Progressive rock and classical music have many surface similarities: emphasis on musical technique, complex musical structure, lengthy compositions. But I don’t know enough fans of either genre to answer one question: does fandom in one lead to fandom in the other? If it doesn’t why not? Did prog rock get you into classical, or vice versa?
My brother is very in to prog. He’s 38. He is a fan of Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holtz and that’s about it. He’s more in to jazz and rock than classical.
Always loved a lot of “classical” (actually, technically, I prefer the periods before and after – baroque and romantic), though I don’t like symphonies so much, but rather chamber music, solo works, and vocal works.
I was a fan of some prog rock – especially Rush, Zappa’s proggier stuff, prog-ish Tull, some Floyd, and jazz-rock fusion like Mahavishnu Orchestra – especially around age 16-20. I haven’t listened to it much over the years, but I’ll dip back into it now and then.
I like all kinds of music, but prog rock, baroque and bebop are my favorites.
I listen to lots of classical, and absolutely no progressive rock.
These are not factors that are relevant to me.
Understood, but I think the OP was referring to how it takes a certain habit of mind to have the patience and attention to digest longer and/or more complex works of any kind. If the OP is more interested in this than in overlapping taste, perhaps respondents could also mention if they read, say, novels and/or long non-fiction books.
This reminds me of an album I listened to a lot in college: “We Know What We Like - The London Symphony Orchestra Plays the Music of Genesis” http://www.allmusic.com/album/we-know-what-we-like-london-symphony-orchestra-plays-the-music-of-genesis-mw0000106044
I like both.
There was a lot of creative overlap, as progressive acts often included classical pieces (and classicalish themes) in their works. If you liked progressive, you were exposed to classical and probably found things to like there, too.*
I grew up being taken to classical concerts, but I didn’t much care for the genre until I was older. However, I became a fan of progressive rock in the 70s, before I rediscovered classical. I liked the fact that they were trying to add complexity to rock music.
*There’s plenty of classical music that the average person likes. Kill the wabbit.
Love both, together they account for about 90-95% of my listening to music time. I got into prog first, but that was not the trigger to explore classical later. In fact the most obviously classically influenced prog, such as ELP’s take on Pictures at an exhibition, never appealed to me.
As a kid, my parents dragged me to the symphony and opera all the time. I hated it, but I guess it finally rubbed off. I’ve been a huge prog fan since 1975’s A Trick of the Tail by Genesis. And today, lean towards the sub-genre of symphonic prog.
I like classical, lots of rock, but my appreciation for prog is a bit thin. Some of it I love. I like experimental music in general, but prog’s seeming habit of throwing classical instruments into a work, or what seems to be writing complex music simply because they can write complex music - makes me somewhere between bewildered and bored.
I think that might be due to how I ran into prog rock, though. I played violin and guitar as a child/early teen. So, I had some time listening to both classical and pop during my formative years. But I came to prog from the space rock/psychedelic side of things, though. So, the space rock, heavy extended jam stuff is right up my alley. When they’re trying to give the impression that they’re the modern Bach by writing really tight compositions or using a harpsichord, not so much.
I am a fan of both and particularly of classical music that’s been reworked into a more modern style. Emerson Lake and Palmer have a number of them that I like a lot. So does Deodato.
How about people who are fans of classical and metal?
Many years ago, I dated a record store owner, and he would often put classical music on towards closing time, or if he had customers who looked like they might be troublemakers. The people who complimented him on it, and could identify the pieces, were almost always metalheads. :eek: 
I have a good friend who is an opera singer (sings in the Met extra chorus and does solo work when he can get it), and listens to almost all metal. Except when he’s listening to country. Stayed with him during a trip to NYC a couple of years ago and he dragged me to a German trash metal concert. Not my jam, but it was interesting.
As for me, I’m a classical musician, but the only prog I’ve ever really paid any attention to is Pink Floyd. I have nothing against it, I’ve just never really listened.
Pretty cool. I had heard other Renaissance songs that weren’t my thing, but I had heard nothing from that album (and wow, that line up left fast). The pianist using a pickup on the soundboard and putting it through that Orange head (and a wah pedal, I think) sounds great. I’ve listened to the rest of that album now, and I think that “Bullet” is probably my favorite track from it. Thankya!
My personal music journey started with classical music, namely the 1812 Overture. What’s not to love about cannons in an orchestra?
The complexity of classical carried me over into fusion jazz- Weather Report, The Crusaders, Blood, Sweat & Tears. Also, later, big band.
Prog rock came from listening to the above. If it was interestingly composed and arranged, it got my attention. Yes, Pink Floyd, and mostly Queen. (Yes, I consider Queen to have a lot of prog in their music. It’s certainly highly composed.)
After high school I discovered the orchestrated kinds of heavy metal, specifically Iron Maiden. Good composition, and they’re not afraid of long instrumental passages.
These days, I’m listening to an awful lot of symphonic metal. Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica. The album Metallica did with the San Francisco Symphony is pretty epic. I like Rob Zombie quite a bit. Not symphonic, but lots of fun.
Funny thing- I completely skipped over many very popular rock bands- Led Zep, AC/DC, Skynrd, etc. They don’t do anything for me at all.
That’s what’s funny about this genre, and probably most of them. I consider these very different bands. Yes is prog rock in that they have very, very tight compositions and you have to be a musical athlete to play a lot of it. I think of them to be like Rush, but with less of a sci-fi bent. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. Queen is similar, but much more anthemic than even Rush, and incredibly vocally oriented. In spite of that, sometimes they were actually satisfied by a very simple track. Again, sometimes it works for me, sometimes not – but they all make tight compositions, and they’re not usually attempting to infer a classical revival through instrument choice.
But Pink Floyd went through both gradual and drastic changes through their career. With Syd, that band was furiously loose, and it was a gorgeous thing. After they stopped picking him up for gigs, they were still very loose as a band. There was a period where that band seemed to do no two takes quite the same. Even later, when the albums are more tightly controlled by Waters’ ideas, and I begin to lose interest, there’s still a lot going on that he’s not orchestrating.
I’m a fan of progressive rock, particularly Yes and Rush, as well as some bands with prog-like tendencies (Queen, ELO, Moody Blues). I started listening to prog in high school, and got even more into it in college.
I enjoy classical music, though I don’t listen to it often, nor do I have a big collection of it. What exposure I’ve had to classical came not from any overlap with prog rock, but primarily from my college girlfriend, who was a big classical fan.
I really enjoy classic orchestral music. It’s often my music of choice when I’m driving or doing things around the house. I have absolutely no interest in prog rock. My husband sang lead as a fill in on a prog rock album once. (Band was between singers and they were paying.) Even as much as I love him, I could not listen to it. That stuff was weird.