Emulating Classic Prog Is Not Prog

 

That seems more like a basket of descriptions...as in, you will usually find even bands from the original prog scene don't fit all of these and only some. But you have fairly concede a little further that there are indeed many aspects of divergence between these bands and the reason they are considered prog is simply because they were called that at some point.

 

leonalvarado wrote:   Lots of my comments were aimed at the reference points for prog. When the term "progressive rock" was first being thrown about (although I really don't know who coined the term), it referred as those groups who's music didn't fit the existing categories. Unlike today, there weren't many sub-genres. For example, at the beginning, progressive rock and symphonic rock were very much interchangeable. I know that's not the case for a whilst now, but at the beginning of it all in the early seventies, that's how they were described.

 

Yes, I agree that they were called prog mainly because they didn't fit into existing rock descriptions.  And your following para makes sense, that we would call something that sounds like what was once called prog, prog.  The problem  now lies in subsequently recognizing music, especially prog metal,  that does not share such strong similarities with the original prog rock music as prog.   And this is at the heart of not only these contradictions but the OP's premise.  In some cases, prog listeners seem prepared to judge something as prog based on minor technical aspects like odd time signatures (yes, I say minor, I don't think something like odd time is significant to classify something separately altogether on that point alone) or length of tracks/extended instrumental sections (descriptions which apply as much to Stairway to heaven as they would to prog).   And in some others, they insist on strong sonic resemblances to the original prog. Um, doesn't make sense.  If we insisted on prog rock always maintaining strong connections to the original prog, we would have to fairly concede that the scene shrunk and dwindled from the 80s onwards (though there has subsequently been a kind of retro revival).  But if we look at prog any other way, there is bound to be a push for more inclusiveness and a progressive and embracing outlook by the listeners themselves towards what CAN be prog. And in turn, there are bound to be such arguments over why music that is essentially regressive in its outlook is prog if music that is progressive according to some perceptions is not prog.