If You’re Older than 40!

The Prog Generation!

If You’re Older than 45!

 Hey these stories are great.   I feel less alone in the world there are others like me out there.  I’m 48, and have been a music nut since I was 16.   The great thing about getting older has been having the time and money to live through the 70s about three times  ;-)    But I still love staying abreast of many of the post 70s/80s bands, Prog related favorites being Marillion, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, Anathema, Mars Volta, Decemberists, Riverside, Oceansize, Spock Beard, and Coheed & Cambria (for starters).

·         Hercules it warms my heart to read that you’re a fan of those bands!  You Rock!

·         Same with you Muzikluva!  Agree, the boundaries of Prog Rock need to be pushed.  I think that can be done without it pushing itself into a completely different genre (avant garde, pop, new age, jazz, techno/ambient, etc.).   I think of what Mars Volta has done for Prog from the outside looking in, or Riverside from the inside looking out.

·         Slartibarfast.   I hear you on the balance between wanting to continue bring in new stuff with the old.  Every new CD I buy, means a little less playing time for the 4000 or so I already own.   When it comes to my 18 and 22 year old kids, who are huge music fans themselves, they’re not yet into Prog.    It’s a combination of wanting to find their own musical interests (and not Dad’s) and still being a little trapped in the post-grunge/alternative paradigm that informed their ears on the radio.   They’re not yet ready for the point that Finnforest makes.

·         Easy Money, Blacksword and ExittheLemming have open ears for sure.  Which segues well to ..

·         Finnforest, who proclaims that many of us middle agers can be even more musically adventurous than the youngsters.  Thank you.   I don’t disagree with the basic notion that by and large younger folks are more into music than older folks, but for those of us older guys that were bit by the music bug, the years can be a huge help in getting a perspective on the vast array of music out there (it takes decades to hear the real broad spectrum (Stockhausen anyone?).    For me, the more music I hear, the more my ears are able to accept new sounds as valid.

·         Proletariat.  I think you’ve made a very astute observation.  I wish there was a demographic breakdown of ProArchives membership, because I too sense this odd but refreshing alliance.

·         Beebs, nice summary, the internet has opened so many doors for discovery, but I do miss hanging out and chattin’ at the record stores.

·         Atavachron, you make a very keen point (I’m 48) on how many of us old guys, were still too young for the golden age of Prog.   Now a days 7 years is like nothing.  But I remember in 1979, 1972 seemed like a “ages ago”.

·         Gary B!  “I’m not worthy!!”

·         Thommy Rock.  Thanks for making me feel old again for not having an iPod  ;-)

·         Single Coil, thanks for taking the time to give us the break down.  Your last sentence alone is inspiring!

·         Cobb, bingo with “I have often pondered why people get stuck in a musical period they were in somewhere between 20 and 30.”  My Dad stopped digging music around the age of 24, which was in 1955.  So he’s spent his whole adult life pretty much hating Rock n Roll.  I swore that would never happen to me.

·         EnderEd!  You’re the older brother I never had!  

·         Mellotron!  You capture the fundamental point that we can’t be generalized with “Prog-Metal fan but also Zeuhl,Canterbury and Krautrock”   Very Cool

·         Manuel and Catcher, I think you’re getting at something about most of us Prog/Progressive lovers, and that’s that Prog is not the only thing we listen to. The very nature of the music is going to attract people that love other genres of music. 

·         Ivan, agree, ProgArchives has turned me onto so much old/new music I can’t begin to recount it all. 

·         JesusisLord, seems I need to check out a couple of your recommendations, thanks.

This whole discussion makes me feel pretty darn good about my membership in the 40+ ProgLovers Club.