Progressive Rock – Definition
April 13th, 2002Also known as prog-rock, progressive rock is a genre born in the late 60’s under the influence of the experimental work by artists like The Beatles (“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”) and The Beach Boys (“Pet Sounds”). The main characteristic of progressive rock is the free fusion of all sorts of styles and the attitude of exploration in terms of sound and structure.
Some pioneers of this genre like Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine reached the progressive experimentation from the fields of the early psychedelic rock during the mid 60’s. Other pioneers of the progressive sound, who started developing the rock music, further than the usual melodic and rhythmic patterns, were Procol Harum and Cream.
The mix of rock music with all shorts of music styles gave the opportunity to classical music trained musicians to find their own way of expression, in a fusion of rock, soul, blues, and jazz styles with classical and symphonic sounds and structures. Keith Emerson’s The Nice was the pioneer band fusioning classical music and rock. Some of the first bands to mix pop music with orchestral arrangements were The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Moody Blues.
The coming of progressive rock meant a big step on the contemporary pop music, which was usually produced for dancing and amusing purposes. For the very first time it was made for the pleasure of listening and conceptual epic pieces, in the same way that classical synphonies were writen. During the late 60’s a new generation of progressive artists appeared in the UK scene, including King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. During the early 70’s, these artists wrote some of the most accomplised music from 20th Century in terms of structure, harmony and execution.
During the 70’s, some of these bands were acclaimed for their perfectionism and music skills and were labelled as virtuosos instrumentalists, such as keyboardists Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, guitarists Jimmy Page, Robert Fripp and Steve Howe, and bass players Chris Squire, whom still head the list of the best musicians in the history of rock.
The evolution of progressive rock was parallel to the exploration of sound during the 70’s. The use of synthesizers and electronic devices, and the search of new musical languages, this being the time when there were some of the first artists to experiment with primitive sampling and synthesis techniques.
In the late 70’s, the progressive rock scene was hitten by the press media that decided to give way to new music styles such as punk and the style lost it’s popularity very fast. Some of the most popular artists like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Rick Wakeman, and Pink Floyd went to serious money difficulties after investing huge amounts in their shows. In the early 80’s, some progressive artists developed their sound into a more commercial product as AOR. This is the case of the supergroup Asia, Rush, or Foreigner. During the 80’s, there was a rebirth of the progressive sound with a new generation of artists influenced by new sounds like new wave and hard rock. The neo-progressive scene was headed by bands like Marillion, Pendragon, and Pallas. Some of the most popular bands in the 90’s influenced by progressive rock are Dream Theatre and Porcupine Three.
May 15th, 2009 at
Escribo en español porque Barroso es un apellido Castellano y esa es mi lengua primaria…
Hoy que me siento (y ustedes se sientan) con ganas de escribirles a mis “cuaderonos”, les voy a comentar acerca del rock progresivo. El otro día en una tertulia, me comentaba Gus que, se debía a la forma en que la musica progresa en ritmo. Cierto, pero no… El rock progresivo se sale de los clasicos compases de 4 por 4 y de la afinacion en La en la que está basada casi toda la musica popular.
Pero por que el famoso 4 por 4 y el tono de La, bueno podemos decir de entrada (y de salida, tambien) que este tiempo es muy parecido y esta basado, inconcientemente en los latidos del corazón del ser humano y es por eso que cuando lo escuchamos nos “integramos” inmediatamente a el, no lo menosprecio, ni mucho menos, pero es un ritmo muy primitivo y en el estan basadas las primeras melodias de la humanidad desde que al homo erectus se le erectus, de ahi viene aquello del chun tata, chun tata.
Pues bien siguiendo con esta disertación tan bonita y retomando el tema que nos cuestiona, podemos decir que el Progresivo (así decimos los “doctos” en el tema y le quitamos lo de rock, porque nos lleva a referencias sesenteras) es muy parecido al Ars Nova, aquella corriente de mil trecientos en donde la tonación cambiaba a una apertura considerable y permitia variciones importantes en el ritmo, en aquel entonces muchas cosas variaban y hasta el gran Petrarca tuvo que cambiar su visión de la existencia para dar paso al renacimiento (¿que tal este choro super mareador?). Así mismo a finles de los sesnta en nuestra era, se presentan estos ritmos inovadores y de paso bastante CULTOS a partir de la obra de King Crimson: IN THE COURT OF CRIMSON KING considerado por todos (otro guey y yo) el primer disco de progresivo en la epoca moderna, cabe decir que progresivos ha habido muchos, como ejemplo en su respectiva época: JS Bach, Beto Ven, y en estos tiempos tan interesantes: Bartok, Stravinsky, el maistro Arvo Part, John Adams, Felipe Glass y muchos más, solo que ellos por ser más cultos y demasiado egoistas no forman bandas, nomas hacen música ellos solitos. De todos modos podemos decir que el progresivo será en tiempos futuros la música culta de estos nuestros tiempos, música al fin. que eleva nuestros sentimientos a niveles del “Nirvana Ritmico”
November 6th, 2009 at
This sheds some good light on the “obscured by clouds” kind of world proggers live in till today. Though the intro to this genre was quite “beatlesque” at that time due mainly to “beatlemania”, there were the ‘Undergrounders’ who could really shed some more light on it if they could be reached.
Zappa was really ‘Psyched’ out at that time, Floyd having a better ear to the ground with their various indulgences and the Softs taking it to a different stage.
And yes of course many wanted to get out of the dancing and amusement themes that went on at its beginning. “Partying was an in thing then”. Sadly to be thrown for more amusement music.
Though it lives on with new and newer artistes, its essence still remains locked in its past. Dig deeper prognostics as Prog is not just a WORD but a WORLD.