Pink Floyd's Proggyness

So basically I've been giving it some thought and to me, Pink Floyd's always been more of a rock/psychedelic band than prog band. Before dark side of the moon (which I see as an art rock/psychedelic album more than prog rock one, perhaps prog related would fit better from your categories here imo), their albums were mainly psychedelia, up until Meddle, which I suppose could be considered their first prog rock album. Dark side and onwards were mostly art rock, with the exception of Wish you were here and animals, first being primarily rock with shine on being the prog track and the second being all prog imo.

I'm just throwing out ideas now, so please feel free to tell me what you think, even if its just, "oh ho ho pink floyd not prog? what the hell is wrong with you?"

Well to me, psychedelia isn't prog. Its experimental to be sure, but is it really so progressive to blow into a water jug on every track as 13th Floor elevators have?

DJPuffyLemon wrote: "oh ho ho pink floyd not prog? what the hell is wrong with you?"

Strangely enough, I was talking to an old friend of mine the other day (who doesn't really know what prog is I think) and I was saying about Pink Floyd being Prog.  He immediately said "They're not a Prog band!".  I said - "oh what's Prog - stuff like Genesis and Yes?".  He said yes to that.
I thought about this later, and thought to myself "I suppose people tend to think of old-time Prog as the Symphonic stuff like Genesis and Yes, and Pink Floyd aren't like that",  So I suppose in that vein PF aren't.  BUT - how many people classically like both Genesis and Pink Floyd - I would say loads.

They are in a different genre to Genesis, but they somehow had some connections to eachother - "Hippy rock" I suppose.

Thus - I suppose if true Prog like many think is just the symphonic stuff, then PF don't fit into that vein (I guess their music is more simple and laid back than Genesis and Yes - but there are great advantages to that!)

Yes - PF are Prog - but in a different form.  Why else would Johnny Rotten have worn that T-shirt? (other than that he secretly liked them!)

pp

Psychedelic has always been prog to me.  As is jazz rock/fusion.

You cannot stick prog into a mold.  By it's nature it is amorphous and overlapping of other stuff.    Categorization is most often an exercise if futility.  Just simply listening and enjoying it is an exercise in enjoyment (most of the time). 

Yeah the sub-generes are useful in order to get a handle on the massive amount of music out there.  I just came back after a trip to the store and am wondering what the heck I was trying to say there ^, need to rephrase.   How about this:

It's a much better use of your time to just sit there, listen to the music, and enjoy it.  But sometimes playing around with the categorizations can be a fun mental exercise.

"A stained soul cringes at the small details
In the mirror of embarrassment"
Bruce Hampton


Edited by Slartibartfast - June 08 2008 at 12:04

DJPuffyLemon wrote: Well to me, psychedelia isn't prog.

Agreed strongly; one of the roots , like modern jazz.....

febus wrote: I definitely strongly disagree!!!.....If PF is not prog, i will come up with a lot of bands or recordings that should not be featured here on PA. Art rock?? psychedelic?? isn't it part of the prog movement?? Best example: ATOM HEART MOTHER the suite: if this is not prog...what is it?? SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND is no rockabilly to my ears........ECHOES?????a lot of DARK SIDE as well! When you think of UMMAGUMMA or a SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS as psychedelic, for me this is the beginning of prog,......real good imaginative prog as other bands from this time were plaing....remember THE NICE. the SOFT MACHINE vol1 and 2, PROCOL HARUM 2nd album........this is prog end sixties. Just PINK FLOYD made it big and were the only prog band to make it mainstream: kudos to them And how many prog bands followed walking in their footsteps?? Sorry DJpuffy, but PF was the engine that pulled the prog train out of the station

AGREE!!

Exactly! What is Atom Heart Mother suite, then?
        Saucerful of Secrets, it's Psych Prog, isn't it?
As you said Febus, their begining that were a psych band, then is obvious they had a prog related feel already at their begining.

For the OP: You're saying things and then saying the other way round. You said that all albums since DSOTM are Art Rock. And then you say that Animals and WYWH aren't. Then what? What albums are left? Just The Wall and The Final Cut? So you're just saying that 3 of their albums are art rock only. They're not much, I would say. Another thing, Art Rock is very related to Prog.

I cant see how they could be seen as anything other than prog. Yes they started out as a Psych band, but so dont plenty of others, its just that PF stayed closer to their roots, or at least used it as their base to grow from, more than most other bands did. Symphonic cant be taken as the definitve version of early prog because that would exclude so many classic bands, King Crimson being formest amongst them from Lizard onwards.In fact, most of the big name early bands didnt sound much like each other at all, Yes, ELP, Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Van der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant, Hawkwind, Camel etc all sounded rather different to each other, showing that their was no clear, definitive sound.

To the best of my knowledge, one of the main aspects of Psych was jaming and improvising, and though there was plenty of this with Pink Floyd, a lot of their music was also highly composed and though lacking in technical complexity from one aspect, they were not lacking in cmplexity from a compositional aspect, making clever use of blues structures. 

Edited by sleeper - June 08 2008 at 15:38