Dragons in Prog rock.

Don't think there are any dragons in the music but their name and cover has a similar concept....I listened to this just the other day....good progressive hard rock with some nice mellotron.

Actually, this cliché that prog is plagued with dragons, fantasy, and sci-fi really annoys me, and surprises me. There's really not much of those themes in prog... at least not on the top-tier bands and albums. Pink Floyd has just about none of it (well, perhaps a bit with Syd Barrett, but that's just one album).

King Crimson... well, perhaps some songs. I guess "The Court of the Crimson King"... even if it's not got dragons. I don't really remember the whole lyrics of "In the Wake of Poseidon" to get an idea if it's really got relation to mythology or it's only an allegory. Perhaps the Lizards from "Prince Rupert Awakes" could actually be dragons. "Formentera Lady" has something to do with The Odissey, so that should count as mythology (I guess "A Sailor's Tale" should be considered a continuation from the same theme)... and from there onwards I understand they mostly dropped those fantasy themes.

ELP... yeah, they got some sci-fi... Tarkus mostly, and Karn Evil... not sure about much more of it though. Yes has just about none of it, (Jon) Anderson's lyrics seem to try to be more spiritual than fantasy. Jethro Tull doesn't have much of it either, (Ian) Anderson's lyrics would be mostly more down to earth matters. Genesis... yeah, they have many fantasy and mythology themes, specially on the Gabriel years (and even if I actually like this themes, Genesis manages to represent them in a way that annoys me mostly).

Perhaps some of this few fantasy themes were given an overblown focus by haters in order to ridicule the genre, and perhaps lyrics from other hard-rock prog related bands, such as Led Zeppelin and Uriah Heep were thrown in the mix too. Well, I guess Rush is indeed to be considered among the prog big ones, and they do have their good share of sci-fi. Or perhaps the fact that prog hardly ever used the usual love and having fun themes annoyed the people who wanted those simple themes that wouldn't make them think much.

Replayer wrote: Dellinger wrote: Actually, this cliché that prog is plagued with dragons, fantasy, and sci-fi really annoys me, and surprises me. There's really not much of those themes in prog... at least not on the top-tier bands and albums. That's a very good point. Fantasy has had a much stronger influence on the metal and hard rocks genres. I think it's just a general association based on the nerd stereotype. I remember reading some out of touch reviewer complaining that Marillion sings about goblins just because the band was originally named after Tolkien's Silmarillion. The only fantasy-inspired song they did was Grendel, and that was based on a postmodernist novel adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf.

I would not call "Grendel" "fantasy-inspired". it is inspired by a myth. you would not call anything based on Homer's siege of Troy "fantasy-inspired", or would you? and the story of Beowulf and Grendel is basically nothing else, only on a smaller scale


Edited by BaldJean - January 26 2016 at 04:33

BaldJean wrote: Replayer wrote: Dellinger wrote: Actually, this cliché that prog is plagued with dragons, fantasy, and sci-fi really annoys me, and surprises me. There's really not much of those themes in prog... at least not on the top-tier bands and albums. That's a very good point. Fantasy has had a much stronger influence on the metal and hard rocks genres. I think it's just a general association based on the nerd stereotype. I remember reading some out of touch reviewer complaining that Marillion sings about goblins just because the band was originally named after Tolkien's Silmarillion. The only fantasy-inspired song they did was Grendel, and that was based on a postmodernist novel adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. I would not call "Grendel" "fantasy-inspired". it is inspired by a myth you would not call  anything based on Homer's siege of Troy "fantasy-inspired", or would you? and the story of Beowulf and Grendel is basically nothing else, only on a smaller scale

I used to have a book on MARILLION where they explained that 'Grendel' was named after some insane alcoholic cocktail they conjured up out of about 9 different spirits/liquors..........

Another obvious one that comes to mind

Asia - First album

And now you find yourself in '82
The disco hot-spots hold no charm for you
You can't concern yourself with bigger things
You catch the pearl and ride the dragon's wings