Keith Emerson and ELP Prom petition - Progressive Rock Music Forum

A Keith Emerson fan group has started a petition to have a Keith Emerson and ELP Prom at the UK Proms 2025. A good idea, though whether the BBC/Proms will be on board with it is another matter. You can sign via this link, though I think it may only be for those in the UK:

https://www.change.org/p/bbc-proms-let-s-have-an-evening-of-keith-emerson-and-elp-at-proms-2025?utm_medium=custom_url&utm_source=share_petition&recruited_by_id=a478d600-7dbe-0130-ed36-00221964dac8

"And now...on the drums...Mick Underwooooooooood!!!"

"He's up the pub"

I am a member of the facebook site that started the petition, and I signed it.....though I am a big classical music fan/collector/listener, I do concur with Richard that they can be snobby when it comes to accepting progressive rock as a legit form of music....will it make it to the Proms, it is a difficult row to hoe.....

The UK 'proms' is mainly a bunch of upper class twits congregating at the Royal Albert Hall. You won't see them swigging back their cans of lager (more Pimms!) Wink

And proggers should be wary of "reverse snobbishness" about classical music! People like Keith Emerson would not approve of that! And lets remember that "The Proms" is a music institution that existed for decades before the advent of rock music and we shouldn't pass judgement on it or make generalisations about it. In the 1960s as the Beatles were making music history, there were great conductors like Sir Malcolm Sargent making history at the Proms....I would encourage more progressive rock listeners to investigate classical music... I have been as long as I have listened to prog rock, and not a wasted minute...

richardh wrote:

...

The BBC could do this but there is a certain snobbery in the UK from the classical world towards this genre that persists. Keith Emerson's and Tony Banks issues with trying to record with the London Philly are well documented, Both had much more joy with foreign orchestras in the end and decided not to bother 'going English'. I'm not holding my breath on the petition

...

Hi,

The BBC cut their money and studios off classical music, and for a long time they were the IT for recording and all that, and we did not exactly learn about that until the album "Abbey Road" ... when the name was now out in the open, and it ended up bringing us names that became even bigger later ... what was done with DSOTM, had been done with classical music for at least 10 to 15 years .... but we don't like to see that thought out at all, I don't think!

The other main issue, is that of all the orchestras in Europe, the English ones are the most expansive, and next in line is the American version ... so expensive and about the money that they are all falling down like flies. And sooner or later a bunch of American famous locations for classical music will also go downhill, badly!

Both Keith and Tony were aware of that fact, and the realization that the BBC would help address that issue is a long gone thought ... since the BBC is like the Parliament or that House of Lords that bought their way in! They will all die there controlling all the economics of the country as well as artistic anything ... but in England you can't vote them out ... and besides, they like clowns in charge anyway ... more fun watching them, than fighting them on the polls.

But the BBC should have its "decisions" about music (or anything they record) taken from their hands ... but you think that the folks that own this "thing" are gonna take it away from their very own hands? They are all laughing and saying that Keith and Tony are jerks that keep a lot of their money in foreign banks so the English can't touch it! That was one of the stupid things about leaving the Euro ... now they can't go after that other currency and earnings!

Edited by moshkito - November 24 2024 at 06:18

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com

richardh wrote:

^ I've long wished then BBC would just disappear. The licence fee is just an additional tax and they will come down hard on you if you prefer not to pay it. It's like some Orwellian vision of the future that is hear and now. The recently appointed Labour government could do something but they won't.

Hi,

I was just remembering a comment from Pye Hastings on the "New Sinfonia" album, and how the orchestra decided not to play in the encore, because they would not get paid, and I think Pye flipped them off and went back to the stage, probably ready to tell the audience that the orchestra wanted more money from the audience to do the encore ... at which point the orchestra would be embarrassed to hell and back!

They did come on for the encore and did really well ... but I wonder how that might be so rare, that the music is more important than 5 bob on the clock ... and this is where the BBC hurts ... and continues to hurt.

I think the term for it is ... "childhood's end" ... because it isn't about the art at all ... and it goes back at least 60/70 years, as Spike Milligan also had a lot of juicy things to say about the Beebeebzsea. At least, though, Spike turned the 24 LP sound effects library into 36 LP's with a section called "spikemania" which was all the stuff he invented and did for The Goon Show. It explains why there are so many bootleg copies of the stuff that is STILL not released, including the very early stuff in the 1950's. And the Milligan, or Secombe families? Not a cent! Maybe 2!!!

Sadly, all the stuff will remain controlled, until it becomes public domain ... and that means quite a few years after we are all dead, gone and buried!

Edited by moshkito - November 25 2024 at 10:02

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com