Did You Think Prog Was Dead?

Prog has never died, and there is a multitude of fantastic modern music for us to cherish. I love the classic period, I love the second neo period, and I am getting a huge kick out of listening to modern, third wave, prog. This site has been the catalyst for the latter, in the main. 

Hi,

moshkito wrote: Hi,   "Prog" .. or whatever other word you must use to describe music ... was never dead ... I would say that more people lost sight of their tastes in music than otherwise ... and that's ok ... I'm not gonna tell you or anyone else they are stupid for listening to Metallica, or King Crimson or any other band out there ...   The problem is, that we're so empty inside ... so damn empty ... that we have to have some re-assurances that something exists and our friends agree ... well, I can tell you that if that was the type of inspiration that drove all the musicians that we love, I guarantee  you they would have quit by now ...   What was dead, was bored folks that did not know enough music think that prog died because Genesis was a pop band now and Pink Floyd told prog'rs where to stuff it! And some folks had nothing to write about!

Damn, this post is so good. So right, so philosophically right.

I have some things in my mind:

1)prog is just word. Musicians do the best music they can (there's no point of doing otherwise) and they don't care if it's symphonic prog, if it's little bit jazz influenced, they just create it. But we, as humans, we, as listeners needs categorizing to organize our tastes. We needs to know what we like, what are similar bands to our favourite ones. Well, I know many people in real life (talking with proggers is nothing like real, boring life which only music, movies, books and my girl enlighten) that likes listening to radio, some pop station. They don't care what they listen, they say that they listen "everything". Show them prog and they will be bored, or aphatic, because they are used to think like that.

2)You started it, I'll finish it. Some nice formulation my mind just ran thru:

Prog was never dead, just one's personal tastes.

When someone loved 70s and then music of 70s was gone, his taste died. He had two choices, ether grief over it and listen over and over again this genre (which is quite big and also good), or add some new, try to get used to something different, for example neo-prog, jazz-prog, maybe even prog metal.

3)We are empty, that's true. In fact I'm 20 years old and music is main thing which keeps me running, working, studying.

Can a music style actually die? I don't think so... Prog was much less popular in the late 70's and 80's than ever, but that says nothing at all, there where lots of prog bands in the 80's too, they just where much more "underground". 

Reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated.

At one point in my life I definitely thought prog was dead.  Now I'm aware of modern progressive music, but I still think the majority of quality prog comes from the very late sixties and early seventies.  Theres obviously always exceptions though

Tony R wrote: I thought that, if not actually dead, it was certainly terminal during the 90s. Mind you I dont think I was listening too hard. I remember hearing PT for the first time in the mid-90s, Up The Downstair I believe, and dismissed it as rubbish. They're just about my favourite band now and that track is one of my favourites.

Around 1978, almost all of my favorite bands, particularly in the U.S. and U.K., began "dumbing down" and homogenizing their sound. By the early 1980s, I not only thought that prog was dead but that music was dead, period. There were almost no creative musicians or bands. I gave up on the radio and listened to the music I'd already acquired. Then one night I was making a long late-night drive; I was hoping to get some baseball scores and put on a Sandusky, Ohio, radio station noted for news on the hour and the worst pop music ever recorded.

When I discovered prog, but not the Internet (it was a new thing) I though prog was almost exclusively 70's thing and entirely dead. And I didn't had a clue about "progressive rock", I knew only for "symho rock" or "jazz rock" or "art rock"...even "space rock" (thanks to the French History Of Rock comic book)...but most often it was just "70's music that I like".

The music of The Black Crowes raised my hope there might be a new music around that is influneced by 70's rock...and perhaps sympho&art rock. This was before Internet, mind you..and I was not aware of existence of prog metal or post rock (although I was aware of some connections between prog and classical heavy metal more than majority are giving them credit for...). And then a few names appeared that made me think So ,there are bands still doing somewhat similar music which I might like, although in a modern way! Those bands were...Ne Zhdali,  Kopecky and Anastasia. (Macedonian band)

And then came the Internet, and with my first Altavista searches of Pavlov's Dog, Jethro Tull, PFM, ELP...the term progressive rock started popping out, and I thought Rock that is...progressive? Progressive Rock? Yes, that sums up nicely the bands I like! What a nice term!

And the rest is history...prog is alive and well.

harmony wrote: That last paragraph I always thought was interesting.  When did the term "progressive rock" start being used and who first used it?  When we first started digging ELP, Tull ,Yes etc. we never called it prog.  We called it "weird stuff" and the fact that we listened to it was like a badge of honor.  To our amazement it became popular.