Prog metal in the States

One of the things that intrigues me most is why isn't prog metal very popular in the United States. More strange it becomes when we know that the Big Three, DT Fates and Symphony are all from there. It makes me think a lot

Dream Theater and Opeth are quite popular here in the states, though they receive very little television/radio time. Two groups obviously here and labelled prog-metal. Porcupine Tree is also throwing itself at The United States... maybe someday.

Also founders of prog-metal were almost all famous and largely listened to at one time. Even in the States.

in my opinion...the lack of prog here is the states is because the generation of MTV and pop music happened (past tense there boys...) and it drove music lovers down because MTV, and the genre it represents, is largely a social phenomena: it became popular(probably because it was simply considered popular) and marketable, and so it exploded. please do not blame this all on record execs, scum though some may be, because it never could have occurred if people (primarily youth) hadn't latched onto it in the first place (thats just plain economics...). this, i think, created a backlash of artists and listeners with taste...they don't want to be associated with MTV any more than MTV wants them; for MTV its pure economics, for the artists/listener its an economics of social and intellectual qualities. with prog and other meaningful musical types, already  with small followings due to inaccessible stylings, going underground, the newer generations could'nt access it, certainly not enough to appreciate it. enter the internet...those very same groups that were underground are now all over the internet (eh-hem...) and so prog and meaningful music are making a come-back, i think. i think it simply doesnt show because most people get it though internet sources, usually illegally at that. just look at iTunes, though, they carry tons of prog artists...i was just looking up Estradasphere, a small name even among prog circles, there the other day.
but then, Prog is only a small portion of the music getting out from under the heel of the mass ignorance...honestly i think Indie is going to rise up. indeed, if you are a member of last.fm you'll see the term plastered everywhere as a synonym for "good" (Radiohead is labelled indie, i think the Beatles are too...) and thats just just the sort of community i mean.

the fact that prog addicts are going to have to get used to is that we will always be a small portion of the population (no i wasn;t alive in the 70's..but i think the fact that PF's The Wall is more famous than "wish you were here", an album most people dont listen to, settles it. PF is now a widely accepted band in most every circle and people still wont listen to thier most progressive works...). Prog/avant music will always represent a smaller portion of the industry because it appeals to a smaller portion of the population as a whole: the portion that is looking for something new and vital. if you look at music today (and i only know the american scene) there is probably a tripartite division between R+B/rap, Emo/Rock, and more Indie/simple-acoustic-driven styles.
the point of all of these categories (to make a mass generalization) is to live vicariously. R+B is so you don't have to think, you can imagine yourself as a sex object and you can simply move (listen to the lyrics....the mere fact that those are acceptable is indication enough. but if not, feel the beat..thats the entirety of the song, and all you can do is move). Rap is all about boasting -being someone your not- and to identify with a larger group -to rise up above yourself. Emo/new punk is all about vicarious experience/reminding yourself of your own experience of being a teenager and the freeness of it (notice lyrical content that is not only expressly that, but also simply lacking in substance =it doesnt matter). Hardcore bands, a small percentage of the market, are a vicarious trip into loosing one's anger, or giving oneself reason for anger (even my beloved Meshuggah falls into this category, but i am thinking more of bands like Cannibal Corpse, Aborted, and other gore-metal and thrash acts). finally Indie and the rising tide of 'john mayer' types all simply say that 'everything is ok, life is great! dont worry!!' his latter trend, i fell, is better as it at least consists(more indie now and less jahn mayer) more in an intellectual emotional category and thus, most people that listen too it sort of glide right into some prog acts :the Beatles, Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky. Prog, i feel, doesnt have any of these categories in the same way as any other genre (and prog is an abstract category anyhow) and thus can only appeal to a different crowd. the crowd that doesnt listen to music for purely social means (how many of us are wearing headphones right now? and certainly you cant dance to it). it seems to me that most of us here listen to prog because of it individual meaning to us, and likewise, most prog artists tackle huge, philosophical topics.  but again...EVERYTHING i just said is a massive generalization so there are exceptions to everything...thats just how it seems to me.

and besides..its not fair to say that the US has no prog...Death metal started in Florida i believe...the swedes have simply perfected it. i think thats appropriate anyhow...the US has never been much for art accept in wierd, chaotic ones. take a course in US art history and you'll learn about abstract expressionism, pop-art and post-modernism...much less so about the Hudson river valley school of impressionism. furthering that idea..the US is also home to alot of avant-garde acts; Kayo Dot, Maudlin of the Well, fantomas, mr. bungle, mike patton,  John Zorn (i think...?)  Estradasphere, etc.

ok..i wrote too much...oh well

Well said, Prometheus, but I don't quite agree with the point about R + B.  What they call R + B today is really mislabelled.  R + B used to be rhythm and blues and had a large group of great musicians who wrote and sang the music, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder being just some examples.  It is only just recently that Hip Hop has co-opted the R + B label.  The stuff being released today as R + B pales in comparison to the music of the 50's through the first part of the 80's.

very true tdbark (and Deathrabbit)...i had just used the first genre name that popped into mind, but it is misused today, for sure. replace R+B with hip-hop and the message may become more accurate. 

What about Tool, their huge in the States?

DT?

I don't like to hear prog on radio,i want it to be only mine hahah

Edited by DarioIndjic - March 13 2007 at 23:56

maybe that's not totally true... i mean, we're talking about portion here.. and the US music market is by far a lot bigger than any other european market so a 5% of the US market is bigger than a 15% than the eg greek market..

so, maybe, things aren't as bad as we think in the US...

Drakk wrote: While I don't see much Prog Metal becoming popular here, I thought one band would have been brought up... Tool is fairly popular, and I'd say they're prog metal. :D

Definitely, they're probably the only modern prog band I've heard on the radio (granted, I don't listen to the radio often).  They're definitely popular, I've seen several people at my college with Tool shirts, including my brother and my friend.