Is Prog Underrated?

Lewian wrote: Not only have CD sales been bottoming out.. but surprisingly so have digital sales.. it does seem that less people today are interested in music. I'd rather think that more people know how to get their stuff for free and they do it. That people are less interested in music in general is not what I observe. However attention spans get shorter so I'd think there may be less interest in music that takes time to develop.

My thoughts on this are ... different. Having been through the early days of Space Pirate Radio, and Guy's weekly adventures on the radio, the thing that is very CLEAR on this thread is that some folks think that radio rules the airwaves, and radio has not "ruled" crap, for at least 40 years, even though they think that "BILLBOARDsheepdio" is the number that matters and tells you what is important.

One of the oddest things in Guy's shows, was that in 1974, and at least 1982 (when I left Santa Barbara), Guy played things in their entirety, and you would hear Klaus Schulze (complete sides!), Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre ... you name it ... and the reaction was very interesting ... to many folks, the words were ... wow ... what is that? ... and it was not stated in a bad way! 

Every station always had the proverbial ash'hole that called in and asked for Led Zeppelin ... which they could hear on 90% of all the other stations, and let this one have something different to show for "music". The fact was, that even though some folks thought it was hip to make fun of it, and trash it, in the end, the pure vindication of the whole thing? ... there is very little music that he played, that is not remembered and is not subject to at least one or ten threads here on PA ... and if that is not the mark of "quality" and "ability", and "artistry", then, we do not have any kind of idea what we think should be considered or not as IMPORTANT to this conversation, and VALUABLE.

The "sales" of LP's dropped, as things changed. And eventually changed in the 90's again, as CD's came to the fore. And now CD's will come down as downloads bring things home. The IMPORTANT  thing to remember here is that your OWN band, can put up a download, and this takes the control away from a lot of companies.

You, and BILLBOARD, have no idea, or concept, of how many downloads are being done. They "might" take their numbers from a Bandcamp, or Soundcrap, or whatever other places are about, which are owned by the same record companies and music companies btw, so them "telling you" that the sales are dipping is a bit misleading.

What they are not telling you is that they started 30 years ago, the downloads of "singles", as in SONGS,  and OF COURSE this hurt the sale of CD's, specially if the majority of the bands only had one or two cuts worth having ... you got both of those for a dollar each, and you saved 5 or 6 more for not getting the rest of the album. Who started that? ... the likes of Apple, and many other places ... and you are allowing this media BS to blame "you" for not buying the CD, or the whole album! THEY instituted the idea that the whole album was not worth it in the first place! So why would they now tell you that the CD/album sales are dropping? What do you expect? The sheep to go eat somewhere else? Well, they did ... this grass here is done, and gone!

Attention spans are "shorter" only in that even the folks doing "shows" on the Internet are not capable, and do not have the music ability and desire, to play anything past 4 or 5 minutes, because they themselves are NOT good carriers of the "genes" of an art form. They are, in many ways, simply trying to get a job in a radio station or the like, that will pay them ... and show that they are such good programmers, by having 4 songs in a row about a teacher! One of them by the band BATUKADAKAKA from Uranus!

It is important, that we understand the nature of the music, and the business surrounding it. The majority of the bands that we discuss, did not have one tenth the help that the top 5 bands here did, and for rights or wrongs, over or under rated ... it didn't matter ... they are still discussed and loved. And worse, so many of the "progressive" shows are not progressive at all, and some of these people need to be called on it, to stop using the word "progressive" when they are just playing their own top ten ... and that is not helping you understand the music, and get past the "song" concept, and arrive at what the meaning of the word "progressive" and "prog" is really all about!

As GONG used to say, you can kill my body ... and you already know the rest of the lyrics ... and this has been the case for so much of this music. Just appreciate its beauty and personality. It is valuable and an outstanding helper and teacher if you so need one.