Progressive Comeback?

Check Out the October edition of the British Magazine Jazzwise,and in particular,  their interview with Theo Travis entitled The Prog Rock Factor.  Travis discusses the influence of prog on his style of jazz (and he also plays with Gong). Clearly a great fan of prog, Travis is quoted: "I think of  (Miles Davis's) In A Silent Way as a prog album - why not?". (He comes out fighting straightaway). And then he really goes on the attack - it is first time I've seen such a pro-prog voice expressed in the British media for very long time: "It's the press who always make out prog as ridiculous. But in 1977 Yes and King Crimson were filling stadia while the Sex Pistols were playing to 50 people. Twenty five years later and the prog bands are still going strong and Johnny Rotten's in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. So who ridiculous really? Is it ridiculous that bands like King Crimson wanted to make music that was more complex and more musically ambitious, that they wanted to learn how to play their instruments very well. That may be uncool, but it's not ridiculous. If you have a band with interesting chords and lyrics and textures, then people will want to listen, especially now, when there is so much three chord stuff around. If that means people are looking back on Van Der Graaf and early traffic then good for them.


For that alone everybody here should be rushing out and buying his new album From Earth To Ether, on which Caravan's Richard Sinclair provides some vocals and there is  apparently a "storming" version of 21st Century Schizoid Man.  (Were Krimson still playing in 1977?)

The main trouble with prog is that HARDLY ANYONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS. At my school, when someone asks what my favorite kind of music is, I'll say "progressive rock" and they'll always say "what's that?" Even the people at my school who I know would love it if they heard it have no idea what it is, because they never play it on the radio. The only prog band they DO know is Pink Floyd, and they think they're psychadelic rock...

Maybe if XM radio becomes mainstream and more choices are opened, more will discover it and the underground movement will stay alive. I DON'T want mainstream prog: I just wish people knew what it was. If just 5% of the population listened to prog rock, I'd be happy. (But maybe its just Oklahoma that nobody knows what it is: over here people are a bit backwards and ignorant anyway...)

James Lee wrote: if we define comeback as a big increase in artist income, then I'd be fairly cruel to hope that it doesn't happen...but as a guy who likes to hear good music, I'd say the last few decades were exactly what prog needed. I'm glad that Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, etc., are still financially afloat...but the overdose of money/ stardom/ acclaim in the mid/late 70s either directly or indirectly brought about many of the prog bands' most regrettable musical statements (in many people's opinion). It's that kind of history repeating that I'd prefer to avoid...plus I rather enjoy having something special that the majority of people don't know or care about.

About the excess that is true and not true, James.  The revenue kept them afloat and alowed the freedom to continue what they were doing rather than get hits out that the record companies wanted. As long as they sold the record companies had to put it out.   It allowed them to form their own record compaines (like ELP's Maticore) that signed bands it would have been almost impossible to hear at that time like PFM.  It started this whole import craze to find new music especially from Europe and radio stations would have the import hour shows every day.  The internet allows that to a certain degree today and cheaper and affordable recording processes give many more bands to get their music out but that is nothing like hearing it on the radio in a mass appeal like it was then.  That was the only outlet to the public.

 

 But I do think the person that started this tread intended it to be a comeback like it was in the late 60' and 70' or else how else was he getting rich off the war that Bush starts?

I really like your comments though.  I remember one time in 1977 when my friend and I had just seen Genesis at the Forum in LA (18,000 seats) on the W & W tour.  As we were leaving he looked around at the arena and the house lights and all the people and he said "Brian, were no longer special".

 

 

Garion81 wrote: About the excess that is true and not true, James.  The revenue kept them afloat and alowed the freedom to continue what they were doing rather than get hits out that the record companies wanted. As long as they sold the record companies had to put it out.   It allowed them to form their own record compaines (like ELP's Maticore) that signed bands it would have been almost impossible to hear at that time like PFM.  It started this whole import craze to find new music especially from Europe and radio stations would have the import hour shows every day.  The internet allows that to a certain degree today and cheaper and affordable recording processes give many more bands to get their music out but that is nothing like hearing it on the radio in a mass appeal like it was then.  That was the only outlet to the public.   But I do think the person that started this tread intended it to be a comeback like it was in the late 60' and 70' or else how else was he getting rich off the war that Bush starts? I really like your comments though.  I remember one time in 1977 when my friend and I had just seen Genesis at the Forum in LA (18,000 seats) on the W & W tour.  As we were leaving he looked around at the arena and the house lights and all the people and he said "Brian, were no longer special".

That's a great point I'd forgotten- the bigger a band gets, the more chances there are for (relatively) similar bands to form and enjoy some success. The PFM example is excellent proof of this- had ELP simply been an underground success, fewer people might have been exposed to Italian prog.

Perhaps mainstream music is like films; you have no control over what comes to your theater, but your patronage determines how long it will survive- and the shared social aspect is just as important, if not moreso, than the music itself. Whereas more specific genres of music are like literature- a personal experience, but one which is backed up by a 'hidden' community.

I missed the first big wave of 'radio prog' in the early 70s but caught the tail end of the decade...and I do rather miss the buzz that comes from hearing the DJ hype a cut from a new prog album. I think the last time I experienced that was for "Power Windows" and "Momentary Lapse of Reason".

i am not a fan of american "punk" at all but it is quite ironic cos in 77 you were either a progger or a punk and they were very divided, now they are merging. I think green days new album is an experiment, not the start of a new movement. so i cant see prog punk catching on. it would be like having freezing heat lol.

frenchie wrote: i am not a fan of american "punk" at all but it is quite ironic cos in 77 you were either a progger or a punk and they were very divided, now they are merging. I think green days new album is an experiment, not the start of a new movement. so i cant see prog punk catching on. it would be like having freezing heat lol.

hey theirs been pprog punk along time ago. its called proto prog. its bands like primus ! my friend, is a big pnuk fan and we are quite annoyed with each others musicc, bhut he showed me primus and i showed him frank zappa, which are both punkish. also you guys should check out ska!

oh, when the draft comes back, the 70's will come back , shich mean the protested will come backwhich means the hippies will rise again, which means progreesive will rise again as hiipes become more normal, so will the music they like. im not saying yhou guys are hippies, but i wont be surprized if some of you are! WOOOO PEACE!

Edited by Eddy

" Waves will come and go, I am The Beach "  Frank Zappa

I saw that, too! I couldn't help but wonder if she's a progger in disguise? But Shakira does have a lot of musical talent(in the pop artist genre), so maybe she appreciates prog too?

Anyway, I may give the new GD album a spin from my local library, but I've heard songs from their past albums and have been less than impressed. Just didn't appeal to me.

Prog punk?

It's been done before.

Check out the Damned's "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1977 - the height of punk).

Punk Concept album?

"Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols", "Flogging a Dead Horse", "Some Product" and "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle".

The Pistols were pure concept from start to finish. The idea was to make a lot of money very quickly while at the same time telling people exactly what you're up to - ie ripping them off.

And it worked!

Sorry, but Green Day just don't compare. I can't even consider them "Punk" in the 'true' (1970's) meaning of the genre - it's become a name to describe a style of music with 3 chords that you can skateboard to whilst sporting baggy jeans and a spiky haircut. Having said that, there are far worse bands in this genre.

The couldn't-care-less, self-destruct attitude that was the trademark of most 1970's punk bands has (thankfully!) died. The only thing that remains is the peculiar desire to appear to be obnoxious, and use words that are known to upset a certain part of the community (they lost their shock value years ago!) - but then everyone that wants to appear cool swears on their records.

Generally it doesn't work, with notable exceptions such as "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" by the Darkness. I don't care - I like it!

The best Prog Punk (if you can call it that) is performed by one of my favourite bands Cardiacs. Strange to say but they do fall between the stools, dismissed by the UK press as prog but too heavy and thrashy to be fully accepted into the Prog fraternity.