I’m in the same boat as Phil. I could listen to Genesis all day long. Don’t like Floyd at all. I’ve tried to listen to modern prog and it just grates on my ears, especially with that thrash-metal style guitar that became popular for some reason. To each his own.
I’m a little surprised (as I always am) about the criticism of Phil going pop. He was in on all their best stuff from Nursery Cryme on.
And they wrote extended prog epics for more than a decade. At a certain point a writer says what he wanted to say with an art form, and then he wants to do something different.
All the prog bands, went pop in the 80s, Yes did too.
Which is why I listened a lot to Marillion in the 80s.
RE: Modern Prog
Perhaps you should give Neal Morse a try - or his “band” Transatlantic. Look up “Transatlantic - The Whirlwind” on youtube sometime.
And of course, there’s always Marillion and many others.
Prog’s not dead, you just have to look a little deeper to find it these days.