Presenting “Progressive Rock” [Working Title]
There are many genres of music to pick from these days. You have your typical Rock and Roll, Blues, Jazz, etc as well as genres that fuse two of those genres to make a new one. However, some of the genres out there have an interesting background and history to them. While everyone may not agree on what genre we like the most, we cannot deny that each genre has its own pros and cons to it. However, the genre in particular that I feel is most noteworthy would be Progressive Rock.
In the 1960s Rock and Roll was the dominant genre of music in the world. Beatlemania was in full swing and many other British bands had followed suit in trying to win over American audiences while American bands too were rising to fame. In the midst of all of these rock bands a few British bands decided that they had had enough with the typical set up of bands, and that there could be more to a band than just guitarists, drummers, and singers. One feature of the genre is complex lyrics that revolve around a certain topic or tell a story in the song, and at times have that theme carry on throughout the album called a concept album. It should be noted that while the idea of a concept album is not exclusive to Progressive Rock, it is usually found in Progressive Rock more often than in traditional Rock and Roll. Another common trait of Progressive Rock is the common usage of long, drawn out instrument solos featuring either the skills of a particular member or the ability of the members of the band to work together to create complex melodies in instrumental sections of the songs. And the final dominant trait to be found in progressive rock as well is the fusing together different genres that would not normally be played side by side with Rock such as Jazz or Classical music.
In the late 1960s a few Rock bands had experimented a little in their style and a few bands had made albums in what could be considered a Progressive Rock genre. In 1967 The Beatles released their most famous album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which could be considered one of the earliest Progressive Rock albums. The album incorporated many non-traditional Rock instruments including clarinets on “When I’m Sixty-Four”, strings on “I’m Leaving Her”, and a full orchestra on “A Day in a Life”. Another example of a Rock band crossing over would be Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, which also included many non-traditional instruments such as violas, trombones, and more. At this point many British bands became tired of the traditional rock setup and saw that there potential to make money playing music that did not follow the traditional rock set up. Also, another driving force for why bands wanted to go into the style of what would be called Progressive Rock, is that many musicians saw the music of Rock bands as too similar to each other and they wanted more room to experiment and make themselves different from everyone.
One of the earliest bands of the genre, and one of my personal favorites, is The Moody Blues, a British band that came together in the mid 1960’s and released one of the most popular Progressive Rock albums in 1967 titled Days of Future Passed, which was their first attempt at Progressive Rock after they tried to do an album incorporating Rhythm and Blues. They incorporated many unconventional instruments on the entire album, instead of one track like Rock and Roll, such as flutes and horns.. The Moody Blues took the idea of using unconventional instruments on their albums so far that they hired the London Festival Orchestra to provide the backing instrument track for their album Days of Future Passed.
Another prominent Progressive Rock act to come into the spotlight in the beginning was King Crimson. They became popular very rapidly after the release of their debut album In the Courts of the Crimson King, an album that is considered by many to be the quintessential Progressive Rock album. The album was one of the first of its kind by incorporating both Blues and Jazz into a highly experimental album. The album contained many free form sections where the band was in essence just jamming, that is there was no structure to what they were playing, but by listening to each other they were able to make up the part of the song that they were playing on the spot. King Crimson would continue this style of jam parts as well as deep intricate lyrics on all of their subsequent albums that followed afterwards despite the constant change in their lineup.
In the mid-1970s Progressive Rock had hit its peak of popularity with many critically acclaimed acts of the 1970s including Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, or ELP for short as fans and critics call them, Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO, Rush, and Jethro Tull. The bands took the basic ideas that the first artists laid out, and expanded on them even further. Yes, another British Progressive Rock band, expanded on the idea and took it to the Pop Rock crowds. They created highly catchy sounding songs that also used the styles found in Progressive Rock including the use of irregular instruments, long, complex instrumental passages, but felt like they had a structure to their songs instead of doing free form music. ELO and Rush brought the Progressive Rock genre to the traditional Rock fans. They combined the fast edgy guitar solos common in Rock and combined it with the complexities of Progressive Rock and recorded a fair amount of popular tracks that received significant airplay including “Spirit of the Radio” and “Freewill” by Rush and “Evil Woman” and “Strange Woman” by ELO. Jethro Tull stuck with the typical ideas of early Progressive Rock and kept the genre going for the long time fans of the genre. Jethro Tull released a few concept albums, most notably Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play, both of which received positive reception from the fans and critics.
By the end of the 1970s Progressive Rock had slowly declined in popularity and only the really hardcore fans remained in the scene. By this time New Wave had come into the scene, and most people considered Progressive Rock as too pretentious and preferred the simpler and catchier style of music. However, despite the decline, many Progressive Rock bands still released albums that climbed to the top of the sales charts including Moving Pictures by Rush and The Wall by Pink Floyd. Eventually Progressive Rock would have resurgence in popularity in the mid-1980s when Genesis released their album Invisible Touch and Yes released their comeback album 90125 both of which contained radio friendly sounding Progressive Rock styled songs that were pop oriented and caught the attention of the mainstream audiences.
In the late 1980s Metal had become the mainstream genre and some artists looked to the older bands that were popular for inspiration as to where to go in their style. Some followed Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and other Hard Rock bands from the 70s to make the Metal that we most commonly hear, while others followed the Pop Rock sound to create a genre that is known as Glam Metal. However, some bands looked to the Progressive Rock bands of the late 60s and the 70s to get their ideas from. From these bands we derive a subgenre of Metal that is known as Progressive Metal. The impact of Progressive Rock continued on beyond the 80s as well, while not holding the popularity it did in the 70s, by influencing the underground bands of the 90s who did not follow the Grunge and Pop Rock genres in the Indie genre. Indie music is a lighter version of Progressive Rock, they use the instruments usually found only in orchestras such as Trumpets, Flutes, and strings, but they do not have the long experimental sections found in the Progressive Rock of the 70s.
Despite the recent decline throughout the late 80s until now, Progressive Rock has still had a decent hold on the music industry. While Rap and R&B are the mainstream genres today, there are still many people who enjoy the complexities and sounds of the Progressive Rock genre. Bands like Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater continue on the style of being self-indulgent in your solos while constructing deep complex melodies and lyrics for the main body of the song. Progressive Rock is definitely going to be around forever so long as there are people who still buy the music.
On a personal level there are many reasons as to why I love the Progressive Rock genre. I have spent many years in my life performing and reading up on music history. I find the whole idea of using non-traditional instruments to create music similar to that of Rock very appealing. I love the sound of the flutes and horns mixing with the keyboards and guitars to create an even richer sounding melody. It is not that I dislike Rock, I love bands like Led Zeppelin and The Who, but I prefer to listen to the deep rich music of Jethro Tull and The Moody Blues. Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues has to be one of the most amazing albums ever created. Throughout the course of the album the band describes what a typical day for a regular person would be like, starting in the morning with a gentle caressing melody to the loud upbeat pace of the afternoon culminating in a beautiful progression to the twilight and finally sweet slumber.
Listening to Progressive Rock really has not changed how I do things so much as the activities I participated in brought me to listen to Progressive Rock. I have always been a fan of classical music considering I played in band for several years, and I grew up with my father listening to classical music. I also listened to a lot of Rock and Roll when I was in Middle School and enjoyed reading fantasy novels as well as epic poems so it was only natural that I would come to listen to Progressive Rock at one point or another. I always tried new things with my saxophone in High School especially blending it with my friend who played jazz guitar. When I found out that there was an entire genre of music that featured orchestral instruments in a Rock and Roll setting I knew that I had to at least give the genre one listen. My first album was A Farewell to Kings by the Canadian band Rush. The second track on the album “Xanadu” was one of the first truly Progressive Rock songs I heard, and from that point on I did not look back.
Progressive Rock is a genre that has had an interesting history. It started as a few bands that wanted to break the mold of traditional Rock and Roll by changing the style in which guitar music was played in a manner that was considered self indulgent and arrogant by some. However, despite what people thought, it rose in popularity in the 1970s showing that there were people who wanted to hear music that was considered experimental. It may not be as popular today as it was over 20 years ago, but it still holds a special place in people’s hearts including mine, and is my favorite genre.