into” the ELP album “Tarkus” and any meanings it may have. (before i proceed further, let me apologize in advance for my sentence structure and punctuation, spell check does not help that and i am an underachieving product of public education). I read these posts and i have an observation, for what its worth. First, let me comment that, from my perspective, it would be a CRIME if we didn’t have Youtube to see and hear the events of the recent past, not everyone has the money to “purchase” all the interesting music, video and books that are available in the world to “expand their consciousness” (maybe their is justice in the universe, after all we do have it, which is whole other subject, excuse the detour) It is interesting that this has evoked such “emotion” for an album/event so old. first on criticism, it does “sound” negative, however, we need criticism to “hone” our ideas, otherwise we may drift off into total unreality and error.(another subject) I encourage all to be open to criticism, you can learn from all sources, even ones that seem not to understand the subject at hand, maybe there is something to apply, (“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ~Aristotle). Secondly i understand the importance of the “positive” “encouraging” remarks because, when something is praiseworthy , it may “spark” the interest of other people likewise , and they “look into it” if someone detects something valuable “in there”. It would seem we need balance in everything. What i “take” from the music and visuals of ELP of this era is, “the ORDER and CHAOS of life” you cannot seem to get around it(“Each of us has heaven and hell in him…”— Oscar Wilde). i think therefore i am, oops i mean i think some of the early 70s ELP illustrates this very well if you listen to it, maybe i am way off base though, time will tell, if there is such a thing as time. stumbleupon.com user:Jimheaton