Prog genres that you dislike

Disclaimer: I don’t actually dislike any of these genres—I’m just less drawn to them, that’s all.

Symphonic prog: I wouldn’t say I dislike symphonic prog. In fact, many great early prog bands like Yes and Genesis were symphonic, and I really enjoy more recent acts like Wobbler or The Flower Kings. That said, the genre can be pretty hit-or-miss for me. It often leans into clichés, and many albums fail to surprise me because of that. Compared to RIO or eclectic, it is often less experimental, and at the end less remarkable. So it's not that I dislike symphonic prog itself — I'm just cautious when approaching it. I'm aware there are counter-examples (Bacamarte, All Traps on Earth, etc.), I'm not saying symphonic prog as a whole is not compelling.

Progressive metal: I’ve always had a bit of a feud with metal in general. Sure, it’s catchy, but it rarely moves me emotionally. That said, I’m not opposed to noisy or hardcore music—I love The Mars Volta, and a lot of early prog bands like King Crimson or Atomic Rooster explored proto-metal territory.

My issue lies more with conventional prog metal, which often suffers from the same shortcomings as symphonic prog: it can feel formulaic and uninspired.

I also struggle with much of contemporary instrumental rock or virtuoso-oriented music in the vein of Polyphia or Sithu Aye. While technically impressive, these albums often lack cohesion and come across more as displays of skill than fully realized artistic statements. The same criticism could be made about jazz-fusion as well (Allan Holdsworth, for instance).

Psychedelic/Space Rock: Funnily enough, many so-called psychedelic or "trippy" albums end up feeling less genuinely trippy than a lot of RIO or post-rock. Just saying. I don’t dislike psychedelic rock, but it often comes off as bland.

Edited by Gnik Nosmirc - 18 hours 29 minutes ago at 18:51

Gnik Nosmirc wrote: Disclaimer: I don’t actually dislike any of these genres—I’m just less drawn to them, that’s all. ...

Hi,

I wonder if the real issue is that things change with time, and the definitions end up being left behind, and not able to get updated. HOWEVER, I do not listen to genres at all ... I listen to music!

Recently I wrote on a slight comment/review of a band about krautrock, and the difference between a "guided improvisation" and a "free form improvisation", and the way to say it was a film/theater set of words ... script or no script ... and the early "krautrock", did not exactly have a script (witness Werner Herzog's film about Klaus Kinski ... the "krautrock" version on film and theater!)(or Tago Mago, that came from 20+ hours of wide open improvisations per Holger!!!) and its start was sort of described as something that Amon Duul 1 (the original) was doing, which was just a party and fun circle and there were no rules or scripts except (likely!!!) get stoned and then get laid! (Thus, the origin of AD2's first album which fits their very typical/satirical style of comments!)

That review/comment was a "guided" tour for the band, with the drummer on a beat, and/or a guitar leading, and their freedom was not as wide open as we would think. Thus, entering this band into "krautrock" makes sense, only because it "sounds like" ... not because it "belongs".

The "symphonic" thing is even more scary, since a lot of it was originally coming from stuff that was classically inspired and one might even consider KE a strong person there, but then, it was considered "art rock" because the majority of classical music is/was considered "art" ... but today, the Internet does not care about "art" or music that is similarly created like a "symphony" would ... the whole thing for symphonic seems to be ... it sounds like ... and it's just short cuts and not exactly "symphonic" at all ... but it has a keyboard with strings on the synths ... and the composition? Who cares?

It's not about music anymore, it's about the sound!!!

We just have to update, or clean up the definitions, so they are not "stupid", or at least extremely simplistic.

Tough area, and I think there will be too many ideas and comments!

Later on, for example, "krautrock" added beats, and Neu had them, and so did CAN, but in almost all of CAN, the drummer never interfered with the music, and added a lot of touches that fit really well (Chain Reaction to Quantum Physics) and the beat was over by then to set the stage for the flow that was coming ... which is not on the CD!!!! But is on the LP ... you did not even hear the constant pounding of a snare drum, a sign that the drummer can only keep time and is not a good music listener!

Edited by moshkito - 15 hours 34 minutes ago at 21:46

Whatever genre this is.

Hrychu wrote: Whatever genre this is.

What? How can you not like that? Pretty soon everyone is going to be requesting that instead of Freebird.

^ So you like none of the "eclectic" artists? King Crimson, Gentle Giant, VdGG?

Assigning a single genre to entire discographies is just not very useful.

I'm not sure I actually 'dislike' any particular subgenre of prog. I think for me it is more of a case where I haven't been exposed to certain subgenres and I am simply unfamiliar. So I would say the subgenres I'm not up to speed on would be:

Indo-Prog/Raga
Krautrock
Zeuhl

I wouldn't even know what key albums would be good 'jumping off' points as an introduction to those subgenres.

richardh wrote: ... Prog is an offshoot of rock music but too often the simple fact of this is denied. The natural evolution of prog was through Rush and metal with many bands in the 80's doing what the seventies prog bands did. ...

Hi,

I'm not sure that this is right, if we look at the history of music going back some 500 years or more. Music has always been an evolution and to suggest that this came from that is weird ... so Mozart came from the ridiculous idea of what baroque music was?

I think that the time and place has a lot to do with it all ... and the late 1960's and early 1970's was a very inspirational time for music and all the arts (very important part of it that the Internet refuses to acknowledge!) where the freedoms were celebrated, instead of the commerciality of the whole thing, and as such, it gave us a lot of music that ... just like today ... can't make it or be seen ... witness some folks wondering where/what their band does ... and not realize that music is not about a particular theme/genre, but about YOU, and how you interpret it, and at that point you can say that the person/group lacks personality of its own if it has to rely on an outdated idea and concept that even lacks a proper/good definition!

Disconnect wrote: ... So I would say the subgenres I'm not up to speed on would be: Indo-Prog/Raga Krautrock Zeuhl I wouldn't even know what key albums would be good 'jumping off' points as an introduction to those subgenres.

Hi,

Part of the secret on the arts is learning to see/listen/read things BY YOURSELF, not by someone's ideas or concepts. You learn to walk, by taking the next step, and you did it courageously when you were young ... the arts is the same, you venture into somewhere else, regardless of what it is.

If you have to wonder/think that you are not up to speed on this or that, eventually that list will turn into 25 different things, and after a while, you might get up and say ... am I listening to anything? Or catching any arts? Reading anything other than pulp crap? When is the adventure going to start?

Edited by moshkito - 5 hours 47 minutes ago at 07:33

wiz_d_kidd wrote: Here's my list, with reasons why... Experimental/Post Metal, Progressive Metal, Tech/Extreme Prog Metal -- all loudness and noise. ...

Hi,

... and copy copy copy copy ... and more guitar, more guitar, more guitar, more guitar ... and ... and ... and ... more snare on the beat ... more snare on the beat ... more snare (louder!!!) on the beat so the musicians (?????) know where they are!

wiz_d_kidd wrote: ... RPI - overly emotive vocals. ...

Goodbye all the historical singers of any time and place, replaced by cardboard AI models (half disrobed of course!!!) that can't even hold a note, but their "song" is a hit ... somewhere!

Might as well tell PH and KB and many others to quit now, because the 1984 military is coming!

wiz_d_kidd wrote: ... Neo-Prog - overly emotive vocals.

I would rather suggest that the idea of this "genre" is a bit off kilter ... though it fits the description ...

1.
new.
"neonate"
2.
a new or revived form of.
"neo-Georgian"

I think I would rather suggest that the old man has gotten old and can no longer articulate the real thing as well! So, then, the idea/genre, sadly, would not exactly represent the situation well!

Edited by moshkito - 5 hours 25 minutes ago at 07:55

The only Tech/Extreme Prog Metal band I really enjoy is Opeth. I love their folk and psychedelic influences, and their later albums have a bit of a ’70s vibe. When it comes to Experimental or Post-Metal, I’m into TOOL—their sound is both eerie and awesome. I should probably explore this subgenre more, since I tend to gravitate toward avant-garde and unsettling music. My issue with prog metal mainly lies in the traditional and symphonic styles—but I’m open to everything else.

Edited by Gnik Nosmirc - 2 hours 37 minutes ago at 10:43

Disconnect wrote: ... Growing up in the rural US in the 70s (US = "The Eternal Prog Desert") styles like Indo-Prog, Zeuhl, Krautrock are practically unknown. There are instances where one gets introduced to music by a friend or colleague and it can be quite a life-changing thing. ...

Hi,

One of the issues we heard a lot in Santa Barbara about Space Pirate Radio, was that no one heard that stuff, because it was not listed in Variety or any numbers anywhere.

Guy, and all of our friends (we were roomies then at the start!), knew better ... and we had all kinds of stories in regards to that BS, which was the typical "radio station/record company" BS, to make sure you didn't go anywhere else!

And you know what? Just about all the bands in the 1970's from just anywhere in the world, are well known and often discussed here or listed somewhere ... you wanna talk memory? You wanna talk about music? ... or do you wanna discuss hits? Go to another station, the dial has plenty of those!!!!!

We never gave in, and we knew better, and the periodicals not mentioning it was ... the war is on now!!!! ... and then, a bunch of self published periodicals took on the well known ones, and guess what? WE TALK ABOUT ALL THOSE BANDS TODAY.

Something not "being known", for me, is an opportunity to get someone to hear something else, and they might not get into it, but a seed is planted!

The best example of this was about 20 years ago, when we were doing some improvements on mom's lake property and the music was getting boring, so I brought out Ozric Tentacles, and some folks liked it ... except one, and he always had music, all the favorite hits from the stony radio! After 5 minutes, he goes ... "where's the lyrics?" and you knew right away that he tuned it out ... I turned it off 5 minutes later, but some of the folks there, asked me later to play it again! Warren was in his tent with his wife and kids and at 10 PM, he was playing the local crap FM classic station with the same songs every day! Some of us were sitting by the fire with s'mores and beer, and we put on some more trippy music, when someone asked. I gave them PT.

Disconnect wrote: ... The flip side of that is I have learned not to trust album reviews/ratings totals here at PA. ...

Agreed ... but there are some folks you don't have to trust but some comments are interesting and you can follow those up. Doesn't mean you will like it or buy it, but at least you gave it an ear!

Disconnect wrote: ... A good example of that is the never-ending pissing contest here on PA between Yes and Genesis fans over whether CTTE or Selling England is the greater album

I love these contests ... and the number of folks that are NOT into MUSIC at all ... because someone with intelligence and appreciation for music, would never bother being there ... it's called the new Internet playground for wanna be adults, that still have not smoked a real joint and think vaping is heaven!

I call it "neo-stoned".