Most representative prog personality

two words..

Franco Battiato

BaldFriede wrote: debrewguy wrote: BaldFriede wrote: debrewguy wrote: BaldFriede wrote: Peter Hammill has dabbled in more genres than Fripp, therefore he gets my vote. Had Fripp ever done an opera my vote might have gone to him too, but the way it is right now Hammill covers more different styles, so my vote goes there. If in doubt about my statement, I suggest you listen to Hammill's more experimental works, like "Sonix", "Spur of the Moment", "Loops and Reels". "The Appointed Hour" or his opera "The Fall of the House of Usher". Has Hammill ever recorded an album with a "pop' Star ? Now that is opening up oneself to elitist critcism, for a person who has enjoyed much unquestioned adulation for his career. Oh, I'm talking about Fripp. And Daryl Hall. About Sacred Songs. About 30 years ago. Which I still don't own, though Yes he has! A whole bunch of them at once even! For his opera "The Fall of the House of Usher" Andy Bell of the pop band Erasure sang Montresor, Herbert Grönemeyer, a leading pop star in Germany, sang the Herbalist, Lene Lovich, the New Wave singer, sang Madeline Usher, and Sarah Jane Morris took the role of the commentating Chorus. There you are. Opera is "pop" music ? No, it isn't, but he used pop singers for the opera. Now that's truly daring, isn't it?

You mean like Roger Waters did with the re-staging of "The Wall" ... , no wait , better yet - Bryan Adams, Sting or Rod Stewart singing with one, two , or three of those tenor guys , or is it that tenor who just died that did a disco album ...

Ooh, Ooh, I got it - Jesus Christ Superstar with Ian Gillan as Jesus, Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene and a number of other "pop" singers in a Rock Opera.
Actually, if the opera had been done with rock n roll singers in the 50s, that would have been daring. Since the explosion of experimentation in music since the mid 60s, it's surprising that it wasn't done before.
Now if they were to do it in the nude, that would be daring.