Progs' Resilience

IMO punk was a reaction to some social tendencies, not only musical, and what was important was to rebel against anyone and anything that was socially accepted. Prog rock and Led Zep happened to be institutions at that time? Too bad, the punks had to mock at them, they would mock at whoever was priviliged (in their eyes). It is true that in the beginning punk was really chaotic and most of the stuff was really sloppy, but it progressed very quickly beyond the initial enthusiasm and bands such as Killing Joke and The Stranglers even come closer to prog than one might have imagined in the late 70s. Not to mention the huge influence they had on alternative and even mainstream music. 

Yes, and Johnny Rotten praised Peter Hammil to the heavens.

dralan wrote: Good solid musicianship and honesty in music will always stand the test of time. Even if prog has pretty much been for a niche audience, those same people are still listening to it today. Whereas I will admit punk has its place in music history but it was a genre of its time I think and has not stood the test of time well. There is alot of punk inspired musicians yea but that kind of music seems to always change with the times for whatever is fashionable or 'cool' that week.

I smell some truth in here!

I can make an example: which of these Metallica albums are the most resilient? Master of Puppets or Load? Do you see a connection between the answer here and what dralan said about "good solid musicianship and honesty in music"?

And that's exactly what (most?) prog music is about! it's not about making something that's popular, cool, hip, in or whatever! and even though most prog doesn't sell in huge quantities, it does still sound equally magnificent(if it was magnificent when it was first made of course) decades and decades later.

May be wrong about this, but I'd say punk was less of a reaction to music in itself but rather to a certain attitude connected to music. A lot of times prog seemed to take all the fun from music, and disco was just silly/annoying at best. Perhaps it was just restoring the balance with a more rock'n'roll act rather than rock'n'art?

Of course. Punk, and its offshoots, meant FUN+ANGER, or FUN+ANGST! A welcome breeze, and an antidote to HOTEL CALIFORNIA or WORKS VOLS. I & II. (Think of the Damned, Graham Parker and Madness.)

Blimey, without punk there would have been no 'Arriving UFO', no 'Circus of Heaven'!
    

Edited by fuxi - December 29 2006 at 11:54