Why isn't prog as successful as metal as an indus

^And some are stranger than others, it seems. However, Dave is holding to his convictions which is a case of doing something rare, not strange. There's a difference.

Edited by SteveG - March 31 2015 at 08:56

SteveG wrote: Dean wrote: dr prog wrote: Metal is a fad. Fads are always popular but most people are way too simply pleased when it comes to music. Melodically metal is terrible Cricky, a 40+year long fad... if only my home-made music was a fad I'd be quid's in.  Agreed. And when exactly does music stop becoming a fad, after 50 years? A hundred?  To use one of your well worn (or worn out) responses in a sensible context: "Sigh".

Toaster Mantis wrote: What the hell just happened over the last couple pages? This forum's community really confuses me at times. For the most part, it's the calmest and most mature online community devoted to music discussion I've ever encountered... yet, when a flamewar erupts it's over a topic I find extremely unlikely to inspire something like this.

TODDLER wrote: Toaster Mantis wrote: What the hell just happened over the last couple pages? This forum's community really confuses me at times. For the most part, it's the calmest and most mature online community devoted to music discussion I've ever encountered... yet, when a flamewar erupts it's over a topic I find extremely unlikely to inspire something like this.   Sounds like a bunch of musicians trying to make points to each other at rehearsal.

It would make more sense there in fact.

Toaster Mantis wrote: For what it's worth, my explanations for the conundrum posed in the opening post are: Metal has a much larger do-it-yourself/underground infrastructure of independent record labels, specialist stores and concert venues than progressive rock. It certainly established one earlier as a result of picking up that ethos from the punk movement in the late 1970s. Even if metal didn't take that attitude to anywhere the same length as punk did, I think both subcultures built up that kind of grassroots network in order to avoid having to compromise with the mainstream... which is a likely cause of how the psychedelic/progressive movement's decline happened. Though they have common roots and quite a bit of overlap, metal and prog are still different music cultures with different aims that also attract somewhat different audiences. In the words of one black metal musician I correspond with and who listens to quite a bit of avant/prog on the side, metal usually doesn't attempt to work as intellectual "art music" the same way a lot of prog/psych does (and when it does is in his optic less successful at)... as he puts it, being physical/spiritual in its appeal rather than cerebral. It might result in a lower bar to clear if you look at things from one perspective, but it does explain why the respective fanbases tend to appreciate music in different ways. In my admittedly anecdotal experience, if one that's backed up with some of the sociological aspects of the genre histories I've read, both the musicians involved and the fans of metal are on average less academic and more working-class in their sociological background than the prog rock community. This is in return reflected in the different cultural norms. Kinda the same way as punk if not as overtly ideological about it, the contemporary metal scene functions as a sort of "modern folk music". Which is something you can't really say about progressive rock as a whole. Does that make any sense? I've slept like four hours last night as a result of being at a basement concert with a handful of local punk/metal groups.

Why do some member's (not all, naturally) seemingly disregard the fact that Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult, and other Metal crossover groups, are listed in PA,  along with a myriad of Progressive and Tech Metal groups? And yet, have a condescending attitude toward Metal. This seems terribly myopic and silly to me. Time for the Metal crowd, from Crossover to Prog Metal fans, to flood PA with relevant Metal album reviews in a symbolic revolt! I'm already getting ready by listening to my copy of BOC's 1975 live album On Your Feet or On Your Knees! Viva la revolution!

Edited by SteveG - April 02 2015 at 11:25

^Good point Captain P.

I wonder why I keep seeing prog CDs in Love's Truck Stop.

70s prog is somewhat popular here in the southern US as a subset of classic rock. Everybody and their teenage son listens to Zeppelin, Sabbath, AC/DC, the Stones, The Who, but also Kansas, ELP, Yes, Floyd, and others. That perhaps because many here are working class. A lot of the male population in my state have manual labor jobs or drive trucks or just have jobs where they have a lot of time to listen to music. Most of them stick with what they're familiar with, but branch out (to an extent) because they run out of material to listen to. On top of that, one of the most popular stations around here is a classic rock station which plays all the artists mentioned. Of course, it's just the more popular artists, and few of them have interest in prog in and of itself. Many of them are just stuck in the 70s themselves and refuse to listen to modern music. And then when they used to hear Three Days Grace or Nickelback on another rock channel they'd say "You know, these guys are actually pretty good." I live in a weird place.


Edited by Polymorphia - April 02 2015 at 13:11

Polymorphia wrote: 70s prog is somewhat popular here in the southern US as a subset of classic rock. Everybody and their teenage son listens to Zeppelin, Sabbath, AC/DC, the Stones, The Who, but also Kansas, ELP, Yes, Floyd, and others. That perhaps because many here are working class. A lot of the male population in my state have manual labor jobs or drive trucks or just have jobs where they have a lot of time to listen to music. Most of them stick with what they're familiar with, but branch out (to an extent) because they run out of material to listen to. On top of that, one of the most popular stations around here is a classic rock station which plays all the artists mentioned. Of course, it's just the more popular artists, and few of them have interest in prog in and of itself. Many of them are just stuck in the 70s themselves and refuse to listen to modern music. And then when they used to hear Three Days Grace or Nickelback on another rock channel they'd say "You know, these guys are actually pretty good." I live in a weird place.