What’s the meaning of prog

Simply that I can't imagine a life without Progressive Rock, even though I've been far removed from prog for the last few days, listening to the funky soul of George Clinton (Dr. Funkenstein), as well as listening to Demis Roussos warbling his way through over twenty albums, where the only thing progressive about Demis Roussos is his albums get progressively worse. 

In the early days, I think there were some distinctly 'proggy' sounds - Canterbury, Symphonic, JR/F, Zeuhl, etc., that were actually distinct types of music themselves. But they had some common elements that at the time were new to rock music, like: Long compositions, Time Signature Changes, use of non-standard instruments, integration with other genres. And the name 'progressive' implied anything that pushed the boundaries of rock could be considered part of this genre.

As well, there was a 'movement' aspect to it, but that movement, as much as it exists now, is a reaction to the past and the output of it, maybe even more so a reaction to what is popular on the radio, which it arguably was a reaction to in the early days of the genre.

So all these things that tied it into one genre that were never really very clear or exclusively owned by prog, exist all over the place. Sigur Ros is of course prog because they use non-rock instruments. Dream Theatre is of course prog because they have long compositions. King Gizzard + the Lizard Wizard are of course prog because they sound like the psych bands of old and change their approach all the time, . And so on. But the meaning of the genre, due to its inherent fuzziness, has just grown and grown, to the point that things that may have been spiritual cousins of prog are now considered part of the genre, and then thing that sound like them are also invited into the genre.

So it means many disparate things, and in some ways, it means nothing, and ...

well, I still discovered tons of good music by following the path of "What do people who like this music like me?" discover. But I can never say that when I started looking for more music like Yes, that I would have considered Bjork to be an appropriate recommendation. Took me years to get to the point where I had broadened my appreciation of music far beyond what I was originally looking for that I could be open to such a comparison. In the process, though, I became a little jaded about the value  of the term 'prog'.

Well, reflecting about Prog and better understanding of it doesn't make me appreciate the music less, on the contrary. 

- But that's again a matter of preferences. 

Psychedelic Paul must have hacked your login......Or assumed control of your mind.....

Prog wouldn't exist without reflecting about it, and reflection is the very core of the human nature.