Pink Floyd explored political sociology especially with Animals which was based on George Orwell's Animal Farm.

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.

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!

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! 

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.

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. 

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.)

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.

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. 

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

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!

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!

Hi,

Scary thought for me, for it implies that it all has to be connected, and in the end, it doesn't, and individual independence in terms of creativity was VERY CLEAR in the "krautrock" time period, which suggests that the only social engagement was really the kids sticking to their friends, and then the younger generation creating the communes to live and get away from the older folks.

Stylistic characteristics, is a bit on the ... weird side ... since there was so much that was vastly different in Germany within the "Krautrock" folks themselves, and their inspiration was quite a story many times. The one thing that was clear was that the younger folks were not so interested in the characteristics of westernized arts/music as defined in America and England ... but I'm not sure that any of us are willing to accept that and find it offensive ... sometimes. It's the reason why I always joke the the English and Americans invented the world and everyone else is peanuts!

That is when I transitioned from pre-medical student to environmental biologist (University of Illinois).

I told this story to Jon backstage after their 35th Anniversary Tour in Chicago, he gave me a VERY sweet smile!!  

My life is a good example too of how social engagement gives some kind of creativity. 

Hi,

And this is the part that is difficult to explain to folks ... if he was "thinking of anything at all" ... he wouldn't be listening to the music itself. It's very difficult and it can be tried/checked in theater/film much easier with actors ... if the script is in your head, you, essentially, are not "living" the words and acting them out, thus, the performance is not as smooth or as attractive, as it otherwise could be ... but this is the hard part of most film directors, that tend to ditch the smoothness for a different shot, or a "TV shot" (as I call it -- the zoom out wide shot), which takes away the "detail" of the actor, who is not exactly doing a good job on the words, and the wide shot diminishes that as the attention gets spread out a bit.

I write a lot about improvisation, but it is, something that almost all the folks here do not exactly live with, or understand, and then the thought that the DAW is the thing that helps define and compose it all becomes more real and looked at ... and the imagery that brought the whole thing down, is forgotten ... the music will never be as good, or smooth ... time for the riff or the solo! And a lot of prog stuff falls into that area in my book.

Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: ... "I don't think about what I'm going to play before I play it" "Music is all feel" "You must be one of the thinking division" ...

Love that line ... so with it!

RW ... weird that he says that about the earlier album, but thinks that TFTO is crap in his book, and his bits in it, are just fine for me. I end up feeling that for him it was a personal thing ... and he did not like how fast a couple of folks could improvise, as he had to figure out what key they were in and then go around the various notes on it. That's not improvisation ... it is listening, but looking for the chords and the notes to work on. 

AREA is totally into politics. "Luglio, Agosto, Settembre Nero" that opens the debut album is about the Palestine issue and is opened by a little poetry in Arabic. 

The album title "Arbeit Macht Frei" was written ot the gate of Aushwitz, so they can't be considered anti-semite despite their call for the freedom of the Palestinians.

Anti-zionists for sure.

By the way, Drew, I don't find it to be bad that artists criticize each other for their political / social / ideological points of view and acting. 

It's a part of democracy and can be very giving in different ways, but of course, it has to be done by proper means.

Magma had definitely certain thematic preferences and consistency, as well as they seem to be rather socially concerned. Or at least Christian Vander who according to Wikipedia claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him.

Hi,

I'm not sure that is a good thing. Some of us lived through it, and talking about KC's first album, or Volunteers of America, or Ohio, or Chicago where I almost got my head beaten in by a group of cops that were run by a maniac ... is very different than the watered down meanings of a lot of work these days ... as AD2 said ... nothing to fight for ... and unlike a lot of stuff today, THOSE THINGS WERE REAL AND HAD RELEVANCE.

But the hardest part is convincing people that HISTORY MATTERS, and defines and propels ALL THE ARTS ... as opposed to today's thing, which is way too commercial and has very little to tell you ... I call it "pulp fiction" as a lot of concepts and themes are so poor ... COMPARED to a LITERARY definition and idea.

History states/shows that a major event has a way of working on the arts ... and we have not had one since the end of the 70's when American FM Radio was raped by commercial interests. But these events tend to only show up every 70/80 years, and often once in a century ... and when it come a lot of what we are saying and thinking hits the trash can, as does the music that was superficial.

As that thread was hoping to state ... we have to GET IT! And it doesn't mean buying it, or showing it in all the preferred lists all over! We have to GET IT in order to feel more into these things instead of feeling that it is all irrelevant! Trust me ... when a friend of yours, or school mate gets caught in the tsunami of the arts, you will know what it is like ... maybe listen to Epitaph a little more and realize its neighbors and friends falling out.

Of course, the issues today can't be quite the same as those in the '70s, but it's also much about the engagement itself.

Tell me more!  Send me a message.  My life as well! 

Nope, even moreso.  Ray Bennett (bassist of Flash) once told me about how the prog bands of the 1970s were very united about environmental issues (see the lyrics to their amazing song "Children of the Universe"), and I've confirmed this several times. 

Environmental causes back then?  Love Canal, rivers in the USA catching fire from all the chemical pollution, acid rain, deforestation etc.    Today?  Basically the same, but with climate change on top.

Social causes back then?  Overpopulation, civil war, societal breakdown, foreign wars (especially Viet Nam)  See lyrics to KC "Epitaph." 

Today?  More of the same, but worse. 

However, are today's prog bands as socially conscious as the originators in the 1970s?  I don't think so. 

p.s. have some Flash!  This clip blows me away, it was their first rehearsal of their comeback!!   Bennet turned out to be a great guitarist, he nails Peter Banks parts perfectly! 

If you look at my profile, you'll get the idea when I add a lot of political writing of the more theoretical kind.

That is also well in line with the conception that Prog evolved much on basis of the hippie movement which was very critical towards the materialism of the modern society, and meant that better life could be achieved by going back to the earlier societies' closer relationship to nature.

Hi,

I don't think that Prog evolved from the "hippie movement", specially as this specific idea was not visible in many places around the world. It had some in London, LA and a couple more cities, but all in all I find the putting down of the time and era by using terminology that diminishes the human value all around. I was around, and I was not a hippie, and neither were a lot of my friends in Madison, WI ... in fact, during a visit to our high school from a group from Wyoming, we even became "hippies" for 3 days, to give those folks a laugh. And they knew it and did not take it seriously.

But the hardest part is convincing people that HISTORY MATTERS, and defines and propels ALL THE ARTS ... as opposed to today's thing, which is way too commercial and has very little to tell you ... I call it "pulp fiction" as a lot of concepts and themes are so poor ... COMPARED to a LITERARY definition

And then why has history been tampered with ?

Led Zeppelin...the greatest and most iconic Rock band of the baby boomers generation?

Right...and my mother was a werewolf

I'm sorry but it doesn't make one bit of sense to me. Led Zeppelin were as big as sliced bread...BUT
...the youth focused on Jethro Tull, The Almann Brothers Band, Mike Bloomfield, Cream, Ten Years After, Rory Gallagher, Deep Purple...Blue Oyster Cult!

Again...it wasn't a case of Led Zeppelin ruling over everyone else..even though they sold more records they didnt! That's a lie. That is inaccurate history!

The same applies to WOODSTOCK. It was not the greatest Music festival to have ever taken place. I agree that it was a glorious event..but some of the bands that had been together since 67' were burned out by then. Monterey Pop Festival featured some of those bands in 67' when they sounded tighter and more energy. Santana were new at WOODSTOCK and they left that kind of impression as well..but Airplane, Hendrix, The Who, didn't have that energy level they displayed at Monterey.

Every single time there is an article on the INTERNET written to express facts about the boomers generation it's wrong...completely wrong...ass backwards...not fact based..and very twisted.

Rock journalists confuse other generations. Generally they have no idea who Rory Gallagher is. That's ridiculous! Or generation X will often say..."Oh...FREE? Isn't that the band that did the song "Alright Now?" That's all backwards because along with observing every track on a Zeppelin album we also observed every track on a FREE album. It's so ignorant and stupid how they sum up a boomers generation with a dicky ding dong list of usual suspects who were not more popular than everyone else from the golden age of Rock.

Catherine Ribeiro (+ Alpes) woud certainly fit in this social consciousness quest.

She was an heiress of the Beats (beat poets) and always close to anarchism.

RIP Catherine.

In the frame of the "Fist In Your Face" family, Léo Ferré was the father, Bernard Lavilliers the son and Catherine, the daughter.

A couple of persons have in another thread been sceptical about whether Magma's work can be considered as an expression of social concern, but I still think that it's good to point at this here: