What is Progressive Metal? GET LEARNT! | Mike The Music Snob Ep 1 

As a black man who has never listened to rock, id have to say, 3 mins into this video and i already like this guy. I feel like I'm learning something. Never heard of "progressive metal" but Barby from Geography Now made me google what progressive metal is. The fact that he actually said "music theory" already has me interested. Side note: I included my race because growing up a black person, you're frowned upon for listening to anything other than rap and I'm actually getting bored with rap nowadays.

This is incredibly not cringe-worthy. Seriously. I'm genuinely pleased. Often times I go into these things and the people are awkward to listen to and have bad comedic timing, but this was pretty well done! Kudos, bro!

Wow Mike has really gotten in shape since this

Did he lose weight? Not to be mean but he looks so much better now. No homo

dude your voice is awesome. great vid btw

Scenes From a Memory from Dream Theater is a freaking masterpiece

Potential here guys

don't forget gojira

Great video! You synthesized really easy the background/history of this amazing genre, plus you are funny! :D P.D: Tool/Opeth big fan, you have my heart!

"Part of what makes music so great is the fact it is ambiguous. So it can be interpreted by the listener however they want it to be interpreted." This is why I sometimes like instrumental bands. People worry about lyrics and (usually extreme/non-traditional) vocals, so play something with none and it's just the music itself that is being judged. Glad I got the Lamb of God VII: Strum und Drung album with both normal and instrumental CDs. Can play it in my mom's car (yes, I'm Black, so imagine my mom... yeah, lol) with less criticism. Or just Animals as Leaders and say "The guitarist is Black," because, you know, Black people and music tend to be more... trend-based or "Black music." Music is music, and sorry for the random TL;DR comment.

“He probably does, but it’s still offensive”

Progressive rock aka the best thing to ever happeen to pop music

I just saw tool in concert last Friday and it was probably the greatest concert I've ever been to

finally, a fellow musician who understands reason backed by knowledge. you sir, have earned yourself a subsciption

You sir gained yourself a new sub, totally agree on every single point. I met JP at a Meet'n'greet in February before a concert, and I was just lost for words. Such legend at his craft.. Both as guitarist and story telling. He was one of the most humble and down-to-earth person i've ever met, making one very comfortable, despite your nervousness. Such great experience.

over recent times progressive metal has become one of my favorite genres, it ticks every box of what i look for in music

This guy seems like he'll be a big deal on RU-vid some day...

I am going on a binge on your channel. It's the weekend, and a day off, so this is an acceptable past time. I am a newer subscriber and wanted to watch the origins. Holy crap, you have a great sense of humor! Moving on...I need to send people to your channel. You need to be huge. Gargantuan, even.

hey Mike, I am the person you served at Kitchen Notes the other day and you gave me the guest check with items to look up regarding Progressive Metal including this video. I like the video and now I understand what it is!!! I grew up listening to the now classic rock and the bands you mention as progressive rock which by the way are my favorites. Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull are at the top of my rock list!!! Thanks for the education and referring to me as "a dumb ass" as I saw myself in those questions as I a pretty sure I asked you those. hahaha anyway, I will now go listen to these bands you suggest to see how I like it!! have a great day

Very informative and thanks for the band suggestions at the end!

You summed up everything really well. Great vid!

Thanks for the insight! Today a guy told me he plays progressive metal and I was like "oh cool" (and in my mind.. is that electronic metal or something?) After seeing this I really like the concept and will try to explore it a bit even if I'm not the biggest metal fan. Cheers!

Totally on point about lyrics! Couldn't agree more!

God damn this takes me back

Damn!!!! I need a transcript of your "Time Out" rant...so I can post it daily to all of my social media outlets!!!! Love it!

dude awesome explanation, very solid historical proof and smoothly going through time periods and evolution. would like to hear some of your jams, may i suggest Wintersun? epic melo progressive death metal from finland!!! peace out man

Thank you for this!

genuinely this explained so much to me

I'm gonna be honest I got into the Collins era first and now I'm starting to listen to there older Prog albums.

Metropolis Pt. 2 is one of my favorite albums of all time.

The first Mike the Music Snob video. He's slowly transforming into his present self, guys!

so beautifully explained...

what is the name of the band in the minute 5:58?

came here by accident - subscribed

In witch genre would you place nevermore, control denied and communic then?

Loved this, lol! Awesome video!!!

What's the song in the background? Great video btw ^^

I remember the first time I listened to this video. It helped me discover this kind of music and love it!!! Thanks for helping me discover progressive Metal/music in genre.

I had always been intrigued by progressive metal. I was a Rush fan, I listened to a little Pink Floyd and Yes too. Metallica and TOOL were both big influences on my listening tastes, but I didn't know where to go next. This video and another by Notes Reviews gave me some new ideas. Thanks Mike for introducing me to such a cool area of music!

I legit just want to sit with him and talk about music and learn everything about his music perspective

Thanks, that was an excellent vid.

Didn't get the Phil Collins reference at 3:44. Someone please explain!

Great you forgot to mention Symphony X, Savatage and Shadow Gallery for which you`ll be ever suffering the musical hell of eternal silence!

What is the name of the song in the background?

I was about to throw a shit-storm when you said "music can't tell a story", but you saved it afterwards with "up to interpretation of the listener." I mean shit, I love me some Prog Metal, but have you ever heard the blues? It's like the guitars cry themselves, telling a sad ass story. Whatever, back to the subject- great video man. You seem pretty underrated. Keep up the good work, you'll get there.

Opeth is one of the greatest bands ever. I highly recommend their Still Life album. I first heard that album when I was 18 years old.... I probably had it on repeat for a year straight at least. All the nuances that you miss and still discover with every play through... blows my mind.

AWESOME!

the beginning part is so funny bc there’s a kid at my school who has glasses and long hair and wears prog metal band shirts a lot. he talked to me about pokemon cards once and now i’m looking up what prog metal is in the middle of the night and wondering if i can get up the courage to talk to him again dkfjemsmnfnd

What's the song played at background

Love your vids man... Rock on

Never knew what prog metal was essentially, other than the fact that theory is actually part of it, and now that you listed some of my current favorite bands, I'm glad to know that I've been appreciating some of it.

do anyone know the name of the song at background?

Link to the video where you're playing Zepplin at end please? @becometheknight

Awesome sense of humour!

It’s so much to understand about Metal Music.

Mike, I did go check out several versions of Metropolis Pt1. First, thank you for the suggestion to do so. I loved the majority of the music. The first time I was annoyed when the vocals began, and did my best to ignore them. By the third time, I could listen to the vocals a bit. The only thing that bugged the hell out of me was some of the tones used by the keyboard player. I am a classical trained pianist, so maybe that's my issue. I can be a bit of a purist at times. Overall I think I will start checking out more of their music. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and your personal taste in good music. Love watching your videos. 🤘

Do you know of any notable crossings or pairings of progressive metal with symphonic metal? Do tell.

Whats the song at 4:58?

I like this guy too! Hoping for more.

Fun little video. Also try: Cynic, Pain of Salvation, Caligula's Horse, The Contortionist, Spiral Architect, Tesseract

Dude lol the outdo with metal stairway

I'm here getting educated about the beautiful musical genre that its "prog metal/rock" almost 10 years later. Thanks for the video :3 I just learned something new ✨

You totally need to do a cover of this video!

Hey, thanks man. I'm 16 and I'm trying to expand my taste (I've been a big alternative metal fan for the longest time) and I have been loving progressive rock and metal but I don't really know what makes a progressive band easily distinguishable. Can you help me with this?

Ty snob ....love u ...

After Clone Hero introduced me to Andromeda a while ago, this was the first video of yours I watched.

Damn that stairway to heaven riff in the end is amazing

mike: not everything needs to be complicated john petrucci: funny haha, i like this guy

jeez you'r just listing out my favorite bands

That intro dude I NEEED IT 😂😂

The best explanation I’ve heard.

I been listening to death matel for 7 years since i was 17 and todaywas the first time i listening and i fall in love with this sub genre metal it sounds amazing. I tried to listen to slipknot for the first time i hated it in 10th grade but 12th i step in and never looked back best decision I made

I'd argue that music can tell a story. In fact there are entire movies where you can close your eyes and listen to the music describing what is going on. Look no further than Peter and the Wolf. Classical songs like Danse Macabre and Flight of the Bumblebee are very good at telling stories.

2 minutes in and I want to hangout and jam with you!

I love this dude. I'm in Nashville too man. A bunch of folks look at ya funny when you say you play progressive metal. Haha gotta love it.

whos here from his laterst vid, the reaction to elders react to pink floyd. also, genius self plug u got there mike

the great thing about him that he is really honest in his videos. love all the videos. and after watching bunch of you're videos i wanted to know that what do you think of motorhead.

Nailed it

Where do you classify porcupine tree?

This was uploaded on my birthday

nice glass of apple juice in the end.

How do you feel about the contortionist as a band and their new album?

Thoroughly enjoyed this vid.. piles of info and clarification.. I wasn't up to speed on what Progressive Metal was/is, and apparently this is the stuff I really enjoy. :)

"...the full gambit of emotions..." Yeah, I know YT says the video is eight years old, but the proper phrase is "full gamut". Gamut is effectively synonymous with "range", while a gambit is a sacrifice, usually used as misdirection in pursuit of a goal or victory.

had to recently send this video to friend when he asked me to explain how skyharbor was metal lol

Kinda humors me you always cite Dream Theater, but never one of their earliest influences, Watchtower.

New to your channel. Have you ever listened to Into Eternity? I feel they are one of the most underrated bands in Progressive metal. The way they fuse, Prog, Power, and death metal together is insane. And their singer being able to hit high notes that would make King Diamond's hair stand on end and then growl like Corpsegrinder is insane.

Mike, What would be the best album to get into Opeth? Thanks!

Subscribed my friend! Funny video lol

YT shashed this video into my face and insisted i have to watch it :P Good hob there. DT used to be my favorite band with Metropolis Part 1 as my favorite song and Scenes From a Memory as my favorite album. The Astonishing was such a huge dissapointment for me tho and since i found out about more and more great bands the distance to DT kept growing. For example in 2016 my favorite purchase by far was Katatonia's The Fall of Hearts. In my opinion it's their best album and every song is litteraly a blessing to my ears. But i also bought albums of bands i didn't know before. These days I'm listening to bands like Haken, Leprous and Rishloo is just beautiful!

Thank you for the video! I'm trying to find my taste in punk/rock/metal right now. So far it falls somewhere between stoner doom, west coast 90s punk, and prog metal. I thought I was looking for 'ambient' or 'melodic' metal but those turned out to be overly focused on certain themes or concepts. They tend to have strong themes like ' the black death,' fallen angels, etc. These often take away from the musical experience, for me. I just like good sound, Im not usually looking for ballads or strong lyrics. Wanted to 'contend' the concept of 'stories' needing to use words or to be linear, though. A story can be abstract and it can also be told through pictures, shifting sounds or movement (dance). I think the idea of 'story' is very flexible. That being said, thanks again and I'm going to keep exploring!

One of my friends dads worked with Queensryche for quite some time

Hey Mike. I was wondering what a good starting album would be for Dream Theater...I've been meaning to check them out because I enjoy prog very much. Just wondering what album you would suggest.

hey mike. what do you think of textures? they are like periphery meets meshuggah. i think they are fucking awesome. greetz from the netherlands \m/

Lyrcism in music is important. "Do not respond to my opinion, only mine matters, I enjoy shutting down discussion." - Regression

IF you like Dream Theater, you'll love Shadow Gallery!

Holy shit he lost wait, when looking at his newer videos - good for him

Metropolis emotions: Anxiety, rage, passion, excitement, hope

Have you lestened Star One?

You've lost some weight since uploading this video. Nice work, man!