Why aren't most Zoomers into progressive rock?

The accessibility of prog varies from listener to listener, so IMO it's not really possible to determine if prog is in fact accessible.

Besides, prog as a genre is really broad so in the enormous ocean of progressive rock releases you can find stuff that's "accessible" to say, someone who isn't a big prog geek... or something that is inaccessible. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't like using that term personally because of its vague and highly contextual meaning. I'd rather say that something is "harmonically complex" or "features frequent time signature changes, polyrhythms, counterpoints et al." because that way my description conveys more information.

pistacchioso wrote: I think the question is more like "Why aren't most people into progressive rock". I cannot think of a single generation that is "into progressive rock". It's a nice genre. Most people tend to consume accessible media: accessible movies attract more people that avant-garde one, accessible books sell more than essays about obscure philosophers of the '700 and so on. And prog rock is not an accessible music genre.

When Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick was released in 1972, a few-minute edited version of it was played on the radio. I did not like this version. In retrospect, I think it represents why I was not into progressive rock at that age. It was hard rock that appealed to me at that time, whereas prog was too folky for me. It wasn't until seven years later that I first listened to the whole album, and was impressed with how much it rocked.

Edited by I prophesy disaster - February 10 2024 at 21:14

Frets N Worries wrote: ^Ugh, Dancers

What on earth is wrong with dancers? I would LOVE if black midi brought along the seven dancers(!) in this video along on tour.

Frets N Worries wrote: ^While I agree with Steven Wilson, is there really such a thing as 'good music'? There is music that is technical and original, complex, but is it 'better'? since it's opinionated

Hugh Manatee wrote: OK, so I punched this question into a chatbot and got this response which I think just about covers the question:

Edited by MortSahlFan - January 24 2024 at 04:42

cstack3 wrote: Don't worry, some young prog artist/artists will come along and capture the imagination of the Zoomers!  They might even have dancers!

^Ugh, Dancers

This is why I'd like to make it my mission to keep up with the 'Music and Musicians' exchange thread, while it's not very popular, aspiring artists do stop by there occasionally (including myself) and ask for thoughts on their work. Encouraging the youth to create music of all kinds is always good, and now it's easier than ever

If music is technical/complex for the most part it's solely based on a personal preference. If you like what a specific band and their compositions do for you. They are complex..but perhaps they lift you up and the more you listen to this particular band's music the more you enjoy getting that feeling.

That's a true and meaningful connection between you and the artist. Another Fusion band or Classical Rock band is stylistically based off the same creative composition, but they just don't do it for you.

I have often wondered why that extreme difference is so affective on people. Maybe they're feeling the person's soul through their playing. An artist who composes in several styles may feed off life experiences and the emotion in their playing often evolves from a true experience. Consequently several people in the world feel something from the music and they often find it something difficult to describe in words. This is the kind of affect music can have on humans. A person may wonder why they like a particular band so much and it's more than likely the musician's or writer's soul that they are feeling.

Many outstanding songwriters or composers begin theory in their childhood. Some that are definitely skilled tend to develop theory to a high level and it all becomes second nature....so that when they compose they allow the music to flow through them and not think about the science of music..and thinking about anything at all. Just allowing music to inspire you. You hear chord progressions, melody, harmony, ...you don't actually think about the order of everything. The music controls what you do. As an end result you end up recording a decent piece of music.

On another note...there are people in the music business that try to buy you. They may offer a large sum for a piece you wrote in return for putting their name on the writing credits. Now everyone thinks that they wrote it. Do you see how easy it is to fool people?