Prog Debate (albums)

sleepy jack · 01-24-2008, 02:36 AM

boo boo · 05-02-2008, 01:13 AM

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Originally Posted by Comus

For my two cents, The Mars Volta today are leading the forefront for progressive rock as it has come to be known, however progressive music can be found in many different forms. Opeth are enjoying relative success right now, and black metal, itself a progression is getting more popular by the day.

Don't get me wrong, I love The Mars Volta and they get an unfairly bad rap here (or anywhere else where Indie fans are present). But when you think about it, they often sound like they could have been an authentic 70s prog band, its just airbrushed a little for younger music fans, really. I'd say they are reviving prog, which is great because it needs reviving, but I wouldn't quite say they're doing too much that a lot of 70s prog bands haven't done before.

As for black metal, I personally can't stand most of it, primarly the vocals.

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Radiohead are in no way progressive as they are contributing nothing new to music.

O_o

Do you really mean that?

I could understand saying they're not prog, but not progressive at all? Thats just crazy, you need to double check your facts and listen to Kid A and Amnesiac, yo.

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I've never heard a band like The Mars Volta, and I don't think I'll ever hear another one like it, that in my book definitely earns them the badge progressive.

They're original but IMO so are Radiohead, in fact I think Radiohead have been more progressive somewhat because every new album tends to be very different from the last. While with The Mars Volta its the same old sound they did before, just turned up another notch.

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Also before I get flamed for despising Radiohead because I'm an alt rock fan, I basically listen to the big 70's rock and prog bands and some very obscure **** from the heydays of prog as well as the odd black metal and such. And I quite dislike alternative rock as a whole.

Well if we are going to get along I will have to adjust to this, because I'm a huge prog fan (who mentions Yes on this forum WAY too much) but I'm also a big fan of alternative rock (Radiohead, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins are among my favorite bands and I also love older Indie bands like Sonic Youth, Pixies and My Bloody Valentine) and generally I see the two as having a lot in common. The point of both was to do something different from what was mainstream at the time, so in that sense I think prog rock is also alternative, and alt rock is also progressive. Not saying its the same thing of course, don't make it out like that.

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Anyways on to the point:

Progressive rock DOES have a chance to re-emerge back into the mainstream but it will take time, and it won't happen overnight, it's not a genre that's run its course and it's not a genre without appeal to a mainstream audience.

I really don't see that happening, nor do I really want to, because it will probably just die again after some new genre emerges, in the same way prog died out when punk rock got popular (which I also love, I like everything) and I don't think the mainstream will ever be ready for prog (again), aside from the prog community, most other music circles/sub-cultures hate (or are just plain ignorant of) prog and will never accept it.

Besides, I think prog is just fine where its at, the underground. Things got a little out of hand when it was mainstream.

boo boo · 05-02-2008, 01:30 AM

Well to be fair I haven't heard their last 2 albums yet, but that comment pretty much summed up Amputechture for me.

Made in 1968 · 08-01-2022, 02:51 PM

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Originally Posted by Lizzie

No way would i call Radiohead a prog band, for they aren't at all

Yeah always puzzed me that one.

music_collector · 08-01-2022, 08:57 PM

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No way would i call Radiohead a prog band, for they aren't at all

I think they started getting labelled that after Ok Computer. It sounds like a concept album.

Queen Boo · 08-01-2022, 09:21 PM

No one can really agree on what prog rock is, some think it's a very specific sound, others think it's just a synonym for art rock.

I've always been somewhere in between, I think of it more as a philosophy than a specific sound, there's many different sounds in prog and there's plenty of prog bands that sound nothing alike and that's great, nowadays bands that go out of their way to be labeled as prog tend to be more derivative of other bands which is fine but the most progressive bands are the ones that don't f*ck with labels.

In that since Radiohead are a hell of a lot more progressive than Dream Theater, are they more "prog" though? Don't know don't care lol.

Trollheart · 08-02-2022, 05:21 AM

The little I've heard of Radiohead I'd say no. As I laid out in another thread, for me and I think generally accepted too, there are certain conventions prog rock is expected to satisfy (not enumerating them all again; anyone who knows prog understands what I mean) and I don't see RH fulfilling those. I would never have thought of them as a prog band personally, but I don't know enough of their music to make that determination. In the end though, does it matter? If you like them, cool. If you hate them, cool. Me, I'm off back to my home planet, where they need me.

Queen Boo · 08-02-2022, 06:27 AM

There was this godawful super cringe Guardian article from way back that argued Pink Floyd can't be prog because the writer likes Pink Floyd and hates prog.

Personally I didn't find it to be a very persuasive argument.

music_collector · 08-02-2022, 10:56 AM

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No one can really agree on what prog rock is, some think it's a very specific sound, others think it's just a synonym for art rock.

It's funny you mention this. I figured progressive meant concept albums for the most part. In 1997, Ok Computer was being compared to almost every concept album masterpiece out there. That's how it felt to me, anyway.

Trollheart · 08-02-2022, 11:07 AM

Nah, plenty of concept albums outside of prog, though to be fair they do have the lion's share. But just having a concept album doesn't make you a prog band by itself. You could almost - almost - call Born to Run a concept album; certainly there's a story thread running through it. And Springsteen is about as far from prog as you can get.

08-02-2022, 05:21 AM	#57 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	The little I've heard of Radiohead I'd say no. As I laid out in another thread, for me and I think generally accepted too, there are certain conventions prog rock is expected to satisfy (not enumerating them all again; anyone who knows prog understands what I mean) and I don't see RH fulfilling those. I would never have thought of them as a prog band personally, but I don't know enough of their music to make that determination. In the end though, does it matter? If you like them, cool. If you hate them, cool. Me, I'm off back to my home planet, where they need me. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

08-02-2022, 11:07 AM	#60 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Nah, plenty of concept albums outside of prog, though to be fair they do have the lion's share. But just having a concept album doesn't make you a prog band by itself. You could almost - almost - call Born to Run a concept album; certainly there's a story thread running through it. And Springsteen is about as far from prog as you can get. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018