Line #21 YMMV/Yes - TV Tropes


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2	* AudienceAlienatingPremise:
3	** ''Tales from Topographic Oceans''. Someone who isn't a fan of ProgressiveRock is simply not going to listen to an album with four 20-minute songs. The album even tested the patience of fans of the band and progressive rock. ''Melody Maker'' magazine simply reviewed it with the word "No", while other critics questioned the idea of basing an entire album around a footnote in the autobiography of a yogi. (It described the four classes of Hindu scripture, known as ''shastras''.)
4	** Music/{{Yes}} mixed with Music/TheBuggles? This apparently bizarre lineup is one of the reasons ''Drama'' wasn't as popular as it deserved to be (however, both albums have been VindicatedByHistory; see below).
5	* AwardSnub: For years was one of the most infamous examples among this for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes received a nomination in the early 2000s, but was never considered again until TheNewTens; even then it took until 2017 for them to finally get in.
6	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Pretty much all of ''The Yes Album'', ''Fragile'' and ''Close to the Edge'', for starters. They were three consecutive albums, one of the best three consecutive album streaks ever.
7	* BrokenBase:
8	** Many fans would count the portions of the tour with Benoit where Jon was not ill as such. Still others disregard the first two albums, ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'', ''Tormato'', ''Drama'', pre-''90125'', ''90125'' to ''Open Your Eyes'', the list goes on and on...
9	** Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman vs. Steve Howe, Alan White and company: both bands have been allowed to claim the Yes name from 2017 onward, but some fans may only see one of those bands as the "real" Yes.
10	*** The version of Yes with Howe and White is linearly the same group as all those years ago, but "Yes featuring ARW" (Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman) has as many members (two) from Yes's 1970s glory years as the other group and adds the guitarist from the "Yes West" 80s lineup, which scored several hits. Both groups have legitimate claims to be the real [=McCoy=].
11	** ''Fly From Here - Return Trip'' has gotten a wide variety of reactions from fans, such as:
12	*** It's a fun reversion of the album, and both of them are good for different reasons.
13	*** It isn't bad, but it's nothing more than a novelty; the original version [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks was good as is]].
14	*** The re-imagining is fine on the songs that originated as Buggles songs, but having Horn sing all the songs and basically making Benoit David an UnPerson in the band's history is going too far.
15	*** It's bad, has no reason to exist, and Trevor Horn is a hack for making it.
16	*** It's '''better''' than the original album, finally unlocking the full potential of the ''Drama'' lineup after all the wasted years.
17	* EpicRiff: "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Love Will Find a Way", "Starship Trooper", "Awaken", "The Gates of Delirium", "Siberian Khatru", "Yours Is No Disgrace" (bass), "I've Seen All Good People" (bass), "The Fish" (bass), "Heart of the Sunrise" (bass), "Parallels" (church organ), "Machine Messiah", "Into the Lens", "Tempus Fugit" (bass), "Roundabout" (bass), "Going for the One", "Changes", "Does It Really Happen?" (bass).
18	* FanNickname: Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe is also known as "Yes (Not Yes)", a play on Music/WasNotWas. The official Yes lineup of the same period is also nicknamed "Yes-West" for being based in Los Angeles.
19	* FanonDiscontinuity: For many fans, it's not Music/{{Yes}} unless Jon Anderson's singing, though ''Drama'' was {{vindicated by history}} and ''Fly from Here'' was well-received (Jon even gave praise to David's singing on the {{title track}}). Other fans will disregard anything without Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, or (insert other name here). Given the huge number of people who have been in the band, it's probably not a surprise.
20	* FriendlyFandoms: With other prog rock bands, including Music/PinkFloyd, Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer, and Music/KingCrimson. In the latter case, it's likely that because members of Yes and King Crimson often collaborate with each other.
21	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Rick Wakeman said he loved playing in the U.S. because American audiences genuinely appreciated the band's musicianship, in contrast to the TallPoppySyndrome mentality of the British press who called the band and other progressive rock acts "pretentious".
22	* GrowingTheBeard: After two albums of which roughly half the material was covers, Yes hit their stride with ''The Yes Album''.
23	* HilariousInHindsight:
24	** "I've Seen All Good People" gives a ShoutOut to "[[Music/JohnLennon Instant Karma!]]", which featured future Yes drummer Alan White.
25	** Music/TrevorRabin was considered for a spot in Music/{{Asia}}, but declined because he felt a two-guitar partnership with Steve Howe wouldn't work. When ABWH was absorbed into Yes, however...
26	** Evidently "Khatru" means "As you wish" in the Yemeni dialect of Arabic. This would become HilariousInHindsight with the release of ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' in 1973 and [[Film/ThePrincessBride the film adaptation]] in 1987; the phrase "As you wish" serves as ArcWords in both.
27	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: It is not that ''Big Generator'' is a bad album by any means, but the biggest problem with it was Yes trying too hard to get their next number one hit from this album and repeat the success ''90125'' had. (See ToughActToFollow below.)
28	* MemeticMutation:
29	** The guitar fill from "Roundabout", thanks primarily to the song's usage as the end credits music in the [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood first]] [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency two]] arcs for the anime adaptation of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
30	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz8ZcY7nXiE "Do you know where a computer comes from?"]][[labelnote:Explanation]]This particular paragraph from the Talk CD-ROM has gained a memetic reputation among the fans due to how Jon Anderson pulls it off while looking quite fairly stoned.[[/labelnote]]
31	* MisBlamed:
32	** Jonathan Elias, ''Union'''s producer, tends to get most of the blame for the album's lack of cohesiveness and the heavy use of session musicians. In truth, with the lack of communication between the ABWH and Yes-West halves (as well as the vastly different musical approaches between the two), there was little chance ''Union'' was ever going to turn out well. Likewise, the use of session musicians was due to the need to meet the record label Arista's deadlines (though he could have had the courtesy to tell them what was going on).
33	** Trevor Rabin gets almost all the blame for the poppy sound of ''90125'', ''Big Generator'', and parts of ''Talk'' from their detractors. In reality, Rabin, Squire, and White had decided to make a prog-leaning pop album as Cinema before Jon Anderson rejoined the fold and ExecutiveMeddling made them change the name to Yes. While having a drastically different style from Steve Howe, Rabin is still an incredibly talented guitarist (and keyboard player; that's him playing the intro to "Endless Dream"), and it was certainly never his intention to "ruin" Yes.
34	* {{Narm}}: The infamous "I eat at [[ChezRestaurant Chez Nous]]" line in "Love Will Find a Way".
35	* NeverLiveItDown: The band's [[RevolvingDoorBand constant lineup changes]].
36	* OldGuardVersusNewBlood: "Troopers", old school fans who love the progressive rocking, and "Generators", new school fans thanks to their accessible eighties period. [[SilentMajority There's way more]] [[TakeAThirdOption who love both periods just fine]].
37	* PeripheryDemographic:
38	** The complex vocal arrangements in "Leave It" are popular with youth choirs to do ''a cappella''.
39	** People who aren't fans of progressive rock usually like Yes because, despite their apparent complexity, their melodies and vocal harmonies are fairly accessible and catchy, in addition to the band being on the more lighthearted side of progressive rock.
40	* QuestionableCasting:
41	** A minor example with current drummer Alan White over succeeding the jazz-influenced Bill Bruford in 1972. White played with Music/JohnLennon's Plastic Ono Band prior to drumming for Yes. Justified because Lennon had an influence on Yes's music, and White stuck with them for the rest of his life.
42	** This was the reaction of the fanbase for having Music/TheBuggles joining the band for ''Drama'', though the album has since been VindicatedByHistory as one of the classic Yes albums.
43	* ReplacementScrappy:
44	** Alan White, if you're a Music/BillBruford fan.
45	** Any guitarist who isn't Steve Howe, keyboardist who isn't Rick Wakeman, and singer who isn't Jon Anderson. Howe and Wakeman invert this, being more popular than the people they replaced.
46	** This is one of the things that led Horn to leave the band after ''Drama'', as he was sick of being jeered at by "fans" at shows in the UK (in America, Yes had much more favorable reception) that blamed him for Anderson leaving (when in reality, he had nothing at all to do with Jon leaving; it was CreativeDifferences and Anderson had left several months before Horn was tapped to replace him). It didn't help Horn's case that he was straining to hit Anderson's high notes, yet it was still not his fault either; Howe and Squire found it too difficult or otherwise less authentic to play Anderson's songs in a lower key to suit Horn's range.
47	** To a lesser extent, this was one of the reasons Rabin was not happy with changing Cinema to Yes, as he didn't want to be perceived as a replacement for Steve Howe.
48	* SignatureSong:
49	** "Roundabout" from TheSeventies, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" from TheEighties. Yes have had plenty of hits, but '''everyone''' knows these two.
50	** Surprisingly averted within the material released by what many consider Yes' signature '''line-up''', the one with Wakeman and White (although said lineup would make {{cult classic}}s instead). "Roundabout" had Bruford on drums, Wakeman on keyboards, and Howe on guitar. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" had White on drums, Kaye on keyboards, and Rabin on guitar. Most of Yes' other radio staples also do not contain the Wakeman/White lineup. While ''Yessongs'' was a hit and showed they were capable of performing Kaye and Bruford's earlier material, it wasn't until ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'' that they recorded in studio together on a Yes album. [[note]]White performed on part of Wakeman's ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'', a medley of which is on ''Yessongs''[[/note]]
51	* StuckInTheirShadow: Alan White, an excellent drummer who can drum whatever complex parts that are needed[[note]]His solos on "Ritual" or "Release, Release", anyone?[[/note]] would have far more praise if he wasn't the successor to Music/BillBruford (always regarded as one of the greatest, if not ''the'' greatest, drummers in {{progressive rock}}). Thus, much of the fanbase constantly praise Bruford and regard White as simply his not-quite-as-renowned successor.
52	* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: The endings of "Ritual", "To Be Over", "Awaken", "Hearts", "Children of Light", and quite a few of their other album closers. Other examples include "Mood for a Day", "And You and I", and "Onward".
53	* ToughActToFollow: Some fans feel that if ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'' wasn't the follow-up for ''Close to the Edge'', it would've been much better-received. (''Close to the Edge'' could arguably be considered an example of this for ''the entire ProgressiveRock genre'', as it is the highest-rated album on Prog Archives and has been for at least most of the last five years, if not longer).
54	** ''Big Generator'', while having a few Top 40 hits, going platinum, and getting good reviews, came nowhere close to matching the success of ''90125''. The TroubledProduction delaying it for two years didn't help.
55	** After ''Fly from Here'', many regarded ''Heaven & Earth'' as disappointing. Unlike some other albums, its reputation hasn't gotten better over time.
56	* VindicatedByHistory:
57	** ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'' is slowly but surely gaining fans, and now seen as vastly underrated and unfairly lambasted.
58	** ''Tormato'' has many fans and plenty of favorable reviews on Amazon as well.
59	** ''Drama'' has had similar reappraisal. Classic era fans now cite it as a favorite.
60	** ''Union'''s reputation has improved, mostly after the backlash over the meddling has faded and now being judged more on its own merits.
61	** ''Talk'' has new appreciation also, particularly "Endless Dream"; its often regarded as the fusion of '70s Yes and '80s Yes that ''Union'' tried and failed to be.
62	** ''Fly From Here'' was seen by fans in a new light after the relative disappointment of ''Heaven & Earth''. The ''Return Trip'' reversioning has also helped, with some considering Trevor Horn's redone vocals plus some rearranged songs as an improvement.

Context YMMV / Yes