Prog Youtube!?

Catcher10 wrote: I prefer to sit at my lounge chair in front of the TV to watch YT vids, rather than on my tiny phone screen.

I've never watched anything on my phone. Only nutbars do that.

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Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: They hold Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and Randy Rhodes in higher regard than Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Alvin Lee, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Terry Kath, Carlos Santana and Rory Gallagher and I don't.

Hey, JS! Trust me, Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana, among others, are held up as bona fide icons by the vast majority of vloggers. The influence felt by those two is global. Yes, the EVH/Vai worship is rampant, but I can understand the accolades for the former more than the latter.

Cristi wrote: ... All these creators of videos on youtube do it for the(ir) love of music and if their watchers or followers (or whatever they're called) discover and listen to music because of that, it's a good thing.

I am familiar with those channels but have never watched the whole thing to the end. I don't like reviews, best or worst, of albums, because they are so subjective. When a favored prog musician is interviewed, I watch it if the questions are interesting. Ironically, while I am not a prog fan who is devoted to the music technique of musicians, I enjoy watching some Rick Beato videos, probably because I can feel his passion and connection with the musicians talking about the production and technique of music.

I haven't watched all of the youtubers listed. The ones I did watch I started going to their channels..clicking on videos and checking them out.

At first I enjoyed the videos...but eventually they were a letdown for me. The reason being that certain statements they would make about Progressive Rock bands that I listened to as a teenager in the 1970s were so ridiculously ignorant and stupid...and their visions of these bands was based around a minus of things...or lesser than the fact of what those bands really meant during the golden age of Rock.

For example...regarding regular Rock Music in the 1970s...when Duane Allman died tragically American fans were very disappointed in the Allman Brothers Band continuing ...the Brothers And Sisters album was generally a drag for many people and the Allman Brothers Band were thought to be a sell out with their Ramblin' Man song. There was no internet..therefore no forums ..and comments...Just a lot of people walking around in life saying that the album sucked.

The next generation felt differently. They generally thought Ramblin Man was a good song and why make waves right? They were born in 1969 ( for example)..and they had no clue who Duane Allman was and the impact he had during the golden age of Rock.

Or for example...the first record that they heard from the Allman Brothers was Brothers And Sisters. Or perhaps their first Yes album was Drama....their first Genesis album was Duke ...their first Pink Floyd album being The Wall.

They hold Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and Randy Rhodes in higher regard than Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Alvin Lee, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Terry Kath, Carlos Santana and Rory Gallagher and I don't. I don't agree that Van Halen, Vai, and Rhodes being shredders with technique surpasses the levels of guitarists in the late 60s and early 70s. It doesn't. It's not nearly as creative and a bit like noodling or masturbation. More about a contest of gymnastics not creativity.

The Youtubers reviewing Prog ...that I have watched...are Prog revisionists who haven't a clue what it was like to live in that time period and they certainly show it. They don't care about how Prog had an impact on the youth. They act as if they must never say that an album is outright bad. Yes it's true that music is subjective...however there's a difference between opinion and fact..and if you're a professional musician it's pretty much a fact to your ears when someone loses their voice ...replaces a good guitarist with a mediocre one ...writing poorly and releases a bad album. It may be an album that certain people appreciate but it's a fact that the band, ( whoever they are), has lost it and obviously that people who appreciate it can't hear that.

For those reasons...revisionists are typically not honest in most cases. They review one of Procol Harum's worst albums and instead of being honest they are justifying that the album has 2 decent songs. In 1975 people were generally honest about such an encounter. If the album by one of their favorite bands was lousy...they'd tell you about. That's being honest. Today people have this dopey idea that if you don't like The Eagles or a certain album by a band that has popularity that it's a red flag. No it's not a red flag. That's called REASONING!

Sometimes the flame burns out in an artists writing and their band loses its place ...and that has nothing to do the band taking a different direction such as a more Folky album or perhaps an album which is less busy with notes . That is different. It's interesting to hear bands change up. ...but I'm speaking mainly about a lousy effort. Something that the youth was turned off by in the early 70s. Grand Funk Railroad are so well covered on the internet...but in high school kids were listening to bands like FREE, CREAM, or even CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY and felt that Grand Funk Railroad were amateur sounding and definitely not their idea of what good Rock Music would be. People Today just don't get that. They'll often say " Well...thats your opinion ...music is subjective " But back in 1970 kids were spoiled by Clapton, Bruce and Baker musicianship on the Wheels Of Fire album and then suddenly they're subjected to "ARE YOU READY" by Grand Funk and they reacted pretty harshly for sure. It wasn't a joke. It was actually more of an intrusion. A lot of kids were saying things like "How did they ever land a record deal?" OR " " Man...what's happening to music...I hope there's not going to be more bands like this" That hurts..but it's honest. It's not..."Make up your own Johnny come lately history" ...no it's real honest and fair history. If you think that music in the 60s and 70s was super creative then be more honest. Maybe their dishonesty revolves more around getting the most views for their YouTube channel.

Yet I tuned in one afternoon to see a group of people criticizing the YOU album by GONG. Saying..."I don't understand what anyone could like about this" Really ?? I don't understand the excitement over "HOTEL CALIFORNIA " by The Eagles or the usual suspects in Prog...endlessly rehashed like a redundancy.

Nevertheless...I grew tired of it and stopped watching.

I've got a channel like that now. I recently covered Signify on there 

Edited by Necrotica - January 03 2025 at 17:12

Thanks for doing this recap of some of the YT channels. I do watch the first 3 ones, but mainly Scot's channel since he is a long time PA member, I prefer shorter videos. Sea of Tranquility is very good as well, I enjoy when he has Martin Popoff on the show. 

I'm probably eventually going to start a prog channel. Then again I've been telling myself that for the past three years. :P

There's only one YouTube prog channel for me. 

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 03 2025 at 08:52