Is the original Prog left-wing?

Let's keep it simple...

Edited by zravkapt - January 16 2016 at 11:49

WeepingElf wrote: I think most classic-era prog artists leaned to the left, though to different degrees; this also appears to be true for later prog until today. Claims to the existence of right-wing prog usually come from Americans who define "right" as "more freedom" and "left" as "more state", which is not what the terms mean at least in Europe. Surely, the Nazis were extremely statist, but I hope everyone agrees that they were a far-right movement. See also this thread.

Freedom loving versus statism is how conservatives in the US would and do describe the difference between conservatives and liberals, even as they complain about the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). They are not real consistent, and liberals in the US, among whom I count myself, would NOT describe the distinction in the same fashion. I'm afraid I have indeed heard conservative intellectuals here in the US on multiple occasions assert that Nazis were leftist because of their statism and made great hay out the Nazis political self-identification as National Socialists. No, I don't buy into that either.

Genesis' The Knife and One for the Vine portray war in a negative fashion. So does Hackett's Tigermoth.

I'm not sure about the positions of left versus right vis-a-vis hogweed invasions.

One of Hackett's most poignant lyrics was India Rubber Man, which is about the despair of abandoning lofty goals in exchange for selling out. I take this to be leftward leaning. A lot of the 60s and 70s in general, though, were about looking inward and freeing your mind, and less about re-organizing society. That was true of all genres, not just Prog.

Edited by HackettFan - January 16 2016 at 14:13

Left and right vary so greatly depending on cultural context. That being said, it would be hard not to characterize most rock music as left-leaning. The phrase, "sex, drugs, and rock and roll," doesn't exactly conjure images of the John Birch Society. 

well, there are very few artistes in any fields (mailnly public performing arts) who claim to be right-wing, if only to preserve their reputations and airplay space in the medias...

But let's face it, some of those dudes were so hard-up to succeed , they'd try almost anything to make it big... That's not very left-wing, though.

Painters, sculptors and other "plastic arts" artistes mostly build a wealthy address book, so sucking up with the rich & powerful, I suppose you don't vote communist

Warthur wrote: micky wrote: A good case in point. There was once a 70's band, that exibited some quite right wing views.  They were ostracized in their country and were reduced to playing shows for their lunatic followers. Fast forward 40 years and that band came up for discussion for addition here to PA's.  Were they included? Which band was this? (PM me if you don't want to stir the argument up again.)

Don't know who micky is thinking of (Rush does seem to fit his description), neither does The Nuge, but The Jam's Paul Weller spoke for Ta/Bitcher politics









Edited by Sean Trane - January 16 2016 at 16:54

Left-leaning prog musician:

Wow, came as quite a suprise to me that so many of them are actually right-leaning. I feel bad for being a leftist and listening to Prog right now. But really, I always thought about Genesis, King Crimson and especially Soft Machine as quite leftist acts, hence the lyrics.

The original Rock In Opposition bands had a collective charter that mandated socialist principles - along with equally mandatory musical complexity.

As for the Bryan Ferry one, from what I gather he hard remarked that 1940s German architecture (described as fascist) was impressive. Well, you can't really have fascist architecture that isn't. Just wouldn't have the desired intimidation inducing effect. Bit like cathedrals and other buildings designed to instill a suitable feeling of imposition upon the proletariat. From this observation the left branded Ferry a Nazi. As Porcupine Tree name checked Albert Speer (Nazi era architect) I'm surprised no hysterical lefty has gone bug eyed with accusations based on less than nothing. The more extremist politically correct use fascist tactics (labeling, simplification and stereotyping) to impose their own values. Still, as bad as that is I would still value a discussion among the left (who at their worst I would see as having an excess of intellectualism as opposed to the right who most evidently, do not).

maybe this is as good a time and place as any for anyone who can help me understand the content of PFM's Passpartu booklet. My Italian is limited in the extreme but the mood of the music is in some contrast to the content of the booklet. Not sure what the lyrics are about either. Looks like lots of terrorist  depictions in there. The 1970s (when Passpartu was released) were a strange time of terrorism, plane hijackings, extreme nationalism, oil problems, Middle East tension, US political scandals, migrant problems and more unlike today where clearly we have learned... oh no, no. We haven't. Plus ca change plus ce'st la meme chose.

Interesting topic. Glad it's up for discussion.

In Germany in the late sixties and seventies, certainly conservative leanings were associated with a conservative stance on culture, and all rock music, all that smelled remotely of excess, questioning values like "work hard, earn money, found a normal family and shut up" and perhaps, god forbid, of not respecting some laws (drugs!) was left to the lefties, although some of them were not that much into politics. (I'd guess it was similar in the UK and most European countries, although perhaps not as extreme as in Germany.)

Michael Karoli (Can) once said: "What made us different from all the other bands was that all the others had some kind of message and we didn't, we just wanted to play music." This is an attitude I love because I listen to the music for the music only; still they were up against the conservative establishment through the culture that was associated with it.

The origins of prog were, I believe, firmly rooted in protest to the Viet Nam war, arms race between USA and USSR (in which Great Britain was swept up), and other largely left-wing causes.