Pioneers of Progressive Rock Music

RunningHead:PioneersinProgressiveRockMusic
PioneersinProgressiveRockMusic
JonathanR.Brown
Grade8SocialStudies
RenertSchool
May19,2015
PIONEERSOFPROGRESSIVEROCKMUSIC
INTRODUCTION
From The Beatles to Jethro TulltoYes,progressiverockisallaroundusbutwhatisit?
Progressive rock music is a genre of music that is very often thought of as the offspring of
psychedelic music. Progressive rock music (alternately known as prog or prog rock)1 can be
defined and identified using musical and technological elements. Some musical elements of
Prog include longer songs,2 more instrumentals3 and more unique time signatures and rhythms
(prog rock rarely saw the usual 2/4 or 4/4 time signatures).4 Itslyricalthemestendedtobringa
more serious and less upbeat light tothepieceofmusic.5Ingeneral,progressiverockwasmore
sophisticated than many other genres of music, and it showed that could go deeper than a pop
song that barely lasted three minutes.6 By the end of the paper, you should be able to identify
progrockbandsandhavesomehistoryaboutthemaswell.
Some other aspects of prog include the melody oftheseprogressiverockpieces.
They tend to draw roots from Jazz and Classical music.7 Chronologically, though, the genre
originated in the late1960sparticularly19678wasthestartofthisnewgenre.Progrockmusic
tendstohaveambienttrackstothem,aswell.9
Previously, I mentioned that progressive rock music can be defined using
musical and technological elements. Above I listed the musical elements and beyond here are
the technological elements. Prog rock bands often added technological pieces in their music to
overall enhance the skyhigh quality of the music.10 The main piece of technology universally
used among prog bands was the mellotron. The mellotron is essentially a keyboard with
capability to play back pieces that had been pre recorded. Pink Floyd used this often as youll
find out later in the paper. In short, this introduction was a quick and easy way to determine
whatprogisandhowtoknowwhenyourelisteningtoit.
As earlier mentioned, the history of prog started with the era of around the late
1960s. Many believe that psychedelic rock music (Pink Floyds genre) was the reason prog
came alive.11 After all, both genres share quite a few aspects. Many of the late 1960s bands
could also be chosen as pioneers12 The Beatles, Bonzo Dog Band, and Soft Machine are all
bandsthatmakeitpossibleforbandssuchasJethroTullandKingCrimsontoexist.
There was some form of a reformation or revolution of music in general,13 which may
have also made the entrance of progressive rock music more smooth. However, not before the
early 1970s was progressive rock considered a music genre and not a simple trend.14 While
prog roc was introduced in the1960sandfinallyrecognizedinthe1970s,itspopularitybegan
to decline by the 1980s with the introduction of punk rock music.15 Progcontinuedtodecline
into 1990s until it was almost forgotten in the present. How did prog end up so forgotten so
quickly?
Since the 1960s when progressive rock was introduced, a lot has happened. In the
1970s, prog rock was finally realized for what it was (a sophisticated genre of music). As a
result of this, many new genres under the genre of progalso known as subgenres16 were
formed. They all had the telltale signs of progressive rock, but they all had a unique twist to
them. Also in the 1970s, theformationofbandswasmuchlessfrequent.Ingeneral,the1970s
was allinall a rather good decade for prog. This was probably the last time that progressive
rockeversawaninterestingandenlighteningage.
The 1980s of prog rockcertainlycouldhavebeenbetter,butdefinitelycouldhavebeen
worse. essentially, theprogrockgenrewascombinedwithaverysimplegenrecalledpunkrock
(an earlier form of heavy metal) and watered it down to much less complicated form.17 I think
that took a major blow in this decade but it certainly wasnt the worst case scenario by any
means.
As for the 1990s and then on, progressive dwindled and has come close to being
forgotten. There has definitely beenapositivesidetothisdecadeinprog.Forone,womenwere
becoming more prevalent in music of this genre.18 Many famous bands began to reunite atthis
point.19 This was most likely because of the drastic change in the genre,20 and with even more
coming up in that decade that were sure to improve the quality of the music. All things taken
into account, this decade of progressive rock wasnt bad it may even have beengoodbysome
standards. Despite the fact that its popularity was dwindling, the quality hasnt been terribly
detractedfromandwhatwasremovedwasbeingreplacedalmostrightaway.
Many bands pioneered prog rock music. Bands like The Beatles and Pink Floyd both
played a significant role in the creation of prog. Later on, PinkFloydwillbediscussed,butthe
Beatles,believeitornotwereandstillareconsideredtobethesolepioneeroratleastoneofthe
pioneers of progressiverockmusic.21Insomeways,Iagree.TheBeatlesdidhaveapsychedelic
or deep story behind their songs which was very prominent and essential in a vastmajorityof
prog rock songs. However, their rhythm and musical components didnt really match with the
styleofprog.
As for the songs and bands that came from the three year golden age that took place,
many of them could be considered pioneers, not of progressive rock, but in progressive rock.
Bands like King Crimson (my favourite), Genesis, and Yes all came from this time period of
aboutthreeyears.Thesewerentbandsthatcreatedprog,theyjustpopularizedit.
About the bands today who are still playing progressive rock music, though many of
them dont want to admit it,22 a lot of Muses and Pendulums music has progressive
undertones to them. Lead singer of Oceansize profusely denied the possibility that any of his
bands music could be considered as prog rock.23 To sum up, prog has been stifled. With very
fewbandstocontinuethisgenreofmusic,itisunlikelyforanyreboundtooccur,sadly.
KINGCRIMSON
King Crimson was a band that was formed in 1968 by two brothers by the names of
Mike and Peter Giles who played the drums and the bass respectively.24 They then recruited a
third member named Robert Fripp.25 At this point, they were ready to make a band, and they
named itquite simplyGiles, Giles, and Fripp.26 This band wrote many singles and even an
album called The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles, andFripp.27Therewerestillotherstocome
butthiswastheoriginalsetupforthecomingofKingCrimson.
To improve the quality and depth of their music, Giles, Giles, and Fripp recruited yet
another new member, Ian McDonald, who brought along his girlfriend.28 Ian played the
keyboard, and with his girlfriend on vocals, the quality of Giles, Giles, and Fripps music
increased greatly.29 Sadly, Ians girlfriend split with him so hebroughtinafriendofhisnamed
Peter Sinfield.30 Their lyrics were of good quality, but their groupingsystemwaspoor.Despite
this, however, the band was able to write a new album, which probably became their most
famousone.InTheCourtoftheCrimsonKing.
It was actually Peter Sinfield, their new lead singer who suggested the name King
Crimson.31 It wasnt supposed to relate to the devil at all, though.32 The official band called
King Crimson formed in late 1968 and first rehearsed early 1969. Their first live debut was
April1st,1969andtheirrollingstonesappearancewasinJune1969with500,000attendees.33
In The Court of the Crimson King was King Crimsons debut album. Itwasreleasedin
October of 1969,courtesyofIslandRecords.34Itreceivedafantasticresponsefromthelisteners
especially a song named 21st century Schizoid Man.35 The album had an ethereal and even
sacred feel to it which drew in so many fans. It still kept its intense and almost rockandroll
feeltoitaswell.
Because of their album and its popularity, King Crimson toured the United States.
Throughout this tour, however, tension arose between the members of theband.36RobertFripp
loved the intensity of the music that they were playing, but Ian McDonald and Mike Giles
didnt. As a result, Fripp volunteered to leave so that he wouldnt jeopardize the bonding that
the other members had with each other. However, Mcdonald and Michael Giles, favouring a
lightertoneofmusic,volunteeredbeforeFrippcould.37
Their last touring show was on the 16th of December 1969. Ian McDonald and
Mike Giles started a rather successful music studio and didnt come back for a while.38 The
remaining members never stopped recruiting. They had a short bout with Greg Lake, but he
moved on and joined a band that was later named Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.39 At this point,
onlyRobertFrippandPeterSinfieldremainedfromtheoriginalgrouping.
The band was recruiting members for onetimerehearsalsinthehopethatmaybeoneof
the visitors would become permanent residents. Two people who kept coming back were the
Giles.40 Though they never stayed for long, they played a big role in the second album that
King CrimsonwrotecalledIntheWakeofPoseidon,whichwasbasedoffofanorchestralpiece
by Gustav Holst.41 Greg Lake often returned as well to assist on the vocal side of things. The
bandevenconsideredrecruitingEltonJohnbecauseofthescarcityofrecruits.42
The last major album that KingCrimsonwrotewascalledLizard.43Unfortunately,there
was a big gap between thepreviousalbumandthisone,simplybecauseofthefactthatnotvery
many members remained in the band at this point. Luckily, Fripp wasabletopersuadeGordon
Haskell to join permanently.44AndyMcCulloch(drums)andMelCollinswereadded,45andjust
like that, King Crimson was back in business. These new additionswereallowedtojoinjustin
timefortherecordingofLizard.
In general, Lizard was a much stronger album that incorporated more of a jazz style in
the music along with a synthesizer which was similar to the mellotron.46 Lizard was said to be
an acquired taste because of the new sounds that seemed to stray from the style of King
Crimson. After the recording of this album was done all of their new recruits left with the
exceptionofMelCollins.47TheythenmanagedtoreceiveadrummernamedArthurBrown.
King Crimsons music has a great balance to it, in general. Their music tended to have
some jazz in it (especially Lizard) and almost always an upbeat tone. The defining features of
this band are the unique time signatures and deep lyrical content. The length of their songs
were shorter than most prog songs, but certainly longer than a rock song. Since King Crimson
drew inspiration from jazz and even the blues, the bands that were formed after them took a
lookattheirinspirationandasaresult,usedthesamesourcesasKingCrimsonfortheirmusic.
King Crimson went through many twists and turns during itspeakinpopularity.Unlike
most progressive rock bands, their most popular albums came were their first ones. After that,
they just got worse and worse. I showed you the first set of memberstopassthroughtheband.
In about two years, King Crimson reformed, but as I just mentioned, their music was enjoyed
less and less as the years went on. Now, lets take a look at the band Genesis and how they
contributedtoprogrock.
GENESIS
This band was founded in 1967.TheoriginalmemberswerePeterGabriel,TonyBanks,
Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips.48 All of these members first met in University at the
Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey.49 The band arrangement included Gabriel as the
vocalist, Phillips on the guitar, Banks with the keyboard and Rutherford on the bass. They
recordedafewsongsincludingDontWantYouBackandThatsMe.50
Jonathan King, an alumnus of the school that theywentto,51wasasuccessfulmusician.
HeheardaboutGenesisandofferedtohelpthemrecord.Hisfirstmajorcontributiontotheband
was suggesting an album instead of multiple singles. He also suggested band names. Two
runner ups to Genesis were Gabriels Angels and Champagne Meadow from Phillips.52 The
namerelatedtoKingsnewmusicproductioncareerwiththeband.
Genesis first album was titled From Genesis to Revelation.53 Genesis recorded this
album over the course of ten days in August of 1968. The album was released in Marchofthe
next year. The reception was terrible only 649 copies were sold.54 Genesis blamed it on the
strings component that was included in the music. The band, to this day, is still embarrassed
about thereceptionofthealbum.55Luckily,asthebandcontinuedtoplay,theirmusiccontinued
toimprove.
After recordingtheirfirstalbum,Genesisdecidedtopartwaystemporarilysotheycould
pursue their education more readily.56 They regrouped in the summer of 1969 and shortly
thereafter, their drummer resigned to pursue his education. He was quickly replaced by John
Mayhew. All of the band members moved to Dorking Surrey where they livedintheirfriends
parents cottage.57 They spent a vast majority of their waking hours rehearsing, and a lot of
theirworkpaidoff.Itcameataprice,though.
Their rehearsals in that cottagelasteduntilAprilof1970.Theythenbeganrecordingfor
their second album, Trespass, a couple of monthslater.Beforereleasingit,though,Genesisdid
a concert at Brunel University to attempt an increase in their fan base, which it did.58
Unfortunately, through this process, the band lost a member in Anthony Phillips. He felt that
their intense and long rehearsal days were hindering the creativity that the band once had. He
felt that the band had too many songwriters and with bronchial pneumonia, he was rarely ever
fittojamwiththeband.59
Anyway, Genesis second album was releasedinOctoberof1970.Togetabettersound
out of their music, Genesis auditioned multiple drummers. Only one really stood out to them
(Phil Collins)60 and not because of his drumming skill as much as his sense of humour. They
couldnt find a replacement for Philips so their pianist learned two piano parts to cover for a
while.61LuckilytheythenranintoSteveHackettandhewastakeninimmediately.62
Genesiss members drew inspiration from different things, and Ill get to that soon, but
where did the band as a wholegetinfluencefrom?ThethreemaingenresofmusicthatGenesis
got their inspiration from were: Classicalmusic,Mainstreampoprock,andJazzmusic.Mostof
the members identified with Classical music namely, Tony Banks, AnthonyPhillips,andSteve
Hackett. Phil Collins drew inspiration from a mainstream rock band, The Beatles. Since all of
the original members went to the same University, they were allexposedtochurchmusicfrom
which they also drew inspiration.Onemember(PeterGabriel)evendrewinspirationfromKing
Crimsonofallplaces!
Genesis used a lot of the Musical elements introduced in the introduction. Their time
signatures at first were quite normalbutastheirmusicprogressed,theirtimesignaturesbecame
more complicated. Genesis peak in popularity was around halfwaythroughtheircareer,which

is quite normal for a prog band. A lot of their songwerequitelong(onewaseventwentythree
minutes long) and they tended to have an instrumental song in each album. Now you can
comparetwobandsinprogressiverockmusic,timetotakealookatathird.
PINKFLOYD
The first signs of this band can be traced back to as early as 1962 at the Barrett
residence.63 Many teens would gather and do something similar to karaoke and sing. Mainly
rock and roll songs were done, however.64 The common attendees were Geoff Mott and Clive
Welham who played the drums. These two joined with Syd Barrett, a major member of the
future Pink Floyd band, and createdabandnamedGeoffMottandtheMottoes.65Thebandwas
shortlivedasallofthememberspassedonandwenttopursuetheireducation.66
In the summer of 1964, Syd joined another band named the Hollerin Blues.67 He quit
shortly thereafter and joined a sort of club for bands. He formed a band there and named it
Sigma 6 (an alternate name being Meggadeaths).68 Some future Pink Floyd members were
found there in Nick Mason and Richard Wright. ThebandwaseventuallycalledtheScreaming
Abdabs, but since their landlords name was Leonard they decided to be named Leonards
Lodgers.69
The Lodgershadagoodsetupforthemostpartexceptthattheydidnthaveadesignated
lead singer.70 No one in the band was able to carry a good melody or had an adequate vocal
range for the position. So, Syd caught up with Geoff Mott inthehopesthathemightbeableto
retrieve him for the role, but to no avail.71 In the process, Syd found Chris Dennis and
temporarily gained his assistance in that department. After that addition to the band, they
renamedthemselvesyetagain,thistimeTheTeaSet.
The name Pink Floyd came into existence when Syd, in a druginduced stupor
remembered two of his favourite bluesmen named Pink Anderson and Floyd Dipper Boy
Council.72 Later on, band member Roger Waters joked saying that it was good that it didnt
come out as Anderson Council since that sounded like some kind of local authority.73
Eventually,DennisleftforcingBarretttobecometheleadsingerfortheband.74
Pink Floyds first album was titled The PiperattheGatesofDawn.Onthealbumitself,
manyofthesongswerepsychedelicsongswithwhimsical,hippielike,andspacedoutthemes.75
The music was based off of Syds poetry who was becoming mentally unstable by this point
(moreonthatlater).76 After releasing this album, Pink Floyd wentrightbacktotouringallover
theUKandeventheUnitedStates,butSydkeptgettingworseandworse.77
Syd Barrett never started off so terrible. He wrote amajorityofthesongsthathisbands
performed and was a generally amiable guy. Of course, like many peopleatthattimewherehe
lived he was addicted to the drug LSD. Thanks to LSD, Syd slowly began to deteriorate. He
would stare aimlessly, just hanging limp. He did that once in the middle of a concert and it
didnt turn out well at all.78 He slowly got worse, tuning his guitar incorrectly during band
rehearsals and just seeming less human in a way.79 Despite how bad all this seemed, it kept
gettingworse.
Sid got to the point where he wouldnt talk at times and his only role in the band was
rambling on and on for the band to glean song inspiration from his incoherent statements.80
Eventually, Sydhadtoleavethebandhehadregressedterribly.Hediedlessthanadecadeago,
stilljustascrazyashewashalfadecadeago.
Progressive rock isnt the first genre that comes to mind when you think of the band
Pink Floyd. However, many of the musical and even technological elements are present when
you really think about it. They may not have the unique time signatures, but their songs often
exceeded ten minutes. Since many of the members were on drugs as well, the themes of the
songs tended to be rather deep and psychedelic. Also, Pink Floyd steadily used mellotronsand
recording software to insert sound effects into their music which was common in prog rock
bands.
CONCLUSION
Hopefullybynowyoucanidentifyabandthatplaysprogressiverockmusic,justby
listeningtothestyleofmusic.Themainthingstolistenforarestrangerhythmicpatterns,
uniquetimesignatures,andmoredeeplyricalthemes.Ifpossible,youcanfindoutiftheband
usedamellotronorasynthesizerintheirmusic.Notallbandsthatuseoneofthosepiecesof
technologyisaprogband,butmostlikelyitis.Italsohelpsifyoulikelisteningtomusic.The
sophisticatedpioneersofprogressiverockstartedanewgenreinabigway.
Endnotes
1. http://www.progarchives.com/Progressiverock.asp
2. http://www.progrockandmetal.net/progressive_music_definition.htm
8. Smith(1997)
9. Smith(1997)
10. Smith(1997)
11. Smith(1997)
12. Smith(1997)
13. Smith(1997)
14. Smith(1997)
18. Smith(1997)
19. Smith(1997)
20. Smith(1997)
21. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jul/22/progrockgenesisrushmostlyautumn
24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Crimson
48. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_(band)
63. Povey(2010)
64. Povey(2010)
65. Povey(2010)
66. Povey(2010)
67. Povey(2010)
68. Povey(2010)
69. Povey(2010)
70. Povey(2010)
71. Povey(2010)
72. Povey(2010)
73. Povey(2010)
74. Povey(2010)
75. Povey(2010)
76. Povey(2010)
77. Povey(2010)
78. Povey(2010)
79. Povey(2010)
80. Povey(2010)
References
Povey,G.(2010).Echoes:ThecompletehistoryofPinkFloyd.Chicago,Ill.:ChicagoReview
Press.
Petridis,A.(2010,July22).Gobacktogoforward:Theresurgenceofprogrock.Retrieved
April14,2015,from
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jul/22/progrockgenesisrushmostlyautumn
Smith,B.(1997).TheBillboardguidetoprogressivemusic.NewYork:BillboardBooks.
Tucker,D.(2014,May25).ClassicalRock:WhoAreThe12GreatestProgBandsOfAll
Time?RetrievedApril10,2015,from
http://www.vh1.com/music/tuner/20140525/12greatestprogrockbands/3/
Vincent,T.(2000,April11)ProgressiveRock.RetrievedApril12,2015,from
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/nnprogressive.html
ProgRockGuides/WhatisProgressiveRock?(n.d.).RetrievedApril10,2015,from
http://www.progarchives.com/Progressiverock.asp
WhatisProgressiveMusic.(n.d.).RetrievedApril9,2015,from
http://www.progrockandmetal.net/progressive_music_definition.htm
Progressiverock.(n.d.).RetrievedMarch8,2015,from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_rock
KingCrimsonWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia.(n.d.).RetrievedMarch25,2015,from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Crimson
Genesis(band)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia.(n.d.).RetrievedMay17,2015,from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_(band)

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more complicated. Genesis peak in popularity was around halfwaythroughtheircareer,which

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