Petition for Radiohead to be in archives

What's gruesome about a discussion?

There's no point asking anyone connected with Radiohead - Radiohead don't consider themselves prog (I know, I went to school with their manager) - but then neither did a bunch of bands that were posthumously christened "prog". Contrarily, many so-called prog bands now are anything but...

This is about what WE think. Plus there's a straw poll which looks quite close to me - and why does this question KEEP being asked? This would suggest that a lot of people would like them to be prog - and it's quite fascinating the way it divides opinion so neatly.

A bit like Queen, really - I think the real reason that most proggers don't want either band to be considered prog is that both have had numerous chart hits - and that is somehow threatening. Even Marillion and Pink Floyd get a hard time from some of the more "elitist" progholes - and as for the likes of Supertramp, Styx and Uriah Heep - well, that's a whole different receptacle of piscine lifeforms.

At the end of the day, it's down to the guardians of the Archives who gets in and who doesn't - and up to us to discuss it, should we so desire 

threefates wrote: Certif1ed wrote: You missed out your statement "Radiohead did not start out as a prog band... whereas Styx did.  Even tho Styx quickly moved out of the genre doesn't change the fact that thats how they began.", which preceeded my comments about Queen and makes a whole different sense of the thread you quoted. Naughty TF - trying dirty, underhanded tactics to swing the argument? That's what I do - it must be catching Actually no i didn't miss it... cause as I said "Queen did not start out as a prog band"... of them all... only Styx did... so whats your point here again??

Yes, you said "Queen did not start out as a prog band". I said they did.

Your point was?

Ah - you didn't make that very clear - I guess you'd know that better than most

Most articles I've ever read on Queen describe them as "Initially a bombastic, operatic prog-rock band with a huge helping of Vaudeville" - or something along those lines. The word "prog" almost always appears in descriptions of them (something that will probably never happen to Radiohead), and to me there's a lot of good prog on the first two albums even if it's a bit camp ("My Fairy King"...)

Of course, what Queen themselves thought and what everyone else thinks about their music is not always the same thing.

If Radiohead were to be let into the Archives, then you'd have to let in Muse as well.  They are, IMO, just as prog as Radiohead. 

This then would throw up all sorts of debates about whether other indie art-rockers should also be allowed entry, along with the post-rock crowd like Sonic Youth and Pavement.

In my view, none of the afore-mentioned bands should go in.  We can argue that Radiohead were influenced by King Crimson etc, but Iron Maiden's biggest influence was Gabriel-era Genesis, and I don't see people putting their case forward.  Better to let it lie.

Sweetnighter wrote: Hey, Tull hates being called prog and so does Fripp. What of it? They're not the ones making the calls... maani and team are!

why do they hate it?

Aaron

*shrugs*

In my CD collection, they are under progrock. Then again, so are Muse and Kate Bush. YMMV.

Sweetnighter wrote: Radiohead has forged a unique sound... combining elements of indie and electronica into their interesting blend of alternative rock, the band is doing something distinctively new. Concept albums. Both 1997's OK Computer and their most recent Hail to the Theif have definite focuses throughout the album, the former being about the mediocrity of day-to-day life while the latter is more of an establishment criticism. The band's essence. Just as Yes is known for its eastern spiritualism, roger dean art, and unintelligible hippie lyrics, Radiohead has done the same, incorporating nihilistic themes into their music and decorating their albums in similarily meaningless art, such as can be seen in their post-OK Computer albums. The band's song evolve... unlike some groups (ahem) the pieces they write have lots of mood changes. For reference, listen to the track "Paranoid Android" off of OK. The band's sound is constantly evolving as well. Their first album, Pablo Honey, is different from 1995's the Bends, and is a world away from Hail to the Theif. They're good. Like, really good.

I agree with all of this, but in my opinion, Radiohead is not a prog rock band.