[atlantaprog] Re: Give Me That Old Time Prog Rock

Prog-Metal, in my experience and proably worthless
opinion, is anything but the amazing "chocolate-in-my-peanut butter"
sensation that the rest of the prog crowd seems to regard it as.

The secret of prog-metal is that it's metal *first*. (Remember: English puts modifiers first. "Prog-metal" means "prog-flavored metal", not "metal-flavored prog".) Prog with metal elements that still had the wide palette of prog would be something I'd like to hear, but there's not much of that.

But to me, the difference is completely about songwriting and melody -- it's almost completely absent in modern prog.

I guess, though I wonder sometimes. People seem afraid of these things because they associate them with "selling out." Or else they're so taken with the OH WOW ODD METER COOL groove thing that they forget that once somebody steps up to the mike, s/he needs to be singing something interesting and well-crafted just like the rest of the piece is.

And don't forget the chord progression, the "frame" of the piece. A good chord progression almost forces you to write an interesting melody.

RE: the aspect of innovation; is there really anthing new under the sun?

Sure. It just comes in bits and pieces, that's all. Assemble enough bits and pieces for long enough, and there you go.

..."progressive rock"...died a death because it lived out its
service life.

Maybe you could say that about particular bands, but I'm not sure that 10 years is a long enough "service life" for progressive rock in the larger sense. Besides, ISTM plenty of people still wanted prog in the '80s and just weren't getting it. That's why they bought Marillion albums; the industry knew some prog listeners would go for it because it was *just good enough*.

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