The Origin of Prog: Where did it come from?

Your "prog pro" seems to have his dates a bit muddled - Hatfield's debut came out in 1974. A lot had happened in the world of prog between then and the late 60s.

The key term I think you're missing so far is Psychedelic. Prog was not born in a vaccuum - most of the bands and musicians who went on to become defining members of the first wave of prog (Crimson, Yes, all the Canterbury lot, Van der Graaf Generator, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant) all started out playing in psychedelic rock bands and, in the case of Yes, VdGG, Floyd, Soft Machine and countless others, their debut albums are pretty firmly entrenched in the world of Psychedelic rock. Prog essentially emerged when these bands grew tired of the limitations of psychedelia and started to push their sound further and further.

Also, in addition to the influence of minimalist and 20th century classical composers, consider the influence of certain jazz artists and folk groups (the "folk club" scene which was pretty big in the UK in the late 60s). And then there's the emergence of analogue synthesisers (e.g. the moog) and new recording techniques which allowed for increasingly ambitious and elaborate arrangements.

There's doubtless all kinds of other influences and developments that have temporarily eluded me, but that'll have to do for now.

Edit: Just noticed that flow chart which includes Psychedelic Rock as a clear progenitor. Serves me right for not scrolling down!

If you'll allow me to dissect your concluding paragraph a bit (apologies, I'm bored)...

It’s astounding to me to think that Progressive rock is now such a niche compared to its former glory. 

Most non-mainstream music's pretty niche these days. But thanks to the internet these tend to be ever-expanding, vocal and pretty dedicated niches, which is why any half-decent band of any conceivable genre can usually find themselves an audience these days. TBH, prog was actually pretty niche even back in the day. It was only a handful of "big names" that did much in the way of chart-bothering and got any noticeable radio airplay, and by the mid-70s their audience was already dwindling.

It comes from a time when fame was defined less by money and more by creativity.

I dunno... I don't think the balance has shifted all that much from what it was. The majority 70s prog bands weren't exactly household names, and there was an awful lot of vacuous pop musicians (and a handful of truly brilliant ones) all of which saw a lot more critical and commercial success than the average prog band.

More than any other style of music I hold progressive rock to be the style that held it’s integrity over time, while the rest of the world faded into background noise and novelty.

I'm not sure I get this. What genres would you personally say have failed to retain their integrity over the years, out of curiosity?


Edited by The Hemulen - January 11 2012 at 16:31

I think there's a very definite overlap between Psychadelic and progressive rock.  

I subscribe to the Exogenesis Theory of Prog

Delusion is a funny word,  where a pessimist can say it's a delusion that you can change the world an optimist can say "it's a delusion that you can't.". I'm with the optimists on this one,  the problem is that when most of the young hungry musicians make it to the top they choose to spend the money and power on themselves, rather than use it to bring the rest of the world up.  If you really want to change the world, let's do something about it.