80's vs 90's prog

It's funny how so many people refer to it as a resurgence. Yeah, I suppose technically it could be called that but it was mostly just people rediscovering prog and saying to themselves "wow, this stuff is still around." I don't think prog really got many younger or newer fans(if polls are to be believed)until the 2000's. But I suppose the influx of bands who started out because they got the word through the burgeoning internet could be considered a resurgence(for lack of a better term).

dougmcauliffe wrote: ^ So far i'm digging Univers Zero and Art Zoyd a lot. I wasn't around, but compared to the lackluster 80s prog scene I can only assume the 90s resurgence felt special

Myth. Time to broaden your focus, son. 

I think it's hard to argue that it was probably the weakest, or least significant decade for prog music. But I could very well be wrong. Plenty of good releases in the mix though.

Thanks for this!  I was an active musician in the 80s and 90s, and I thought jazz-rock fusion had a great run during both decades.  Bands I saw live in the 80s included Al Dimeola, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, etc.  90's saw the reunion of Dixie Dregs, great shows by Brand X, tons more. 

However, I'm not familiar with Japanese prog, could you be specific? 

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Djam Karet were around in the 80's though(they had three releases in that decade).

 

Not only that, but their 1989 record Reflections from the Firepool is one of the best prog albums of the '80s. It's also one of Greg Walker's favorite 25 prog albums.

I was not very present for music in the 1990s (and 2000s) due to parenting, but, thanks to PA, I have discovered a rich and burgeoning movement of more true progressive rock music: Pendragon, Iona, Fates Warning, Thinking Plague, Änglagård, Par Lindh Project, After Crying, Landberk, Blind Guardian, Ayreon, The Gathering, Radiohead, Ozric Tentacles, Anekdoten, The Flower Kings, Ulver, Dream Theater, Angra, Bondage Fruit, Tool, Psychotic Waltz, Opeth, Talk Talk, Collage, Abraxas, Albion, Quidam, The Cardiacs, Pat Metheny, Neurosis, Mr. Bungle, Höyry-Kone, French TV, Sinkadus, Cheer-Accident, Liquid Tension Experiment, In The Woods, U Totem, Universal Totem Orchestra, Sieges Even, Cynic, Death, Porcupine Tree, Art Zoyd, Kingston Wall, Echolyn, Anthony Phillips, Voivod, Mr. Sirius, Symphony X, Marillion, IQ, Solaris, Citizen Cain, Present, Kalaban, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Bark Psychosis, Sigur Rós, and even Mike Oldfield put out excellent albums in the 1990s--which, in my opinion, trumps the entire output of "progressive rock music" from the 1980s.  

Then why lump then in with the 90's?

Not much of a choice, Uh??

Between the 80's neo-prog and the 90's Progmetal, i'm not sure I want to choose anything.

Jesssss kidinnnnnn', but i do believe we shouldn't look at 70's bands and what they did in those decades

The choice is difficult, mostly because the 80's is where RIO became avant-prog (though the name would come much later), but the rise of Magna Carta label (really not my thing, but I cannot deny its influence) and the Swedish retro wave are both really important.

The 80's prog is really only half a decade (not sure there is anything really worthy from 86 until 91, except the odd Swiss group doing weird sh*t (>> thinking of Nimal) and a couple of Quebecois(es) (thinking of Wondeur Brass and Miriodor. Belgo-French RIO was dead (don't speak to me about Shub-Niggurath, please), and Marillion & IQ were sucking heavily by then too.

But as my buddy Ken says until 83/4, there were still some good albums coming out so it counter-balances the later cruddy years. Anyways, I only discovred the RIO bands in the mid-90's, so when living through the 80's, it was a big desert (all of the rock-pop domain), which is why I set out to discover the 60's (rock & jazz) and the early 70's that I'd missed (too ypoung at the time)

The 90's are not all that great either, especially if you exclude the Post-Rock bands. Sure the Magna Carta and progmetal stuff (I liked neither) and the Swedish wave (not very many really good one >> my two hands suffice to count the great or fantastic albums)

I certainly enjoyed the 90's a lot more than the 80's while loving thru them, but it wasn't becessarily only because of prog: I also appreciated Grunge, Trip-Hop, Post Rock, RHCP and RATM.

kenethlevine wrote: I'll add a big movement in Polish prog was initiated in the 1980s but flourished in the 1990s with Collage, Albion, Annalist, Quidam, Abraxas, and others

That's all neo-prog Ken, even if 90's neo stuff.