History of Progarchives

even crazier is thinking of all the kiddies we got to know when the site really got rolling that are now..  hahah.. starting to lose their hair and thinking about popping little blue pills.

It was about that time wasn't it.. 2001.. 2002 when internet forums blew up didn't they.  I was a member of the old DDD site and headed up the prog section.. and we starting hearing about this other site. Prog Archives.

Checked it out. .seemed cool.  but much like the good old days here we had a very large and diverse membership and had already really connected with some of he people there so I stuck around there.

until one day a certain Peruvian master of blue font came by to critique our work.. we immediately hit it off.. ie we starting arguing and disagreed about most everything.  I guess I made an impression. He told me the site needed some help filling out and evaluating the database and I would be a good fit.  Knew my music very well and had the right attitude..  was a knife fighter and didn't take sh*t. A thick skin.. for already the site was rather rough. I joined up in 2004.. and I just couldn't join quietly..  I took the alter ego of a hot chick who was looking for lonely proggers to help explore the music. It started getting a bit too heavy..  I had one of the collabs chasing me across the forum wanting some of my fine ass.. so I took a break and disappeared  (still have that account though which I break out for some trollery when the urge hits me). Took about a year or so to wrap up what I had going on with DDD and pass the teams I had.. the prog and bass sections off to others and finally joined as Micky..  

Much like Raff..   this site has really been a part of my life. Of course Raff and I met here during our time on the Symphonic Prog team. .and last month celebrated 13 years together.. but even beyond that. Even before all the great music I discovered here. I really have met some wonderful people.. some of whom have gone beyond cyber friends and become very dear close personal friends in real life.

Man, 2001-2002 internet was a magical thing! I remember bands having live question feeds, email feeds, etc. all before social media and that became a thing. It was a very unique point in time for music and technology. You still had to wait for a physical release, but now you had more content to interact with!

I don't think I became aware of PA's existence until approximately late 2008, when I started really diving deep into prog bands like Yes, King Crimson, ELP, Pink Floyd, etc. Weird to think how that was only 7 years apart from those early internet days...but 2008 itself will be 12 years ago! Tempus Fugit, none the less... 

it was a great time wasn't it..  in those days before Facebook and their ilk really took the wind out of internet forum's sails.  Especially with prog/progressive music and the revival it was experiencing at the time with the internet and forums like this having a great deal to do with.  They were heady times.. likeminded fans of music from all over the globe...  it was pretty wild. Like teenagers discovering sex.. we did it anywhere we wanted and without thought or regard to the consequences.  PA's really was  just like the old west before technology tamed it and the long arm of the law and civilized society took over.. and  anything went.. and the only limit was one's quickness on the draw and how accurate your shot was.

I went online for the first time and discovered ProgArchives in the same year as you did.