Prog rock affinity

 Mom was never as big into music as Dad, but she also had her own favorites that I've grown to love as well. Heart, Styx, Kansas, Pat Benetar, etc. A bit of Prince of course, and Madonna. And especially Chicago (the 70s hits mainly, and their Christmas CDs). I swear I've known Saturday In The Park longer than I've been alive.

Anyway I started getting into music around middle school. Uninterested in Katy Perry, Lady Antebellum, or Kanye West, I started playing saxophone in 6th grade as well as guitar hero. My private saxophone teacher taught me the blues scale early on (something my piano teacher never mentioned in all my years of lessons), and I quickly discovered I could use that scale to play the riffs to songs I was playing on guitar hero and hearing on classic rock radio.

Anyway a good while later I'm pretty much a classic rock purist (with a solid affection for jazz). Most anything after Nirvana was a non-starter, and anything pop, country, or hip hop was strictly uncool. Not the most open world view but it led me to explore in other directions as my musical appetite grew. As I transitioned into high school my Dad introduced me to Rush. I heard 2112 on Pandora and I was blown away. Later one day Dad came to pick me up from school with a CD of A Farewell To Kings that had just come in from Amazon and the was when I knew Rush was one of my favorite bands (only after Queen). Research led me to find Rush was something called progressive rock (as well as Queen to an extent), and more research over a longer period of time led me to become exponentially more interested in this everything and the kitchen sink sub genre. I quickly became more of a music nerd than my Dad, but I also got him to check out a lot more music than he had before. I even got my Mom to appreciate a bit of Dream Theatre! 

Oh, and I outgrew my aversion to hip hop, pop, and everything that came with grunge and after it. I admit defeat in having ever given country a really fair shot, though I know a few artists I think are decent, but I imagine in time I may find what I like there as well.

I started getting into rock through a college friend's recommendations in my early twenties.  And by now, stuff like Wiki had happened.  So...I found out that Pink Floyd was called progressive rock. I clicked on the term to read the article about progressive rock and read about bands like Genesis, Yes, etc.  And then I found out about this website.  And one thing led to another...

I remember voraciously reading all his old music mags, although I paid more attention to the familiar, than the unknown. I knew only Whiter Shade of Pale from Procul Harum, and Nights In White Satin from Moody Blues, but after reading about those songs, and then more, I got into those bands. He was fairly dismissive about the Beatles which is why, I expect, I didn’t listen to them until years later. He was probably responsible for my getting into Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, too, which would have been the heaviest things in my collection.

He’s deaf now, which must be horrible for someone whose life revolved around music.... 😔

[EDIT] i forgot to mention what prompted me to write this, which was the mention of jealousy in the post above. My uncle had seen several bands I liked, but what I was (and remain) jealous about was his having seen Bowie twice. In the end, he saw Bowie three times, and I saw him once. So I guess I’m not as jealous now as i once was, but there’s still a tinge.....

I didn’t see the original post quoted here, but I complete agree with the reply - what’s wrong with that? If PT and Radiohead are the entry levels to prog for listeners today, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They both stretch listeners beyond the mainstream, and introduce them to something less conventional and more experimental.

I’m not sure there is progressive reggaeton, but as I don’t want to upset my own personal belief that there are artists in every genre who push the boundaries of it, and if not recognised as prog, are still undoubtedly progressive. This definitely is happening in hip hop, which is why Steven Wilson made his (in)famous comment that the only real progressive music these days was occurring in hip hop. I don’t agree that it is the only real progressive music being made, but it is being made. Progressive hip hop is a thing, so I don’t even have a problem with hip hop being the entry point to prog - and if you think it can’t be, you are happily wrong!

I know two people in NZ (one a friend, and one a relation) who pretty much exclusively listened to hip hop and r&b. But since listening to some of the more progressive hip hop that is starting to enter (or at least sit on the fringes of) the mainstream, they themselves have progressed onto other music genres. One has headed towards jazz and fusion sounds, while the other has headed towards prog rock. Neither are people I would ever have expected to move outside their comfort zones, or ever listen to anything other than hip hop and r&b (and there would have been nothing wrong if that were the case, too).

The entry points to prog appreciation are wide and varied. It’s narrow-minded and condescending to imply some are less worthy than others, in my opinion. If you weren’t implying that, and it is merely my inference, I apologise in advance. 😄

And, for sure, prog metal (even if it is full of bands which take their Tool and DT influences to dangerously derivative levels) is hugely popular with a lot of younger people - and probably way more so than PT and Radiohead, at a guess. I guess if those who listen to PT and Radiohead are prog poor, those who listen to prog metal are prog bankrupt? 🤔

I cannot be but surprised.....unpleasantly surprised!!    http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=9359

If you've got relation problems, it's not my problem........no rough time for me......there are too many things wrong here with your post too, you know. I never said i was upset, but some of you here attacked me just because I said I think PT and RH suck, because they do......they are overrated snobbish bands, alright ?? Say what ??! ....ahh and I never said you should dismiss them.....don't put words in my post I never said....alright ??!

How do I have "relation problems"? 

Who's attacking you? Or disagreeing and attacking is the same thing for you? 

What's a snobbish band?