What does prog/progressive rock mean to you

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 Certif1ed wrote:

In the late 1960s - early 1970s the term Progressive was bandied about quite a lot - possibly as a result of the incredibly progressive opi from the fab 4 and the stuff they inspired and were inspired by. 

Progressive meant all kinds of things - Progressive Blues included Savoy Brown and John Mayall - who didn't push the blues envelope as far as, say, Pink Floyd (originally a blues band, and "Money" as a single example was based on blues). 

Progressive, in terms of the orignal Prog Rock bands is fairly obviously Progressive in all 5 elements of music - whether intentionally or not. 

It has nothing to do with complexity, but experimentation with all the parameters. If you consider the "Classic" Prog bands that came to the fore in the early 1970s, they all have this link in common. 

Note that this also has little to do with drawing from other genres, rather the old rock song was given a real run for its money, and compositions were formed, rather than the noodly improv-based freak-outs of psychedelia, and the slicker, but equally noodly progressive blues. 

Prog Rock is not a style, it is an approach to writing rock songs that involves significantly more composition. 

The test for this is to listen to all 5 musical elements (Form, Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Timbre) - and ask the simple question; Does this piece push the boundaries of most or all elements? 

If no, then it's probably not Prog. 

If yes, then it probably is. 

Obviously, there's more to it, but to spare the essay, that's the essence. 

I'm in according with you

Poll Question: What does prog/progressive rock mean to you
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
a genre with commen characteristics	24	[43.64%]
a movement to expand the notions of popular (rock) music	19	[34.55%]
music that is progressive in nature yet......	3	[5.45%]
other...	9	[16.36%]
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