Though I more often than I like fall back on the use and employment of labels, I also realize that labels reek of unimaginative and ridiculous and poorly developed thought.  We label rarely to clarify.  Instead, we label to move a thing out of the way and start looking at the next thing.  And, even it is our intent originally to understand the thing through a label, the very process of the labeling of a thing places it rather firmly as this or that, thus automatically dismissing our possibilities in fully understanding the thing and allowing it to take on a life and identity of its own.

For those of us who prog, I often think of the frustrations I feel whenever I go to Progarchives.  An excellent site in most ways, its obsession with labeling drives me a bit bonkers.  Over the last decade, I have discovered that—at least according to Progarchives—I possess a loving relationship with what they call “cross-over prog.”  What on God’s great green earth does this mean?  Doesn’t prog automatically mean that something crosses over something else???  That fusion has occurred in unexpected ways?  Isn’t the very essence of prog as an art form that it really cannot be defined or categorized?

When I saw that the new issue of CLASSIC ROCK had downloaded onto my iPad this morning, I rolled my eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to get the new issue.  CLASSIC ROCK is one of the few periodicals I read faithfully.  To say I’ve been frustrated regarding the move from the old app to the new would be not just a gross understatement, it would be false.  Despite attempting at least 20 times (following, specifically, the directions provided by CLASSIC ROCK) to switch from the old to the new, I’ve failed.  I finally gave up trying, accepting the limitations of the old app.

So, maybe a little lingering frustration. . . .

But, I would’ve rolled my eyes anyway.  Next to a sensationalist photo and headline regarding Guns n Roses reads “Nu-Prog, The 10 Bands Revolutionizing Rock.”

Nu?  Really?  Neo Prog or New Prog would sound ridiculous.  But, Nu?  Sheesh.  Are we quasi-literate five year olds?

The 10 bands are Syd Arthur, Knifeworld, Haken, Messenger, Archive, Incura, Sontaag, Alcest, Gazpacho, and Plank!  I only know three of the ten, but I’ll be checking out the others.

But, who am I to criticize?  A friend of mine once joked with me that I defined prog as “any music Brad Birzer likes.”  Sadly, there’s probably a lot of truth in this in my arrogant little brain.

Words are sacred.  Art is sacred.  We should love our music and all of its expansiveness as much as we love our words and all of their importance.  There’s no such thing as “nu” in the English language.  If we’re going to claim we’re entering a new stage of music, let’s give it a proper name, not an advertising slogan or soundbyte.