what is prog?

Now i know the archives have made a very good description on what prog is.

but if someone asks you on the street what is is, you ain't gona produce paragraphs of speech are you LOL

so what i want to hear are simple one sentence descriptions for "what is prog?".

my suggestion is:
rock music for intelligent people.

tell me what you think

smart people can still like dumb music

I really don't see how liking prog is any measure of intelligence.

prog is an abbreviation for progressive

What your father used to listen to might sum it up nicely.

there is no such thing as prog

laplace wrote: if prog really stood for progressive then this site would list about a thirtieth of the bands it currently has. the "prog != progressive" argument has arrived chiefly because the lack of innovation over the years forces everyone to examine even slightly unusual music that much closer ;P (this opinion was controversial about thirty five years ago) ;P

I certainly agree with the lack of innovation, I also can't escape the feeling that most innovation and musical progress since at least the 80's was achieved outside of so-called prog.
There is, however, a noticeable change in sound, production and songwriting between the 60's and the 70's with longer, thoroughly-structured songs, more complex meters and rhythms etc. all things that were rarely/never done before, which might all very well be the reason for calling our beloved music prog in the first place. later after the initial developing phase (read:first wave british prog), other bands took the example of the previous bands and couldn't help sounding like the previous bands. and now a band is often not considered prog it they don't sound like a familiar band from the past, no matter how innovative and groundbreaking those later bands may be.
Apparently, some people don't recognise progressiveness if it bit them in the nose.


Edited by unclemeat69 - December 22 2007 at 17:53

laplace wrote: if prog really stood for progressive then this site would list about a thirtieth of the bands it currently has. the "prog != progressive" argument has arrived chiefly because the lack of innovation over the years forces everyone to examine even slightly unusual music that much closer ;P (this opinion was controversial about thirty five years ago) ;P

Rock that you wouldn't like nor understand.

cynthiasmallet wrote: I really don't see how liking prog is any measure of intelligence.