Careful What You Wish For...

What if prog ruled the world? Would you be pleased if your cherished music continuously ran on MTV and mainstream radio, or do you prefer prog's lower-profile status? Not sure if I can really decide myself...help me out here     

If prog was the mainstream, then I would love hip hop and rap.

That will never happen, because human and economic laws state the complete opposite to the principles of prog.... and of all demanding music in general.... music made for music's sake is, at end, made because the artist wants to express something... mainstream music (and I'm talking really MAINSTREAM music, as in MTV as you named that atrocity of a network) is made because some corporate loons want to get richer and they pay their new money-making-machines a small fare of the profits that he expects to make....

Prog is a more complex genre of music that can not be so widely popular in our siciety, unless the structure of people's brain gets changed, this is impossible. If they do, then it will be a different society entirely, and a much better one at that. But that's another story.

AcostaFulano wrote: Oh man, It would be damn good to see and listen excellent music everywhere 24/7

Exactly.

Sorry to piss in your Perrier people, but if your enjoyment of a particular type of music depends on its popularity, then you are not really a prog fan, you're just a prog-poser.

It would be great if prog ruled the industry.  Selling out to commercialism would no longer be a problem, and bands would be able to create the music they want without worrying about finances and catering to popular demand.

A world without Owner of a Lonely Heart.

Bryan wrote: Um, prog WAS hugely popular back in the 70s.  Yes prior to their 80s sellout weren't some ultra-underground act that sold 500 copies of Close to the Edge.  Of course, the music industry has changed quite a bit since then and in this day and age it's pretty unlikely that it'll become massively popular, but those of you claiming it to be "impossible for prog to ever be commercially acceptable" are apparently forgetting something.

Yes, quite right. There was a time when Yes, Tull, ELP, Crimson and others were in the top twenty for months...ahh, what a glorious time.
    

cuncuna wrote: Bastille Dude wrote: Prog is the true underground music, and I prefer it that way. Good question Atavachron. No, South American music is the true underground music. Transnational labels pay for including their artists in our radio shows; TV station comercial partners are continuosly (¿?) excluding our artist to promote crap. Not fair, we can also produce crap. (¿?) = Not sure if it's actually a word.

I can understand what you are saying cuncuna, and that is not right or fair.

I was being facetious when I compared prog to underground. Mainstream rock press usually gushes over the next "underground" hiphop/punk/emo/goth/deathrock/hardcore or whatever the kids listen to these days, while completely reviling and ridiculing anything remotely talented or progressive. And when I say prog I do mean all the sub-genres of progressive music.

The Miracle wrote: Prog is a more complex genre of music that can not be so widely popular in our siciety, unless the structure of people's brain gets changed, this is impossible. If they do, then it will be a different society entirely, and a much better one at that. But that's another story.

Agreed. Prog is not just a style of music like Pop or Rap, which just happens to not be popular at the moment. I don't know why it was *that* popular in the early 70s ... I suppose it's a "glitch", encouraged by events like Woodstock, or the hippie movement (not saying that prog fans were hippies though, but it contributed to the phenomenon).

Prog is music for the brain - MTV is for mainstream music which is inherently un-intelligent (with the occasional exception, but even then the songs are cleverly designed so they also work for people who listen with their brain turned off).

Atavachron wrote: What if prog ruled the world? Would you be pleased if your cherished music continuously ran on MTV and mainstream radio, or do you prefer prog's lower-profile status? Not sure if I can really decide myself...help me out here

Atavachron wrote: Bryan wrote: Um, prog WAS hugely popular back in the 70s.  Yes prior to their 80s sellout weren't some ultra-underground act that sold 500 copies of Close to the Edge.  Of course, the music industry has changed quite a bit since then and in this day and age it's pretty unlikely that it'll become massively popular, but those of you claiming it to be "impossible for prog to ever be commercially acceptable" are apparently forgetting something. Yes, quite right. There was a time when Yes, Tull, ELP, Crimson and others were in the top twenty for months...ahh, what a glorious time.