Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
Yes!
...these bands didn't always sound alike, but they had a few things in common, such as instrumental excellence and use of untraditional time signatures.
|
Actually, this isn't completely true - it's just what proggers want you to think in order that you perceive the genre as "higher" than other musical genres.
Not all proggers were instrumentally "excellent" - Rick Wakeman was no higher than grade 5 or 6 piano, and if you listen to what he played, it was mostly overblown tripe, unlike genuinely great keyboard players like Emerson.
Where is the "excellence" in Uriah Heep", I ask you?
I don't mean to belittle these fine rock musicians - some, like every member of Gentle Giant, were stupidly talented and created astonishing music - but that's all most of them were. Pretentious rock musicians with commendably high ideals.
The use of "untraditional time signatures" wasn't particularly widespread either - for example, the great epic "Suppers' Ready" includes one single 3 minute section in something approaching an unusual time signature, and that's only for rhythmic effect.
It's not even "An Apocalypse in 9/8" as the title would have us think - it's in 9/4.
The core of what I'm saying is that these were not the unifying principles - ideals, possibly, but as generalisations go, these are not accurate ones!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
The great somewhat unifying idea, however, was to take rock music to new places and elevate it to a higher art form, for example by creating long rock suites similar in build to the classical composers of the past.
|
Again, you could have stuck to the first part of the statement, and it would have been fine.
"New Places" yes.
"Higher art form" not necessarily.
"Long Rock Suites", well, apart from Yes's quasi-symphonic meanderings, a piss-take album by Jethro Tull, and the occasional (and I mean occasional) side-long song - possibly one or two per band - this wasn't the norm, even though it might have felt like it in the live environment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
After a brief few years of mainstream popularity in the 70s, prog rock's popularity was thoroughly crushed by the emergence of punk which had the complete opposite aesthetic ideal, really simple songs played by people who think that anger and attitude is a valid substitute for musical skill.
|
Often, these were the same people. For example, at least two of The Sex Pistols.
A 3rd, John Lydon, is known to be a huge fan of Peter Hammill (lead singer of Prog dinosaurs Van Der Graaf Generator).
The Stranglers were closer to prog than punk, musically - and so it goes on.
This myth that punk killed prog is put about by proggers looking for a target, when all along, Prog was the victim of its own success - it started believing that it was invincible in the mighty tides of the sea of pop music (Prog is only a form of pop music - sorry).
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
Some criticize prog for being difficult, long winded, pretentious and hard to connect with.
|
It's a fair cop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
However, those who enjoy prog are aware that the most rewarding works of art are not always the ones which are the simplest or easiest to "get".
|
See?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
If you have not delved into this genre, now's the time. Cause it's prog rock week!
|
Hear, hear!
Although I do not look at (or listen to) Prog with rose-tinted headphones, I enjoy it.
It's a great form of rock music - or rather, a great approach to rock music that arose through the Progressive music traditions set by Stan Kenton in 1947 (and possibly avant-garde composers that preceeded him) and brought together many, many genres of music into a morass of sound that hasn't been equalled since.
Recommended listening;
"Thick as a Brick" - Jethro Tull
"Nursery Cryme" - Genesis
"In The Court of the Crimson King" - King Crimson
"Ars Longa Vita Longa" - The Nice
"You" - Gong
"Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh" - Magma
"Saucerful of Secrets" - Pink Floyd
"Mirage" - Camel
"The Rotter's Club" - Hatfield and the North
"Ommadawn" - Mike Oldfield
"Space Ritual" - Hawkwind