Will prog ever make a comeback...

Will prog ever make a comeback? The sad thing is that it could have been a dominant genre but music journalists became adament that their medium would never amount to anything greater than two minute show tunes, where the performance was more important than the playing. I hold to it that the reason they killed prog is because they were comfortable in their mediocrity and intimidated that prog represented genuine skill, not just musically but philosophically, literary, and culturally. We could have had a musical renaissance that rivaled the greatest art forms. As good as Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, Crimson were, imagine if we had six generations of artists rising and studying, and developing it forward. Imagine what we would have today. I believe the music industry itself had a hand in this as they wanted to ensure that music remained something that a single producer could steer, giving rise to the modern DJ/rap culture where the artist is the most superfluous element. At least we still have that little window in the late 60s, early 70s where music was almost something that mattered.

Is this le pasta?

>I hold to it that the reason they killed prog is because they were comfortable in their mediocrity and intimidated that prog represented genuine skill, not just musically but philosophically, literary, and culturally.
This is correct, though you've got to remember that many traditional prog bands demonstrated a lack of this as well.

It took me a while to realise, but prog isn't the only form of progressive rock if you get my meaning. The classical/jazz influences, allusions to high matter and seriously good musicianship are all present in many artists outside of prog. However, I do agree that prog has far from reached its ultimate potential as a genre - years of awful neo-prog bands don't prove that it's a dead form of music, just that music journalism culture's distinct and maintained distaste of prog dissuaded all but the most die-hard followers of the genre to go elsewhere with their music. And prog isn't about following, it's about pioneering and expanding horizons. Modern prog is largely cheesy, soulless, boring and overproduced - but what makes it essential not prog is that it tries so hard to be prog. Older prog music (I'd say Jethro Tull and King Crimson were the epitome of this) understood the need for textures, atmospherics, real-life themes, and to go beyond the genre wherever possible. No great prog band was ever just a prog band - they flirted with folk, avant-garde, math, electronic, ambient, psychedelic, etc. in a meaningful way and that made all the difference.

It seems that you're possibly a classically trained or a professional musician or just a person with a deep love and understanding of music, which is also a virtue. What contemporary (neo) prog bands would you consider mediocre and which ones outstanding? I would really like to hear the list of your favorite albums and prog bands.

Great post OP.

I would also like this, good thread guys

Windows users (aka children), how's it feel to know there's an entire group of individuals who are better at computers than you are? Meet Linux users. They are better than you.

They understand the hardware better, they understand the basic principles of computer science better, they know how networks work better than you. They understand the pros and cons of filesystems (including ntfs) because on linux, you get to choose FS's; they understand the principles behind operating system design because they run into phrases like "microkernel" and "monolithic kernels"; they can probably program, too, since learning a scripting language vastly improves productivity on linux (and this really pisses you off, since programming was one thing you always failed at on windows.) Oh, and they probably know windows better than you, since most advanced linux
users these days are ex-windows users who managed to learn linux years ago, when it was much less user friendly.

At this point, a confident individual would admit to himself he has a lot to learn about linux and computers in general. But since you lack the self esteem to do that, you run back to windows, install a MMORPG and keep repeating to yourself "at least I can run games. at least I can run games."

If you're looking for a job, all this hits you even harder, because you realize a lot of the jobs require linux in one way or another. Even many of the windows related jobs recommend linux! At this point, you rationalize "well the only thing I know is windows, so I must be a windows expert!" as if knowing only one thing makes you an automatic expert, or that learning linux forces you to forget windows entirely.

Wrong board perhaps? Your post is clearly Cred Forums related.

Holy shit you're such a fucking dumbass, you know that? You are the bottom of the Earth. The people nobody wants to talk to. You spend so much time listening to shitty music yet you think it's good. You spend your time obsessing about people and posting them on the internet to look cool yet in reality if people in real life saw that what would they think? They think you were a loser, you fucking loser. You aren't interested in starting a discussion with me? It's probably because you don't even know how. I'm not retarded, I'm telling the truth. Know what you're doing before you do it. The way you're acting now is so childish I can't even begin to explain. Listen to a mature record that isn't a totally exaggerated mess of emotions and poor musical merit. Which is what you listen to now. How about some avant-garde jazz? Try A Love Supreme, it's pretty entry level. You probably won't get it though because you're a worthless sack of shit. You will never amount to anything in life. Go outside, take a walk, don't think about your edgy so deep music for once. Once you've done that, come back and try to look at what you're doing right now. Maybe after a few times you'll see that you're a complete child and need to improve. Or maybe you have a serious mental issue. Maybe Autism? I'm guessing that's it. Seek a doctor or therapy to help that out. Or maybe you don't. Maybe you're just a close minded retard with no understanding of anything at all.

Don't even try to bring this argument anywhere else. I won't respond, or I'll think of something to get you mad since you're easily made upset. This discussion is over, sorry loser.

Specifically modern prog? I find bands like Bigelf, Gazpacho and Haken to be tiresome and unoriginal. By contrast, there are a few modern prog albums which I really feel bring something to the genre. One is The Raven That Refused To Sing - though many have the same criticism of it that I have of the above bands, I've always seen it as really unique in that it's basically a series of children's ghost stories with a legitimately haunting atmosphere which comes through the vocals, the instrumentation and the production. There is also a great variety in the actual music on display - Luminol is a groove-driven minimalist piece like Neu! in a ghost house, Drive Home and The Raven are both really beatiful heartfelt ballads which are nonetheless quite different in tone, The Pin Drop is a chaotic depiction of hell and The Watchmaker is just an all-round extremely well-written piece with some great and memorable flute work. And then Wilson went and made Hand Cannot Erase which was a huge step back.

Btw not sure if you were being facaetious or not but I don't have any kind of academic knowledge of classical music.