Are RUSH actually Prog?

I must admit that I find the question are Rush prog ? Comes up quite a lot on FB sites, normally next to the disclaimer that the poster does'nt like Rush.
It seems to me people who have'nt heard or enjoyed say, A farewell to Kings but have heard some later,Rush albums and have'nt liked those either are guilty of spouting this drivel.
However I also might be generalizing. I have been drinking.

Peter Hammill and VDGG also rejected the label of 'Prog' that the press had attached to them, indicating that the band thought of themselves as 'underground'. There is an important distinction here I think. When you describe yourself as 'underground ' you are implying that you are free from commercial concerns and happy to be relevant and important to a small number of people only. Read the notes on Gentle Giant' s masterpiece ' Aquiring The Taste' for example..." it is our goal to expand the frontiers of popular music at the risk of being very unpopular". That is in my opinion the true spirit of what we call 'Prog'. 'Underground Pop' would probably be more accurate but it' s too long!

That was not the important part of my message. Call it what you want...it's the definition that matters.it's all 'popular' music, as opposed to music for a few wealthy people, like was the case in the 18th century.

Edited by Un Amico - May 02 2021 at 17:08

What is prog?

I think we can agree to dlisagree on that one. As for the term ' popular' it means' of the people' as opposed to ' of a few wealthy people' as was the case before recorded music.

Un Amico wrote: I think you may be more familiar with grog than prog!

Sorry - late to the discussion. A very good question - in my school days in the 70s I honestly did not think of prog as a separate genre to rock. To me, it was intelligent, complex, thoughtful rock that I liked the most. Rush ‘rocked’ but as I proudly showed my gatefold vinyl of All The World’s A Stage, I did not see them as separate or different to all my favourite bands like Genesis, Yes, Purple, Zep, Lizzy, ELP etc. I embroidered the Star Man on the back of my denim jacket and proudly wore it at all rock concerts regardless of the genre we now give these bands. Rush started off as Zeppelin-style rock, definitely went through a classic prog period, changed to more AOR, touched upon prog-metal and then returned home on the last few albums. Farewell to Kings through to Moving Pictures was a hell of an era to me, and I do look upon that as ‘prog’ in the way we pigeon-hole bands these days. The best bands transcend genres (I suppose Tull do as well, amongst others) and in the end you either like them or you don’t. 

Is Rush prog? Is Floyd Prog? Is Tull prog? Do these f**king threads never cease?

Edited by SteveG - May 02 2021 at 18:03

Cristi wrote: SteveG wrote: Is Rush prog? Is Floyd Prog? Is Tull prog? Do these f**king threads never cease? thanks for pointing that out. You forgot the obvious candidates for such threads in the past - Radiohead and Tool.

shhhh. Don't give the OP any ideas.

Edited by SteveG - May 02 2021 at 18:27

who is more prog? Rush Queen Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin?