I admit it, I used to be a huge prog head.  PFM.  Eloy.  Caravan.  Camel.  Gong.  Yes.  Amon Duul II.  Countless others.  

Then something happened.  I am going to blame it on a combo of (1) wretched excess as demonstrated in ELP's later albums (2) Foreigner and Journey (3) Steve Hackett leaving Genesis and Genesis becoming a disco band and (4) the arrival of break dancing.  Wait (4) Punk/New Wave... 80s music.

While I never left my beloved planet Gong (the pot head pixies know me by name there), i pretty much shut down all Prog other than the silly stuff like Hawkwind (which is really more space rock than prog). Oh and I never left KC (and I am not talking about the Sunshine Band).  

I bought an iPad recently.  I have repurchased virtually every YES LP on iToons.  I find myself going back and listening to Close to the Edge more than when I first bought the LP.  And of course classic songs like Yours is No Disgrace, I've Seen All Good People, Starship Troopers...

Dang that was good music.  Dang you Journey.  

If you were a Prog Fan, did you stay one?  Did you leave?  Did you come back?  What made you come back or stay away.  

Also
Dang you Grace Slick for We Built This City.  Dang You to Heck.  

I was...I'm not.

I don't think I ever really left. I like variety in music--that's what drew me to prog in the first place. Rather than leaving prog I just added new music to my "play list". Blues, jazz and yes--even new wave.

I'm still there.

I'll take a Yes*, Gentle Giant* over Badfinger** any day.

Don't get me wrong. I loves me some Badfinger every now and then, but prog is where my heart is.





*Some of my favorite Prog groups

**Or any other good solid 3 minutes pop song group

So you've abandoned prog AND you bought an iPad? Geesh, another one goes over to the dark side.

BaWahHaaaaaaaa!

I still enjoy Yes, Gentle Giant, early Genesis and Tull. I was heavy into that genre back in the 70s. But I like so many kinds of music now. My radio is currently tuned to the Country station which is where the real players seem to be nowadays.

bitflipper


So you've abandoned prog AND you bought an iPad? Geesh, another one goes over to the dark side.

BF
I have fallen in love with prog all over again by having a 50GB or whatever it is library of music.  


I feel guilty owning an Apple anything.  


But the iPad is a nice way to take a huge library of music and a movie or two with me while I travel.  


I do not think I could ever go back to ELP past Tarkus.  I have tried to listen to Brain Salad Surgery and I loved it 40 years ago and totally despise it now.  


I do enjoy Uriah Heap.  

Fell in love with Prog when I heard Genesis' Trick of the Tail on a Really Good Stereo in a smoke filled dorm room back in the late 70's.  (Taurus Bass Pedals!  Mellotron!)  Liked it even more when I heard their earlier stuff.  Thought Phil Collins should be brought up on charges for what he did to the band after that.  Especially after hearing his amazing drumming on Brand X's Morrocan Roll.  He should have gone solo with the blue eyed soul / pop 40 stuff.  Followed the revived King Crimson.  For the truly adventurous Captain Beefheart is always a trip and a half.
 
Journey and Foreigner?  Prog?  Ahem.
 
These days Prog seems to mean speed metal prog thrash.  Mastodon has done some borderline Prog that is very impressive.  Check out their song Quintessence on the album Crack the Skye.  Bran Dailor, their drummer, is one of the best I've ever heard.  If they could ditch the cookie monster vocals they'd have me as an unreserved fan.  I've tried Spock's Beard, Dream Theater (slow down Please!) and others.  But they  seem to want all of their music to be a 160bpm assault.  (Maybe it's the 500-wpc amp that drives my listening room speakers that makes it seem that way.....)
 
I still love the mathematical fist in a victorian glove approach to Prog.  Any suggestions on bands to try are welcome.  

I think prog burnt out around 74/75, after 5 years of incredible development and music the big bands started to run out of ideas. For me ELP lost it after Brain Salad Surgery (Love Beach was enough to make me puke), Yes after Relayer, Genesis when Hacket left. King Crimson kept the flame alight but having said that I found some of their albums impenetrable.

My preferences moved to folk and folk rock, Bands like Planxty, Ossian, The Battle Field Band, Five hand Reel, Richard and Linda Thompson but I never lost the love of classic prog rock.

These days? Yes have released "Fly from Here" their best album since Relayer, unfortunately without the ailing Jon Anderson. I have recently got into Syzygy, Touchstone, The Reasoning, Panic Room and Mostly Autumn. But is this is this music progressive or regressive? But I am playing Greenslade, The Strawbs, Yes, Colosseum, King Crimson, The Nice to name a few again on a regular basis.