Why is prog rock always called "snooty"?

That gets into some heavy duty neuroscience and how the brain responds to certain patterns, loops, cadences and subject  matter. In a nutshell, most pop music provides a sort of hypnotic inducing spell that allows subliminal messages to be inserted whereas the more complex forms of music evoke the opposite reaction. There is more than enough evidence that the Tavistock Institute of Public Relations was responsible for the British Invasion for example. The 60s music scene was manufactured to create an escapist route so that many would find themselves immersed in a drug culture and in effect neutralize the protest movements. Once indoctrinated into the cult of simple music, anything outside of that paradigm seems threatening and thus a defense response. I remember when i was young i thought prog was some snooty old people music so i'm speaking from my own experience as well. It wasn't until i opened up my mind and explored it that i realized i was a friggin idiot for having any of those assumptions. Of course there was primo talent with the artists you mentioned above but famous musicians were effectively mind controlled and required to do what the record label wanted. Prog on the other hand exemplified true musical freedom (for some anyways) and also served as the jackhammer to shatter ossified mind patterns.