Fall of the House of Prog

Just as there were conditions that led to Progs ascension and growth the reversal of those conditions contributed to its decline.  Many record companies signing many bands that allowed the artist much more freedom in the creative process. The birth of FM radio in a free flow format that played a variety of styles of music and did not concern itself with song length was a huge contributor to progs growth.

 

 When record companies consolidated they took back much greater power over the creative process.  Progressive bands were rarely signed after 1972 in the UK and 1975 in US even though many existed.  Radio formats constricted in to tight formats playing specific genres of music and long songs were cut out of the mix. Radio companies had to toe the line in order to get artists on the air so bands were pushed into these restrictive formats.

 

Punk really never received airplay and after a couple of years pretty much had died out itself. I don't think it had really done that much harm to prog by itself. I think that the writers that persecuted the big acts and praised punk really had very little to do with it also.  I don’t know too many people going around quoting Lester Bangs from Creem about anything except to say what an ass he was.

 

 That left groups like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Police to fill the void.  What we have here is the return to 3-4 minute simple radio friendly songs with light production. Prog bands had a hard time doing that and one by one were left behind or disbanded. 

Prog is not dead!!!

It's just that prog music style is not easy to comercialise as punk, pop rock, etc. It's been a time where prog was more known from the great public (70's) but now it's more difficult to popularise someting very artistic like prog music. But, as we see on that site, there's a lot of newcomers in prog and they are generally young. So, by seeing that, I think there always be people to like prog, even in the far future because prog is CLASSIC and differents mode die but not classic things!!!    

From someone who believe that prog will cross the years like classic composers (Bach, Beethoven, etc.) as done.

Steven Wilson once said that technology is giving prog the power to make a comeback.  In the 70's, it cost tons of money to make an album, so it was really necessary to have label backing.  Now, computers have made it possible to record an album for 500 bucks in your basement.  This and  Internet distribution should really make it possible for good music to flourish without record label support.  Record labels are always really slow to adapt to changing technology anyway; look at how they're still fighting file-sharing services, thinking they can actually make them go away.

PROG FOUND DEAD!!!!

As reported by C in C out //

Today the underground rap artist PROG was found
in the remains of an abandon hotel casino in Monte
Carlo appearing to look more like a burnt apple crisp
than what his fans remember him as. It appears he
was murdered back before the casino was burnt up
in a fire in the mid 90s and his remains were
excavated from a local waste dump facility.

It appears that this is one of the undiscovered
homicides that circled the globe back in the mid 90s.
Along with the murders of the British Rock and
Southern Rock brothers this appears to be the work
of the international intelligence's most wanted villian,
you guessed it THE RECORD COMPANIES!!!
Who as a whole seem to be apart of the international
conspiracy group that wishes to make morons out of
the masses. PROG was believed to be murdered for
leaking to many secrets.

PROGs followers are all mourning after what they
feared was validated today. Many followers of PROG
wil continue to search for the memories of what
PROG represented to them. Indeed PROG continues
to live in the hearts of many as sells of PROGs
teachings continue to spread.

Is it possible to raise PROG from the dead? Of
course not but many will search for new ways to find
that little PROG in everyone. But as long as that
notorius villian THE RECORD COMPANIES
continues is hostile reign free thinkers will be
corraled and neutered.

--------------------------

Turn and run!
Nothing can stop them,
Around every river and canal their power is growing.
Stamp them out!
We must destroy them,
They infiltrate each city with their thick dark warning
odour.

They are invincible,
They seem immune to all our herbicidal battering.
                                                                               
 -the Gabe