The Show That Never Ends

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

    "The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock" - David Weigel (W.W. Norton and Co.). ***

This book starts out as a horrible wreck, but it does get better.

I've
 read some of the negative reviews, and I agree with everything 
they say (not proof read, not expansive enough - only concentrates on a few Prog bands, ect.) with one exception. The negative reviews say the book starts off well, but the 
second half falters. I disagree, the first half of the book is 
disorganized, not proof read well, and jumps around bringing in new 
artists as if we know who he is talking about (albeit, most of us do, 
but that is a lot of assuming). I cringed at the thought of purchasing 
this book from a relatively young political writer. I decided to go 
ahead and take the dive so that I could review it on my Prog Rock 
Podcast, Progkast, and broadcast Radio Show, Prog Nation. My 
reservations were totally founded, and the book is just as I imagined 
it, horribly written, and not that much insight. I give him credit for 
looking up some of the interviews and doing "some" research, but his 
knowledge of Prog seems limited to British and some American bands, and 
there doesn't seem to have been any proofreading at all! He repeats 
himself with the exact same sentence used in a previous paragraph more 
than a few times, and in some cases repeats in the next chapter. The 
writing jumps up a year, and then back without notice. and then up again
 without notice. Artists' names pop up as if we've already been 
"introduced". His writing is also very sexist, as he refers to the 
"guys" who listen to Prog, dismisses his sexism based on the fact that 
more males listen then females, and then continues his sexism 
continually referring to "guys", "men", and listeners as "he" as if no 
female fans or artists exist (Not once does he make any reference to the 
hugely popular band Renaissance, which has a lead female singer).

He follows the rise of Prog in the 60s and 70s, the fall in the late 70s, the rise in the late 80s, the fall in the 90s.... and leaves us with the death of Keith Emerson. He doesn't cover any bands in between those times. He attributes the so called "fall" of Prog with the rise of Punk Rock. I was there. Punk Rock did not kill Prog (maybe it did in Britain, but not the US where the popularity of Punk was mostly limited to the Coasts and it was never mainstream), Disco did. And in the 80s it was New Wave. In the 90s it was Grunge. Later, Rap. Prog isn't dead, never was. It just took a back seat, just like Rock did. But Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith stepped up to the plate in the late 80s and brought back Rock music to the mainstream. Rock exists and Prog Rock exists... just not on corporate radio, that's all. Yes, Steve Hackett, Rush, have all been making this music all along. Newer bands such as Spock's Beard, Dream Theater, Transatlantic.... have been making it, are making it. I was insulted by this book, not once, not twice, but at least three times. For being a female into Prog (apparently I don't exist), to Prog being dead (what? I'm listening to graveyard music?) to being so "out of it" for this book to inform me of anything. Stick to politics Dave. 

On the other hand....as
 for Prog insight, it would be a good introduction to young people 
("people", not just men) who are interested in finding out more about 
Prog. As a primer, it would be useful, that's about it.

Edited by Progkast - August 01 2017 at 21:42