Earlier, among other lists of mine, I posted a list of top 300 prog rock tracks by major prog bands, associated with the genre closely enough to be featured on our top albums page, http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=129347&KW=" rel="nofollow - which you can find here . Do note that substantial time has passed since then, with both average ratings changing and number of votes rising. A comment somebody posted that I'd remembered was that it'd be curious to see 'all those other artists' enjoying love and respect over at rateyourmusic.com, reflected in the ratings, and not just the staples of prog-rock as we see them. That sentiment I never did forget. 

Couldn't see any ELP, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, Marillion, Camel at all. Bizarre to say the least  Christ you could make quite a list of tracks from just those bands on their own!

No kidding. Seeing somebody like Fishmans, The Flaming Lips or Sufjan Stevens here wouldn't be drastically out of place. The proposal was either not effective enough from the PR perspective, or the artist in question didn't boast comparable familiarity among PA users.

Logan wrote: Anyway, not to sure about the song ratings this time. The old top 300 mentioned in the OP was based on 18 users. In that list, VdGG's Man-Erg came in at 146, Camel at 32....

Actually, the top 300 I posted (linked in this thread) is also RYM-based. What's different about it is that it ONLY lists artists we associate with prog, as reflected in our top albums charts. It's true that albums by VdGG, Gentle Giant and many more are not given nearly enough justice there. What seems to be the case is that fans of these artists do not frequent RYM to a sufficient extent to affect the state of things there, and also that the RYM users who do listen to these albums don't seem to know which tracks stand out. It'd be an interesting experiment to force people visiting this website to give ratings to most notable Gentle Giant tracks (there would be some argument as to which ones those might be, no doubt), and you'd probably still get no unanimity, as people aren't equally invested in the band and there are greater levels of sophistication in understanding what's going on. This can be contrasted to the top-rated tracks on this list, which may be more immediately accessible. It's also cool to like Zappa on RYM, and among internet music nerds in general, but only two of his tracks have made the list, so apparently he's too esoteric to be understood, and mostly liked for the fact that he is esoteric. 

Logan wrote: I know this is controversial, but I feel that ELP has been way overrated by some (like threefates) at PA, as well as Jethro Tull and Marillion being overrated. I would say most all bands are overrated by some and underrated by others, but I have seen this attitude of expectation that ELP should be included in lists, deserve to fare better, that they deserve to be in popularity lists that are cumulative based on ratings of what people like, again and again, and that charts which don't include them are somehow faulty or useless. Blame the ignorant masses then who don't have the same amount of appreciation.

It's probably not too controversial, as both ELP and Marillion only have 3 albums in our top 250 albums chart with neither having an album in the top 50. Compare that to Opeth and Dream Theater, much newer bands which certain prog fans outright refuse to listen to, and you will see that they are slightly better represented on the same charts. Clearly, the protest of the fans of the former aside, they are objectively not as loved as they think they are or should be. Do they deserve more recognition and love? Well, that depends on whom you ask, and I don't think there's anyone who's seriously listened to prog who has unreasonably neglected all their major output. Are they among the most influential prog bands? Doubtless. However, so are The Moody Blues, and let's check if In Search of the Lost Chord is anywhere on the list of everyone's favourite prog records. Even Days of Future Passed hasn't accumulated 1K ratings during the ~20 years of this site's existence. 

Logan wrote: Not saying that I would expect it oan best of all-time Prog tracks list (it did make my list of faves for its time), but this is one of my favourite modern tracks included in PA. If most others at PA don't like it nearly as much as me, so be it. My tastes actually seem considerably more mainstream at RYM than here.

I can relate to this myself all too well. I got into prog (and subsequently joined this website) as a teenager because it seemed like the most exciting and adventurous form of modern music, or rock music, available. I also learnt the indie community has values and ideals in music beyond the mainstream, and I could tap into their discoveries as well. I was outnumbered and probably alone when I was most active here, when I was a kid dedicated to doing work for the Prog-Metal team, but it would seem, judging by the posts left here that came up when I was doing this or that Google search over the years, that there are far more active forum users with awareness of both the worlds of unorthodox rock music. 

I guess the likes of BCNR and black midi can still appear on Collaborators' annual top albums charts? The specialists / enthusiasts are very likely to have heard them and developed a liking, while prog just isn't in its prime for the general userbase to agree on anything. These aren't the days when new prog and prog metal greats were churning out their finest records any more. Instead, you might have, what, Wobbler and Big Big Train (not any more, I guess), and albums by old favourites of any era and subgenre of prog that chanced to achieve immediate recognition but only for said bands' fans. Heck, when were the last great releases by Phideaux and Discipline? You get what I'm trying to say. 

It snowballs for sure. For RateYourMusic in particular (because, let's face it, your common TikTok-using Gen Zer is about as likely to meticulously assign ratings to tracks on the internet after meticulously listening to them as your common pop-punk 20 years prior, or your common hair metal aficionado 20 more years prior to that), the target audience might not be TikTok but rather something like 4chan, with senseless dedication that amounts to no clout and any real feeling of belonging amongst your circle of friends, but desperate clinging to geek culture and certainly some comprehension of the quirky, adventurous and unrelenting side of music. What is Christian Vander missing that Michael Gira has (the two might have a few things in common)? He's French, his band sings in Kobaian (didn't stop Sigur Ros), and he's less straightforward and austere. I'm sure your explanation will be at least as good as mine. 

My thinking is that I only care about what prog fans think about prog. Conversely do I care about 'straight ahead' rock music? Not really but many do and that's fine. I'm not going to go and rate a load of LZ albums as I rarely listen to them. I like The Who a lot more because they were (and are) way more interesting to me. Controverisal opinion perhaps. Don't know. 

Anyway this is a list of tracks not bands. ELP did Tarkus. If that's not in a list of important 100 prog tracks then it's worthless. It's as binary as that to me. I don't worry about it at all. I come here for valid opinions and recommendations about prog. RYM time and time again shows its general uselessness re prog. Yep I get Floyd are highly rated and more well known as are Genesis. I like these bands as well. I don't need a list of everything they did though do I? I can easily source it myself by getting the CD's off the shelf.

RYM or any statistics you can gather there will not tell us what is prog or what prog is good, but it can continue to give us leads as to what new music deserves to be heard and added here. Will you hear about black midi here first, or if you frequent RYM? On the other hand, you'll discover a new IQ album is coming out, or that Phideaux exists if you are present here a lot.