Dying at a Desk

After reading the very lengthy, yet enlightening "education" thread, I began to wonder....Can prog have the same mainstream appeal that it once had in the 60s & 70s?? It seems difficult to at times improbable to see that happening, even with my boys Coheed at the forefront of the 'movement' with great success.

Just wondering what it would take for it to happen, if at all possible.

Rainard Jalen

It won't ever happen (at least certainly not in the foreseeable future). It isn't any longer a viable commercial format. It has no place in the mainstream.

riseagainstrocks

The Mars Volta are hardly "progressive" imo. I'd call them pretentious (all though to be fair, I love the title track on Frances the Mute).

And I don't think progressive music will become mainstream again in the near future. The only Coheed songs to get any sort of media attention are the ones with pop hooks (A Favor House Atlantic, Running Free, The Suffering, etc.).

As time goes on it seems that music is getting better but it's being appreciated by fewer and fewer people. My post including the Cynic video being a prime example.

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lucylamppost

I agree with that , i bet with in the next 2 years it will be very mainstream. Its ust going in a cycle like music always dose people are going to get tired of todays mainstream music night now is very pop/dance and trash(y) and very fast.

It will get very tried soon You guys may not think that the Mars Volta is not progressive but its has shares some similarities. and they are very main stream.

what I am sayng is soon the greater public will come to there senses on what they think "good" music is

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Seltzer

It's unlikely that it'll ever have the same appeal. Though bands like Porcupine Tree could feasibly appeal to a more mainstream audience.

I think that prog's greatest break into the mainstream would probably be through prog which appeals to alt/indie fans... there are already a fair few bands like this; i.e. Dredg, Radiohead, Mars Volta, Muse (sort of)...

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boo boo

And this makes them not prog because? Most prog is considered pretentious.

Prog will never be as popular as it was in the early 70s. But I do see a lot of new prog bands appealing to people who never liked 70s prog bands.

Ironically enough, I find that the people who write prog off as being pretentious (aka punk fans) tend to be the most pretentious people on the planet.

Also, I think Radiohead and Roxy Music could both be considered prog, since they have a good deal of the characteristics I listed. I have them listed under Art Rock. Which is the term prog fans use to categorize bands that could be considered prog but don't fall into any of the sub-genres.

VU however I don't consider to be prog. It depends on your definition. But one things for sure. There is a difference between progressive and prog. Just because a band is progressive dosen't make them prog.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Urban Hat€monger ?

Had you said that to a bunch of prog fans in 1975 you would have been lynched.
Roxy Music were hated pretty venomously by fans & journalists who liked prog.

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boo boo

So? That dosen't make them not prog.

You don't have to be technical to be prog either. Pink Floyd are by no means technical. But its pretty clear they are accepted as a prog band.

And for the record, Roxy Music were pretty capable musicians.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

riseagainstrocks

1. Fair enough. Although, TMV will always be an indie band with drawn out jam sessions to me.

2. I'm a self-admitted elitist, but hardly pretentious.

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ProggyMan

Porcupine Tree has hit the top 10 in a few smaller countries. Radiohead is huge everywhere.