What is "vanilla prog metal"?

The thing about Beethoven, and other classical music composers, is that he started emulating others for work to learn his craft, but did develop his own style and advance "academic" music.  He was an extremely important and influential composer who was very significant in making the transition between the classical and romantic eras.  Perhaps one could say that his early compositions are vanilla classical (I wouldn't say so because I think he showed extraordinary ability in composition, and I could not call them dull in that sense of the word vanilla, but he was progressive.

Edited by Logan - July 08 2012 at 14:04

Originally posted by dtguitarfan Yes, so, to the OP, Cristian, when someone says "Vanilla Prog", unless they are putting it in quotes, what they usually mean is "I hate prog metal and want all my music to sound strange and weird and be anti-everything-that-ever-existed-before and therefore I am very unhappy with all music in general and only like about 4 bands and hate everything else."

You're kind of rabid about that genre, wouldn't you say?

Originally posted by The Truth Originally posted by dtguitarfan Yes, so, to the OP, Cristian, when someone says "Vanilla Prog", unless they are putting it in quotes, what they usually mean is "I hate prog metal and want all my music to sound strange and weird and be anti-everything-that-ever-existed-before and therefore I am very unhappy with all music in general and only like about 4 bands and hate everything else." You're kind of rabid about that genre, wouldn't you say?

You're kind of rabid about letting people know your dislike for it, wouldn't you say?

That's my main problem with some people here - the eagerness to share dislike.  Makes it hard to find the actual cool people sometimes.

Originally posted by dtguitarfan Originally posted by The Truth Originally posted by dtguitarfan Yes, so, to the OP, Cristian, when someone says "Vanilla Prog", unless they are putting it in quotes, what they usually mean is "I hate prog metal and want all my music to sound strange and weird and be anti-everything-that-ever-existed-before and therefore I am very unhappy with all music in general and only like about 4 bands and hate everything else." You're kind of rabid about that genre, wouldn't you say? You're kind of rabid about letting people know your dislike for it, wouldn't you say? That's my main problem with some people here - the eagerness to share dislike.  Makes it hard to find the actual cool people sometimes.

I've never thought of any progressive metal as "vanilla;" it's not sweet, it's very meaty and crunchy.  Not a vanilla wafer, not vanilla ice cream; more like a good, juicy steak with some homemade fries and chips, and a 32-ounce soda from Quiktrip to provide just a bit sugariness to the whole mix, complementing the more meaty metal sections.

Edited by Ambient Hurricanes - July 08 2012 at 14:42

Originally posted by darkshade

I think Vanilla Prog Metal would be bands that sound like DT, Symphony X, Fates Warning, and the like. The newer, more extreme bands are trying to do new things. I'm guessing the quality of the vanilla bands or the original bands is not being questioned in the thread, necessarily, just what does the 'vanilla' term mean.

As I tend to use the term quite frequently, I'll put the record straight.

There are three sub genres of metal here on the site, Progressive Metal, Experimental/Post Metal and Tech/Extreme Metal. All three get reffered to as Prog metal by everyone for ease of use, but in discussions where the broad term prog metal has already been used, I use "vanilla" to diffirentiate between Progressive Metal and the other two subs. The term vanilla gets used because its the one most people readilly identify as prog metal and there are a lot of clones in that sub genre, but it is not always used as a derogatory term (I happen to rather like vanilla, more than most other flavours at least) and just as a way to differentiate prog metal from the other subs.

Originally posted by Ambient Hurricanes I've never thought of any progressive metal as "vanilla;" it's not sweet, it's very meaty and crunchy.  Not a vanilla wafer, not vanilla ice cream; more like a good, juicy steak with some homemade fries and chips, and a 32-ounce soda from Quiktrip to provide just a bit sugariness to the whole mix, complementing the more meaty metal sections...

Dude...I respect you more and more, Jacob.

And cool that you're getting more into DT by the way.  But I wouldn't bother trying to save them over on that battle thread - I put "Death" into the mix to prove a point - and it was proven well when immediately after adding them, Dream Theater, Flower Kings, and Pink Floyd were the ones to receive kill votes.

Originally posted by Cristi I hope the term "vanilla prog" does not get picked or used; it's annoying and derogatory, even to name uninspired music.

^THIS

Originally posted by dtguitarfan Originally posted by Ambient Hurricanes I've never thought of any progressive metal as "vanilla;" it's not sweet, it's very meaty and crunchy.  Not a vanilla wafer, not vanilla ice cream; more like a good, juicy steak with some homemade fries and chips, and a 32-ounce soda from Quiktrip to provide just a bit sugariness to the whole mix, complementing the more meaty metal sections... Dude...I respect you more and more, Jacob. And cool that you're getting more into DT by the way.  But I wouldn't bother trying to save them over on that battle thread - I put "Death" into the mix to prove a point - and it was proven well when immediately after adding them, Dream Theater, Flower Kings, and Pink Floyd were the ones to receive kill votes.