Everything is prog?

 

There is Progressive as a noun, which is the name of something and as a general rule the first letter is often capitalised to emphasis that it is the name of something specific rather than the name of something generic (such as cat for example as opposed to Tiddles the cat) - as with all names it is perfectly acceptible to shorten that as a diminutive, hence we get Prog, which is still a noun and is still the name of the same something.

 

And there is progressive as an adjective, this is a 'describing word' that we put with a noun to describe, modify  or other substantive by limiting, qualifying, or specifying characteristics of the noun, as a general rule unless it is used at the start of a sentence (which would be difficult to do in correct grammar) the first letter of the adjective progressive should never be capitalised. Also, progressive as an adjective should not be shortened at all (ever) as it is the -ive suffix that denotes that it is the adjective form of progress, remove the -ive ending and the word looses its descriptive meaning completely.

 

Therefore it is grammatically correct, for example, to describe an artist as a progressive Progressive Rock artist since we are using both the adjective form and the noun form of the word.

 

Therefore it is musicologically correct for a band or artist to belong in a genre of music known as Progressive as a name (as in Progressive Rock, or Progressive Metal) without their music being described as being progressive as an adjective.

 

Armed with this basic knowledge of the usage of Progressive as a noun and progressive as an adjective any further discussion on this subject is rendered pointless as any point, comment or opinion can be systematically categorised as using the word progressive either as a noun or an adjective.

 

I don't know how you guys feel, but after a while, those elements that might have made some bands progressive for their time now are recycled by bands as if it gives them some novelty that doesn't exist. What do you call this music? It's always called 'prog' but it is not really progressive if you get what I mean.

For example, Dream Theater sparked a whole bunch of imitation bands that wanted nothing but to sound exactly like them, it seems... and I would be rude to name-drop.

Can that really count as progressive music?

I find that if the term 'progressive' is wearing me out, I like to go to avant-garde music sub genres, maybe bands that consider themselves both avant-garde and progressive, or experimental. Otherwise, you end up with a bunch of power metal bands that really want to be Symphony X, or Dream Theater, but lack what makes those bands exciting.