Help me settle a bet: Is Phish Prog Rock or Not?

[Taverner]

I say YES!

All the elements are there, progressive jams, expert musicianship...everything but the pretense.

[Taverner]

1. Interesting...50/50

Any explanations why?

[rocktop15]

2. Ehhhh Somewhat

I have over 60 Phish shows on my HD, and consider myself to be in the top 5% of Phish fans as far as eliteness goes and I guess you could label them prog-rock but that is just one of many labels they encompass. To me they mainly fit the genre of Jam-Rock. And this is coming from a guy who doesn't really like jam bands.

I LOVE Phish. I would recommended all of you all go out and buy Live Phish volume 11. It is 11-17-97. EXCELLENT, CRAZY jamming that GOES PLACES instead of randomly noodling around like the Grateful Dead do so well.

[ComerPerro]

4. Have you heard 6?

Great stuff. Probably my favorite of the first 12.

1: Funky Bitch, Ya Mar, Carini, Runaway Jim, Meat, Reba*, The Old Home Place, Dogs Stole Things, Vultures, When the Circus Comes, Birds of a Feather (1:23)

2: Buried Alive, Wipe Out+, Chalk Dust Torture** -> Mirror in the Bathroom# -> Chalk Dust Torture -> Dog Log## -> Chalk Dust Torture > Sanity, Buffalo Bill, Mike's Song^ -> I Am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove^^, Run Like an Antelope (1:18)

E: Wading in the Velvet Sea, Golgi Apparatus -> Wipe Out+ (0:13)



EDIT: Actually, 7 is outstanding as well. 6 & 7.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

3. i say no

though you may have a point. I just don't tend to lump them in with who are classically referred to as progressive.

i guess I don't consider Phish to be transcendent. Perhaps I'm wrong but progressive has a kind of darkly artistic connotation, where Phish IMO substitutes darkness for a kind of quirkiness.

[Egalitarian]

5. I voted yes, but

I think they are well beyond progressive, in their own world, where questions such as this really don't exist any more.

Why weigh on a sunny day, so much to do so why, oh why weigh.....

[ComerPerro]

7. Ahh, weigh

I love Rift

[Fenris]

6. I say no

When I think prog, I think Yes, ELP, Genesis. Phish is more, and I hate using such a wretched pre-fab term, of a jam band.

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Influenced by prog, yes.

But they blend it all with, I feel, too much bland country rock, bluegrass, and blues.

I saw a few shows of theirs back in the early 90's in New Haven, but I wouldn't consider myself a fan. Too many huge red arrows pointing at passages marked "look, we're being quirky! It's almost funny, but not!"