Has the flame finally gone out?

They definitely ..absolutely did not learn for the Hey Jude thing. AM radio did not! Progressive Rock bands in the 70's were represented on FM radio like they were Gods! It was grand. The King Biscuit Flower Hour often presented live concerts of Progressive Rock bands and many fanatics had that blank cassette handy to record direct from the radio. FM was huge in the 70's ...particularly the early to mid 70's when any kid left to party had the stations running to hear Progressive Rock. I recall these days well. FM vs. AM. FM was progressive and AM was bubblegum. Although there are many interesting Pop songs written over time, in the early 70's there existed a extremist attitude for either side. For a while when I traveled the road...it was radical. Massive packed Rock venues with a Rock audience that hated people who listened to AM music and many times got violent with them. That was a natural progression in the 70's. The hate between those 2 crowds. I worked as a musician and witnessed it's vastness on the road. It was a bit extreme and to a point where it was ridiculous to go that distance in order to defend your musical tastes. These were not musicians, but crowds I played for. 

That whole mentality was pressurized into society by attitudes developing around "what was better" musically and "Top 40" hits were not. In the end the complex music fanatics should have let the "Top 40' fans alone because music is not meant for the result in violence unless it is contrived to be molded in that fashion. That's like taking a style of music to worship and everyone else who has a different musical taste is an outlander. I'm thinking it's a bit "Children Of The Corn" because I do remember people getting beat up over the simple reality that they were a "Disco boy" in a Rock club. 

One man's trash is another's treasure. I love Yezda Urfa and obviously they didn't make an impact. I love Bubu's Anabelas and Los Ciclos. So many great bands that didn't get any attention! 

Scenes change sometimes to a point where they no longer have the same meaning. Some people in life do not consider what the music originally meant to a crowd when it first became a scene. That is not important to a majority of people. Some people in the past have felt that it wouldn't make much of a difference as to precisely WHO would be considered Prog today. They are  generally NOT concerned about a band in the 70's that was once considered to be Rock that is now thought to be Prog. That's a bit confusing when the original identity of Prog didn't link everyone and his fellow brother to being progressive just because their record displayed a few oddball time signatures. Queen II would have never been accepted in the 70's as Progressive Rock or for example Captain Beyond. I'm not by any means stating that they are bad albums and I'm not trying to defend everyone's opinion who grew up on Prog in the early 70's.  Instead...I'm wondering if this acceptance of Classic Rock from the 70's into the Prog world today is NOT part of blindness? If no one cares ...then the original definition to a mass of 70's proggers has apparently changed by the tag that modern society puts on Prog today. Is that right or wrong? 

I'm not making reference to a person's personal taste in music, I'm asking if anyone believes that the original definition of what Prog meant to people in the 70's..was the true meaning of it? Is it possible that opinions on Prog today developed from a new definition people invented in general? As an observation it is most vital to be deeply concerned over how people feel about music and what they think of it in detail. What overall impression do they have of a certain Prog artist and does that impression they develop stem from several aspects of a musician's changes in style of music and to a degree...if a number of people feel this way and question the source of it, well....then it becomes of great interest because a portion of the world is telling you that they are displeased. If you're a musician, you'll want to know why so you can work towards changing regression back into progression. All the Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett imitators in the music world and there is just no need for it. Logically from an intelligent point of view, it should NOT be that way. If music were to work out for the best...emulation that is not even masked... would take a back seat to originality in the area of inventing new ideas. I can imagine Steve Hackett sitting somewhere with friends and by chance the music of Edhels, Pulsar...and a bunch of others are being played in the background. Maybe one of Steve Hackett's friends might turn to him and say: "Steve..this sounds quite like you playing the guitar and even sounds like one of your songs/pieces". Maybe Steve Hackett is not concerned with this reality whatsoever, but if he is...It's quite overwhelming when you're an artist that created a special innovative style that a bit too many other musicians are investigating and adding as usage of a musical dimension to their own vocabulary. These musicians should be arriving to their own creative level without emulating innovators to the point of exhaustion. 

What they are challenged with is coming up with a new style of Progressive Rock that doesn't derive from the works of ELP,Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull. All they need to do is channel their energies through a different source other than the big 5 or 6. 

The great Prog bands or any great band for that matter cut their teeth playing gigs to receptive live audiences.

There were other like minded bands that could draw and you could play a show to 300 to 500 people in a crowded club to an audience that could hear your music LIVE in real time and no one was holding up a cell phone and posting some poor digital representation that night on craptube.  Fans were embracing the experience IN THE NOW... not worrying about capturing it digitally so they could watch it later or share it with "friends" on fakebook.

Point being bands and audiences connected in the moment and the music went right into their souls and consciousness in that moment.. not later..  

Word got around about a band through real live conversation... where you could sense through real human expression how a band or music move this person by the excitement in their eyes, body language, verbal tonality etc.  It's much more convincing to hear it from someone in person how great a band was rather than reading an internet posting.

All the great bands were great live bands.  Even from a 70's perspective, there is a reason Mike Oldfield is not being mentioned here in the big 5 or 10.  Great recordings, yes, but they lack the complexity of real human interaction and interplay by musical specialists.  If you play all the instruments yourself, regardless of your proficiency, you end up with something sounding very incestual and self absorbed.  If you like this kind of thing, be a painter, not a musician in a band.  A band by nature is a group of musical collaborators regardless of who is composing the framework.  People are individuals and each member plays the notes a different way.  I'm fine with Fripp doing the composing.  The musicians, even if told what to do add their own feel and energy.

The one man band thing is another Prog killer.  Why? because you can't move an audience properly with pre recorded backing tracks.  Not in the way a proper live presentation would or could.  The vast majority of this generation is going out to the electronica festivals.  Hippies with cell phones and laptops protesting against the big corrupt corporate entities that are providing them with the very things they are embracing.  Generation absurdity.

Want something to write about? Write about your brain dead peers.  Win them over with an emotional live performance the way Jethro Tull did.  Yes did, Genesis did or Gentle Giant or King Crimson.  Show your peers you don't need the crutch of digital manipulation to make and present your music.  Put the flame back into Prog.  

You don't need to tour.  Create a scene right were you live.. within 100 miles.  Let the world come to you like Seattle did.  

Kids go the electronica for the scene not the music.. don't believe me? Take all the chicks out of the festival and guess what? NO ONE GOES!!!

Proof right there it's not about the music.  It's lasers and bubble machines hot chicks and spectacle. 

Capture your audience with your great music.  Move them emotionally with your profound lyrics or interesting hand woven musical expression.  Humans are analog stereo creatures.  Connect with them on that level.  You don't have to completely reinvent the wheel.  

 

The idea that a genius like Mike Oldfield could be a prog killer is a joke btw. Also he eventually formed a touring band in the early eighties and proved he could present his music live without pre-recorded backing tapes (which I don't believe he ever used anyway).