I strongly disagree with this, a lot of people have learned from prog, prog still has a strong influence today, listen to bands like Tool, Mars Volta, Radiohead, Mathew Good Band, SOAD, Muse or Sigur Ros and tell me they didn't learn a few tricks from 70s prog...Even alternative rock bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth used elements of progressive rock on some of their albums, prog is just a genre that dosent appeal to everyone because of its complexity and weirdness, but if people took the time to appreciate it they could certainly learn from it.


And what Yes have you heard?, some of their works are basicly more acessible than others.

How many of those do you think really took their ideas from the original prog and how many are just playing rock with extended chord sequences, different sections and some special effect, coming from their own minds rather than via some historical lineage which you're tracing back to the 70's? If you know a load of different chords, know how they fit together and have some ideas for them do you really have to have listened to a load of Genesis etc. to start playing your music? I don't think you do.

Mars Volta, Muse, Mathew Good Band and Tool have actualy credited 70s prog as a influence, thats how i know.

That's fair enough then. You can't tell that directly from listening to their music though - sometime people can actually come up with their own ideas. But if they say they learned from prog-rock then I expect they did!

You never answered my question about Yes. ;)

Did you ask me a question about YES?

Like I said, very little! I've heard YES music out and about at different musical events at uni - I'd say 'what is that music' and people would tell me it was YES. My dad also took me to see Rick Wakeman play about 5 years ago and he played a load of YES stuff. It all seemed a bit forgettable and soulless, considering how much detail and technique was needed in the playing.

I don't remember names of songs very easily - but if you can recommend any that you think would satisfy my problem-finding soul then I'd gladly note them down and go music hunting. Somebody told me to listen to YES a couple of weeks ago, but the guy happened to be a complete idiot when it came to music, so that may have unfairly biased me against them for a bit.

If you have any recommendations which can redress my bias then let me have them!

Well if you have only heard Rick Wakeman's versions of Yes songs than i could understand why you would find it boring or souless, his solo stuff has always disapointed me(and he is probably my favorite keyboardist of all time), his versions of Yes songs are different than the originals and are addapted to his own style, they usualy just dont work without the other members of the band, for something thats really easy to get into, i would recomend The Yes Album, its their most acessible album, the songs as usual are very complex(though not as much as their later work)but they still put a lot of emphasis on melody, I've seen all good people and Starship Trooper are 2 very catchy songs, and they are among the few Yes songs that gets played on the radio, even those who dont like prog have been known to like this album...Fragile is another goodie, and it features Roundabout, which is one of their best known songs...If you still feel the same way about them i will understand, they are one of my top 10 favorite bands of all time, but they just aren't for everybody.

However, how emotional a song is is a very subjective thing, you can't measure emotion, and i personaly find a lot of prog to be emotional, they just have a different way of channeling those emotions...And they put more emphasis on channeling that emotion through the music, the melodys and the composition(like in classical music), rather than the lyrics like most rock bands do.

Cheers. These have been duly noted (not a metaphor, I have noted them down). Action shall be taken.

Well, you cant say they didnt have progressive elements, they had tons, weither they were inspired by other progressive rock bands is unclear, but they shared many elements associated with prog, such as classical influences, themes derived from opera and theater, unique vocal harmonys, complex instrumental exchanges, long epics and fusion of many different styles.

But there are things that set them apart from Prog as well, they are so unique that its not clear to anyone what genre they are, they are "Queen" basicly, but that dosent make them not prog, most prog bands are different from each other and share unique characteristics, Queen were prog when they wanted to be, like on The Prophets Song, The March Of The Black Queen, In The Laps Of The Gods Revisted, My Fairly King, Teo Torriate and Bohemian Rhapsody...And then they had pop songs like We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Radio Ga-Ga and I Want To Break Free which are about as far from prog as you could imagine, Queen were whatever the hell they wanted to be at the moment.