Was prog actually popular in the 70s??

cstack3 wrote:   Modern radio ain't s**t!

Just joined the forum and already learned allot through this article O.O 

cstack3 wrote: dr wu23 wrote: Someone mentioned above if prog was popular these days and CStack said , a few posts down, that..... "Prog was extremely popular in Chicago, and still is. "    I think some prog  (the more mainstream bands) was certainly popular back then in many areas of the US ....but extremely?.. I'm not so sure about that. The masses at large listened to radio pop/rock more than prog imo. Well....what this forum calls "prog" WAS radio pop/rock in the1970's!   Notable examples included Yes' "Roundabout," Flash's "Small Beginnings," and Focus's "Hocus Pocus."   All those songs, and more, were in constant rotation on AM radio.   I guess you actually had to live through those times to appreciate it.  I'm really glad that I did.

dr wu23 wrote: Someone mentioned above if prog was popular these days and CStack said , a few posts down, that..... "Prog was extremely popular in Chicago, and still is. "    I think some prog  (the more mainstream bands) was certainly popular back then in many areas of the US ....but extremely?.. I'm not so sure about that. The masses at large listened to radio pop/rock more than prog imo. Other than myself and one or two other old guys I don't know anyone who listens to or buys prog these days except for the people here at PA. (I'm not referring here btw to crossover modern progsters like Muse and Radiohead ). My son in law  (and daughter), age 31, is a music fan but the only prog he knows is what I have turned him onto. His crowd listen to mostly alternative and indie rock and some 'classic rock' they hear on various stations.

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Was prog popular in the '70s....

 Very interesting debate and accurate assessment of the related implications music and business-wise by the contributors.

Yes it was. So much so the '70s have been reinvented. How? Why? A band promotes an image to appeal - or has a company do that for them (they like to feel "involved"). Marketing. It was and is very difficult for marketeers to promote progressive rock. It didn't really have an image or more particularly, a pop-sociocultural identity (unlike punk, reggae, metal). It was annoyingly, all about music. Execs go into panic. WTF has music got to do with contolling "our" business. And it is business first, music is just the label. It could have been lawn mowers. but you get better drugs and parties and more glamour in the music world...

So along came the capes and stuff because those who try and control our perceptions and cash flow know a visual image works easier on people than an audio one.

Yet if the audio is not really up to scratch then record sales won't happen. e.g. Kiss who had the most visual image of all at the time - and probably since - but had average sounding records that were not selling, quick get Ezrin to show them how to play. Prog rock had shed loads of great albums, good concert attendances and everything trucking along nicely  ...Camel...  no image, all music (record company thinks of their OWN position. What happens if a band is in control of the market and not us? OMFG. We'll only be needed for distribution, we're going to be... delivery boys not wheeler dealers.

The old idea of new teen pop fads was useful. Turn over generates cash flow. Kids don't want to know about pop stars over the age of.. what? 25? 30? Age-ism is something that can be used, manipulating prejudices is part of marketing - or may be all of it... So get ELP and Black Sabbath on the road, put out records enough to enable "best of" releases (a company favourite) and burn them out.

Then get new ones, hell, there are enough musos out there. This is how popular it was, burn 'em out and play to the lowest common denominator. Make millions from ELP they're just product, turn it over quick.

They must have got used to having Yes and Deep Purple around. ore or less reliable money spinners. Then Punk turned up. With all that image and pop culture impact they also helped knock down the money spinners. Oh dear, and the record companies paid the Pistols shed loads to help put them put of their own business by attacking the business' real asset, the music makers. Interestingly the Floyd disliked the music companies as did the Pistols who purportedly held the Floyd up (not respectfully) as part of the establishemnt. People will believe perceptions, their own and the socially imposed. Malcolm Mclaren knew this and it may have been him that singlehandedly, ruined the music industry in 1977 - 1978. And then he had the almighty gall to be a music maker himself (Buffalo Girls). God that was horrible...

AOR was a fairly safe type of music business approach so in order for record companies to survive and prosper (on their own terms at least) they needed reiable product. So Asia was invented, Yes re-invented (now Atlantic figured out what to do with the erstwhile directionless but talented Trevor Rabin), Genesis streamlined a harder sound and sighs of corporate relief were heard to the ka-ching of ticket and album sales.

Instead of having a contempt for their own product generators, they respected their abilities and left the punk  and indie bands to off-shoot or smaller labels to see what may happen (REM) and get rid of real threats (Dead Kennedys). To an extent they may have turned many a prog rock muso into a musical version of a record company exec but the business could flourish so long as the marketing can be controlled.

I suppose the business too much for granted in the huge '70s era. Even now 40 or so years later the '70s are still pushed (Classic Rock format).  The corporate failures since have not generated a rock youth phenomenon except recycling metal.. grunge... make poverty cool.... There was house music, hip hop, rap, garage and jungle, drum and bass all of which wisely kept a vast distance from rock and pop musically and culturally.

So far as prog rock goes there has been new bands and sub movements turning up. People still want to play and hear interesting music despite music business still wanting to sell Lady Gaga to Riverside fans (manipulate perceptions). They cannot do the reverse.

Oh, and one thing about the record companies. The Old Boss is still there, the New Boss is also about and the New Boss is just as corrupt and in it for a quick million as much as the Old Bosses want to keep turning over those quick millions.

In the 70's..the publications industry made some decent profit from Progressive Rock. For a few years it was very "Hollywood" ...I mean...placing a photo of Keith Emerson on the front of "Hit Parader" or "Circus" magazines was very promotionally "British Invasion" commercialized and contrived with photos, interviews, and above all...an image to rub off in the youth. A concept revolving around ..getting the attention of teenagers so they will in return ...get a job and buy the album. The industry helped create an image for individual prog band members..like Chris Squire where they constantly released pictures of him dressed in capes. When a kid walked into a record store ..there were posters of these musicians dressed in capes or turning an organ upside down. Kids would ask at the counter..."Who is that guy wearing the cape?" In the end ..the kid would buy the album because he saw the poster. That's very "Hollywood". Very Brian Epstein, very Johnny Carson..where the word "practices" applies to the huge profit someone can gross. It's studied and it's based on a psychological affect it has on a majority of people in the world. These are "practices" of high society's con artistry. It's studied throughly and applied into the impact of it's representation in the product. The way to advertise a Prog artist back then..was to set up steps forming into a procedure and then  promoting it as much as you could. What the industry did to straight up Rock music was disgraceful and this may very well be off topic...but rips my heart out to think that long ago..decent "Rock" bands,,who played Blues/R&B/Jazz/Rock n' Roll were forced  into playing 'Stadium Rock"

bhikkhu wrote: ... Unfortunately that ship sailed a long time ago. That is why popular music has been stagnant for decades now. It is also why the established music industry is having problems. They blame illegal downloading on dwindling sales without ever addressing the real issue. If you keep repackaging the same product people will eventually lose interest. That is also why record stores are disappearing. People buy from the internet because they can get what they actually want. This in turn creates more fragmentation of the market which makes it more difficult for an individual artist to stand out. ...

Edited by moshkito - February 18 2014 at 08:27

In the mid-90's, KLOS had a Sunday morning program entitled "Stone Tracks" that played nothing but prog for two hours, mostly symphonic, crossover, and fusion.

KWST, KLOS, and KMET were the holders of the "prog" keys in the 1970s in Los Angeles and the Southwest basin. KWST was the most "prog" oriented and died first (in the early 1980s sometime).  KMET was next when Metromedia, Inc. (which owned KMET and a TV station) sold out and faded away.  KMET 94.7 FM became a New Age / Jazz station in the mid-1980s and has been ever since.  Only KLOS 95.5 FM (LA) keeps the "prog" candle flickering every now and again (since it is a historic rock station now).  I don't know why there hasn't been a rabid prog station in southern CA like there has been in the Chicago area for all of these years...

Slartibartfast wrote: One of my local FMs played Hocus Pocus back in '72 if memory serves me right.   Admittedly not their most progressive offering, but hey.