Has Prog achieved 'inmortality'?

SteveG wrote:     So yes, I believe that prog has reached 'immortality' but not the same level as metal, country, hip hop and others genres.

Hi,

Edited by moshkito - November 24 2014 at 14:15

Svetonio wrote: richardh wrote: The thing is who is buying it? Those same fans that bought anything ELP,Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd released are still (mostly) alive and well and in many cases with spare cash to spend. That's what keeps it going. In 30 years it will be gone as will most of us. Progressive rock is entertainment but it's also Art. The fact is that Art business is bulls*it business. However, Art will never stop because it does not make a good business for all of those who want to express themselves artistically.

richardh wrote: Svetonio wrote: richardh wrote: The thing is who is buying it? Those same fans that bought anything ELP,Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd released are still (mostly) alive and well and in many cases with spare cash to spend. That's what keeps it going. In 30 years it will be gone as will most of us. Progressive rock is entertainment but it's also Art. The fact is that Art business is bulls*it business. However, Art will never stop because it does not make a good business for all of those who want to express themselves artistically. Its that usual thing - 'prog' or 'progressive'? Progressive music will always exist but it will be hardly recognisable to most of us. The OP is talking about something that is less about art and more about a style or formula that will just continue to be and that's what I take issue with. The fact is that 'prog' is business. CD's are put out and they sell. I doubt that anyone is going to just fund some hobby.

Edited by Svetonio - November 24 2014 at 15:13

SteveG wrote: To really answer this question, one has to look outside of a genre's history and the current trends of other musical genres to gauge the 'mortality' of those particular genres. Not easy when you're whole world is almost completely dependent or focused on prog.   Take electronic dance music for example. An 80/90's phenomenon that has had a renaissance with electronic music groups like Daft Punk and others that are riding this renewed gravy train.   So yes, I believe that prog has reached 'immortality' but not the same level as metal, country, hip hop and others genres.   These genres are all vampires in one form or another.   It's only the ones getting more blood or an unexpected infusion that will always be more noticeable.

interesting post.  Prog is for the most predicated on rock ..and rock as anyone should really recognize is a dying art form. It had its day.. the glory days of which which other boss musical forms.. jazz before rock, and I suppose classical before that could only dream of. However IMO it should be plainly obvious that rock music has been enclipsed as the popular form of music by hip hop. That is what most young people listen to and  relate to, where the Elvis elvated rock music to become to music of the masses it seems it has run its course unless you consider groups like Nickleback or the Foo Fighters to be the standard bearers of rock.   Rock music in general, and progressive rock specifically have receded into the underground which is not a bad thing in itself. It allows the freedom to be creative and artistic without the chance of commerical success which of course can ruin the pursuit of art for its own sake hahah. 

Prog is, IMO, a dying musical genre. Many of the new groups today owe little to Yes or Genesis or ELP but instead have forged ahead making their own musical statements, using such untapped influences as Chinese Folk or Eastern European folk or god forbid.. good old fashioned pop music.  Prog will last as long as the last baby boomers and groups like Yes and their like will go the way of Glen Miller Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorcey but always hold a historical appeal but audiences will move on to music that relates to them. That is the way it will be, it has ALWAYS been the way it has always been.


Edited by micky - November 24 2014 at 17:44

Popular rock is dead. Good music has gone underground.

Surrealist wrote: siLLy puPPy wrote: Surrealist wrote: Music needs to be performed by either people, animals or nature.  Spending all day copy and pasting sound files on a computer from a folder filled with sound files is not music.  It's digital collage.  If you like playing video games that simulate car chases or war scenes... good for you.. but it's not driving a car or flying a medivac helicopter into a hot zone in Vietnam.  It's simulation.  Listening to computer electronica is like having sex based upon computer images.  You do that.. not me.  I prefer the real thing.  You like electronica and Prog? Same as you liking internet porn and real sex , but don't confuse the two.  Electronica is NOT music.  It digital collage of sound files.  It's ok to like it.. but you're being dumbed down by non musicians brainwashing you into thinking it's music.  It's not. Well, i guess the minute someone plugs in their guitar and amplifies it it is no longer music. Who do you think programs the computers and assembles the collages? Do the computers actually assemble the sounds randomly or is there a human involved? Just admit it that you don't like an entire genre based on your prejudice and leave it at that. But to come up with ridiculous blanket statements like this is laughable. On the contrary to being dumbed down i find certain electronica artists hightly progressive with incredibly original ideas but maybe i've been brainwashed into thinking so while i'm watching internet porn! Ha ha ha That really hurt my feelings But after thinking about it all day and going through 1/5th of a box of tissue, I realized that the person who wrote this probably is one of those insensitive soulless humans who probably likes mindless soulless music like electronica and has been so dumbed down by peer pressure to conform that they have no idea what they are talking about or are completely unaware of human emotion and the ramifications thereof. I think when someone plugs in a guitar into an amplifier, they are still playing an instrument.  Unlike the pretentious "DJ" spinning up on the platform who isn't playing anything other than posing as a fake god to the dumbest generation of all time. You do that.. not me.

I don't want to just point out minor details and avoid confronting your main point but you don't seem to have one. You call electronic music "NOT music" and "mindless soulless music." In the case that you mean the former, I don't think even you totally adhere to your prescribed definition of the word as shown to your reference to it in regards to electronic music. So you seem to just be saying "electronic music" is bad, but only by principle and not aesthetically. That, to me, is soulless. Not to mention, your comments seem to be more vitriolic than anything he said.


Edited by Polymorphia - November 24 2014 at 20:20

1. What is the purpose of an instrument? To make sound. A computer does the same. 

Edited by Polymorphia - November 24 2014 at 23:26

bj_waters wrote: richardh wrote: The thing is who is buying it? Those same fans that bought anything ELP,Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd released are still (mostly) alive and well and in many cases with spare cash to spend. That's what keeps it going. In 30 years it will be gone as will most of us. Maybe in the future, no one will buy music.  Maybe they will be inspired by U2's latest idea (except forcing it on everyone, of course), and musicians will make their money on live shows and merch.  I could see prog rock living in that kind of environment, with their emphasis on live technical wizardy and visual spectacle.  Basically, be KISS, but with much better music. Let me give an example that's probably working today.  Say what you will about the band, but the sheer stage presence of Umphrey's McGee is undeniable, and I bet they don't make all that much money from the sales of studio albums.  I could see a lot of younger prog rock bands following in their shoes. Here's another thought.  Right now, not only are in an era of perpetual piracy and bootleg swapping, but streaming services like Pandora and Spotify are starting to really explode.  Maybe, in the future, people won't bother with "owning" music, per se, but streaming it to their devices, so they don't have to bother with owning. Now, I bet that probably rankles a number of you, as you have great pride in your album collections, and you're not wrong to feel that way (I'm that way with my video games and anime), but maybe owning music will become a generational thing, and in the future, people will just stream it, with every genre conceivable at their fingertips, the musicians getting pennies per stream (if that) or something.  The internet has become a part of our everyday living (for most of the first world), and as such it has changed a lot of things, including how people listen to music. Well, that's probably enough idle speculation for one day.

^^ With the coming 3D immersive virtual reality technologies, bands may be able to just record a single concert with all their repertoire and you will be able to experience it from home as if you were there in the audience, choose where in the audience you want to be and which set list you want to hear. No need for touring the world carrying tons of equipment anymore.