The development of prog

To Lucas:

- First of all: THANK YOU!  for taking the time to help me (and how!)

- I think there still are some discutable points (10cc and Roxy Music are not considered prog by everybody)

- You named some sub-genres that I won't use. I had already decided that I would use the sub-genres as mentioned on the progarchives homepage.

- There's already a whole chapter in my paper about Zappa and Beefheart (I think they were the 'pioneers')

- Also THANKS for the bandnames I forgot. I heard UK deservers a special place! And Bruford's a legend...

- My problem was that I didn't grow up in the seventies and I'm not familiar with all progressive rock sub-genres. You really helped me out here!

THANKS

A

LOT

!!

A difficult task...

Late sixties and beginnig of the seventies :           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;       I would say it all began with psychedelic music, i. e. essentially Jimi Hendrix and earlier Pink Floyd (all their stuff with Syd Barrett). [Some people say that the Beatles also had a contribution to the prog movement]. Then came bands such as King Crimson and Yes at the end of the sixties. King Crimson, along with Van der Graaf Generator helped define a sub-genre of the progressive music called hard-prog ('hard' refering to the tormented atmosphere of their records, however 'In the court of the crimson King' is symphonical prog). Yes were playing symphonical rock, so called because of the use of a symphonic orchestra. Genesis were already recording at the end of the sixties but their  links to the progressive rock were not yet defined. With the album 'Trespass', things became clear about Genesis. Yes and Genesis remain icons in the symphonical rock music. Other bands followed their steps later : Gentle Giant, Camel among others. At the same time as symphonical rock was developing in Great Britain, many italian bands were performing a similar type of music : Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Quella Vecchia Locanda among others. These two countries were the most prolific as far as progressive rock is concerned. Let's go back to England to focus on another subgenre that comes from the Canterbury county. Caravan defined that subgenre with their second album and bands like Hatfield and the North and later National Health followed (plus a band that didn't come from England but from the USA, Happy The Man). The first Gong album (Camembert Electrique, featuring Pip Pyle on drums who later joined Hatfield and National Health) belongs also to this subgenre. Daevid Allen (who later founded Gong) formed with Robert Wyatt Soft Machine, a band that could be regarded as belonging to the Canterbury scene for their first three releases, but that turned to jazz-fusion (with 'third'), another subgenre that included also later Bruford and Brand X, and in the USA Frank Zappa. So, at the beginning of the seventies, 3 subgenres are already established : symphonical (Yes, Genesis), canterbury (Caravan, earlier Gong), hard-prog (King Crimson, VDGG).

The seventies :           ;           ;           ;           ;           ;                                         After Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd, their music became softer with ethereal passages : they defined a new subgenre, space-rock. Gong were also following the same way with 'Angel's egg' (but with humour), their best record to date. After the Yardbirds split, Keith Relf formed with his wife Jane the band Renaissance, a group that blended folk music with progressive rock. Along with Jethro Tull, Renaissance were qualified as a folk-prog band. The popularity of Renaissance grew after Annie Haslam replaced Jane Relf on vocals and they released the great 'Scheherazade and other stories' in 1975. Jethro Tull released 'Aqualung' in 1971, an album that is considered as a classic today, but I would recommend the follow-up 'Thick as a brick' as an introduction to their contribution to the folk-prog scene. Another subgenre of the progressive rock was also developing in the seventies : art-rock, led by bands such as Supertramp, Roxy Music, 10 CC... These groups were playing a simpler music than in the other prog subgenres. In Germany, a group called Tangerine Dream was playing a music based exclusively on electronic instruments, hence their music was called 'Electronic' (or 'New Age'), although it may include many not electonic instruments (as is the case for Mike Oldfield ). Vangelis and Synergy belong also to this subgenre. Many of the german bands that appeared at the beginning of the seventies were classified as 'Krautrock', an additional subgenre of the progressive rock, including Grobschnitt, Amon Düül, Ash Ra Tempel. A minimalistic form of the 'electronic' music appeared also in the seventies : ambient. Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Cluster belong to this category. Moreover, in England a subgenre based on improvisation and with a jazz background appeared in 1973 with the release of Henry Cow's 'Leg End' (RIO, rock in opposition). This subgenre is recommended only to fans of free-jazz or those who like exploration. I forgot to mention that Emerson, Lake and Palmer, a band that gathered members of King Crimson, Atomic Rooster and The Nice released albums ('Tarkus' being regarded as their best) belonging to a subgenre called classical-prog, as they often feature a song that is an adaptation of a piece of classical music (Pictures at an exhibition for example). The Nice and Rick Wakeman belong also to this subgenre. In the USA, some groups tried to mix hard-rock with progressive elements, such bands are Rush, Styx among others (Kansas could also be added to this category but it is also close to the english symphonic prog scene). They were called pomp-prog as the intros and outros of some of their songs are 'pompous'. I mentioned previously the development of a jazz-fusion scene with Brand X (featuring Phil Collins), Bruford, and Zappa, the music of this latter could be considered as a unique subgenre (mix of jazz, doo-wap, rock...). Another band was also strongly rooted in jazz but included also influences ranging from Stockhausen  to Duke Ellington, via opera : Magma, who created the Zeuhl subgenre, with a language intelligible only by them (kobaïa). So, at the end of the seventies you have 10 new subgenres in the progressive rock : art-rock, folk-prog, classical-prog, RIO, jazz-fusion, Zeuhl, ambient, electronic, krautrock, pomp-prog.

The eighties : The progressive rock was supplanted by the punk movement at the end of the seventies, a 'music' which aim was to prove that everyone could play music. Punk gave rise to the cold wave  in the eighties and prog rock was reduced to what was called neo-prog (a simpler form of the symphonic prog but with much present drums), and an embryon of what became at the beginning of the nineties the metal-prog. Saga were probably the first to play this neo-prog, but Marillion and IQ are the best representatives of this subgenre. Landmark albums include 'Misplaced childhood' by Marillion and 'Ever' by IQ.

The nineties : metal-prog developed with Dream Theater's 'Images and words'. However, in the eighties some groups were already playing a heavy-metal-based progressive music : Queensryche, Fates Warning, Watchtower. Thanks to Mike Varney in the USA, who founded the prog label Magna Carta, and in Europe the Inside Out label, the nineties saw a revival of the prog-rock (mainly metal-prog). In the USA, apart from metal-prog, Spock's Beard were playing a symphonical prog with references to Gentle Giant and Genesis and Echolyn and Izz were playing a music closer to neo-prog. In the Northern Europe, a scandinavian symphonic prog scene developed with bands such as The Flower Kings, Anglagard and Sinkadus. A post-RIO scene also developed with Djam Karet, Thinking Plague... Some groups play jazz-fusion : Kenso, Cartoone, Deus ex Machina. Porcupine Tree and Ozric Tentacles play space-rock. Collage, Clepsydra are great bands that are strongly influenced by IQ and Marillion. Thus, in the nineties you have a revival of the prog scene not only with the appearance of a new subgenre : metal-prog but also with bands playing the styles developed in the seventies.

I hope these informations will help you in your investigation.

Hello and a very interesting paper you chose!

i think this linik will help you http://www.encyclopedia.com/searchpool.asp?target=progressiv e+rock you can also search for other prog-genres! everything is included!

Concerning my opinion of which bands were more influential i would say 4 among dozens that exist! Pink Floyd , Jethro Tull , Genesis and (oh yes, i'm gonna say it..) Dream Theater