So punk killed the prog did it ?

I was thinking about "the times" back in about 78 here in Australia and to be honest with you I don't recall punk ever being that popular ... certainly not respected anyway which leads me to the question or should I say the "Theme" to this latest Yorkie X Poll,  Did punk really  KILL prog ? or is that something we just tell ourselves to come to terms  with progs run seemingly being over or in a state of tempery suspension at that time ?

Anyway  this is probably I dopey poll but honestly I dont remember punk ever really catching on big time not where I live anyway. 


Edited by Yorkie X - July 19 2008 at 21:15

I wasn't even born back then but get the impression that "Punk killed Prog" is a myth so influencing that proggers seem to believe it themselves.

Prog was bound to kill itself anyway, punk just helped it. when prog bands started releasing crap like 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' and 'Wind & Wuthering', they were practically sealing their own fate.

seems like a variation on this same topic pops up about once every 2 weeks here, what's the obsession folks? 

idk, i keep hearing more how disco killed prog more than anything. punk was just big in NY, London, and maybe some other big city

I would not say that punk killed prog but there was a punk faction in Los Angeles. The Germs reunited in 2005 and still record.

darkshade wrote: idk, i keep hearing more how disco killed prog more than anything. punk was just big in NY, London, and maybe some other big city

Punk completely changed the music scene in Great Britain, and though it never got as popular in the States, it did spawn the whole New Wave movement which did.

Punk spearheaded a simplification of popular rock music that continues to this day. Long songs and tricky rhythms were no longer acceptable. Soloing became sparse. Lyrical subject matter could no longer include hobbits, meditation, anthropomorphized mice (Tull, Genesis, etc), mythology, swords & sorcery and whatever the hell Gentle Giant songs were about. :)

Lyrics became personal, dealing with real life (usually love, but sometimes social issues and politics).

And let's not forget that punk ended the dubious fashion choices of capes, furry knee-high boots, long hair and tights (I'm referring to Wakeman, Squire, Ian Anderson and others...).

As punks would say, you no longer needed a degree from the Royal Academy of Music to be in a rock band. Anybody with a rudimentary sense of music could start a band and end up on the radio or MTV or wherever.

Whether you liked punk or not (and I loved it), there's really no arguing that it ushered in a new era of rock, which is still with us today.

crimhead wrote: darkshade wrote: idk, i keep hearing more how disco killed prog more than anything. punk was just big in NY, London, and maybe some other big city But where is disco now.

what does that have to do with the price of potatoes?

^ exactly.. what 'killed' prog more than punk was Fripp being Fripp... Yes being Yes.. and Genesis.. hahha.. becoming Genesis.  


the 1st wave wasn't going to live forever... and prog as we all know..  never really died... 

Absolutely it tried and damned nearly succeeded. Punk evolved as an answer to what Yes/Genesis/ELP had become, the idea being that you didn't need talent to play it and it didn't have 20 minute keyboard/guitar solos.

When I finished my degree at Cambridge in 1974, there were prog venues everywhere. I went over to do my D. Phil in Canada and when I came back in late 1977, there were almost none. Places I had seen bands like Druid, Caravan, Camel and the like were full of safety pin adorned, spiky haired kids just out of nappies with serious attitude and an uncontrollable desire to spit on you, listening to people with no ability thrashing their instruments and screaming whilst bouncing up and down like piledrivers. It was s**t, I can tell you.

A few bands came through and a few bands formed a second wave of prog in the early 80s so prog survived, but it was a damned close run thing.