Why is Anglo-American prog so white?

Why is Anglo-American prog so white? Other than jazz fusion, prog tended/tends to be lily-white. I think this is a shame, since I really love the sounds of funk and soul, and can only imagine how great black prog could've been. And maybe we should think about adding some black bands to PA? I mean, P-Funk could be pretty proggy and/or spacey at times (e.g. MAGGOT BRAIN).

Prog was so far removed from black culture in the 70's that I wouldn't have expected to see many black prog bands.  Rock was based on blues music, a predominantly black genre (originally) but once you got down the line to progressive rock you had something that wasn't anything like the rootsy, groovy, soulful music prominent among black Americans at the time.  It was just a completely different aesthetic than that of black culture.

I do wish there were more minorities in Western prog, though, and I'm always glad to see American/European prog bands that have black or latino members.  The Mars Volta is an obvious example.  Here's the PA page for an excellent African-American progressive metal band

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: Here's the PA page for an excellent African-American progressive metal band

I don't care what color they are- they are on bandcamp.  I look forward to checking this out!

Sumdeus wrote: i've never understood why people ever get concerned with race when it comes to music.

African-Americans were at the center of pioneering great music in the 60s and 70s, from rock and roll to blues to jazz and fusion to soul and funk. Western popular music as we know it would not exist at all if it weren't for black musicians. Even the white bands like Cream and the Rolling Stones wouldn't have existed, if there had been no blues music, no Chuck Berry...

When you think of it this way, it's rather very curious, the lack of black prog bands and musicians in the 70s.

Perhaps it's because prog was largely European, rather than American? Just thought of this...

Dellinger wrote: I wonder if Jimi Hendrix had lived his natural life, if he might have become one of the prog icons?

This is how I imagine Hendrix would have sounded were he doing prog:





Edited by jude111 - January 10 2013 at 07:43

Dellinger wrote: I wonder if Jimi Hendrix had lived his natural life, if he might have become one of the prog icons?

I've heard he liked Hawkwind... and he wanted to move away from the traditional bass-drums-guitar set up towards the end of his life and into more experimental territory. I've read he even almost had a jam session with MIles Davis but Davis' management asked way too much money for it. So yeah if he didn't die I think the sky would be the limit as far as where his ambitions would take him. Hell, he was already pretty much experimenting with progressive elements a bit, 1983 A Mermaid I Shall Be is certainly early prog.


Edited by Sumdeus - January 07 2013 at 22:32

This thread just reminded me of this:


Some counterexamples:







I think the best expression of what you'd call african-american prog lies in jazz-rock/fusion:



I think that there's no shortage of african-american proggers, they are just concentrated in the jazzier side of the prog spectrum...

Edited by ProgressiveAttic - January 08 2013 at 00:30

Stevie Wonder was quite progressive in the early seventies especially on Living For The City. He used the Yamaha GX1 very well ,an instrument also used by ELP and Led Zep. Interesting comments about Hendrix who certainly was interested in prog and watched The Nice when they toured together in America (there were also other bands on the tour inc King Crimson I think).

Sumdeus wrote: Dellinger wrote: I wonder if Jimi Hendrix had lived his natural life, if he might have become one of the prog icons? I've heard he liked Hawkwind... and he wanted to move away from the traditional bass-drums-guitar set up towards the end of his life and into more experimental territory. I've read he even almost had a jam session with MIles Davis but Davis' management asked way too much money for it. So yeah if he didn't die I think the sky would be the limit as far as where his ambitions would take him. Hell, he was already pretty much experimenting with progressive elements a bit, 1983 A Mermaid I Shall Be is certainly early prog.

I never considered him prog, on the other hand he was experimenting for sure. Also he had a routine of taking his 3 minutes songs and turning them into 15 minutes and jam the crap out of 'em, but it was never prog. One aspect of him that is closer to prog is the fact that (most notable in his 69, 70 songs) he would write songs that he could strip bare the night after, and simply make a totally different version of them, and by that I mean he would improvise and actually replace his guitar role completely. Examples: Power Of Soul, Hear My Train a Comin', Machine Gun, Who Knows?, Stepping Stone, Message to Love.

His later period saw him returning to his roots and even replacing the Experience crew with 2 blacks, playing more earthy, bluesy songs, he was where he wanted to be. So no I don't think he would go towards progressive Rock as we know it.


Edited by sagichim - January 08 2013 at 03:20

The answer is simple: Because prog was British, not American.