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Social concerns of the major Prog acts in the 70s?

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David_D View Drop Down
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    Posted: August 19 2024 at 12:37

I've been thinking about which social / ideological issues the major Prog bands were especially concerned with in the '70s.
As for instance, I seem to have noticed these:

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - nightmarish technocracy
Yes - spiritual awareness
Jethro Tull - poverty, organized religion
Eloy - apocalyptic themes symbolizing ?

It's quite interesting and not least because it seems to me having not so rarely much influenced not only the sound but the whole particular style of the bands.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Floydoid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2024 at 13:52
Seventh Sojourn by the Moody Blues - all about ecology, the state of the planet, and possible future doom and gloom... was several decades ahead of its time.

Edited by Floydoid - August 19 2024 at 13:53
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2024 at 14:48
I hear much more spiritual awareness in Jon Anderson's solo work than in Yes. There's a little bit but not much compared to his solo work which is loaded with it. 

Pink Floyd explored political sociology especially with Animals which was based on George Orwell's Animal Farm.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote mellotronwave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2024 at 17:10
Peter gabriel : Human rights
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (3) Thanks(3)   Quote Sir Prog-a-lot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 05:01
In the early 70s, Family was one of the major progressive rock acts, and their stuff in the early 70s, as well as the late 60s, served as a reflection of various social concerns prevalent during that time—disillusionment with authority figures, mental health awareness, critiques of consumer culture, and fairly complex lyrics about the issues of human existence.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 05:12
Originally posted by David_D David_D wrote:


I've been thinking about which social / ideological issues the major Prog bands were especially concerned with in the '70s.
As for instance, I seem to have noticed these:

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - nightmarish technocracy
Yes - spiritual awareness
Jethro Tull - poverty, organized religion
Eloy - apocalyptic themes symbolizing ?

It's quite interesting and not least because it seems to me having not so rarely much influenced not only the sound but the whole particular style of the bands.


The ELP one is mainly present on Brain Salad Surgery and Tarkus Side one perhaps. On Trilogy they went into those themes a little bit that Yes were into and then there is also The Only Way that covers organised religion. Eloy were generally into sci-fi themes but not anything specific I think.

Jon Anderson was of course very keen on writing about spirituality and used that also for Jon and Vangelis songs such as I Hear You Now and He Is Sailing as well as in Yes. However Awaken was likely the very peak of spiritual and uplifting prog rock.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 07:28
Hi,

The scary thing is that we are leaning on the lyrics to suggest that there is something of interest in many of these bands ... but music, without the lyrics, has also been known to have a strong influence. In fact there is an era named for it within the Romantic Period of music in the 1800's.

I don't like to rely on suggestive lyrics, to "believe" anyone. A lot of them are simply throwing around hot air, and making you believe that they are with it, and I'm not going to name anyone ... it's all of them for me.

I find the "krautrock" folks much more honest and take a rather brutal view at times, that we tend to not like ... we seem to go for things that make it look like all lyrics have to be suggestive, not real. Well, by the time you get "Apocaliptyc Bore", and "Mozambique", it's a massive finger to the pop-rock idea of lyrics ... it puts everyone down and it didn't start there ... it started with their first album also putting up a finger to what was supposed to be a romantic idea about communes that instead were being used to abuse women left and right ... and we ignore it ... why else would you associate the devil with it? Because it is some progressive music ideal? Get serious ... please! And of course, it didn't stop there. 

Even though I can not translate a lot of it, the other one would be Floh de Cologne, although for some reason, I always had the silly idea that for them it was all satire, but that is because I do not know what they are saying but the speaking style is rather confusing, and it has satirical parts in their music either in some vocals or some other stuff.

I've never been a fan of the "symbolic" thing in lyrics that Genesis used, for example, and I actually thought it was not necessary, but it was the polite thing to do to make sure the record company did not dump you in the nearest trash can. Conversely, you got ANGE that did a social political thing that was influenced by Jacques Brel and the Brechtian staging methods ... we don't think those are valid, either ... because progressive rockers don't care for things outside their small conceptual definition of "progressive" so a "foreign son" is ignored, "volunteers of America" is ignored along with many others ... which is unfair ... we either discuss this seriously, or we ignore half the world out there for being musically stupid and not valid. 

Just crazy!


Edited by moshkito - August 20 2024 at 07:40
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hrychu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 08:40
Welp. Sociopolitical issues of the 1970's are as interesting to me as drying paint.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 09:07
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

.... you got ANGE that did a social political thing that was influenced by Jacques Brel and the Brechtian staging methods ... 

Can you tell if they were particularly concerned with certain issues?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 09:17
Originally posted by David_D David_D wrote:

Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

.... you got ANGE that did a social political thing that was influenced by Jacques Brel and the Brechtian staging methods ... 

Can you tell if they were particularly concerned with certain issues?


Hi,

Oh yeah ... but being in French, I think a lot of folks don't want to know, or be there. Emile  Jacotey alone, makes the RW album not be as good in my book. Though RW makes it look like he cares and tries to be with it, ANGE simply lets the old man speak ... and give us a reality that we love to ignore and leave behind ... how folks get damaged and hurt.

Again, a lot of this was not exactly a one off thing by the English ... with a touch from Americans ... there were a lot more folks elsewhere that many won't listen to or discuss.

A funny one ... Guru Guru in the album "TANGO FANGO" did a satire on the east/west thing on the last piece of the album, and it was done BEFORE the Wall was taken down ... and it was political with a different touch that is far out ... it was almost like saying that the inspiration for it all was not schlagger, but rock'n'roll ... the one thing that VoA and other short wave folks at the time were inundating Russian airspace with at the time and for many years ... and the joke was that it was rock'n'roll that brought down something! 
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MortSahlFan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 09:32
Pink Floyd
Supertramp "Crime of the Century" - probably the first anti-school song, among other social themes.
Chicago was VERY social/political and even had a "Dialogue" in a song format.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 10:25
Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

Welp. Sociopolitical issues of the 1970's are as interesting to me as drying paint.

Well, it's a matter of choice, but I think that the new Prog can learn much from 1970s' social and ideological engagement and the creativity it gives if trying to be as successful as their works still are. But of course, it's much more complicated than that, as it's a matter of times and not just good will. 


Edited by David_D - August 20 2024 at 10:45
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BrufordFreak Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 12:39
Sometimes it's a matter of a particularly hard-headed band leader, sometimes it's just trying to fit in with the Joneses! 

Your topic, David, brings to mind the rather legendary uncompromising attitude of Area's outspoken leader, Demetrio Stratos, who apparently believed that all music and musicians (in fact, all humans) should use their voices to serve a political agenda of progressive discourse--the stand that led to his bitter condemnation of Roman band MUSEO ROSENBACH's album Zarathustra for what he assumed were its right-wing messages due to the title's reference to out-of-favor philosopher Friederich Nietzschke's work as well as to the inclusion of former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini within the photo collage on the album's cover. The band itself claimed innocence, mistaken identity, that they, in fact, had no such social-political inclinations but had just exploited an interesting topic, that they were, in fact, not trying to express or endorse any political messages at all. This denial only contributed to fuel Demetrio's ire further as he continued to berate musicians who purportedly did not use their platform to contribute to the day's political debates. (The fairly-new country of stereotypically emotive humans has seemed to suffer from a rather continuous history of political instability--which can seem rather understandable and even natural considering the non-consensual "unification" forced upon a formally-fragmented peninsula of dozens of not-necessarily brotherly cultures and states.)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve Wyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 12:54
Originally posted by MortSahlFan MortSahlFan wrote:

Supertramp "Crime of the Century" - probably the first anti-school song, among other social themes.

When it comes to "anti-school" songs, Alice Cooper's "School's Out" came out a good two years before Supertramp's "School".

Also, Supertramp's "School" is more about a person's slow descent into paranoia, with educational institutions being only one of many driving factors.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jacob Schoolcraft Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 13:14
It is to my understanding that young German musicians between 68' and 74' were teenagers on a collaborative mission to change Berlin...to make a new Germany. The odd aspect for me is the realization that they were this new generation. Amon Duul and Amon Duul II, Can, Guru, Guru, Faust, Cluster were deeply disappointed in their parents. The statements several of them made on film? "Our parents were Nazis" "Our parents would never talk about it" 😕

To an extent ...anger revealed itself through Krautrock. It also created disturbing Visions and at times...a kind of 'la-la-land ,floating pie in the sky feeling through keyboard soundscapes by Klaus Schulze, Cosmic Jokers, Can and others..

Most Krautrock musicians (particularly in the early 70's), somehow expressed in their music that they disliked the old Germany and or told the truth which many of them claim was hidden from them by their parents. Krautrock bands from the 70s are well into their 70s 😃 and they still discuss the subject with the kind of conviction that gives viewers the impression that they were pretty pissed off about it in their youth.

So it's strange and fascinating to think that the German youth experienced that and rebelled. So it was after they had the realization that their parents refused to talk about it ..and had this desire to make a new Germany...and music came out of it! That's a really strange way to create music. Growing up in that environment inspired them to write unusual music. ...and that can be attributed to why Krautrock sounded unique or different...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 15:10
Originally posted by BrufordFreak BrufordFreak wrote:

Your topic, David, brings to mind the rather legendary uncompromising attitude of Area's outspoken leader, Demetrio Stratos, who apparently believed that all music and musicians (in fact, all humans) should use their voices to serve a political agenda of progressive discourse--the stand that led to his bitter condemnation of Roman band MUSEO ROSENBACH's album Zarathustra ........

I think, Lorenzo would be much better to comment this case and Area's political engagement in general than I am - even he has done it much already, and that is including the general political situation in Italy at that time. 
I can just be rather suprised about why my topic and OP bring to your mind exactly this extraordinary case. Wink


Edited by David_D - August 20 2024 at 15:22
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 16:51
Originally posted by Jacob Schoolcraft Jacob Schoolcraft wrote:

......
So it's strange and fascinating to think that the German youth experienced that and rebelled. So it was after they had the realization that their parents refused to talk about it ..and had this desire to make a new Germany...and music came out of it! That's a really strange way to create music. Growing up in that environment inspired them to write unusual music. ...and that can be attributed to why Krautrock sounded unique or different...

That is a very fine example of relationship between social engagement, musical creativity and stylistic characteristics! Thumbs Up

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Epignosis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 17:48
Gentle Giant's The Power and the Glory is a great representation of cyclical nature of politics (i.e., "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss").


Edited by Epignosis - August 20 2024 at 17:49
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 18:18
Originally posted by Jacob Schoolcraft Jacob Schoolcraft wrote:

It is to my understanding that young German musicians between 68' and 74' were teenagers on a collaborative mission to change Berlin...to make a new Germany. The odd aspect for me is the realization that they were this new generation. Amon Duul and Amon Duul II, Can, Guru, Guru, Faust, Cluster were deeply disappointed in their parents. The statements several of them made on film? "Our parents were Nazis" "Our parents would never talk about it" 😕
...

Hi,

And this sentiment is also mentioned by Edgar Froese in that long special about "krautrock" ... but he specified a new time, a new place, and no rules or anyone to tell them what to do or not do ... 

Not surprised about the silence, though, as this was to happen later in Portugal to my family, and even after dad passed away, the government seemed to be watching my mom ... who went on to publish more of my dad's work than he had before his time. That system had hurt her family badly and killed one brother, if not more than we know or ever heard. She would not speak of it, and instead went to prepare the next dinner!

Originally posted by Jacob Schoolcraft Jacob Schoolcraft wrote:

...
So it's strange and fascinating to think that the German youth experienced that and rebelled. So it was after they had the realization that their parents refused to talk about it ..and had this desire to make a new Germany...and music came out of it! That's a really strange way to create music. Growing up in that environment inspired them to write unusual music. ...and that can be attributed to why Krautrock sounded unique or different...

I'm not sure that any parent would say anything whatsoever about anything, lest they would be immediately labeled to be a "nazi" ... and probably lose their role as an educator or anything else. Sort of like the film ... mark the doors with red paint!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jacob Schoolcraft Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 20 2024 at 19:35
Originally posted by David_D David_D wrote:

Originally posted by Jacob Schoolcraft Jacob Schoolcraft wrote:

......
So it's strange and fascinating to think that the German youth experienced that and rebelled. So it was after they had the realization that their parents refused to talk about it ..and had this desire to make a new Germany...and music came out of it! That's a really strange way to create music. Growing up in that environment inspired them to write unusual music. ...and that can be attributed to why Krautrock sounded unique or different...


That is a very fine example of relationship between social engagement, musical creativity and stylistic characteristics! Thumbs Up



Thanks!
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