Progarchives.com has always (since 2002) relied on banners ads to cover web hosting fees and all. Please consider supporting us by giving monthly PayPal donations and help keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.
Joined: March 05 2006
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 2086
Posted: February 27 2015 at 05:11
About a year ago (see http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=95494&KW=) I made an analysis of the number of albums gathering a rating (QWR) of at least 4 in the period 1970 to primo 2014, cf. the chart below.
As seen, 2000 up to 2008 indeed indicates that the 2000's was the second or perhaps even the best decade for prog as per the average PA reviewer . However, ratings dropped dramatically in 2008 (year of financial meltdown).
Also, personally I find the 2000's to be the second best decade for prog, although there are individual albums scattered out over the years between the 70's and the 00's that are of very high quality.
Joined: December 10 2011
Status: Offline
Points: 1301
Posted: February 21 2015 at 09:42
i've not read this thread, but i would say that the 00s are the second best decade for prog. however, an argument can be made for mid-90s to '05 being the second best decade. that's when spock's, flower kings and porcupine tree put out their initial masterpieces.
Joined: November 07 2008
Status: Offline
Points: 1327
Posted: February 18 2015 at 03:08
1996-2005 is the best 10-year period for prog. Especially prog metal. You got the heaviness (Opeth's Deliverance, DT's Train of Thought), diversity (Agalloch's The Mantle), religious (Orphaned Land), personal (Pain of Salvation), epic sci-fi (Ayreon, Arcturus), commercially successful and unconventional sound (two Tool albums), one really really kickass song (Riverside's Second Life Syndrome), talented musicians (Dan Swano, Steven Wilson), and technicality (three Rush tours!). The strongest albums in prog history came out in those ten years. The second half of 2000s (06-09) really is much inferior.
Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 26199
Posted: February 17 2015 at 01:48
The 80's was an interesting decade to find out who could kick against the trend for 'plastic' music in line with the culture. There were some gems from that decade and not much comfortably fitted within the 'prog' bracket. Propaganda - A Secret Wish is a good example. It had some sprinkling of prog magic but is mostly German industrial synth pop music , something that had a bit of revival at this time , thinking of Kraftwerk 'The Model' as one example. One of my favourite albums of that decade is somewhat overlooked Al Stewart - Last Days Of The Century but is it prog? probably not.
The 00's has seen a lot of bands that are influenced by prog and so either imitate it ( ie The Flower Kings , Spocks Beard , Glass Hammer etc) or create their own brew ( ie Radiohead , The Mars Volta and Muse)
With this we have a much stronger connection with the seventies than we had in the 80's which was trying hard not be the 70's! In summation I would vote for the 00's but only because of the stylistic connection and sheer quantity available.
Joined: September 20 2010
Location: Serbia
Status: Offline
Points: 10213
Posted: February 16 2015 at 17:27
sublime220 wrote:
Prog didn't go into hiding in the 80's, there was just new ideas that emerged that the public weren't interested in. I'd personally say that the 80's had very good music, but people just sort of brushed it off.
I haven't really been as impressed with the 10's as I was in the 00's but maybe I need to hear the latter half to make a full decision.
1980'swerepredominantly post-punk/new wave. Wholoved at that time to listening topost-punk / new wave as his/her favourite music genre, and enjoyed that '80s lifestyle ( actually characterized by search for a party and pleasure only ), that one can say now, with full self-respect, that itwas a decade alsomagnificent as it was '60s and '70s - or even more magnificent than '60sand '70s.
But when an aged, hardcore progger talk now in superlatives about '80s, I'm affraid that is just romantized point of view of an old man or woman about his/her young age in general.
A quite different thing is with the kids, young prog artists, who can and should take as much as they can of the best musical things from that decade.
Prog didn't go into hiding in the 80's, there was just new ideas that emerged that the public weren't interested in. I'd personally say that the 80's had very good music, but people just sort of brushed it off.
I haven't really been as impressed with the 10's as I was in the 00's but maybe I need to hear the latter half to make a full decision.
There is no dark side in the moon, really... Matter of fact, it's all dark...
I guess it's all down to what you think of as being prog (no let's not get into that again), but if we're simply talking bands featured on PA, then I'd take the 80s over anything since due to the incredible RIO/Avant boom.
Yeah well maybe not. I just find it hard to put one decade over another when talking about music.
Depending on where you are in the world the RIO stuff was way off the radar at the time it was released. The Internet explosion of the turn of the century made so much more of 5 his stuff accessible. The prevailing attitude of the 80's was not one of discovery and creation. It was of comfort and suppression of grand ideas.
Sure that goes without saying, but aren't we talking about (the subjective) quality of music instead of actual popularity?
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: August 12 2007
Location: Bryant, Wa
Status: Offline
Points: 8576
Posted: February 16 2015 at 12:58
Guldbamsen wrote:
I guess it's all down to what you think of as being prog (no let's not get into that again), but if we're simply talking bands featured on PA, then I'd take the 80s over anything since due to the incredible RIO/Avant boom.
Yeah well maybe not. I just find it hard to put one decade over another when talking about music.
Depending on where you are in the world the RIO stuff was way off the radar at the time it was released. The Internet explosion of the turn of the century made so much more of 5 his stuff accessible. The prevailing attitude of the 80's was not one of discovery and creation. It was of comfort and suppression of grand ideas.
Joined: July 29 2005
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 24391
Posted: February 15 2015 at 07:34
There was a lot of great music released in the '80s - only it wasn't "traditional" prog. Some of my favourite albums were released in that decade: Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, Kate Bush's The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, Peter Gabriel's 3 and 4, Talking Head's Remain in Light, Japan's Tin Drum - to name but a few.
Anyway, back to the original question, I think the past 15 years as a whole have been fantastic in terms of progressive music releases, and the past five years have brought a wealth of often outstanding music - in some cases as good as its celebrated Seventies counterparts. However, the majority of the music that, in my view, is truly pushing the envelope is often more rooted in the Eighties than in the Seventies. This is especially the case of RIO/Avant, Crossover and progressive metal.
Joined: April 14 2011
Location: Melbourne
Status: Offline
Points: 24
Posted: February 15 2015 at 02:30
On my last.fm (which you can see in my signature here I think) I have a list of favourite albums in chronological order.
The 70s is the most represented decade (14), just ahead of the 00s (10) The 10s (8) are catching up fast. But that is because there is more of an incentive to listen to new music, with bands touring and so on. There is a ten year gap with no albums between '80 and '90, which amuses me.
(...) And also, what do you all think of how this decade will match up with the rest? I think the 2010s have done a pretty good job running with the momentum last decade had.
I think that this decade is already great. And I don't think that the best new prog bands will turn into pop-rock in the second half of this dacade as it was the case with many of the 70s bigs in the second half of '70s and beyond.
I don't think anyone would think a Prog band would switch to Pop in this day and age. Why would they? What happened with many of the seventies bands who continued to make music into the eighties was unique to that time.
You know, I wouldn't mind a Prog band going into a more poppy, but still proggy direction. Porcupine Tree 1998-2001 did that, and they put out two of their best albums that way.
omphaloskepsis wrote:
Good topic. I was asking myself the same question a week ago. My favorite 10 year period is 1968-1977.
How do you think 2010-2015 stacks up against 2000's so far?
I feel like I still need to feel out this decade more before I comment, but so far, there's been like three five-star albums out so far (The Raven, La Crudelta Di Aprile, The Road of Bones), so that's good enough for me.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
This page was generated in 0.188 seconds.
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
The 2000s: the second best decade for prog?
Topic Options
Hercules wrote:
), talented musicians (Dan Swano, Steven Wilson), and technicality (three Rush tours!). The strongest albums in prog history came out in those ten years. The second half of 2000s (06-09) really is much inferior. 
