Hehe, there are some "musicians bands", and "musicians artists". Frank Zappa, for instance, is a "musicians artist", most people don't appreciate him for the genious that he was.. except for musicians. Especially lead guitarists (god damn lead guitarists piss me off, but thats another rant for another day =)). Rush is a "musicians band" , I don't think there is a drummer out there that wouldn't worship the ground Neil Pert walks on. Jaco Pastorious gets the nod from bassists, and so on. It's an incredibly biased view, but hey, thats how it goes...
As for Prog Rock, have you ever heard 21st Century Schitzoid(sp?) Man? How anyone could lable that as drawn out, monotonous, with lame hooks is beyond me. As with all other types of music there is the good and the bad. There is some Prog Rock that fits your description to a T, but then there is some amazingly good stuff of it to (King Crimson the obvious choice.. the early years of course). And Pink Floyd IS prog, just give a listen to Meddle, or Dark Side.
Music is situational. When I want to be challenged intellectually I pop in some Radiohead or Sigur Ros. When I want to be challenged musically I put in Rush, Cream, Primus or Jaco (bassist
). When I want a good walking rhythm I put in Ultramarine. When I want to forget about the world, stop thinking and just enjoy some good sound I put in Queens of the Stone Age. When I need a good laugh I put in some Tenacious D. When I need to wallow in my own missery I put in Alice in Chains or Soundgarden.
When you look at music from a situational standpoint its hard to dislike any kind of tunes. I pitty the lack of diversity in the life of someone who only listens to one genre of music.