Never compare prog to hair metal, and as for the overblown/pretentious statement, a lot of punk is just that, in fact even though I will get burned for this one, punk was founded on various hypocritical ideals, such as being anti corperate, yet many of the most popular (and important) 70s punk bands signed on big labels first thing they did... While prog may have been full of lyrics that went over peoples heads like led baloons, progressive rock bands didn't sprout a bunch of political mumbo jumbo that they would then contradict with their own lifestyles, which to me is as pretentious as you can get.
Punk never killed prog, it's popularity declined on it's own due to overexposure, but unlike hair metal it's still around, and many young bands devote themselves to the artform, hence the MANY music festivals out there devoted strictly to progressive rock acts, cleverly labeled as "prog-fests".
It's funny that when Yes wrote lyrics that promote pacifism it's pretentious, when Sex Pistols and Minutemen write lyrics that promote anarchy and socialism, it's just self expression.
Ahh the double standards Nazi music critics love so much.
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