What Is Prog? 

I spend half of the video without realizing the background was a shitty green screen lmao

When it comes to progressive rock music, I still fall back on the old axiom “I know it when I hear it”. ☮️

Prog is what Psyche musicians did when the acid ran out.

I like this description of progressive rock very much. Very good explanation

He explains it better after about 2:40. Basically Rock music is a fusion of other music any way, so progressive rock is just a continuation of the addition of new ideas. One of the main characteristics of prog are things like subject matter, instrumentation, song structure, complex beats, emphasis on the instrumental side, and the psychedelic (philosophical/spiritual) aspects of it. What's more interesting is how prog as we know it came about. Much of that has to do with the British rock groups being more of a sponge of American music types Rock/Jazz/Folk/Country,Blues while still having more of a background in classical music than the typical American rock musician. American music tends to be more homogeneous (is that the right word?) meaning the players sometimes play the music of their region. The early British blues scene tried to be more authentic and locked into a certain style, but that changed, and part of that was because The Beatles had George Martin as producer, and they also liked other forms of music, and had played a wide variety of music. On the other side of the pond, you had innovative producers like Phil Spector, and Brian Wilson who expanded the vocabulary of pop music to include a variety of instruments, and styles form old time rag, to psychedelic. Once this took hold around '65-'66 things changed rapidly with the Byrds, Bob Dylan going electric, and in England mellotrons, sitars, and various instruments were used to add different elements to the music. What finally nailed it in my opinion was when King Crimson came to the scene, because it was so powerful. One significant change that happened with King Crimson, the Moody Blues, and the Nice was bringing the symphonic sound to a live performance with the help of Mellotron, in the case of The Nice, just having classical chops, and fusing rock with classical, and jazz, rather than studio trickery that was popular in psychedelic groups. It moved from studio dynamics to live dynamics.

How could you forget Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, Emerson and Marillion? For me, prog has always been a music of atmospheres, mind-set images and following the lead wherever it takes you. Thank God certain groups like Rush, IQ and Pendragon, who by the way all do a brilliant job, still keep the light burning!

Been a Prog Rock fan forever, I just didn't know it until recently. Saw Nektar last night!!! Best concert of my life, and I'm 50!

What is Prog ? Baby don't play me, Don't play, In 4/4

Jack Bruce hinted that Cream broke up because he wanted to more or less explore with his writing and Eric Clapton wanted to stay more roots oriented. I think Ginger Baker sided with Bruce, considering Air Force. Bruce went on to work with Carla Bley, Tony Williams, Allan Holdsworth, Kip Hanrahan, all very progressive musicians. I always think of that when the subject of progressive rock comes up.

Nice vid. Someone commented that a song I did was "almost progressive sounding" and I had learn more about it. Back in the 70's I viewed prog rock and being more advanced and definitely not predictable but still being rock and cool and tasteful music. Thank you for posting!

I would love to watch more of your videos

I disagree with the notion that prog musicians have to all be virtuosos. True they have to be very good musicians for the most part but it depends on what the music is trying to accomplish. Pink Floyd were not the best on their instruments(with the possible exception of Gilmour)but I think you can say they were progressive. The Moody Blues are another example. Nothing overly technical or complicated but for their time they were pushing boundaries. There are other examples of maybe more acoustic or mellow bands who weren't necessarily virtuosos.

A solid breakdown…Appreciate your open ended take to what qualifies as Prog…

What's crazy is the 5 subs and 3k views

I like to consider Prog to be synonymous with Post-Psychedelic. Though technically the term Progressive in music existed back in the 1940s with Progressive Jazz, the general idea was to push past what was considered Normal at the time, not entirely just to push music further because, as a whole, Progressive Rock didn't actually do a bunch in terms of pushing the boundaries of music forward, aside from The Beatles and Pink Floyd. What it really did was push the boundaries for OTHER Prog bands down the line. Rush is unanimously considered Prog, but they never really contributed anything to music apart from displaying their own talents. Their style harkens back to the progress of bands like Led Zeppelin, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Sure they added a bit of Nerdy Sci-Fi to their sound and that did impact a lot of the 1980s video game-influenced Heavy Metal. But that's not why we deem them Prog. We deem them Prog because of their odd time signatures, grand epics, complex instrumentation, and fantasy-inspired lyrics. All of which already existed in those same bands I listed above. Regardless we consider Rush to be one of the Top 3 Prog Bands in music. Contrast this with artists that do push the boundaries of music forward and successfully influence other artists going forward. For example, Michael Jackson. Along with Quincy Jones in 1979, Jackson embarked on a quest to form a new sound of Pop music to replace Disco which had just died a fiery death at Comiskey Park in July of that year. They released Off The Wall which was intended to be a prototype for a new sound that included Funk, Disco, Soul, R&B, and Pop. However, it wasn't enough to change music going forward. That is until Jackson befriended the Rock band Queen in 1980 and convinced them to release their song Another One Bites The Dust as a single which they were incredibly skeptical of doing. But they did, and it became their highest charting single in the US. After this, Jackson discovered what he was missing; Rock! His next album would be a combination of the genres found in Off The Wall with a hint of more aggressive rhythms and guitars found typically in Rock music. That album was Thriller, and it became the best selling album of all time! After this, many Pop and R&B artists began to use this same formula and continued to make big hits, new genres and styles, and influence more and more artists along the way. By definition, Michael Jackson progressed music forward and no one can deny that. But we don't consider him Progressive Pop, do we? So why do we consider bands like Rush who haven't necessarily done much in pushing music forward "Progressive", but not artists like Michael Jackson who have indeed pushed music forward? The answer is simple: Progressive music is not defined by the word "Progressive", but rather defined for being atypical and intentionally avoiding simplicity. More importantly, Progressive music is characterised by its experimentation of multiple genres with respect to the structures of Classical compositions. In short, it combines music of the past with music of the future in attempts to differ from popular trends. Michael Jackson, while harnessing music of the past, was too close to that music in the timeline, whereas Rush all existed centuries after artists like Mozart, Chopin and Bach. They took elements of what made Classical music so great and simply put it through guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards to achieve the same effect but obviously with intent to sound completely new. This explains why so many Progressive Rock bands often sound very symphonic in sound and are often seen playing Classical songs or Classical-like songs on their albums. Another genre that is often in the same place as Classical is Jazz. Especially with bands like King Crimson and Pink Floyd, Jazz has frequently been used in Progressive Rock, often giving it a softer and more introspective approach, which explains the two general styles of Prog being either large, complex, and 20-minute epics or softer, lyrical, and subtle experiences. One is Classically-influenced and the other is Jazz influenced. These types can also exist simultaneously and is often the case with later Progressive bands like Dream Theater, Primus, and Tool, though such newer bands picked up a little 70s genre known as Funk, again, of which existed about 20-30 years prior to them. In conclusion, the best definition I can muster up is as follows: Progressive music is a subgenre type of multiple genres, mainly Rock, Pop, Metal, and Jazz, that exists to be atypical and non-simplistic, combining past and future musical ideas and structures with the intent to push music forward, often through Classical and/or Jazz influences and experimentation into futuristic/avant-garde sounds and styles. This often includes odd time signatures, lengthy song durations, challenging of the form, and fantasy/concept-based lyrics and/or albums. I say "intent", meaning that may not always happen, but it is undoubtedly a common goal for Prog bands. And like many genre definitions, this may not apply to every Progressive Band. But I challenge anyone reading to identify a band that doesn't at least fall into some parts of the definition.

Well done, you nailed it succinctly

I wish he could touch on progressive electronic music and how it progressed from the rock scene to the trance and acid genres :(

Nice.

IMO King Crimson was the best… “Elephant Talk” one of my favs

Prog music afficinados know exactly what the term refers to. His description is accurate and honest. There were and are several bands who created progressive music without even knowing it, that's the magic of artist expression. Just because you may be lumped into a genre or category by the media doesn't mean you have to live there.

Thank u

I don't think most people are aware of Soft Machine nor do I think they would generally be considered "classic rock."

3:52 can anyone tell me the name of the song in bg?

I think any concept album that goes on a journey is progressive rock.

Song at 4.10?

Can someone name the song at 4:35

What is the song that plays @ 4:46 ?

is Rush prog?

Starting simple ending complex

I like the freedom of progressive music.

What makes Houses of the Holy prog rock?

"...not so much a genre as an approach to making music...", "Progressive rock... it's a desire to go beyond the formulaic...". You, Sir, hit the nail on the head. "Prog rock" is not and was never a strictly defined genre of music. It's a tendency to go beyond the simple song format of rock music that first appeared in the late 1960's. It's a tendency to broaden the original narrow formula of rock and incorporate non-rock elements into it. It is NOT a genre. And by the way, "classic rock", "alternative rock", "college rock" are also not genres. Dixieland jazz, be bop, bluegrass, rockabilly, beat music, hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal, noise rock, hip hop, drum 'n' bass, acid house, death metal, hardcore, electronic body music, surf rock are genres. Prog is not a genre.

What's that song that started @ 4:20

Prog Rock must earn the title only after having proven to further development of compositional style which includes elements from several world music sources with which the players have become somewhat comfortable expressing themselves. No small set of formulae should be employed to base production of addition iterations. Composition needs to express any creativeness the players are growing into. Growth and not simply juggling of elements and twists of phrases, without which the title of "progressive" does not apply.

Ok

In my opinion the Beatles were just starting to flirt with prog with the Abbey Road medley.

Progressive rock is psychedelic rock without the overt drug references.

ProgOn! #atlascube

How tf did he not mention Rush when listing examples in the beginning? They’re practically The Godfather’s of prog rock

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure brought me here

houses of the holy prog ha

Therefore Pink Floyd , ELP, ELO...early albums are Progressive!

Kerry Livgren, KANSAS, is the best composer ever

Kraftwerk?

Led Zeppelin’s “ Achille’s Last Stand “ is quintessential prog akin to Pink Floyd’s “ Shine on You Crazy Diamond “. Prog is a chord progression or “ texture “ that subtlety manifests into a mind blowing musical experience and returns back to its origin to take you down gently from the journey.

Progressive music is music that starts off slow or soft and gets progressively faster or harder

Is Phish Prog??

Have to admit, when I heard "inclusive" I got triggered.

His body is so robotic!

Never did go away. Like herpes. 😅

This explains absolutely nothing

Progressive lol I heard that term before 👎🏼

Prog/ progressive should be eliminated as a music category. It's a term assholes use to make you feel bad about the music you enjoy.

so thats what happened to chicago