How did prog rock become the laughing stock...

The whole thing was all for publicity. Punk pogo-ing in Chelsea was as middle class as it could get. Wouldn't have got anywhere were it not for the fashions and antics (as I read somewhere that was not on the web).

Prog rock was and is the classical or art music of rock and as subject to pop culture as anything.

Still as prog rock "died" or mutated what happened to all the supporters who saw Genesis at Wembley Arena while The Pistols played a club?

Yes and ELP called it quits as creatively they were at an impasse and needed a rest. Same with Sabbath and poor old Heep. Tull, Floyd, Genesis and as it turned out Zeppelin were just fine for a while).

Things is that everyone was subject to fickle public. It took a "disco" Floyd tune and a symphonic ballad to get Floyd and Zeppelin to save a music industry that was dying. Punk offered little but noise and exclusion (like most sub genres of pop music). Until the new wave turned up and found hey, the real punk musicians want to and can play music. That just kept on renewing into alt rock, alt country, grunge and a more mainstream oriented punk (Green Day); as prog kept re-morphing until it was "ok" to use that term in public.

I suppose it boils down to the usual way of getting people to talk about something (in terms of hate and derision in which terms we as humans are most happy at expressing ourselves) and then, eventually, some might begin thinking about it; some even forking out the hard earned while the few left are busy selling the same old song and dance. Follow the money.

There were a few ok punk records just as there really were very few bad prog albums (good = effectively communicated / longevity x social relevance / actual interest). I suppose the band that had it all at the time was Blondie. They even had Fripp guesting, terrific drumming punk "cred", pop appeal and big success. For a while.

So where did that leave The League of Gentlemen other than my LP collection? Fripp's version of Blondie?

Anyway this was where Rush really came into their own by having interesting lyrics and terrific albums around this time. Others (Cars, Van Halen) had 1 - 3 but Rush just kept on. The rise of NWOBHM and the force of Rainbow was all pretty good stuff too.

But, yeah, the cover of Love Beach.

The thing is - what and in what form would any prog or other, heh, pop music survive the ages as Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach and all the other boys in the band have done?

This whole Prog vs Punk thing is really just a myth. I personally love all kinds of music( Punk, Prog, Disco, Jazz, whatever). There are many Punk bands who are big fans of Prog music. Johnny Lydon has said that Roxy Music was a big influence on him. He also said that he likes Hawkwind, and the album Aqualung by Jethro Tull.

Here are a few examples of Punk artists saying good things about Prog artists
1- I have seen an interview with the drummer from X, who said that Captain Beefheart was a big influence on him.
2- Roddy Bottum of Faith No More has said that he liked Sparks and Roxy Music.
3- I also had seen an Interview where Buzz Osborne(of The Melvins) is praising Captain Beefheart, and Isis.
4- Kurt Cobain has said that he liked the album Red by King Crimson

Now there are Prog bands like The Mars Volta, Dillinger Escapeplan, and many others. Who are influenced by both Punk, and Prog. Also I am not sure, but I think Peter Gabriel has done some music with the lead singer of The Clash. And speaking of Peter Gabriel, he had a guitarist from The Jam playing on Melt. Nick Cave has done some work with The Dirty Three also. King Crimson also had a lot connections to New Wave groups such as Blondie, and Missing Persons.

Plus lets not forget Hawkwind. The band was a huge influence on Punk. The band played many free shows, and were pretty rebellious( in my opinion). Lemmy later formed Motorhead, which was one of the first Metal bands, that Punk bands liked.

Almost every person I know in real life( that dose not listen to bad Pop Music) listens to both Bad Brains, and Rush. So is the problem that not everyone is saying good things about ELP?

And to end this... Here is a list of (old) Prog bands, that many Punk bands like
Captain Beefheart
Roxy Music
Genesis( usually, only the Peter Gabriel era)
Jazz Prog/ Jazz Fusion
Hawkwind
Pink Floyd( usually, Syd Barret era)
Van Der Graaf Generator
Frank Zappa
Sparks
A lost of Experimental stuff
Can
Experimental Prog
Krafwerk( If you count Electronic Prog)
Krautrock




 


Edited by Bungler - June 03 2016 at 08:35

Anderson, Walkman, Butthole, and How - The Dead Milkmen

twosteves wrote: ...It's very simple---no real connection between ----I want to be sedated-- and Awaken lol Having said that there have been prog acts that were accepted by the rock hipsters of the world--- ...

I'm too young to talk about the climate change in '76/77, and pretty much everything about it is already said here.

It's rather silly that some try to make it that punk didn't dislike prog.

Dean wrote: Punk as was much a product of Art School alumni as Prog ever was, if not more so... And that's a significant point - Punk was not just music - it was an art movement - the Sex Pistols were manufactured by two middle-class Art students with a "product" to sell; whereas Prog (unlike Psychedelia before it) was just music without a subculture and Art-background to support, promote and maintain it.

ster wrote: lostrom wrote: It's rather silly that some try to make it that punk didn't dislike prog.   It is silly. These people have no clue and haven’t been there. Punks hated prog and especially arena rock acts like Foreigner, Boston Styx etc. Maybe not ALL of them but the general consensus did. I have read countless interviews where punk artists would scorn others if they showed any kind of skill on your instrument. They were ostracized and called a fascist or a poseur. Remember that? Everyone that wasn’t punk was a fascist! Down with elitism! Very militant. They felt that rock n roll was becoming bourgeois or upper class because of the skill that was displayed. Especially the extravagant stage shows where they felt the artists were becoming too big for the audiences. I have read an interview with Adam Clayton from U2 and he said that during his punk days they hated when guitarists were perceived as these super heroes that had to be saluted.  Punk was a rebellion just like prog was a rebellion against sixties music. Don’t believe me? Bill Bruford had “Keith Moon Sucks" written on his sneakers. Prog rockers wanted to smash the formulaic pop music that came before them–and they did. Punk wanted to simplify rock and bring it back to the kids.

^
"Don't believe everything you read in the press."

Wisest thing to say, thank you Dean for putting it all in perspective with a single sentence.