What's Progressive?

[Guido Vacano]

Christian sez--
>
> >Yours truly wrote:
> > I think progressive music is any kind of
> > > music you can sit down and get lost in.... be it classical, jazz, rock,
> > > ambient... whatever.
> > And Guido replied:
> > Whoops! Didn't see this when I started my reply. But is this definition
> > useful?
>
> Well, isn't all inventive or original art "progressive"? In the context
> of rock music I'd say it narrows down the genre a bit, while at the same
> time including most forms of rock....

Then I think this is a bit more of a very general description than a
useful category. I mean, if a record store put all the inventive and
original stuff on the "progressive" shelves, where's the rest go? To the
"derivative drivel" shelves? :-)

Categorizing music is a difficult operation I guess, but there MUST be
some good alternatives to (IMHO) useless categories like "progressive
rock", "world music", and "new age". :-P

So how do we categorize a monstrosity like Hawkwind? Are they heavy
metal? Are they psychedelia? New wave? Industrial? Alternative? Ambient?
Electronic? Progressive rock? Let's face it, musical categories suck. :-)

Guido

--
If nothing is done, then all will be well.  -- Lao Tse