Reconfiguring Genre, Style, and Idiolect: Investigating Progressive Rock's Meta-Genre and Affordances.

This article argues that we should adapt our understanding of genre, style, and idiolect to encompass the personal and collective idiolects associated with particular bands. Focusing on progressive rock as an example, it is proposed that the collective idiolect of a band may not only transcend style, as suggested by Allan F. Moore, but also genre: that progressive rock may be usefully regarded as an assemblage of collective idiolects. Moreover, it is argued that greater attention should be paid to the classificatory activities of progressive rock fans whose "lay discourses" forge connections between the different bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]