The question of what is prog and what isn’t, a constant topic of conversation and confrontation often leading to heated arguments and harsh words in our mostly peaceful & placid community of music lovers. Most recently, and still quite current, is a thread on PE (progressiveears.com) addressing this ongoing issue, and the usual conclusions are being reached …Old vs New, old farts, closed minds, age related insults, this or that is crap, lack of acceptance of new bands etc. I could write much more but I think my message is quite clear that there is an obvious division of thought & position regarding so called ‘old ‘ & ‘new’ , let’s say ‘adventurous music’. I do not usually participate in these discussions, mainly because as I have stated, they do result in negative personal comments and achieve very little. My very lengthy experience in the world of music has taught me many things…time does not change that much. During the late 60’s, adventurous rock (AR) was born, basically combining rock with jazz & classical elements this new music was, because like jazz & classical music, very appealing to people that preferred to listen to, rather than dance to music. Now, as we all are aware, this new ‘listening music’ would appeal mostly to males, this is a fact that cannot be overlooked and consequently, had very limited appeal to females. In addition, AR attracted the attention of the small percentage of people that are not interested in the mainstream, music or otherwise…This small percentage has remained constant through the years and more than likely has always existed, not only in music but every area of so called underground entertainment etc. It is this particular group of people that I, and most of you, are a part of, and due to the nature of the music, which leans heavily on musicianship, as opposed to the more mainstream singer & backing format, does, in fact, appeal mostly to musicians. During the 70’s AR did manage to reach the mainstream when bands like Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull & Genesis etc. had hit singles, which, in all honesty, did not please, the real and established fans of these bands. The people that filled the arenas during this period, are, for the most part, long gone, leaving behind the true lovers, the diehards of AR, that do to this day, support the genre. This same scenario appears in today’s musical world, with bands like Arcade Fire, Tool, Muse etc. that bear very little resemblance to the AR of past decades, but still appeals to the small percentage of people that are not into the mainstream. The real argument occurs when comparisons are made…IMO, it’s purely subjective as to whether you like the new AR or not…time will tell if the newer music has enough compositional & musical skills to survive to the same extent that the original AR does. As a minority non musician, I’m not qualified to judge those elements, “I know what I like”.
