The Origin of Prog: Where did it come from?
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Topic: The Origin of Prog: Where did it come from?
Posted By: RedSheep
Subject: The Origin of Prog: Where did it come from?
Date Posted: January 11 2012 at 15:33
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I was born way after Progressive Rock came about, so I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on the history. Over the years I've met a few serious progressive rock nuts. Guys who say Yes and Genesis are pop, and I'm always amazed at the sheer number of bands and musicians they talk about that I've never heard of, especially when I'm that guy to most of my friends! It's a difficult task for me, but I've tried to go back and look at where it all started. I wrote an article about where I think progressive rock came about and some of the early influences, and I'd love you guys to take a quick look and tell me what you think of it. http://sheepishmusic.co.uk/blog/2012/01/the-origins-of-prog%20-%20153/" rel="nofollow - http://sheepishmusic.co.uk/blog/2012/01/the-origins-of-prog%20-%20153/
RedSheep ------------- "Leaders or not we're part of a flock to follow till death, or Glory..." http://sheepishmusic.co.uk/blog/" rel="nofollow - Music and Lyric Writing Prog Blog |
Replies:
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: January 11 2012 at 16:14
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Your "prog pro" seems to have his dates a bit muddled - Hatfield's debut came out in 1974. A lot had happened in the world of prog between then and the late 60s. The key term I think you're missing so far is Psychedelic. Prog was not born in a vaccuum - most of the bands and musicians who went on to become defining members of the first wave of prog (Crimson, Yes, all the Canterbury lot, Van der Graaf Generator, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant) all started out playing in psychedelic rock bands and, in the case of Yes, VdGG, Floyd, Soft Machine and countless others, their debut albums are pretty firmly entrenched in the world of Psychedelic rock. Prog essentially emerged when these bands grew tired of the limitations of psychedelia and started to push their sound further and further. Also, in addition to the influence of minimalist and 20th century classical composers, consider the influence of certain jazz artists and folk groups (the "folk club" scene which was pretty big in the UK in the late 60s). And then there's the emergence of analogue synthesisers (e.g. the moog) and new recording techniques which allowed for increasingly ambitious and elaborate arrangements. There's doubtless all kinds of other influences and developments that have temporarily eluded me, but that'll have to do for now. Edit: Just noticed that flow chart which includes Psychedelic Rock as a clear progenitor. Serves me right for not scrolling down!  If you'll allow me to dissect your concluding paragraph a bit (apologies, I'm bored)... It’s astounding to me to think that Progressive rock is now such a niche compared to its former glory. Most non-mainstream music's pretty niche these days. But thanks to the internet these tend to be ever-expanding, vocal and pretty dedicated niches, which is why any half-decent band of any conceivable genre can usually find themselves an audience these days. TBH, prog was actually pretty niche even back in the day. It was only a handful of "big names" that did much in the way of chart-bothering and got any noticeable radio airplay, and by the mid-70s their audience was already dwindling. It comes from a time when fame was defined less by money and more by creativity. I dunno... I don't think the balance has shifted all that much from what it was. The majority 70s prog bands weren't exactly household names, and there was an awful lot of vacuous pop musicians (and a handful of truly brilliant ones) all of which saw a lot more critical and commercial success than the average prog band. More than any other style of music I hold progressive rock to be the style that held it’s integrity over time, while the rest of the world faded into background noise and novelty. I'm not sure I get this. What genres would you personally say have failed to retain their integrity over the years, out of curiosity? |
Posted By: spknoevl
Date Posted: January 12 2012 at 07:24
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There are some scientists that believe that humans didn't create prog - it was brought to us by an advanced race of aliens from a distant galaxy as a test to see if we were ready for contact. ------------- http://martinwebb.bandcamp.com The notes are just an interesting way to get from one silence to the next - Mick Gooderick |
Posted By: RedSheep
Date Posted: January 13 2012 at 12:49
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I think there's a very definite overlap between Psychadelic and progressive rock. The difference for me is that progressive rock tends to have more structure in sound than psychadelic, like psychadelic was there as a way of testing out all the cool sounds and progressive rock became a more refined genre. the example that comes to mind for me is Tubular Bells for having its exotic sounds but still very skillfully composed. with Jazz and folk I agree it was a big influencer, but I don't think I've listened to enough that was influenced more from that side to give a balanced view. pop music may have been around in the 70's, but surely nothing as bad as Friday was around! I feel like Guns and roses have now became a novel band because of all the petty drama. bands like Whitesnake, and Poison had some great songs, but seemed to let the hair and look of the whole thing get in the way. A tell-tale sign for me is when someone says "have you seen the awesome music video?" I think the world is too visual with music now, It should be able to hold up on its own without images to make it seem cool or talented. Dragonforce are another band I think ruining the metal genre because they speed up the play speed rather than get good enough to play for real. (the worlds smallest violin is playing for my troubles right now) But progressive rock has always stood firm for me, as soon as a band become novel or stop being serious it's affected in their sound. In Prog if it's not serious music, it's not prog. Hope that clarifies! Thanks for your feedback, I'm going to revise the post with some more balanced information in some of the parts you mentioned, Do you mind if I mention you? I can put a link through to your site/blog as well if you like. ------------- "Leaders or not we're part of a flock to follow till death, or Glory..." http://sheepishmusic.co.uk/blog/" rel="nofollow - Music and Lyric Writing Prog Blog |
Posted By: friso
Date Posted: January 14 2012 at 03:32
| It's all about youth becoming organised and having delussions they can change the world for the better with positive energy and experimentation. |
Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: January 14 2012 at 03:36
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I subscribe to the Exogenesis Theory of Prog ------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: January 14 2012 at 03:39
Kudos for the irony in this post (too close to the truth for comfort)  ------------- 
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friso wrote:Posted By: RedSheep
Date Posted: January 14 2012 at 09:50
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Delusion is a funny word, where a pessimist can say it's a delusion that you can change the world an optimist can say "it's a delusion that you can't.". I'm with the optimists on this one, the problem is that when most of the young hungry musicians make it to the top they choose to spend the money and power on themselves, rather than use it to bring the rest of the world up. If you really want to change the world, let's do something about it. ------------- "Leaders or not we're part of a flock to follow till death, or Glory..." http://sheepishmusic.co.uk/blog/" rel="nofollow - Music and Lyric Writing Prog Blog |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: January 14 2012 at 11:41
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It came from a locked filing cabinet tucked away in an unused lavatory in the basement with a big sign on the door that said "Beware Of The Leopard."
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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