The Single Non-Event that Changed Prog Rock ?

uduwudu wrote: 90125 saved the Yes bacon. I still think no Jon on Drama was the single prog rock event that changed the whole course of prog history. Had Jon been on Drama chances are no Asia, no 90125. Not sure about the impact of Genesis change of direction, and Marillion would have emerged anyway though had Genesis not been so song oriented Mariullion may have not received the acclaim they had (being ever so slightly Genesius influenced.) Mind you their first alums are all fine (I'm a Fish era fan) and kayleigh is a lovely tune.

Great idea for a thread. I invite you to start it off.

Ok then.

Funny how things go. First why is accusing a prog band of grandiosity an accusation? Funny how rock and roll is the only music where being good at playing can be seen as a bad thing. No wonder punk died in it's own spittle. The public are not that stupid! Not that much all the time anyway.

 Our poor old prog bands were touring madly releasing classics by the bushel and by the time the punk era happned generally had watered down. ELP were tired, Yes were confused and Genesis in control completely. Pink Floyd  and Jethro Tull were at a high tide mark (or another one) - Gentle Giant were losing control but were not that huge commercially, Crimson (also not that huge but possibly a more significant technical source than GG) non-existent as Fripp has better foresight than Nostradamus and sneaked out to create his own version of new era popular music.

But Yes were the most visible of the lot. Outselling Zeppelin concerts and still creative (more or less). (Those Paris sessions much of which appeared on the new CD issue of Tormato and are curios only.) They make Tormato sound like Relayer - well not quite. But I make my point I hope.

Had JA come back to Yes I feel reasonably certain if Trevor Horn produced and ceded vocals (nothing I've read makes me think he would not have gladly done so; then a Jon fronted yes: Drama (the album we now know might be outtakes) would then have happened. So we have consequences.

After that it's problematic. Had that version of Drama stiffed (which I doubt) then 90125 Yes and the commercialisation of prog to pop (and they were very ggod at it) would have happened anyway. Had it gone huge or created a wave then the Neo prog underswell might have been bigger. Not sure how the disintegration of PF would have effected things. PF are and were more visible to the media influenced masses than Yes.

But what of Yes' influence on Genesis, if any? And the remergence of Crimson along with Jon-Yes and Drama. No Asia? Or someone other than Howe on guitar? Hackett perhaps. No GTR unless he and Howe got together and did a non-pop GTR? It comes own to record company sales and frankly none of them (record companies) looked after the longevity of their acts (except Genesis who were too smart for drugs and food fights.)

See it all comes back to Jon - not Jon. A turning point visible only with 20 / 20 hinsdsight ... and I need new glasses anyway!

Yup. A Drama. (cough!)

What? No.

I believe that if the press continued to care about prog circa 77-80, there wouldn't have been a punk emergence or a turn of the prog bands to other forms of music.

uduwudu wrote: [QUOTE=uduwudu] But Yes were the most visible of the lot. Outselling Zeppelin concerts ...........

I don't know where you got that from... Zeppelin had about 200,000 people each night at Knebworth in 1979, and during their previous tour, the American tour of 1977, they set a new world record audience at an indoor solo concert with 76,229 tickets sold (the previous record was held by The Who).

The join of Yes and Buggles was quite a big thing at the time. I had a lot of friends who were big Yes fans at the time and the loss of Anderson and Wakeman to be replaced by the duo who had recorded "Video Killed the Radio Star" was quite a shock.

sleeper wrote: I think your topic title is very much right, as a turning point in prog Anderson leaving Yes is very much a non-event.All the major prog bands of the 70's were getting quite tired by the end of the decade and the press were really starting to push punk, or anything else they could find for instant gratification. The changing lineup of Yes had no effect.

I agree with this. The golden era was over for prog. Anderson leaving Yes wouldn't have had that much bearing on progressive music as a whole.

I bet Yes even acquired a few more fans, by 'merging' with The Buggles... ...and probably lost a few too, but what the hell, I think Drama is better than Tormato!

Punk did not destroy prog, but it did hurt it commercially.

lazland wrote: Punk did virtually nothing to destroy prog, excepting in the eyes of the trendy & fashionable media, a silly trait that lasts to this day in most music publications, although, of course, they never bleat on about just how sad it is that The Pistols reform or UK Subs crawl around pubs & clubs still The bands we love still continued, and, indeed, continue to this day, to sell out conert halls or stadiums, sell truckloads of records, and inspired a whole new generation of great bands. Punk did NOT kill prog

Moshkito is mean (as usual, sorry) but makes a good point in there.  Then again, I wouldn't assume Uduwudu is so completely unaware - probably just spoke simply for the sake of daring to start a discussion.


Btw, kudos to the posters on the Lazland-to-Kashmir75-to-Blacksword direction above.