What do you like most about prog music.

The reason i started to listen to prog music was because i thought iron maiden was so great and steve harris was a great composer so i had to wonder what inspired him to write such great music. Then i discovered the great groups like King Crimson, Nektar, Yes, Genesis and ofcourse King Crimson and Rush. Now the reason i thought this was so great was that it sounded completly new, that it could mix diffrent genres of music and really cool timechanges that could swithc between the most absurd rhytms! I love almost all genres of music so therebefore i just think its great that you can witness the incredible moments when some strange genres are fusioned and it actually works! I just love the epic songs with great and intelligent lyrics that is not all baby baby i love you yeah yeah. I think to many pop songs are to similar and that the progressive music brought some fresh air back into music for my part...Anyways what is it that keeps you listening to prog music? The intelligent lyrics? the timechangs, the epics, genre mixing, all of these or something else?

The musical virtuosity of the bands, the odd time signitures, the
continuous shifting of musical themes possible in just one song!

The challenge, the thrill, the theatricality.

The feeling you get when you hear something new and anything could happen.......not knowing from hearing the beginning how it will end.......and later discovering new things about a piece after repeated listenings.

Its not just that, but thats part of it.

I LOVE  how with each playing, with each mood, with each passing day, you can be taken on a brand new musical journey. All I have to do is put on a great pair of headphones, turn of the lights, relax and let the music take me to someplace else. Its magical, its spiritual, its complex, its distinct, its my life.

Not to mention the pure playing ability of each member. The virtuosity of someone like Steve Howe, the in your face bass of Chris Squire, the beautiful notes of Steve Hackett, the wonderful drum stylings of Bill Bruford, and so on. This is prog.....

maidenrulez wrote: The reason i started to listen to prog music was because i thought iron maiden was so great and steve harris was a great composer so i had to wonder what inspired him to write such great music. Then i discovered the great groups like King Crimson, Nektar, Yes, Genesis and ofcourse King Crimson and Rush. Now the reason i thought this was so great was that it sounded completly new, that it could mix diffrent genres of music and really cool timechanges that could swithc between the most absurd rhytms! I love almost all genres of music so therebefore i just think its great that you can witness the incredible moments when some strange genres are fusioned and it actually works! I just love the epic songs with great and intelligent lyrics that is not all baby baby i love you yeah yeah. I think to many pop songs are to similar and that the progressive music brought some fresh air back into music for my part...Anyways what is it that keeps you listening to prog music? The intelligent lyrics? the timechangs, the epics, genre mixing, all of these or something else?

All of the above, though it's probably the open-mindedness that appeals to me most. Now if more prog fans were just that open-minded...

The variations

maidenrulez wrote: Then i discovered the great groups like King Crimson, Nektar, Yes, Genesis and of course King Crimson and Rush.

Well, bands like King Crimson are so good you can discover them twice.

But for me, the appeal is in the song structure.  Or to be more specific, the melding of the classical mentality with a rock style.  I enjoy longer songs, complex compositions, inventive motifs, and witty lyrics- all of which prog has to offer.

Edited by Benighted

The epic scale of a 20+ minute song, it absolutely blows me away. The musical talent, the unpredictable time signatures, the escape it gives you for the length of a cd, i love it. I remember when i was small i heard a very long and complex song and i was blown away, but it wasnt until recently that i found out what that music was.. and i'm glad i did.

I was always into rock and roll, and being a classical music/jazz fan all my life, I always expected MORE out of rock and roll.  After listening to 4/4 rock for a while, it's easy to get tired of it, so Prog Rock fused my love of all music and threw it together into one beautiful jumble. It fulfills my need for complex, and interesting music while maintaining the excitement that rock and rock provides so well.