Depends on what you qualify Power. Power Metal is the most misused term to describe genres in all of Metal. Somehow bands that are actually Melodic Metal, Traditional Metal, or Hard Rock get lumped into the Power Metal catagory.
In order for Power Metal to get much respect here they mostly have to be either already well established or have graced the stage at PPUSA. It's almost laughable how 'good' a band becomes after they've been on the roster, even though they were mostly ignored or even ridiculed when mentioned or suggested previously.
Even some of the bigger names in Power Metal are frequently scoffed at in this forum, although the larger portion of attendees at the show would go nuts watching them.
Ok, I admit I use power for the mix of trad, melodic and of course power. I use hard rock or AOR for the mix of the latter two since all those subgenres are less and less represented.
I agree with your argument on the power bands and respect but I gotta say the same applies about prog bands.
Ok, here's where I stand on this exchange. The thing is that I hang out on the Original Perpetual Motion Board (or the PM Rising board as some call it) and I know a ton of great prog bands. When I read the names being tossed out here, I didn't know many of them so I tried a lot (like 10 maybe) and they were all sounding either power or trad or melodic metal. Nothing really prog by genre definition. Sure some had some prog tendancies but not enough so I could call them prog (all from my point of view).
Every genre takes a beating from fans of other genres but what do we really care? Even if some people think I'm a prog snob including Glenn, I also don't really care. As long as I enjoy myself, I can listen to music and I can argue with people on the music we all love, it's all good. It's only for the fun of it, we can't take ourselves too seriously. I'm a prog fan but I love other stuff like Martyr (to please Mr Blevins
), Raintime, Into Eternity, Angel Dust, Spiral Architect, Coheed and Cambria, Daughtry, some gay AOR, prog rock and hard rock as you all do. Hell, I even enjoy Manowar!!! It's never black and white.
On a side note, I'm not gonna make the Helloween/Gammaray show as I absolutely don't care about both bands and it's fine by me, I'll be eating and drinking the night away with my buds. To me though, this show is part of the whole PP USA experience (replacing the PP USA Pre-show) so I'd appreciate a prog band instead of Serenity even if some power heads are complaining about the lack of power which I find very amusing with the headliners we have this year. Heck, I count 7 power/trad or melodic metal bands in the roster. It's still gonna be ok if it's an all power band that replaces Serenity, it'll only mean I'll drink more...
In the end, this argument is only entertaining since Glenn will do as he pleases. It's his show and so far, he's done a pretty good job at it, don't you think???
Cheers dude!
Steve
np: Ayreon - 01011001
