Do you stay away from prog-metal?

I had written earlier "First 4 albums are progressive metal definitely. If we had multiple labels/tags, heavy prog and crossover could fit some of their music. "

I commented the first album, his answer the whole band/all their music.

I think with any poll, the best thing is to keep it simple. As soon as anyone adds something in parentheses to a polll option, it tends to confound rather than clarify. As I stated in my earlier post, I would have voted for Almost Never (just as I would vote for Almost Never for absolutely any genre, regardless of how much personal affection I have for the music of that genre), but the parenthesised addition didn’t apply to me at all, so I ended up voting for Other.

Like Brendan, I did think the way the poll has been titled and set out looked like bait. Like Paul, I don’t believe you were deliberately trolling, but the presentation did have a negative tone. It’s a pleasure to see you take this on the chin, rather than get defensive this time.

Brendan has also alluded to what I posted about earlier in this thread, also, which is that what you mean by prog metal has not been defined in any way. From the responses of many, it is clear the confusion over what is considered prog metal or not - and a lot of people have named bands that they listen to that they don’t consider prog metal, but which are by a great number of other people.

Saying I like prog metal is about as meaningless as saying I like rock and pop. It covers such a huge array of styles and sounds, and most people simply won’t enjoy them all, even if they LOVE one of them. It becomes meaningful to ask if someone likes prog metal only once you put some boundaries or definition upon what you are asking. Even if it’s just letting us know that by prog metal you mean just the “prog metal” section of PA (not including the other two prog metal genres included in PA). Even that PA genre has a surprising variety to it, and likely most people will only ever like some of the styles and sounds that can be found there.

And, as I mentions earlier, I think it’s important to recognise that PA is hardly the be-all and end-all of what is considered what. Outside PA, you will find bands that are routinely considered prog metal by many, that appear in PA under Prog Related, Crossover, Eclectic, Heavy, and RIO/Avant.

Thus there could potentially be people here who think they don’t like prog metal, based on how PA has pigeonholed the music they listen to, but which might be almost certainly considered prog metal outside PA.

None of this is meant as a criticism of your poll, by the way. It was a good idea for a poll, that could possibly (as you’ve admitted yourself) been presented better. It has still had quite a response, so I don’t think (m)any overly concerned or upset by it.

Nah, it's ok. Of course I'm the one who made the poll though otherwise I wouldn't have apologized for the way I created the poll!