Some folk shiver at the sheer guttural pronunciation of prog — as though it were some sort of Klingon delicacy. And I get it: there’s a lot of prog that’s about as palatable as an exotic plate of wriggling worms: aimless noodling about the fretboard — music that works theoretically, sure, but only theoretically.
I won’t open a can of worms and name names about that kind of prog. It’s not my fate to warn you and I won’t ask you to say yes to music that might be the genesis of a headache. Even as a lifelong fan of the genre, I’ll be the first to tell you prog is at its most potent and potable as a kind of modifier to another genre that’s become stale, conservative, self-referential.
I’d rather progressive rock. Progressive punk. Progressive metal.…