SJL
Prog 101
"The Best Music Thread In The Multiverse".
Prog (Progressive) Rock has been around since the late 1960s. It never went away. Even though New-Wave, then Punk, then Grunge, then House, then Techno, then Nu-Metal swept the popular culture music stream. Prog remained steadily in the hearts and ears of dedicated fans and TROO music lovers.
Prog is complex musical structures, excellent musicianship, mastery of thier instruments, lyrical complexity & depth, progression of chord arangements, and influences ranging from classical to avant-guard jazz.
1. Classic Prog
Bands; Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes, Camel, Pink Floyd, Rush.
Classic Prog is heavily influenced by symphonic or folk-loric sources. Bands like these were what defined what prog should sound like and set the standards for future bands that came in thier wake.
2. Neo-Prog
Bands; Marillion, Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, Tr3nity, Mostly Autumn, IQ, Pendragon, Citizen Cain, The Mars Volta.
These bands came along after the classic bands peaked in thier popularity. Using new equipment and technology, they emulated the sounds of classic bands but with a modern song structure.
3. Progressive Metal
Bands; Dream Theatre, Epica, Savatage, Symphony X, Magellan, King's X, Opeth, Threshold, Liquid Tension Experiment, Shadow Gallery, Evergrey.
Progressive Metal is hybrid of Progressive and Metal influences. Progressive Metal is loud, fast, and it's metal. But songs are longer and often have improvisational sections where musicians experiment and show thier expertise.
4. Experimental & Jam
Bands; Umphrey's McGee, moe, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai, String Cheese Incident, Disco Biscuits.
Experimental & Jam can only defined if you attend a live show. Consisting of awkward chords, long LONG improvisations, drones, changes of time signatures, and dischordant chords. Usually consisting of several instruments and musicians. Experimental & Jam is the most complex and challenging of all the Progressive Rock sub-genres.
5. Pasta Prog
Bands; Il Balletto di Bronzo, Banco Del Mutuo Socorrso, Finisterre, PfM.
Pasta Prog is classic 70s Brit-Prog done by Italian bands, inspired by Symphonic Prog bands like Yes and Genesis but also by an Italian musical genre known as Bel Conto, known for its soaring melodies. Pasta Prog is often breathtakingly beautiful, but it can still rock your face. Progressive Rock remained popular in Italy long after it had lost the ear of the mainstream in English speaking countries.
6. Taco Prog/Latin American Prog
Bands; La Caja de Pajaros, Cast, La Caja de Pandora, Sagraro Coracan, MIA, Los Jaivas.
Taco Prog/Latin American Prog incorporates Latin-American folkloric elements into Progressive and Heavy Metal song structures. Often, bands use instruments from thier native countries and native harmonies, but the best groups equal anything produced in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Many bands even sing in English.
7. Third-Wave
Bands; Coheed & Cambria, Radiohead, Tool, The Fire Theft, The Arcade Fire, A Silver Mount Zion, Minus the Bear, Sleepytime Gorrilla Museum.
Third-Wave Prog is usually a term fans use when they don't want to call bands by thier favorite genre. Many indie/emo/metal/alternative bands have been moving in a progressive direction, with longer song arrangements, more complex instrumentation, lyrical complexity, and some improvisational sections. Sticking to their original musical vision, sometimes these bands have their foot in the progressive camp while remaining part of their original genre. Needless to say all you have to do to start an argument in prog chat room is to mention Mars Volta, Tool, or Coheed & Cambria. (No one likes Coheed & Cambria anywhere. sad )
Oh, Muse is almost prog.
8. Canterbury/RIO/Avant-Prog
Bands; Caravan, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Gong, Univers Zero
Canterbury Scene is a term to loosely describe groups of musicians who resided in Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s through 1970s while RIO (Rock In Opposition) was a movement by disgruntled Prog artists who were against the music industry in the 1970s that refused to recognize them. Most noticeable was the festival in London called "Rock In Opposition". RIO as a movement did not last long, but its legacy still persists. While RIO never referred to a type of music (the original RIO bands were quite diverse musically), it is still often used by listeners, musicians, and distributors to classify bands (generally bands that appeared at the RIO festivals or bands related to or derived from the RIO bands).
Avant-Prog is short for avant garde progressive rock. Taking sounds from both RIO and Canterbury. Popular artists of the genre include Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. Usually known for it's short instrumental pieces that focused on complexity and stripped down instrumentation, shying away from the use of stage props and pomposity of larger Prog acts. Often times using psychedelia and improvisational jazz touches, odd time signatures, and experimental sections.
9. Space Rock/Core/Psychedelic
Bands; Hawkwind, Ozric Tentacles, Nektar, Jade Warrior, Os Mutantes, David Bowie, ELOY.
Started in the mid 1960s, it was rooted in Eastern/Indian music and free-form Jazz, as British Invasion and folk-rock bands began expanding the sonic possibilities of their music. These groups confined themselves to the brief, concise verse-chorus-verse patterns of rock & roll, as it gained some popularity and grew, they began experimenting with electronically altered instruments and synthesziers.
Time fauls me to discuss Kraut-Rock, Zeuhl and other genres though I hope this thread has benefited your education in the different genres that music has to offer....
...Once you leave the radio.
SJL's Prog Playlist
It's better than your sisters collection!
In case you want to broaden your insight of what Prog is, you're welcome to check out any of the bands in my Prog Rock Play List.
It's patented.
Ambeon
Arcturus
Anyone's Daughter
Andromeda
Almost Sleeping
Big Big Train
Cairo
Coheed & Cambria
Bacamarte
Balletto Di Bronze
Lana Lane
Erik Norlander
Iluvatar
MIA
Asturias
Ars Nova
Transatlantic
Arena
Like Wendy
Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
Primiata Formata Marconi
Garybaldi
Art Bears
Minimum Vital
Porcupine Tree
North Star
It Bites
Guy Manning
Mangala Vallis
Matermind
Gentle Giant
Gryphon
Echolyn
Satellite
Clepsydra
Symphony X
Entwine
Dis
Analog Missionary
Arion
Caja De Pandora
Grey Lady Down
Lands End
Tanscience
Echolyn
Flamborough Head
Edenbridge
Finnaeus Gauge
Hatfield And The North
Can
Gong
Novalis
Neu
Neuschwanstein
Captain Beyond
Atomic Rooster
Cast (best)
Pallas
Ash Ra Tempel
Grobschnitt
Brainticket
Soft Machine
Henry Cow
Traffic
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Karnataka
Iona
Elfonia
Galadriel
Los Canarios
Ange
Iconoclasta
Pig Farm On The Moon
Machiavel
Hamadryad
Kyuss
Tool
Los Jaivas
Magellan
Magenta
Enchant
Opeth
Frank Zappa.
For more Prog bands, check out http://www.progarchives.com/
The Not Prog List
They ain't Prog mofo.
If you're wondering if your favorite band is prog, here's a helpful post to decide if they are or not.
These bands are NOT Prog:
1) Band members whose hair color is not their natural color
2) When the guitars sound like two stones beating against each other.
3) Anything that sounds remotely like Mudvayne, Rancid, or Linkin Park
4) Any Mallcore
5) If you hear it on the radio, and it isn't from the 70s, or on that Classic Rock station your dad listens to, it probably isn't prog
These bands are often thought of as Progressive. They AREN'T
System Of A Down
Rage Against The Machine
Panic! At The Disco
Anthrax
Lamb Of God
Korn
Creed
Metallica (Queensryche is though)
Trapt
Slipknot
Muse
Coldplay
A Perfect Circle
Jimmy Eats World
Saves the Day
The Get Up Kids
Maroon 5
Death Cab For Cutie
The Postal Service
Frans Ferdinand
The Killers
The Strokes
The Hives
The Shins
The White Stripes
Air
Gackt
The Pillows
Ayumi Hamasaki
Interpol
GREEN DAY is NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT PROG.
Third Eye Blind
ICP
Rancid
Rammstein
Gorrilaz
Marilyn Manson
Ozzy
Iced Earth
Lacuna Coil
Evanescence
Christian Death
Puddle of Mudd
Mudvayne
Portishead
Otep
Radiohead
Weezer
Blur
Bjork
Nine Inch Nails
Sonic Youth
Smashing Pumpkins
Ludacris (We all know that)
Bush
Nirvana
NOFX
MXPX
The Ramones
Kiss
The Rolling Stones
Beyonce
The Flaming Lips
STYX (To be determined)
Linkin Park
Simple Plan.
Sigur Ros
Dimmu Borgir
Shonen Knife
Dir en Gray
Prog New Releases List
Because Target doesn't tell you s**t.
LOL I'M BAD AT GIVING NEWS. )_:
