Why is it called progressive rock?

well all things rock could very well qualify under some measure as progressive, maybe being progressive means cohesive ensemble playing & production values & good soloing & good song writing or maybe just one of those criteria, i first heard the term progressive rock on wnew fm in nyc in the early 70s, the djs would regularly play anything from mahavishnu orch, yes, jethro tull, renaissance, but then even some odder things like 666 by Aphrodites Child - vangelis, but one could also argue in a way that some of the allman brothers longer songs actually fall into the progressive rock category quite nicely, a more radical definition would be the idea of a brother/sister duo where the sister actually sang lead and played the drums - you could call this progressive until you learn the identity of the duo - the carpenters! phillip glass could be called progressive classical. stereolab, coldplay, and radiohead also qualify to a certain degree, but i think it goes back to the criteria that works for me: cohesive ensemble playing, good production values, good soloing, good songwriting all working together

Mushroom Sword wrote: Also, are all of you guys... do you have proof, or memories of it being called progressive rock for these reasons? Or are you just guessing, cause that's that's what it's called.

Yes, I do and I will sell it to you cheap at the half the price.

Once upon a time there was dull music and interesting music and sometimes we called it art rock but we didn't waste time with labels.  There was good music and there was bad music.  There was good music that tried to persevere against the bad.  There was bad and good musicians that fizzled out.  I don't remember exactly when the really good stuff became referred to as progressive.  Seems like it just kind of happened.  Language is a virus.


Edited by Slartibartfast - October 01 2010 at 22:36

It goes beyond music that "progresses" but about music that progresses beyond many of the stagnant musical forms.  That is progress, from which the term progressive came from.  If you only think the Rush guitar riffs are progressive, you may need to explore more.

The whole idea behind progressive rock was to elevate rock music (aka 'popular' music) to a level of sophistication that could rival classical composition (as well as, in some circles, the Romanticist/Victorian literary canon).  The word 'progressive' was meant to posit that rock was 'progressing' into a valid form of timeless artistic expression. 

And proggies wonder why we're occasionally branded as pretentious?

JJLehto wrote: Its true llama. We all know that all prog fans are old guys stuck in the 70's or young kids on drugs. I love prog but haaaaate hippies

Ok thank you for explaining it. I can die now. Oh wait... got tickets for the Roger Waters Concert... I can die after that. Also I love prog and love hippies. But am not a hippy. But would not mind being one.

It's called progressive rock because all the people who listen to it (like JJ up there^) are progressive, liberal hippies. (God I hate them.)

Manuel wrote: As far as I remember, when rock music started incorporating influences from other genres, like folk, jazz, classical, etc, people started saying that rock had "Progressed" beyond its boundaries, and the term progressive was used to define this music. It had nothing to do with the music progressing within itself, just stated the fact that it went beyond its limits.  It's also important to remember that most all genres of music eventually do this, and we have progressive jazz, metal, rock, etc, so its more a tendency that happens when the artists get creative and want to push the limits a little (or a lot) further.

Exactly! Yes. That was a much better way of saying what I tried to



Edited by JJLehto - October 01 2010 at 21:27

I used to agree that it had to "progress" but as you alluded to....that turned out to be quite narrow.

I see "progressive" music as anything that's different, challenging, out of the norm for its style etc

Its called Progressive Rock cause the songs get progressively longer and cause this website says so...

horsewithteeth11 wrote: 00s prog =/= 70s prog And that's probably because music has....well, progressed. While some of us don't think it's necessarily a good thing (here's looking at you Walter, ol' buddy ). Seriously though, since you said "progressive rock", I'm going to assume you mean artists that have progressed music in some way. Was that a cliche enough answer?

No, I mean classic prog. I mean, I've read the backs Yes albums wherecall themselves Prog! (90125 for example)