The Album That Killed Prog?

Hate to hark back to the whole "definition of Progressive" thing. But check the dictionary.

Seems to me that the those guilty of :

NOT moving forward, developing, changing their ideas and methods.

In other words being 'PROGRESSIVE" were some of the fans. Some things never change it would seem.

The more I think about it, I have to side with those that say prog isn't really a genre anyway, but an approach to a given genre. It is no more a musical style than forward or reverse are automobile styles.

hehehe probably, Never Mind The Bollocks by Sex Pistols hhehehe

I have a burning question: if Prog was killed, why are we here? Are we holding a wake or what?

i don't think prog is dead, so i can't vote. it certainly isn't as popular as it once was but by no means is it dead. we have website like this one to keep it alive.

jplanet wrote: If any one album is to blame for the demise of the golden era, it wasn't a prog album, but Sex Pistols' "Nevermind the Bollocks"...

What about Yes' TFTO? I thought that pushed it over the edge. Hah, a pun.

darqdean wrote: Tapfret wrote: jplanet wrote: If any one album is to blame for the demise of the golden era, it wasn't a prog album, but Sex Pistols' "Nevermind the Bollocks"...    I couldn't have put it better myself... eventhough I have tried in this thread... many many times.

The original progressive rock bands had been heading downhill for a long time before the Pistols showed up, I know, I was there. If anything pulled away bored progressive rock fans it was jazz fusion, early artsy pre-new wave bands and progressive funk bands, as well as various types of folk music.

Edited by Easy Money - October 06 2007 at 14:13

I'm also in agreement here that prog isn't dead by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact, it seems to be having a resurgence, as the indie rock scene is becoming increasingly artsy. 

However, I think there was a significant low point in the mid-to-late 1970s (esp. 1977-1978), and some of the major prog bands took a serious nose dive, which took prog out of the limelight.  Actually, I think the extended hiatuses that Yes and ELP went on in the mid 1970s were actually quite damaging, and the albums they produced after the hiatus, in my opinion, are not great.  Aside from "Awaken", Going For The One is simply dreadful, and I have difficulty listening to any of the Yes albums with Wakeman from 1977 on because his keyboard choices irritate me.  I would even say that 90125 is more enjoyable than GFTO for me.  I really think it would have been interesting if Yes had kept Moraz and released an album between Relayer and GFTO (and I don't count Fish Out Of Water). 

Camel's output from this time was truly atrocious as well--"I Can See Your House From Here" sounds like disco to me.  I'm not familiar with their output beyond that, but when Ferguson and Bardens left, they jumped the shark.

Interestingly, I do actually think there was a bit of a resurgence in 1980-1983, and there were some interesting (and in my opinion, highly successful) attempts at fusing the prevailing New Wave style with prog, including Yes' Drama and KC's Discipline.  I'd also have to agree with Teh_Slippermenz about Genesis' output at the time.  Everyone around here seems to think Abacab is the plague, but there's a lot more to it than meets the eye.   It's actually kind of a subversive, ironic album in a lot of ways, and it is definitely prog in my opinion, but in a different way.   Honestly, I'd say it's proggier than what I've heard of ATTWT.

-Topographic

Prog-man wrote: TheProgtologist wrote: Prog isn't dead,but alive and kicking.   So I pick none of them.           Agreed!!

me too