future of prog

Sup. I'm noticing that the majority of progressive rock listeners now are old people, particulary those who had some exposure to prog in its glory days (1970s). But people are mortal. So, when all those people who were prog musicians/listeners in the 70s die, will the progressive rock genre become obsolete/forgotten? What do you think?

My prediction is that the classic 70's albums will drastically drop in exposure. Especially the more non-mainstream/obscure/challenging stuff like Gentle Giant, Le Orme, Camel, Gong, etc. This type of music is already dying and popular pretty much only among senior people.

Edited by Hrychu - April 11 2024 at 22:11

The future of prog is already here. It is much heavier than the prog bands of the 70s. And when us Olds (I'm 63) die, there won't be as many listening to ELP, Camel, Genesis, and similar bands.

Some may fare better than others, but I don't see Henry Cow or National Health getting played much.

I chat a lot on forums and live chat rooms, and the average age is about 25, and they all seem to listen to 70s prog. I think it's because most don't listen to the radio, and just check out whatever is on YouTube..

People still listen to early classical music don’t they? Some of that is quite old isn’t it?!

Most of the music of the 70s will slowly be forgotten, that's correct. Most of it wasn't that good, just like most of what is being released today is not good, or at least not good enough to become a timeless classic. There are literally millions of releases on RYM. 99% of them are not worth listening to in comparison with the remaining 1% that are just so much better.

Manuel wrote: I think that there always be artists who want to write good, challenging music, no matter what the genre, so Prog, it seems to me, will always continue to exist, if even in a very obscure, non popular way, just like we see some young composers writing classical music, jazz, blues, etc.

^Maybe this?

Nah, he means these...

Edited by Boojieboy - April 12 2024 at 09:50

I'm in my early 20s and love '70s prog, with any luck I'll be bopping to all those albums on their 100th anniversaries. I like newer prog too of course, my favorite band at the moment is Cardiacs from the 80s and 90s, and I also love Moon Safari, Needlepoint, Black Midi, Squid, Major Parkinson, and plenty others I'm not thinking of now. I love playing prog songs around friends of mine and seeing which ones they like/comment on. Some of them were very into Gong (Camembert Electrique and Acid Motherhood) and Crac by Area when I put them on during a road trip (these folks were already fans of proggy stuff like Black Midi, King Gizzard, Black Country New Road). Another one put some Cardiacs and "Cento Mani e Cento Occhi" into their liked songs to shuffle alongside modern pop. 

Edited by Snikle - April 12 2024 at 10:22