Is prog dying out, or coming back?

I would suggest that prog bands produce videos of someone dangling string or rattling a set of keys to keep listeners' attention. 

It's probably better to ask someone at the front desk. Anyway, which store was it? Vintage Vinyl or the Princeton Record Exchange? Or maybe some other place. There's actually probably more than you think there are. I can think of three or four in the county I live in alone.

I figured it was probably VV. I've never been there but I've heard about it. A punk. Oh well. At least you know who to ask if you want a punk recommendation. Lol. I find that many record store owners and clerks are a bit snobby. Maybe not to the extent depicted in the movie High Fidelity but they often just act like they know it all and their taste is superior. They may as well work at Rolling Stone.

We need someone like a prog Eddie Van Halen, RIP!  When Van Halen hit the scene, it caused a real buzz!!  It was a new style of guitar playing, and very high energy.  

I suggest more young women to start with.  Prog hasn't had enough in my opinion....

I taught US high school for a bit, and asked the young guys what kind of music they liked.  The young are moving away from the sound of rock guitars completely, they were primarily into rap.   We need to change that. 

Hi,

Time to call Kevin Godley?

Yeah, what I said in another thread.  As somebody who was in my teenage and adolescence years in the noughties (that is, the decade before this one), it's changed so much even since my youth. There were those of us even then who liked rap more, but rock was a big deal and especially so among (hate to stereotype) young men. It's not a bad thing for MUSIC per se because this is going hand in hand with a lot of critically acclaimed rap coming out.  Rap has moved past the more mainstream and chart-ready artists now and is hence attracting more attention from the youth.  But barely any new big rock bands have broken out in a long time (with the latest one being an LZ clone that is more likely to appeal to older fans nostalgic for rock). The funny thing is in my early twenties, the people I new who liked metal (including myself) used to bash nu-metal and metalcore all the time but I see the positive side of that music now.  It was just edgy (or not-Creed, if you will) enough that kids found it exciting and catchy enough for them to not find it forbidding. And those bands acted as gateways for many to get into rock and metal.  That's gone now.  

Yes, basically what I was getting at.

Thank you, that is quite insightful! 

What do the youth of today care about?  In the 1970s, we were focused upon the stupid Viet Nam war, and prog artists like Crimson and Yes responded to anti-war sentiments.  Environmental sensitivities were also being stirred, and Yes in particular played to those interests.

I know (as a sometimes public school teacher) that the kids are very concerned about wildlife, environmental, global warming, water etc.  They are waking up to the fact that they are going to inherit a sh*te-hole of a planet from us geezers, and they aren't thrilled about it.  They are also motivated by very strong feelings of humanity and inclusion of all races, orientations etc. 

Therefore, prog cannot just be about "elves and unicorns"  !  Prog musicians and composers need to focus upon the interests of our audiences, rather than what WE wish to write about.   A prog band that writes an epic environmental work would draw attention.  

Personal disclosure - I'm a leading environmental scientist with awards from the UK and US governments (thank you your majesty), and I was inspired to this path by a single lyric in TFTO, RSOG - "Let them rape the forests."  I vowed that I would never allow that.  

I told this to Jon Anderson backstage in 2004, he gave me a wonderful smile that I shall always cherish. 

What a wonderful story