Losing interest in prog

I'd also recommend classical, because it can/should then lead to other genres like contemporary art music and jazz. After that you can take turns with anything you like, and even prog could taste better again.

Boy is my face red. Heh.

Back to the topic, I think we're a bit unfair to prog sometimes too, in the sense that I think we're a bit too liberal with our use of words like "rip-off." When we say that a band like Glass Hammer sounds like Yes, for example, we're talking about general aesthetic similarities. You wouldn't say that in the same way you might say "Nickleback sounds like Creed," for instance. A broad similarity might be there, but the actual compositions themselves have never been done by anyone else. I like to think that it's not always re-hashing the same old ground but acting within the boundaries that other bands have established and trying to flesh things out a bit. Some bands are pioneers, and some are colonizers. I love innovative music as much as the next guy, but I think there is a place for the band that takes someone else's sound and builds on it.

If we were to apply our standards to rock outside of the prog sphere, we'd have to say that they all sound the same. All grunge sounds the same, all punk sounds the same, etc.

Oh, wait. We do say that. 

Oh boy. If only you knew, heh.* Some Jazzers make your average Progger look positively open-minded. "Jazz died after 1959" "Jazz died after 1949" "Jazz died with Bird" "Jazz died with the Duke" etc etc.

The funny thing about music is how much things change. New advances in jazz that were widely panned by critics at the time (Bitches Brew, anyone?) are now hailed by most jazz critics as being essential listening. I wonder how things will look to prog fans 20 years down the road from now, how differently they'll see things.

*I realize this might seem a bit patronizing and maybe condescending, but it isn't meant to be.