The Strange Omissions of the Archives

I think it was, a reaction to a lot of socio/philosophical things ... and a time when "reactions" were valued and appreciated, when today, we allow someone to "trash" it down to "remove" its value altogether ... and the worse part, using social media to gather up fake support ... many of those folks couldn't careless.

The early days of "progressive music" were not about songs ... it might have been thought of that by an audience that knew nothing else ... but a lot of the folks doing it, were more interested in expanding the focus of a lot of music at the time, from the limits of radio, and the record companies. It's similar to the comment that Tom Dowd made in his special about black music being sent to the minors because the studios wanted their STARS to record and sing and become even more famous to get better ticket sales on the movies they made ... which took away a lot of the places for LP's by black musicians in a lot of places in America ... but in the end, the stars did not win that discussion at all ... black music became far more important and valuable than most "stars" singing ... and many of them even were laughed of and satirized for it!

We can not fathom, or understand ... this meaningful era and moments it created in the arts ... today, the media surrounding everything, makes sure that THEIR blockbusters get shown on their papers and news print, and you automatically think that these are important and the hits you gotta see ... and your ability to make a go, and a decision on purchasing something else ... supposedly of lesser value ... is compromised ... because your neighbors and friends all think that GGGGOOOOGOOOOSheepDip is far out ... because of all the advertising.

The majority of the early days of "progressive" didn't care about this stuff as much as 99% of all the bands and "fans" today ... progressive music ... TODAY ... would not, more than likely, have even started with TODAY'S FAN ... thinking that too much of this is meandering, and that 147,000 notes determines metal, and that loudness is important so the fans feel blown away at the end of the show! On top of it, the disrespect ... FANS telling an artist that their song is too long ... or too stupid!

We were very lucky ... the time and place allowed us to get away from that ... and until such a time as fans stop being subservient to the social media and controls of a lot of the top ten music media ... I seriously doubt that "progressive" can improve and develop ... and of course, this is where PA needs to help the music more ... but sadly, too many "disagreements" are a problem ... we need to respect music more ... although I am somewhat "hesitant" to add a vote for a band that was about its hits, and not as much of the music, even if their albums showed some more respect for the music and its improvement and change ... but in the end ... I'm not sure that just a part of what we consider valuable and important to the arts is what we should be paying attention to ... most of the fans for that band, were more enamored with the smoking pipe shaped by the name of the band, and smoking it, than they were about how good and valuable the music was ... which tells you that the focus was not the proper concept ... the idea of being cool with it was ... and it was a hit at parties, let me tell you, in those days at UCSB.

Do I want that band in PA? I think they should be ... do they need to be? I don't think they could careless if they were or not and more than likely dismiss PA and its content outright. For that alone I would not vote for it. But their fans, and wonderful list of songs, is hard to ignore ... and it feels just like The Doors, that also had some far out hit songs that a lot of folks think are not progressive and should not have made the inclusion of the band for it ... Light My Fire being one of them ... the meaning of the whole thing being one of the most important parts of what "progressive" really meant at the time ... you were either "WITH IT" or you "WEREN'T" ... and it separated the haves from the have nots and the squares from everyone else ... it got that bad and worse ... and specially after that song about wearing flowers in your hair when the Bay Area got invaded by the greatest swarm of insects and idiots ... 

^ Makes sense, be interesting to hear what was deemed "almost Symph" .

Simply put, they are the epitome of progressive rock - cosmic pioneers who've had their hands in the development of so many genres included here on PA:  psychedelic rock; space rock; jazz fusion; prog folk; avant-prog; progressive electronic; eclectic prog.....the list goes on!  

I've no horse in this race, but I do believe that a whole bunch of prog-lovin' folks would love to get better acquainted with the Dead and PA - as always - is an excellent source for just such info.  Everyone's a winner!

Would love to hear more arguments against their inclusion - maybe I'm missing something.    

It is odd that Giger Lenz Marron are not included in Jazz-rock fusion.

And Helmut Koellen as either Prog-Related or Crossover Prog should be included.