Hello All.
I'd like to contribute my point of view to the Definitions of ProgRock. I do 
admit that I don't know very much ProgRock yet, but perhaps that is only an 
advantage...
What is ProgRock? This question is as difficult as What Is Art, Is There A 
God, What Is The Meaning Of Life, Is Elvis Dead, ... So let's narrow it down 
a bit.
What is a ProgRock Band? This is a bit easier, because we have a well-defined 
group of ProgRock Bands. Let's put the 'blurred' ones apart, and look at the 
bands  we  all  know  as  Progrock Bands: Marillion,  Yes,  Pink Floyd,  King 
Crimson,... and see what they all have in common. Here's a list:
- They all have at least one concept album.
- They all have at least one song that's over 15 minutes.
- They all have songs with lyrics that can be considered high litterature.
- They all have album covers that support the music
- They all have a basic instrument set of Vocal, Guitar, Bass, Drums and 
Keyboard.
You can probably think of more aspects. The idea is, that if we can gather 
enough elements, we have a set of rules to define if a band is ProgRock or 
not. If the band is ProgRock, than EVERY song they make is ProgRock.
Unfortunately, many bands have made prog songs or even prog albums, without 
being completely prog. So we have to make a new category for Prog Songs. For 
example: Bohemian Rhapsody or Child In Time are quite ProgRock, but neither 
Queen nor Deep Purple qualifies as a ProgRock band. Most of the time, these 
songs are more popular than the average ProgRock song, because the group is 
more popular (ie. more commercial) For this category, we define a new set of 
rules:
- Form: A ProgSong uses instruments and/or effects that are uncommon to the 
group and the kind of music they normally make.
- Style: A ProgSong is 'deeper' than a regular song, it contains musical and 
lyrical style elements that go further than one notices at first time. Eg. 
the lyrics are really deep, the music is cyclic or repeated (Child In Time), 
...
So a ProgRock song is defined by an internal and an external aspect.
I hope at least some of you can agree with this theory. I am aware that it 
doesn't always work in practic, for example the Alan Parsons Project never 
made a song of more than 15 minutes, but perhaps you can consider _The Fall 
of the House of Usher_ as one song.
-/_-,
Steven
NP: Enigma: _Le roi est mort, vive le roi_
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