What do the people you know think of prog?

And to make matters worse, not a lot of people know about prog, especially since it's more of an underground scene nowadays. The almost universal response to when I mention that I like prog is "Oh, so you like Dream Theater?" Not that there's anything wrong with Dream Theater, but there's more than just Dream Theater in the prog scene. 

my coworkers love it. I am always chosen to provide music at work. Mainly because I choose the good stuff, not the popular stuff

Do they know it is ..prog.. probably not. They are for the most part a younger group for who tags and labels don't really mean sh*t. All they care about is whether it is good music or not. Probably another reason why I am always chosen to provide the music for our work days... one moment it is ADII, next one it is Dionne Warwick, the next is likely Battiato.  I could care less about 'prog'... I just love good music myself.

Most of the people I know don't think of prog.
They may like some prog but don't even realize it...


Edited by Slartibartfast - July 17 2016 at 10:31

Prog is so much very diffrent music, making the question impossiable to answer.But in general most of people dont dislike melodic music with a vocals, prog or not prog.     

^You would get the same response from your average King Crimson fan.

The last time I spoke to Neil Young he thought it was played out. David Crosby said never heard the term before. I'm not kidding. Prog is very misunderstood, even by old timers in rock.

Magnum Vaeltaja wrote: So apparently prog isn't as inaccessible as its made out to be. At least, as long as you make sure not to hype it up excessively and say that "prog is the only true music" or some such thing before you put it on, I've noticed that most people tend to enjoy it.

This is also what I am thinking. Most people aren't into prog just because they have never heard of it, and many would appreciate it if they just knew that it exists. Of course, there are those stupid anti-rock prejudices so common among classical, avant-garde and jazz listeners (as well as among some listeners of electronic music or hip-hop) of that keep them from trying it out in the first place. Also, there are those rock journalists who either ignore it completely, or claim that it "had run its course" or was an "abomination mercifully ended by punk". But I feel that more people would be ready to listen to prog if they had an idea.

I know very few people who have tastes similar to me, and usually a showcase of my musical tastes garners some raised eyebrows.

Well, here's my story.
My father listens to 70s hard rock, disco, funk, new wave, etc. his favourite band is ELO, he used to listen to classical music during his time at university. My mother listens to top 40 music. I was in a waiting room, the radio was on a 80s music station, and the radio announcer said "now let's play Invisible Touch by Phil Collins", and i liked that song because it was catchy. I shazamed that song and my phone said it was a Genesis song. So I searched through Google and I found out that Phil Collins had a band. I listened to the Invisible touch album and i loved it. I thought that Genesis was a pop group. I wanted more Genesis. I clicked on a Peter Gabriel-era Genesis album video and it felt a bit boring. Months after that, i decided to buy Foxtrot (because people on the internet were claiming that Genesis was better during the 70s), I listened to the whole album and i loved it even more than Invisible Touch. I discovered that Genesis was more epic during the 70s than then 80s.

So in a trip I decided to put SEBTP, but my mother got bored and thought it was slow and boring. I had to change the album to music she likes. My father is OK with me listening to prog.
And when I decided to make my own prog album (sorry for self-promoting), both my father and mother listened to it. My mother said it was nice and futuristic, she liked it even if it was a 40-minute long song. My father liked it too. Maybe they liked it because I'm their son, parents are usually yessayers towards their sons.

My ex-english teacher from school loves prog. One day we decided to give alternative interpretations to songs. I picked a Mars Volta song, he asked me the name of the band. He listens to his favourite music on classes, I remember he listened to Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Megadeth and Dream Theater. He's kinda into prog, he's around the prog spectre.

Some of my cousins listen to prog, they are excellent guitar players. They went to my birthday party and named bands such as Gojira, Animals as leaders, Opeth, ect.

I had one friend in school who liked it, and his father introduced me to prog. most people dislike it. they do not have the attention span to listen to a song over three minutes long. I hear a lot of the usual nonsense that the music is pretentious, or too weird.