The idea that prog-rock is outdated is obselete

[realprog]

http://www.theguardian.com/music/mus...s-a-timely-one

The idea that the Floyd and their prog-rock ilk are outdated is itself, these days, obsolete. Flaming Lips are about to release a cosmic love letter to the music with their Electric Würms side project, and there are a number of great new prog bands, from Anathema to Kitten Pyramid. There is even a magazine devoted to prog, mystifyingly titled Prog. Its writers don’t just pen lengthy discourses on bands during the genre's golden age – much of the focus is also on the work bands are doing now. The current issue, for example, has Yes on the cover and inside features a 10-page article about their new album. The bar has seriously been raised as to what these so-called dinosaurs can achieve, or at least listeners’ expectations are higher than they might have been.

That said, Pink Floyd’s forthcoming album, The Endless River, to be released in October, isn’t new-new. It comprises worked-up versions of songs first started during sessions for their last album, 1994’s The Division Bell. Again, Yes spring to mind: their 2011 album Fly From Here was based on the typically multipartite epic title suite – or hexalogy, if you want to be prog about it – which was circa 1980 and was reworked 30 years down the line. And the point is, it was good – really good.

[Paulrus]

One sneered at, the prog giants are have influenced countless new bands – and there are signs that their forthcoming album could be worth a listen

Someone got paid to write this?

But I guess anything vaguely positive from a UK media heavyweight like The Guardian should be considered progress.

[JKL2000]

Anathema is new?

[Facelift]

Anathema is new?

Anathema is prog?

[realprog]

[QUOTE=Paulrus;276429]Someone got paid to write this?

Just seen the Prog mag feature on Yes's site and it's the same guy who I also remember writing for Melody Maker.

Phil

[GuitarGeek]

Now, ironically enough, it's punk and new wave that's "obsolete".

I saw a documentary about the British synth pop scene of the early 80's. There's a bit where one of the guys from Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark is talking about how they believed in the early 80's that guitars were "obsolete" and that synthesizers represented the "future of pop music", then notes that 10 years later, it was "decided" that the reverse was true, before concluding "Oh, the horror!". I couldn't make up my mind if that last sentence was facetious or if he was seriously disappointed that it was determined that guitars weren't in fact "obsolete".

[Facelift]

I think this has all been discussed on this site before. I'd be very surprised if many people under, say 35, have any negative pre-conceived notions about prog. It's all part of a music that is "old" to them, and which has been flattened into a homogenous era by classic rock radio, television, films, etc. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones... more or less all the same thing. Punk vs. prog and all that doesn't mean much of anything to people born in the 1980s or 1990s.

[rcarlberg]

The idea that the Floyd and their prog-rock ilk are outdated is itself, these days, obsolete.

Sales are still in the toilet.

Influential to other bands, yes.

A factor in the marketplace, no.

[Camelogue]

What is Prog?

What is outdated?

I myself think I am outdated if not stale dated!

[Just Eric]

GG said:
Now, ironically enough, it's punk and new wave that's "obsolete".

Not in the least. While New Wave has been relegated to nostalgia status, Punk is alive and thriving, much more than Prog. Not only does pure Punk still draw fans, but the original genre has spawned many subgenres reaching new and younger, as well as crossover fans. Since it's inception, Punk has kept Prog in it's shadow.

Now, for us Prog fans this is not a good thing to hear. But often the truth is bitter.

[Facelift]

Not in the least. While New Wave has been relegated to nostalgia status, Punk is alive and thriving, much more than Prog. Not only does pure Punk still draw fans, but the original genre has spawned many subgenres reaching new and younger, as well as crossover fans. Since it's inception, Punk has kept Prog in it's shadow.

I don't know... calling anything "popular" these days has to be adjusted to scale, but bands like M83, Hot Chip, Wolf Parade, War on Drugs, The National, TV On the Radio, Silversun Pickups, Cut Copy, Matthew Dear, Hercules & Love Affair - and numerous others - are very '80s new-wave influence artists who are among the most prominent newer (say, 2006-present) bands. The years 2008-2012 especially were pretty big for this kind of revival.

[realprog]

I don't know... calling anything "popular" these days has to be adjusted to scale, but bands like M83, Hot Chip, Wolf Parade, War on Drugs, The National, TV On the Radio, Silversun Pickups, Cut Copy, Matthew Dear, Hercules & Love Affair - and numerous others - are very '80s new-wave influence artists who are among the most prominent newer (say, 2006-present) bands. The years 2008-2012 especially were pretty big for this kind of revival.

I don't know either, I will say a band like The National (around the time of 'Boxer' in particular) have been more "progressive" (as in adventurous, interesting and good) than a lot of today's so-called Progressive bands I've heard. But then again I think that's more to do with my own tastes evolving with me liking adventurous alternative bands post the original Prog movement. Television's Marquee Moon being fairly "prog" to me. :-)

Phil

[mogrooves]

Now that the tattered imprimatur of John Lydon has been invoked--again!--we can all breathe easier!

[GuitarGeek]

Not in the least. While New Wave has been relegated to nostalgia status, Punk is alive and thriving, much more than Prog. Not only does pure Punk still draw fans, but the original genre has spawned many subgenres reaching new and younger, as well as crossover fans. Since it's inception, Punk has kept Prog in it's shadow. .

Thanks for totally missing the point of my post.

[davis]

A lot of people listen to music written hundreds of years ago. From that perspective, music recorded 20 or 30 years ago ain't that old. If it's good, it's good. When it was written or recorded does not matter.

[rcarlberg]

A lot of people listen to music written hundreds of years ago. From that perspective, music recorded 20 or 30 years ago ain't that old. If it's good, it's good. When it was written or recorded does not matter.

Unless you're a musician. Then you have to compete against the whole 400-year history of Western Music.

[Facelift]

A lot of people listen to music written hundreds of years ago.

That's art music though. The popular music of the 1600s, 1700s 1800s and pre-LP 1900s has a very limited audience.

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe some music journalists will start writing articles on Why Prog Had To Happen...

[Paulrus]

If you follow prog's lineage far back enough you get to Sgt. Pepper's and its ilk. Do prog's detractors think that should never have happened? I guess we should all be listening to the first Velvet Underground record instead. Sorry, not my cuppa.

[JJ88]

^Some would-be iconoclasts have indeed made the 'Sgt Pepper was the worst thing that ever happened' claim. I just cringe at that kind of attention-seeking...usually coming from those espousing, or members of, indie bands who have sold about three copies.

[JKL2000]

A lot of people listen to music written hundreds of years ago. From that perspective, music recorded 20 or 30 years ago ain't that old. If it's good, it's good. When it was written or recorded does not matter.

That's art music though. The popular music of the 1600s, 1700s 1800s and pre-LP 1900s has a very limited audience.

Davis didn't say he was excluding pop music. People listen to "pop" music from those eras too.

[chalkpie]

Unless you're a musician. Then you have to compete against the whole 400-year history of Western Music.

400? Goes back further than that my friend.

[rcarlberg]

400? Goes back further than that my friend.

I specifically said "Western music." Not much written before 1614 is still performed regularly.

[rcarlberg]

People listen to "pop" music from those eras too.

Name one.

About the earliest non-classical music still played, so far as I know, is Stephen Foster (1826-1864). Even Scott Joplin (1868-1917) is mostly considered classical these days.

[chalkpie]

I specifically said "Western music." Not much written before 1614 is still performed regularly.

??

Dude - look up a slew of early music ensembles that still record and perform a TON of music not only from the renaissance, but of the medieval/middle ages. I know because I am an early music enthusiast and own a boatload of discs of music written before Bach and Vivialdi. "Regularly" might be a word of contention here, but it's silly to argue this.

http://www.earlymusic.org/