i hate to break it to you but in 2010 these 'cutting edge' bands that are popular now are going to seem pretty lame.

when i look back on the things i liked 10 - 20 - 30 years ago - some of it is still solid - but a lot of it is pathetic - even though i have a nostalgic affection for it ..

the shit i listened to was always progressive - but now most of it seems so silly ...

certain bands will always be valid .. they dont follow trends or sounds and they will always be classic ...

believe it or not ACDC is one of those bands .. rock and roll in its purest form - never swaying or changing with the times ..
i'd hate to think that every band would sound like ACDC ... or that no one would try anything new but most of these changes are topical and timely for a certain era - sensibilities ... and they will lose their credibility as social sensibilities change with time ..

The 80's were just a great time time for music. Late 70's to early 80's was the best by far; punk, post-punk, new wave, hardcore, goth, industrial... that was the time to live...

The punk scene was only in some citys. So if you were lucky you could goto a lot of shows and see up and coming bands.

Not all new wave is good.

I hate bands that use the word "progressive rock" or progressive this or that. Progressive is up to the listener who hears the music as unique. You can't label that you're self .

I was talking about music that appeals to a targeted group just for selling albums and making money. Cutting edge... not even close.

80's! ozzy!!

progressive rock was a wide focus genre - called that by the fans - not the band.

it started with music that went beyond the 'chorus verse chorus verse' that was the standard in popular rock since the 50's.

in the late 60's early 70's there was a number of bands that were defined by 'progressive rock - or art rock - like yes, genesis, strawbs, 10cc, rennessance, a pile of others - largely from the UK (actually there was even one called UK.

hate it till your bag falls off .. thats what people called it back then.

as far as the bands you mentioned not being cutting edge - i dont think so either ... but the 1st one to come along was .. then it sold - the record companies saw there was a dollar to be made so they started to package as many bands as they could with the flavour of the month sound. happens all the time and its the shit i avoid like the plague ..

Well... I wasn't really referring to old progressive rock more than the modern. Mars Volta? Ever heard of them, they labelled themselves as progressive.

They're is a lot of music that doesn't follow music formula and their not called progressive. I would think the Talking head's are progressive rock, but they are more labelled as new wave. go figure.

never heard of Mars Volta ...
i think when a band is so self aware of their sound that they have to label themslelves - that cant be a good thing.
sounds a little too contrived.

Maybe they like the genre.... its no different than calling yourself metal, punk or whatever. There's been some cutting edge bands latley particularly Queens of the Stone Age aswell as countless metal and punk bands from their respective underground scenes. When you think about it throughout every era there's only been a handfull of bands that really mattered anyway the rest were generic bullshit. Good music is out there you've just got to delve thru a lot of shit to find it.