youthful prog loving

I poop too much.

I got into prog when I exited that period of life, and I don't really think something like Univers Zero necessarily brims with enthusiasm anyways.
Frankly, I think people at that age tend to get into genres slightly willy-nilly based on a) their tastes, obv, b) what's actually available to them (I got into Jesus Lizard and The Misfits when I was a teen, but I'm sure Magma and Yes would've been just as exciting, if not more so)

I guess it might depend on how much you care about lyric.
And where does dance music fit into this? Tons of people older than you are big fans of it, and these aren't necessarily a bunch of naive racecar-Roberts.
Yes, I know, escapism is a key, but why can't it be that for prog, in that instance? Because you can't dance and pull along to it?

But no, I don't think it's really a trend, at least not over here, as I've hardly known anyone who were into prog in their teen years, except people who lived in a town where there was a scene of sorts (ie how I got into Jesus Lizard, because that's what all the loud musicfans kept throwing about; not that I minded, though it also resulted in having to listen to crap like Devil Dogs)

Blablabla, does it show that I slept for three hours tonight? Whee!

I was much more easily impressed by instrumental flash when I was younger, it took awhile for my ears to be able to appreciate a right note in a right place. Prog was big and glitzy and interesting and complicated-so-it-must-be-good.

I started liking prog when I was 41. I'm 42 now.

The more I think about it, the more I realized that not much prog is really that idealistic and happy-dappy as people make it out to be.
There's Yes. There's ELP. Then what? Maybe Rush if you consider them prog etc. Don't say "Starless" or "Living in the heart of the beast", thank you :)
I don't think these sort of banal lyrics - i'm focusing on the lyrics, because I don't really get where else the "youthful idealism" comes in, unless you're talking about bands trying to infuse rock'n'roll with relatively complex songwriting - are all that common, though it's easy to get that impression when seen from afar and just hearing about mountains standing there while seasoned witches rearrange your liver to a solid mental grace; someone get me a ladder!

Then what? Some of the 80s neoproggers? I guess so, though Marillion had their sad themes, to put it mildly. And the whole AOR-thing that a lot of the major prog bands morphed into.

Fokof "the cold hard reality of life" anyways.

XPOST:
Argh, oh well, I'll keep what I wrote above to prove I'm still a dorkus.
Well, the flash thing is a point, but I still think there's tons of bands under the meaningless prog banner that put that aside from the focus. The perfectly placed notes can still be played really fast, obviously. I still think John Coltrane's Countdown is one of the finest pieces of music I've heard, despite it arguably being ridiculous showboating.

Anyways, if we're to focus on youth getting into certain bands for the flash, I don't think that's necessarily a thing people go through either, as I know plenty who never did, who went straight to Ramones and hated anything that "sounded" remotely complicated.

But hey, I probably agree with you somewhat, I think something tedious like Dream Theater would be a lot more impressive to me if I heard it while learning to play an instrument as a 13-year-old or something. Now it just sounds like undercooked spaghetti.

Slathered in bad cheese.

I was into Marillion as an 11-year-old.

|)R34M TH34T3R SuX0R!@#!@#!@#

Yeah, exactly. Most of my friends in high school listened to punk rock, but some of the jazz musicians I play with now listened to plenty of utter wank in high school (and some good wank too, i.e. Van Halen, King Crimson, etc.).

I didn't know anyone really into prog when I was in my teens. I liked Yes, Queen and Rush - but that's about it. I didn't really get into the farther out stuff until college, and was never into neo-prog, or even most of the big symphonic stuff (Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, etc).

I will say that there is probably a significant portion of the population who do their most adventurous, curious listening in their teens. To be honest, I always figured these people ended up becoming the 12-CD owners.

i wouldnt say most prog is happy, more that its grand, either in a positive or negative emotional way. and its the grandness that taps into the idealism i think (idealism doesn't mean you're happy, in fact often quite the opposite). and certainly the instrumental complexity is part of that grandness as well as lyrical themes. well thats my theory for my youthful attraction to it anyway.

First off, we're talking about teenage boys.

Second, prog is dumb, fantasy-obsessesed and overly concerned with technique. Just like...well, teenage boys.

(yawn)

I find it interesting that the same span of time in which I listened to the majority of prog (Dream Theater, Rush, King Crimson, etc.) in my life coincides almost exactly with the same span of my life in which I played Dungeons & Dragons.

I still really like Genesis though. For the most part.

Yes, Master Bob, prog is a perfect fit for the naive idealism that is your flowery English adolescence. While not original, your sensitivity is refreshing. By the time you're 27 you'll be sporting a filthy beard that stretches from your beer gut to your crotch and be spending the rest of your useless days sitting round the pub and singing along to ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughn. THEN YOU'LL KNOW THAT LIFE ISN'T FAIR, YOU SPOTTY YOUNG SPROUT!

youthful prog-hating, more like. if someone told the 16 year old me that the 27 year old me would own king crimson records, i probably would have taken arsenic.

I was far more into prog from ages 11 through 15 than I was at any time after that until the past few years (aside from Crimson who I've liked continuously). I'm not entirely sure why. I was creative and not a little pretentious and fairly insecure, I'm sure this played a big part. But despite owning all the Marillion albums (Fish was still in the band then), I generally had taste. I wasn't purchasing ELP.

My fondness for these records now (well, Genesis and Yes) is partly nostalgia for a point in my life before everything got stressful and difficult, and partly genuine enjoyment. But I can't get back into Rush no matter how hard I try (admittedly not very hard).

I will always tenderly remember "Siberian Khatru" as the soundtrack to my youthful escapades...whether it was robbing liquor stores and breaking into cars at 3AM in Tacoma, or making out with that hooker in the Bowery, or slinging crystal meth under the swaying palms of Venice Beach then high-tailin' it outta there to Vegas where I beat up that old geezer...(sigh) those were the days!

(Quentin Tarantino, if you're reading this, I want 50% of the take!!)

I've loved Yes pretty unconditionally from the time I was around 13 until the present. But then I think I still like most everything I liked then. I don't think I've ever fussed about genre affiliations or subcultures or any of that stuff. When I bought my first cd player in the late 80s, two of the first cds I bought were Yes The Yes Album and Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. I wasn't hugely into other stuff that could be termed prog though, aside from owning just about all the Rush albums. I had a King Crimson compilation, which I loved, and copies of Nursury Crime and Foxtrot which I didn't. I thought Nursury Crime was ok, especially "The Music Box", but I couldn't get into Gabriel. I'm still not that into early Genesis, never got into ELP. But I like King Crimson even more than I did then, and I've become a huge Van Der Graaf Generator fan. I guess I like what I like.

What kind of prog are you takling about? There are a lot of bands under that umbrella. I hate Rush and the idea of holding them up as an archetype (exactly the kind of word a band like Rush would use) of the genre is actually pretty ridiculous. What about RIO, Cantebury, Art Rock, kraut, 70s pysche? What about band like King Crimson that had an incredibly diverse range of music? All of these scenes/movements/bands were labeled prog at one time or another. Have any of you ever glanced at the UK "Progressive" charts from the 70s. There is a lot of junk on them, but the crossover is pretty amazing.

At this point, what the does the tag even mean? I mean if Yes, ELP,Rush and Genesis are your only points of reference, then sure, the genre is probably pompous overblown silliness through and through- even though I do like early Genesis a lot. But when you toss the word out there, I need some kind of clarification what you're actaully talking about.

In general, I think a lot of seventies rock simply blurs boundaries and there are comfortable examples of single-genre bands. I tend to concentrate on kraut, glam, and art rock nowadays, but some of these areas frequently mingle with the concept of "prog".

I do agree that that wank factor is a very adolescent thing, but not all of the music marketed at prog in the 70s has wall to wall solos.

I am, however, very suspicious of anything marketed as prog nowadays- it's an almost sure sign of a lack of quality.

Aside from all the other grammatical and spelling erros, "there are comfortable examples of single-genre" shoud be "there are few comfortable examples of".

Sorry, my posts are a bit general

C'mon James, let's blow this thread up.

Why doesn't prog have more hip-hop elements? ;)