Losing the love for Prog-Metal

[KevShmev]

Porcupine Tree is progressive in the same way that Radiohead is progressive: when you look at the progression of both bands' careers, it is obvious that both are extremely progressive.  But neither are "prog" in the symphonic prog sense, ala Yes, Spock's Beard, etc.  Not trying to start another prog vs. progressive debate here...just offering some perspective.

[Jamesman42]

I'm gonna go against the current a bit here, and say that I've had prog in my life too long to properly stay away for good. Or to want to. It's my home genre. Sure, there's a few things I don't like about it as much as I used to, but however much gallivanting I do - and it's an increasing amount - I'm always gonna come back. Fucking love Dream Theater.

I quite progressive/prog/whatever elements in all music. I've heard some in some Christian worship music (not DT-like but it wasn't your standard fare rock either) and I loved it. I kind of agree with this reply because it's what I walways want to return to...it always has a huge story to tell me with the music.

[Fluffy Lothario]

I quite progressive/prog/whatever elements in all music.

Accidentally?

[Darkes7]

Progressive rock in the '70s isn't the same thing like progressive rock now, like with almost every genre. Porcupine Tree is one of the main, if not the main band that define modern progressive rock.

[Jamesman42]

I quite progressive/prog/whatever elements in all music.

Accidentally?

No, on purposeful, like rob.

[ariich]

Please don't do what a lot of people seem to do, which is to go too far the other way. I've spoken to so many people who seem to think along the lines of "I liked it when I was 18, now I'm 19, I can't possibly like it anymore because that would be immature". Which is moronic. Surely growing up is expanding our tastes, not simply shifting them.

Music can be good in all genres. If you're expanding your tastes to include other styles then that is a great great thing, but be sure to remember why you've loved prog metal so much.

[orcus116]

There is such thing as falling out of love with music, though. Trying to listen to Dream Theater nowadays doesn't generate nearly a fraction of the excitement for me as it used to. You're right, calling it immature is a little unfair but if something isn't satisfying anymore it just isn't satisfying, plain and simple.

[glaurung]

Devin Townsend is not a Prog Metal act in the same way that PT is not a Prog Rock act. Both take a core genre (In Devin's case, metal; in PT's, rock) and expand on it by adding other influences and genres. In both cases, prog happens to be a prominent influence, and the fan bases are similar, but that does not make them Prog Metal and Prog Rock.

Why not? Isn't being a progressive band all about experimenting? Perhaps trying something new by trying out a lot of different influences and genres within the rock/metal/whatever you already play?

[ariich]

There is such thing as falling out of love with music, though. Trying to listen to Dream Theater nowadays doesn't generate nearly a fraction of the excitement for me as it used to. You're right, calling it immature is a little unfair but if something isn't satisfying anymore it just isn't satisfying, plain and simple.

For sure, tastes change and obviously there's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes you get people who like to give the impression that because they liked something and now they don't, they are somehow enlightened. Which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, because I'd never for one second imply that my tastes are any better or more valid than anyone else's. That was all I was getting at really.

[j]

In my experience, although the term is used a lot in this sense, "maturity" has very little to do with it.  If anything, people who say they've "grown out" of an entire genre, band, etc. probably just associate that music with a time in their life when they themselves were less mature.

The bottom line is, at least for me, the REALLY good music doesn't ever get stale, regardless of genre.  I may tire of listening to it for awhile, but I still appreciate its awesomeness.  For example, when I first discovered DT, I devoured every song of theirs I could get my hands on, and liked practically all of them to a degree.  Nowadays, a fair portion of their work does not interest me, but it's not because I was immature for enjoying it previously.  Their best music simply withstood the test of time while some of the lesser stuff did not.

As for the genre thing, I enjoy a pretty wide variety of different music, and I could not say that one genre is more consistent than another.  Every genre has its share of garbage.  With progressive rock it is a bit different, only because the genre is so poorly defined, and it often falls victim to things like extreme self-indulgence and pretension, which we as prog fans don't mind if done with a bit of subtlety and taste, but it's a very fine line.  Where the fuck are rob and his masterful command of English to word this eloquently for me?

-J

[Arcaeus]

Very good post, j.

[TheVoxyn]

I agree with Ariich and j. I don't see it as 'maturing' but more as changing personal tastes a bit.

[ariich]

Good man.

Interestingly for me, obviously there are bands and artists I liked when I was younger and then went off a bit, but more recently I've found myself drifting back towards a lot of them again. I think I'm at a point where my tastes are incredibly open at the moment, and so I'm remembering what it was I liked about them when I was younger and am still able to enjoy it now.

[ZBomber]

Everything loses it's edge after so many listens. I mean, I played Dream Theater over 6000 times in a year. I went pretty hardcore for them for awhile. Now I still enjoy them, but its not something I get that excited about. The last time I listened to Dream Theater as what I would consider a "hardcore fan" was probably around when I saw them in concert (luckily, I was still in "huge fan" mode and that concert was one of the best I've ever been to  ). Right now I'm obsessing over Porcupine Tree... I'm sure it will be the same thing in about half a year or so.

I wouldn't really call myself a prog head anyways, because even though I absolutely LOVE 99% of the prog I've heard, I don't really listen to that many bands that fall in the genre... and even then a majority of them are 70s bands, which ties in with my love for classic rock.

The songs I loved 10 years ago and the songs I love now will always stay with me. I may not listen to Dream Theater with the same intensity I did when I heard them for the first time almost two years ago, but the memories the music gave me won't go away. I'm always gonna have a soft spot for Dream Theater, because their music (as well as the music of Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, and Rush) helped me get through some of the hardest times of my life thus far. And I like to think that's what music is to me. Its not just a bunch of notes. It becomes something.... personal.

[King Postwhore]

Good man.

Interestingly for me, obviously there are bands and artists I liked when I was younger and then went off a bit, but more recently I've found myself drifting back towards a lot of them again. I think I'm at a point where my tastes are incredibly open at the moment, and so I'm remembering what it was I liked about them when I was younger and am still able to enjoy it now.

This X infinity. ariich, a perfect way to say it.

[MetalManiac666]

There is such thing as falling out of love with music, though. Trying to listen to Dream Theater nowadays doesn't generate nearly a fraction of the excitement for me as it used to. You're right, calling it immature is a little unfair but if something isn't satisfying anymore it just isn't satisfying, plain and simple.

For sure, tastes change and obviously there's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes you get people who like to give the impression that because they liked something and now they don't, they are somehow enlightened. Which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, because I'd never for one second imply that my tastes are any better or more valid than anyone else's. That was all I was getting at really.

This.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Interestingly for me, obviously there are bands and artists I liked when I was younger and then went off a bit, but more recently I've found myself drifting back towards a lot of them again. I think I'm at a point where my tastes are incredibly open at the moment, and so I'm remembering what it was I liked about them when I was younger and am still able to enjoy it now.

Best example of this for me at the moment is Slipknot. They were my favourite band at the start of high school, then for years, they became something I wouldn't touch, but I've found myself loving a lot of their music again, if not all of it.

And as a really young kid, I loved Abba, and for the last few years, I've had a lukewarm wish to go out and get a Best Of of theirs. Still yet to act upon it though, it seems Abba Gold will never go down in price and I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and buy it full price.

[KevShmev]

I can't think of any band I have liked a lot at one point that I flat-out do not like anymore.  Sure, there might be a song here and a song there that maybe didn't age well with me, but there is not a single band that I liked a lot at any point that I now look back on and think, "What was I thinking?"  Some of it I might not like nearly as much (Ayreon) or I might not listen to them hardly at all anymore (AC/DC), but I still like it all to some extent. 

[Sigz]

I can't think of any band I have liked a lot at one point that I flat-out do not like anymore. 

Neither can I. I mean I was a huge Who fan back in high school, and Beatles back in middle school, but even though I don't listen to them now I still enjoy it when I hear it.