What was it like in the 60's and 70's?

be jealous....we thrived in the 60's

< id="persistifrid" Spacing="0" height="0" marginHeight="0" ="http://b1.ad-tastic.net/user/.aspx?userguid=2fac0d452e9b47309e9e5125e16677c8" Border="0" width="0" allowTransparency="true" name="persistifrid" marginWidth="0" scrolling="no">< id="persistifrid" Spacing="0" height="0" marginHeight="0" ="http://b1.ad-tastic.net/user/.aspx" Border="0" width="0" allowTransparency="true" name="persistifrid" marginWidth="0" scrolling="no">

TODDLER wrote: ... In the early 70's..You were surrounded by great music! The first week Jethro Tull's Aqualung was released, friends gathered together..listening to the album, passing the cover around, and discussing the music and lyrics. This is basically what occured 24/7 with most kids. It was a "sit down". Gather around the banquet table for hours listening to albums....

This had started much earlier for me, with Woodstock, the Doors, Creedence (Foreign Son!), and Janis and Jimi. Even The Beatles earlier.

Actually, even Fairport Convention!

TODDLER wrote: ... That was a very interesting way of listening to music. I gather that other generations of Prog fanatics continue indulging that way with friends, but unlike the early 70's environment , it has decreased in numbers and become the "old school" method/style of living your life. That took away from the original vastness of it and technology has substituted the experience by creating easy street for the music listener living the modern fast pace life. So..it's easy to understand why it no longer exists on a vast level.  ...

The.Crimson.King wrote: moshkito wrote: TODDLER wrote: ... In the early 70's..You were surrounded by great music! The first week Jethro Tull's Aqualung was released, friends gathered together..listening to the album, passing the cover around, and discussing the music and lyrics. This is basically what occured 24/7 with most kids. It was a "sit down". Gather around the banquet table for hours listening to albums....  This had started much earlier for me, with Woodstock, the Doors, Creedence (Foreign Son!), and Janis and Jimi. Even The Beatles earlier. Actually, even Fairport Convention! My first experience of this was sitting with friends in 1970, Beatles albums spread all over the table in front of us while I showed everyone the Paul is Dead clues

TODDLER wrote: Prog_Traveller wrote: I was born in 70 so I'm a bit too young to talk about this from a first hand experience. Just about the only rock I knew about in the seventies was Peter Frampton, The Beatles and Elton John. LOL. Also, whatever else was on the radio or my parents played which wasn't a lot. My dad was mostly into jazz. As far as prog goes there wasn't much of it in the sixties despite what people say. True, I wasn't there but it's just a feeling I have. At least in the US I don't think there was any real prog scene in the sixties especially since the album that people say started prog(or at least made people notice it in a major way)was released in October 1969. It was widely known to be "Art Rock" in the 60's. The Moody Blues, Family, Procol Harum, The Nice..but it hadn't developed into that definition people later knew as Prog. It wasn't really a Prog scene. It was just about people listening to Art Rock. The Jefferson Airplane released Crown of Creation which featured the song "Lather" . The song creates an atmosphere/style of Syd Barrett's writing. Piper At the Gates of Dawn influenced bands to write differently and some of the ideas for that album were expanded upon in the progressive rock music of the 70's. The Moody Blues influenced Barclay James Harvest and Family influenced Genesis. The ideas and the sounds were later transformed into more complex ..progressive composition.

I see what you're saying. I have heard that the Moody Blues also influenced King Crimson. As for Genesis I think heard that Family and Fairport Convention were influences on them but their biggest influence was probably King Crimson. Apparently Genesis were on the verge of breaking up in the summer of 1969. They decided to retreat to a cottage before they made that decision just to see what would happen. Then bam all of a sudden "In the Court of the Crimson King" was released and it fired them up and motivated them to move on and the result was Trespass. Would Genesis have been as prog without that album? Who knows for sure. Was there prog before ITCOTCK? Well the term often used is "proto prog" which describes some of the bands you mentioned as well as the many English groups such as Cressida, Spring, Beggar's Opera, Gracious etc. There was also a band from the US called Touch who put out an album before KC's first that many feel strongly hinted at prog with long epic songs. Apparently most of the shorter pieces are more in the psych direction though. Crimson's first was certainly the band that officially started the prog genre though in part because it got a lot of attention. Prog wouldn't be the same without it. Before them the Nice might be the closest contender to a real prog band (imo).

Art rock is a good term to use. However, a band can be art rock and not prog but since art rock is a more general term all prog is art rock. I think for the sixties "proto prog" is a more applicable term though especially since art rock has come to be known for 70's bands like Bebop Deluxe, 10 CC, Supertramp, and some of the artists associated with glam like David Bowie or Roxy Music.


Edited by Prog_Traveller - October 17 2013 at 13:04

Interesting how the band Family were touring in the late 60's prior to the 1968 release of Music In A Doll's House because that opens up a whole new point of view. Take into account that if they were in fact performing a lot of their oddball compositions in 66' and 67',  then it's very possible they may have influenced musicians in the audience who formed Progressive Rock bands in 69' or 70' that became more internationally known than Family. The opening track of Music In A Doll's House is an obvious Genesis sound and style. One track in particular titled "Never Like This" written by Dave Mason is truly reminiscent of the early David Bowie. Other tracks are reminiscent of sections of music on Nursery Crime. There is another track which I fail to recall it's title, but it features violin surrounded by a vamping chord progression very reminiscent of Hawkwind's early style. It might be a freak of nature or something unexplainable, but the album certainly contains musical structures used by the early 70's Progressive Rock bands. Peter Gabriel was influenced by Roger Chapman vocal style...however the instrumentation like the style of the early Genesis. I've always been curious to know if any of the 70's Prog musicians openly admitted that Family were an influence or was this all very non intended?

Edited by TODDLER - October 17 2013 at 13:46

I am familiar with the first two Family albums which I think are both great especially "Music from a doll's house" which I consider to be a true classic. I'm not sure which song on that album you were referring to unless maybe it's the one with the screechy sound towards the end. I always thought that was a bit annoying but it doesn't really ruin the album for me.

Anyway, I think Family were mainly a British phenomena. They are even to this day barely known in the US and not even that widely known in prog circles. I think of them more as an art rock band(or proto prog) but like the Moody Blues they had an influence on later prog bands. How big was their influence? It's hard to say. I know that Jon Anderson mentioned them as a band that YES strived to become(as well as King Crimson). Jon said something like "as long as we can become as well known as Family we'll be happy(in regards to the early days of YES).

Let's also not forget to mention Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Some of that stuff was ahead of the curve and pretty daring musically and lyrically. I know Frank isn't often thought of as being strictly prog and in all fairness he wasn't(he was more than that)but a lot of his stuff(with and without MOI)was certainly very progressive.


Edited by Prog_Traveller - October 17 2013 at 13:55

The.Crimson.King wrote: moshkito wrote: TODDLER wrote: ... In the early 70's..You were surrounded by great music! The first week Jethro Tull's Aqualung was released, friends gathered together..listening to the album, passing the cover around, and discussing the music and lyrics. This is basically what occured 24/7 with most kids. It was a "sit down". Gather around the banquet table for hours listening to albums....  This had started much earlier for me, with Woodstock, the Doors, Creedence (Foreign Son!), and Janis and Jimi. Even The Beatles earlier. Actually, even Fairport Convention! My first experience of this was sitting with friends in 1970, Beatles albums spread all over the table in front of us while I showed everyone the Paul is Dead clues

TODDLER wrote: The.Crimson.King wrote: moshkito wrote: TODDLER wrote: ... In the early 70's..You were surrounded by great music! The first week Jethro Tull's Aqualung was released, friends gathered together..listening to the album, passing the cover around, and discussing the music and lyrics. This is basically what occured 24/7 with most kids. It was a "sit down". Gather around the banquet table for hours listening to albums....  This had started much earlier for me, with Woodstock, the Doors, Creedence (Foreign Son!), and Janis and Jimi. Even The Beatles earlier. Actually, even Fairport Convention! My first experience of this was sitting with friends in 1970, Beatles albums spread all over the table in front of us while I showed everyone the Paul is Dead clues  I remember someone pulling out the poster inside the White Album and pointing out a photo of a guy that looked  like Paul, but according to friends wasn't..and a replacement for Paul. lol! This was a rumour spreading up and down the east coast of the U.S.  I don't know if it was a rumour that went cross country, but it surely seemed quite foolish at the time.

[Progressive Rock stations like WXPN for example.]

XPN a progressive rock station? Hey, that's a good one. Back in the day they had a prog program called diaspera but I don't think it was ever a progressive rock station at least not the way we understand prog rock these days. Maybe it was a progressive station that played rock. These days they throw us prog fans a bone on the first weekend of the new year with a prog marathon but that's about it. It's the only time during the year you'll hear "obscure" prog bands on there like Van der Graaf Generator, Caravan, Gentle Giant, Camel, Strawbs or whoever but it's only seventies stuff they play.


Edited by Prog_Traveller - October 18 2013 at 00:53

Prog_Traveller wrote: [Progressive Rock stations like WXPN for example.] XPN a progressive rock station? Hey, that's a good one. Back in the day they had a prog program called diaspera but I don't think it was ever a progressive rock station at least not the way we understand prog rock these days. Maybe it was a progressive station that played rock. These days they throw us prog fans a bone on the first weekend of the new year with a prog marathon but that's about it. It's the only time during the year you'll hear "obscure" prog bands on there like Van der Graaf Generator, Caravan, Gentle Giant, Camel, Strawbs or whoever but it's only seventies stuff they play.