While I'm writing I'm listening to Ashra's "Lotus": 17 minutes spent on two repetitive major chords and I'm everything but bored. I can't stand a whole Michael Jackson's song instead.  

Not only that, 'danceable' songs can also be complex and interesting but we should not disturb the beautiful illusion of prog elitists for they have forgotten how to like this vast ocean of other, 'commercial' music.

I've developed this theory (in the colloquial sense of course) on why people find prog boring... because they don't like music. As simple as that. People listen to singers sing peotry with some background music to go with it. That's all there is to it. I asked tons of mainstream radio-friendly music listeners to hum songs and none of them could hum the actual music aside from the vocal melodies. And even some of them would not hum the melody itself but actually SING the words. People still think a song is a poem sung with background music.

I on the other hand, listen to music. Which of course includes the vocals, but no the lyrics. People don't understand how "i do it", but it's rather simple. Do you know every language in the world? Then either you only listen to "music sung" in the languages you know, or you know how to listen to a melody without paying attention to the words. I listen to every song as if it were in a language I don't understand. That's how most of my favorite prog albums are sung in italian and I don't know a single word. The singers melt my heart with their voices and melodies, but I don't know what they say. It doesn't take away from the musical experience. For most people a song they can't understand is useless. Well, music has no language, that's it. If you want poetry, read poems.

Another example to add to my claim is that when you introduce a song to someone like that, the first thing they ask you is "what is it about?". They're unable to enjoy a song on the merit of the music itself, they need words or it's not good to them.


Edited by samus88 - March 14 2015 at 02:10

Boredom is a state of mind that precedes any kind of musical or other form of expression. Anything can be boring if one is already predisposed to being apathetic and disinterested. Prog is mood music , so I am always open to any challenge , technical wizardry and/or melodic disposition. I find the alternative scene to be utterly boring (Nickelback and such...)  

samus88 wrote: I've developed this theory (in the colloquial sense of course) on why people find prog boring... because they don't like music. As simple as that.

Total BS.  Why can't people accept that other folks have different tastes without resorting to these ludicrous assertions?

Idk hearing wonky keyboard solos over and over (the only kind of true prog), can get kind of boring to me too. 

Along with what others have said, i wud add that "Lack of Experience" is one of the major reasons why people can't appreciate prog. It takes quite a while getting used to the complexity...
For an untrained ear, the transition from mainstream music(any kind) to progressive rock (before prog) must be very smooth and gradual.

From-
"Prog is boring" to "Nothing is as exciting as prog"...
The journey is quite long which not everybody can be expected to be able to undertake.

And yet here we are, discussing our beloved music on an internet forum.

Rogerthat, you're simply taking the self-hating side of the coin. You know great prog isn't about the number of notes played, and you also know that this forum is more valuable than Twitter. There are people on this site discussing music which has meant something to them for 40 years.