Politics as Prog Rock

A Counter Rant

The thing that upsets me the most about this rant, is how progressive rock is singled out as some kind of a boogie-man of music. The simple fact is all music with perhaps the exception of pop* contains many internal references. I am not quite certain how many rap songs I have heard where the mention 2Pac or Biggy even today both having been long dead. Another point where this guy singles out prog as being some form of secluded institution is the apparent inability for people to tell bands like Yes and Genesis from one another. Can you tell one golden oldie from another? Can you tell one rapper from another? Can you tell one Punk band from another? If you can, you are probably a fan of those types of music. My final point is about show boating. It happens in all types of music. Do you think that hard core gangster rappers really go around killing one another once they've made their millions? I don't, but that won't stop them from singing about it. By the same token all manner of famous people and bands have been responsible for their share of hypocrisy without having been remotely related. Bands like the Clash who derided Led Zeppelin on stage for their over blown showy style of rock were themselves avowed fans. A much better analogy would probably have been to the music industry as a whole. I suppose that would require a cynical view of all music not just politics and prog then wouldn't it. Maybe he isn't quite that black hearted?

At worst, it’s a rant, who gives a sh*t? Who reads blogs any ways? I don't think it will cheapen my love for progressive rock. The only people who read is blog probably don't listen to prog for the most part. I really don't give a damn if someone who has a low opinion of my kind of music doesn't listen to it. At best it is probably a blessing it means they'll keep listening to punk, not giving us a second though, and neither of us will hear from each other. Sounds pretty good to me! I don't really care is the whole matter was tongue and cheek or not. I won't let some over blown blogger tell me what I can and can not like.

At the risk of sounding like a pompous gas bag myself I'll cut myself off here. I don't really have an opinion on American politics being a 'nuk and all. I just hope you guys go out and vote and get the president you want. This is my first post ever so thanks for your time if you bothered to read it. Either way, happy listening.

*Pop not being so much a genre as the current fad.

“the guy forgot one key fact; punk sucks”

says King Crimson776

But I think that unnaturally forced categorization “sucks” as well.  However, there is some punk music out there that still sounds fine to my ear, and isn’t that the real test of what is good and what is not?

Badabec says that, “It is spimply ridiculous to compare music with politics and it seems the writer has no idea of both things.”

But I see parallels between the Orthodoxies, and find Clem’s idea interesting. 

For instance: Just as we currently see racial disparity within the power-base of politics there are few Black bands in Prog. Nor are there many female artists, certainly among the revered elite or “stars” at any rate, and that suggests a similar sexism as we see in politics.  Furthermore, a few individuals seem to control the propaganda, and thus the inclusion process.  If you read the responses to Clem’s proposition one could easily surmise, if they did not know better, that: Prog is more elitist and self-congratulatory than almost all other forms of music.  Apparently, Prog has more in common with utopian fascism than it does with popular democracy…not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. 

Those who are so eager to dismiss that which is progressive, or Prog, belie their own self-interest, by so over-enthusiastically promoting their own philosophical premises, and listening habits, as a fundamental underpinning to their own ego and self-image.  I find that trait somewhat pathetic. 

Of course musical fandom has much in common with politics, because they are both by nature political, in that they involve people’s preferences, and the conservation of the same, comfortably stiffened purist position, they have held all along, clinging to it as a child might hug a special teddy bear.

I propose instead that music can be deemed progressive in nature if it pushes the cultural envelope, by bringing together elements often absent in most modern pop music.  Progressive music sets new compositional styles in motion and push the boundaries of sound forward.  However, music deemed to be Prog with a capital “P” has to be generally accepted as such by its advocates within their constructed category.   If the Prog community has adopted a musical group its fans guard its position closely.  Punk maybe cannot be Prog, but it sure can be progressive if it moves the general state of music forward.  That is my preferred ontology on the subject anyway, for what it’s worth.

I have observed that, once welcomed within the Prog community, a group or artist’s acceptance is rapid, and permanent.  The controversial inclusions (of the time) of Santana and Deep Purple come to mind.  We were all forced to consider that forward-looking bands like Santana, or innovators of style like DP, might have been progressive all along and thus Prog.  Up to the point of inclusion however, they were merely considered to be standard rock bands. 

I believe that bands that continue to advance the state of music today deserve the same opportunity at transcendence from the mainstream to acceptance within the elite that is Prog.  Rock Bands from outside the accepted notion of what constitutes Prog, and the present seemingly arbitrary paradigm, will not easily proceed past the gatekeepers of the notion of what is and is not Prog. 

So, it is possible from time to time that progressive music will be deemed to have to progressed to the point of being Prog.  New music and new bands are not different from the so-called original innovators of Prog.  I would recommend that strict tuff-protecting Prog advocates adopt a pioneering spirit similar to the very early masters like King Crimson and Yes did, and reject stiffness.  Become more open-minded as listeners and be honest and even generous within their discussions of what is, and is not, Prog.  This approach not only guarantees fresh meat for the ears, but it will assure a future rise in Prog’s profile.  Is that not what progress is?  Isn’t that how things improve? 

Progressiveness and evolution are almost synonymous are they not?