I can disagree with many things said here even though I do see the point. I think it all depends on the genre and aim of the music, I love Dream Theater, I absolutely love listening to Dance of Eternity and no I am not a 13 yeard old prog nerd. The whole songwriting process is completely different as is the aim the music takes. I can find many things I love about long prog songs and I feel that Dream Theater's songwriting in most songs is brilliant. This is of course my opinion, and I might not be doing this for a living yet, but I have been listening to all kinds of rock/metal/alternative/pop etc. for many many years, and learning songs from such genres and paying attention to every detail.
I definitely can appreciate good songwriting, be it a pop song with three chords but that with the proper arrangements/vocals/other elements becomes a perfect song, be it a blasting gore/grind song with extreme speed and well structured to make you feel the rush from beginning to end without getting bored, or a long 15 minute progmetal masterpiece with intertwined arrangements and unexpected but really cool changes.
I think my appreciation for fast, shreddy, blasty and/or not-too-melodic music comes from my physical uneasiness, I've always been very electric, as in I can't sit still no matter what I'm doing, and when I feel the need to move around, well, you can see me air-drumming, air-shredding, singing guitar soloes with my mouth, blasting the fuck out of my imaginary snare, etc. and I appreciate songs that get me going in that aspect, in a totally different but codependant way that I appreciate well written poppy songs that keep me singing like a faggot when people can see me through the windows of my car.
Honestly, I find it silly when people simply dismiss a song they don't like by calling it a "pointless wankery", some people do not find taste in it, but some people genuinely like it. It's not about looking cool cause you're a prognerd, some people ACTUALLY FEEL MOVED by this music, so it's a little disrecpectful to claim that it has "zero song writing focus and direction, horrible transitions from section to section and at least several guitar and keyboard solos that add nothing musically to the song" when many people really do feel that it does have good songwriting, that the solos do add to the song and that the transitions add excitement to the music.
I think it's important to understand the actual aim of every genre/song and to respect the fact that songwriting approach is very different in many cases and that what might not appeal to you, really does appeal to other people. Again, people who enjoy Dream Theater (just an example of course) actually do like them, and no they're not all 13 year old prognerds, in fact I don't think teenagers are even a significant percentage of their audience but even if it is, it's not the point. Point is, many people like it, and taste is subjective so you should respect that.
