Van der Graaf Generator: Difference between revisions

* [[BSOD Song]]: Oh boy... A fair portion of VdGG's material, especially the epic "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers", which fits this trope to a tee. The song "House With No Door" is about a mental patient who desperately wants to be cured, but just can't no matter how hard he tries.

* [[Careful With That Axe]]: Not always solely due to Hammill's singing.

* [[Concept Album]]: Averted, funnily enough. All VdGG albums have common themes, such as despair on ''Pawn Hearts'', but they've never explicitly tackled a concept album.

* [[Cover Version]]: VdGG recorded a cover of a BBC theme. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWcJ7WeAK78 Holy Hell].

* [[Incredibly Long Note]]: Hammill is capable of impressive sustain, showcased on songs like "Killer", "After the Flood", "The Undercover Man", "Arrow" and many more.

* [[Indecipherable Lyrics]]: Naturally, considering the strange timekeeping and Hammill's penchant for oddly phrased words and [[AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle|aforementioned syllabic rhythm placements]], the lyrics can get... somewhat muddled. Deciphering the lyrics for "The Sleepwalkers" by ear is considered to be virtually impossible.

** "White Hammer" deals with the rise and fall of the Inquisition, and though its influence wanes, the marching feedback at the end suggests that something like it still exists in the modern age.

* [[Large Ham]]: If you don't "get" them, they will most likely come off as this.

* [[Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness]]: VdGG manage to pull off a heavy sound almost entirely without using guitars, which is quite rare.

* [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]]: You wouldn't think that a saxophone/organ/jazz drums band would or even ''could'' sound like this.

* [[Progressive Rock]]: Although they don't think so, everybody else does.

* [[Sanity Slippage Song]]: "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" is probably the best example of this ever recorded.

* [[Stop and Go]]

* [[Surprisingly Gentle Song]]: "Refugees", "House with No Door," "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)".