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1977: A Farewell to Kings? |
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Xonty 
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Joined: June 23 2013 Location: Cornwall Status: Offline Points: 1759 |
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 Topic: 1977: A Farewell to Kings?Posted: January 07 2022 at 13:10 |
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Hello all! Just posted a little article as part of my co-run blog, titled (provocatively):
1977: A Farewell to Kings? – Reflections on the year punk killed prog rock Let me know what you think of the article, or any of your own views on the topic! Cheers, Xonty Edited by Xonty - January 07 2022 at 13:12 |
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Grumpyprogfan
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Joined: July 09 2019 Location: Kansas City Status: Offline Points: 10022 |
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Posted: January 07 2022 at 14:46 |
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"Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It" is not cringeworthy for me.
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Heart of the Matter
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Joined: September 01 2020 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 3003 |
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Posted: January 07 2022 at 15:04 |
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^ Not at all, I like that song
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Atavachron
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Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 64320 |
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Posted: January 07 2022 at 15:25 |
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Good informed write. True of course that Punk had no direct hand in
Prog's recession, at least no more than any other new trend that is by
nature a reaction against the last one. What's always amazed me about
prog is that it happened with any success at all. Simpler, more direct music has almost always won the popularity race with few exceptions.
One
of those exceptions was that astounding time in music between the
realization of rock as art [Beatles,Beach Boys,Floyd,Zappa,etc.] and the
subsequent rejection of it. It's easy to say it started with the drug culture or
the Beatles impact or the advent of new technology, and it ended with
disco or punk or Easy Listening or hard rock. Or just a new generation
(you correctly suggest the significance so-called Glam rock and prog's
outright tongue-kissing with it via the Gabriel/Wakeman/Hammill set
[Bowie,Queen,Elton John?]. I still don't clearly understand why
ridiculously complex music became appealing at a time when it should not
have (let's not forget Yes was huge in their time, and Tull's A Passion Play briefly charted at #1 when the Carpenters and Barbara Streisand were still kings), or why it fell out of favor so suddenly. Edited by Atavachron - January 07 2022 at 15:26 |
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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The Dark Elf
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VIP Member Joined: February 01 2011 Location: Michigan Status: Offline Points: 12654 |
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Posted: January 07 2022 at 17:41 |
TAAB also went to #1 the year previous. But with rock, prog was a build-up, layers upon layers, from Chuck Berry to The Beatles all the way through to orchestral rock suites and fusion. Punk was the inevitable regression to the mean, back to three chords and banal grunting. Many wannabe musicians simply could not play at such a a sustained, complex level, nor did they have the inclination to continue down that path. Thus, after a Renaissance of perhaps a decade, a retrograde Dark Age.
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...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
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Atavachron
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Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 64320 |
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Posted: January 07 2022 at 17:48 |
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^ Hmm, yes. |
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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Lewian
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Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14082 |
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Posted: January 07 2022 at 18:04 |
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The article focuses on the music, which is laudable, although I think prog was brought down ultimately by decisions in the record companies and media on what horse to put their money.
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Sean Trane
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Prog Folk Joined: April 29 2004 Location: Heart of Europe Status: Online Points: 19588 |
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Posted: January 08 2022 at 03:29 |
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Punk didn't kill prog  (it was disco in Québec, anywaysà Prog committed suicide (ELP -  Works , for ex) and went into a coma.  It's like CD haters claiming that CD killed vinyls, when it is cassettes that killed vinyl (and CD killed the cassettes)
Edited by Sean Trane - January 08 2022 at 03:32 |
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let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
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Atavachron wrote: