Englishness and English Phlegm in Prog

The name Great Britain is actually the Greek term for the largest island in the island archipelago of the British Isles, the next largest island they called Little Britain ('mikris Brettanias') which we now call Ireland. Since this is an island grouping defined by geography and not an arbitrary scribbling of lines on a map drawn by kings, princes and generals the island of Ireland will always be British...

Britain is not England Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Britain is just England Scotland and wales. The term The United Kingdom refers to England Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, hence the correct term being: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Prog rock starts off by being brewed up by a number of privileged middle class kids at a selective number of universities. Their music is listened to by very worthy promoters and producers from an upper middle class background who then decide what the General Unwashed Public are going to hear. Prog rock picks up on a wistful yearning for childhood and bucolic themes of nature from the previous psychedelic era (although it does to an extent intermingle with it.) This is played to people who have a choice of Max Bygraves or a few other groups..... who generally live in housing stock which hasn't changed all that much since 1915. Remember, two world wars, rationing, near bankrupt country.

When prog comes out - late sixties - things are beginning to change in the UK. And the rest of the world, for that matter. Living standards are, for the first time since WW2, increasing. There is - across the world, a sense of the optimistic or possible. This is reflected in the music. People are more inclined to consider new forms of music (look at Krautrock in Germany: the art of the new and experimental replacing the older establishment Schlager music). So, at the time, prog rock becomes acceptable. It's fantasy, experiment and a yearning for a bucolic, mythical golden age which is certainly a bit nicer than living in a smoke blackened terraced house with a gasometer at the end of the road. 

What happens ? Well, after a while, the dream, which is still somewhat of a hippie / psychedelic dream, goes pretty sour in the UK, with increased strikes, social tension.... reality kicks in. And then you get a more angry, uptempo music replacing it which pretty much echoes what is going on in society. So. Is THAT actually "English" ? Is punk rock - a reflection of youth culture in the late 1970's - more reflective of being "English" than music created and distributed by a very few privileged people a few years before ? And, as Dean says, why on Earth do people outside of the UK think that the English are somehow bucolic, slow moving and ponderous ?