Can Pop be Prog?

But remember, the terms also evolve, POP is now a musical genre with it's own characteristics that you can find in any musical site and already mentioned.

The POP culture is something different to POP music TODAY.

of course i can't make you think my way and your definition of what you call "pop-music" is correct and i accept it; but you use these notions in a very rigid, almost absurd, manner. for example: "It is not Prog if it's mainstream". think of Pink Floyd: are they prog or are they mainstream? i think they are both. you can't go more mainstream than that with good music.

Pink Floyd is a Prog band who recorded a Prog album (DSOTM) but had the luck to be popular, but mainstream is a different thing:

Main Entry: 1main·stream Pronunciation: 'mAn-"strEm Function: noun : a prevailing current or direction of activity or influence

DSOTM didn't followed the normal music played oin the radios, Prog was more popular in the 70's but never was the prevaling music played in the radios, this was the mainstream of 1973 when Pink Floyd released DSOTM:

1. Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Ole Oak Tree, Tony Orlando and Dawn 2. Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Jim Croce 3. Killing Me Softly With His Song, Roberta Flack 4. Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye 5. My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings 6. Why Me, Kris Kristofferson 7. Crocodile Rock, Elton John 8. Will It Go Round In Circles, Billy Preston 9. You're So Vain, Carly Simon 10. Touch Me In The Morning, Diana Ross 11. The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, Vicki Lawrence 12. Playground In My Mind, Clint Holmes 13. Brother Louie, Stories 14. Delta Dawn, Helen Reddy 15. Me And Mrs. Jones, Billy Paul 16. Frankenstein, Edgar Winter Group 17. Drift Away, Dobie Gray 18. Little Willy, Sweet 19. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, Stevie Wonder 20. Half Breed, Cher 21. That Lady, Isley Bros. 22. Pillow Talk, Sylvia 23. We're An American Band, Grand Funk Railroad 24. Right Place, Wrong Time, Dr. John 25. Wildflower, Skylark 26. Superstition, Stevie Wonder 27. Loves Me Like A Rock, Paul Simon 28. The Morning After, Maureen McGovern 29. Rocky Mountain High, John Denver 30. Stuck In The Middle With You, Stealers Wheel 31. Shambala, Three Dog Night 32. Love Train, O'Jays 33. I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Barry White 34. Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose, Tony Orlando and Dawn 35. Keep On Truckin' (Pt. 1), Eddie Kendricks 36. Dancing In The Moonlight, King Harvest 37. Danny's Song, Anne Murray 38. Monster Mash, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Crypt Kickers 39. Natural High, Bloodstone 40. Diamond Girl, Seals and Crofts 41. Long Train Running, Doobie Brothers 42. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth), George Harrison 43. If You Want Me To Stay, Sly and The Family Stone

This was the mainstream of 1973,  Pink Floyd (Who had nothing in common with this top 40 songs and artists)  had a popular album and that's all, but despite this fact  they were different to the main music current of music, so they were not a mainstream band, just a Prog band with luck.

The only Prog song remotely popular in 1973 was “Money” that reached N° 92.

BTW: Even a normally Prog oriented band may release a POP album, because Prog is the music, not the band.

People today say Prog was popular in the 70's and I always say that this is not true, they were more popular than ever but always POP music reached the charts.

also i didn't say AIR is a part of the progressive rock genre, i have a good understanding of these notions. what i said is that they make a music i'd define as "progressive electro-pop". it should be obvious that by using the notion of "progressive" in a place where it shouldn't normally be as a category, i was trying to forge a (new) definition and not to force an inclusion.

Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. It is a term most often applied in the arts (i.e., music, literature, and performance). This includes:

• something that is ordinary or usual;
• something that is familiar to the masses;
• something that is available to the general public.

As such, the mainstream includes all popular culture, typically disseminated by mass media. The opposite of the mainstream are subcultures, countercultures, cult followings and underground cultures.