Which genre prevailed in the long term: Prog or Punk? - After the Punk VS. Prog wars of the 70s/80s, which genre won?

[Baptiste XIX RoseOfSharyn]

I don’t fully know my musical history so forgive me for any inaccuracies, anyways…

From what others told me & from what I acknowledged, around the late 70s or 80s, there was a music culture War between Punk & Prog.
Actually that’s abit reductive, Punk was also warring against the likes of both Prog Rock, Yacht Rock, Arena Rock, Pop Rock, Glam Rock, & many others at the time.
Punk culture hating that Rock was becoming a quote unquote “Radio Friendly Overproduced Corporatized Musical Product”
Specifically with Progressive Rock being a genre filled with cheesy lyrics & singing, overproduced sounds with some Prog Rock bands including orchestrated & even symphonic elements, sometimes synthesizers, etc.

Punk being a counter-cultural movement obviously hated that “shit”, opting for a sloppy heavy aggressive sound unfound in Rock at the time, tired of all the “Dad Rock” tropes & wanting a new generation sound that was rough lo-fi & rebellious.

But the main question prevails today…
Which genre prevailed?
Technically both genres are still alive through either throwback bands or bands that take a heavy influence.

Many citing bands such as Code Orange, Rise Against, Against Me!, Bomb The Music Industry, NAILS, Tropical Fuck Storm, Leatherface, PUP & Idles as new Punk Rock & Hardcore bands.
(Also a fuckton of Pop Punk bands

While Prog prevailed through bands such as Steven Wilson, The Flower Kings, The Mars Volta, TOOL, Dream Theater, MASTODON, Isahn, Opeth, Kevin Gilbert, Meshuggah, Leprous, Haken, Riverside, Porcupine Tree, Gojira, & Spock’s Beard

Most of these bands have found great success so at this point you can probably say both genres are successful.
But which genre prevailed the most in quality?
I remain an unbiased Rock & Metal fan who loves almost all forms from Jazz-Rock, to Prog, Punk, Death Metal, & many more.
But while I do love Punk & Hardcore, I do find my love for Prog is far greater, I love the sound of it so much.

But most importantly of all, what do you think?
In the long term from the inception of Proto-Punk & Proto-Prog, all the way to now, which Genre wins?

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

You know what? Punk.
Prog, at least for me, is too far to the original nowadays. Punk at least there's some nowadays songs using the same OG basis, you know; being pretty shit musically but that's the target in that genre, right?

 

[MrTroll]

They're both terrible but at least punk had the decency to die.

 

[OC Donut Steel]

Unpopular opinion perhaps but Dillinger Escape Plan is the greatest of all time for both genres.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Neither; both are either dead or tacky walking corpses

 

[Baptiste XIX RoseOfSharyn]

Unpopular opinion perhaps but Dillinger Escape Plan is the greatest of all time for both genres.

I thought people considered Cardiacs the greatest hybrid of Punk & Prog

 

[Internet Explorer]

Idles

Best post-punk hardcore band, though Joe Talbot fucking hates that label.

Also worth a punt: Amyl and the Sniffers.

 

[GhostButt]

Prog wins by default because punk sold out on the starting line, punk however kept and maintained a vague relevancy by doing so, where as prog can only grasp at mainstream interest by crossing over genres and diluting themselves.
So I guess the battle of Glue Sniffers v Fart Sniffers will rage on?

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

Prog is very much alive, just look at Leprous
I simp for Leprous

 

[ajax]

Punk culture hating that Rock was becoming a quote unquote “Radio Friendly Overproduced Corporatized Musical Product”
Specifically with Progressive Rock being a genre filled with cheesy lyrics & singing, overproduced sounds with some Prog Rock bands including orchestrated & even symphonic elements, sometimes synthesizers, etc.

This is a dumb take, Prog Rock was never radio friendly, nor corporatized. Genesis didn't start getting played on the radio and making big money until Peter Gabriel left and they became more of a Pop Rock band. The only songs of Pink Floyd that are radio friendly are the ones that are the least prog, like Wish You Were Here or Another Brick in the Wall. Are 20 minute prog songs like Echoes and Shine on You Crazy Diamond getting played on the radio? Obviously not. If anything Punk culture hating prog was because it was too experimental and artsy, with complex lyrics whereas the Punk bands wanted to return rock to it's more simplistic roots and instruments, but faster and with more energy.

 

[Pissmaster]

I never knew there was a war

Well, good, I vote punk because I like punk and hate prog. Everyone I've ever met whose really, really into Tool, Opeth, Dream Theater, or Pink Floyd have been insufferable faggots beyond belief.

 

[Troonos]

Both were amazing. Both are dead other than small niche followings. Music is shit now.

 

[KittyGremlin]

I feel a lot of current mainstream punk has lost its original message and instead panders to contemporary politics stripping their music off any lasting value. I don't listen to prog though so I can't compare.

 

[Positron]

In the eyes of academia, definitely Punk. Punk is an academic's field day because she can read all sorts of "cultural meanings" she wish into it. On the contrary, any self-respecting academic will denigrate prog people, with their emphasis of musical structures and instrumental virtuosity, as a sort of betrayal to rock. The mythical bent of their lyrics are seen as escapism.

 

[Baptiste XIX RoseOfSharyn]

I feel a lot of current mainstream punk has lost its original message and instead panders to contemporary politics stripping their music off any lasting value. I don't listen to prog though so I can't compare.

I usually don’t agree with this YouTuber cause he’s a Music LOLCow & a sellout, that being Finn McKenty of The Punk Rock MBA

But the one thing I agreed with him on is that the original style of Punk is dead, but the spirit of Punk is kinda alive in different genres with some artists like Tyler the Creator (& even to some extend Emo Rap/Trap Metal… Yes alot of the music is awful, but you can’t deny… It does kinda push boundaries of musical tradition we haven’t really seen done before) the main idea being that Punk’s inherent values center around DIY Music that pushes the boundaries of music in a rebellious fashion.
In essence, the spirit of Punk is inherently about rebellion of tradition in music itself, which is why people who say Punk is inherently political are wrong, not all Punk is politically rebellious, but all Punk is rebellious in one way or another to musical traditions.

 

[Divine right to rule]

It seems that most genres that were started after the romantic era are destined to die at some point.
The oldest non-classical genre is Jazz, and it has been dying for decades.
And you don't have to go that far, the music the boomers loved is completely dead.
And for good reason, the Beatles are shit.

 

[JJLiautaud]

Huge fan of prog rock but even i have to admit the ethos and style of punk won in the end rather than prog rock

 

[All Cops Are Based]

The punk ethos won because it's not even an ethos. It was malleable enough that you could play avant/prog shit (This Heat) or funk/disco type stuff (Talking Heads) and market yourself as "post-punk," and you'd still technically fall under the punk umbrella. You could play twee indie rock full of 60s pop influence (The Smiths), market yourself as a band with "punk roots," and still fall under the punk umbrella.

You could play Stonesy dadrock and if you were young enough & looked like a punk or skinhead, people would say "oh, they play brickwall oi! with 50s rhythm & blues influences." Rather than just calling you dadrockers.

The only people banned from the punks' coolkid club were guys who had been working with major labels all throughout the 60 and 70s. Punk was nothing but a boomer detox for the music industry.

 

[Milkis]

I don't know who, if anyone, won, but punk definitely lost

 

[Syaoran Li]

Neither side of that autistic music slap fight ever truly won, tbh.