Prog does not groove?

The general listening public's obsession with "groove" has ended up in techno music.  The beat is pounded out with a simulated kick drum in 4/4 time by a computer so it can't get off time... and the mindless masses just love it because it is simple and relates to their own basic need for simplicity.

I think the great prog bands did implement "groove" at times and used it as a color to the sound or piece... and it was done tastefully.  Certainly Genesis did a lot of groove.  "Fly on the Windshield" for example has a heavy and slow groove.  Gentle Giant was all about grooving and did so tastefully often in odd meters.  Floyd too, certainly that long groovy stretch in "Echos" or "One of these Days"

But of course the prog bands stretched out beyond just groove and I think the musicians did not want to be limited to only "groove" but saw it as just a color or paint pot to dip into from time to time. 

Any form of music has it's rules, and prog is no exception.... but I would say it has the least amount of rules of any genre.. which makes it interesting for those who don't like a lot of rules. 

But make no mistake.. there are still rules... and good ones.

 Just listen to the middle section of Easy Money by King Crimson. I could live on that groove forever. 

^ Not exactly 100% of (of course), but some parts of it (the improv in the middle of Pt. 1 in particularly) certainly groove.

Speaking of Crimson, I realized I forgot to put "The Mincer" (which someone already mentioned) and "Sleepless" in my original list.

 I saw an early post bringing up 'Proclamation' by Gentle Giant as a piece of prog with 'groove', and now I'll add my own by the very same lads.

 Back in 1975, I was a freshman at Michigan State U. and knew quite several people that were very into prog. A large university such as MSU is a huge breeding ground for cliques of prog-lovers. I roomed in a dorm with 4 other guys, sharing a 2-bedroom suite. One of my roomies was an African-American from Flint, MI named Willie, who had his own ideas of "good music". He rarely ever commented on what I listened to; never saying he enjoyed it or saying "That sucks!"

 But I distinctly recall one Friday night when I stayed in (probably 'cause it was snowing like a bitch outside, which in central MI it tends to do in the Winter) and was listening to GG's newest release, "Free Hand". The opening track, "Just the Same", was playing when Willie returned from a night on the town with his girlfriend. I was playing my copy of "Free Hand" loudly enough. Willie came to the back of the suite where I had my stereo set up, and he was "grooving" while sliding back towards my nook. "DAMN.....", he crowed, "That song has got some bounce to it!" When I got perplexed and looked at him quizzically, he told me exasperatedly, "The BASS, man! LISTEN to the BASS!" I always just took Ray Shulman's zooping bass lines in that song for granted, but damn if Willie wasn't right. Right then and there my head was bopping and my feet were gliding!

 So don't anyone ever say prog doesn't groove. If Gentle Giant did it.......prog HAS IT.

Dayvenkirq wrote: Maybe our blues-loving friend did not exactly mean that prog does not groove; maybe he meant something else and used the wrong words, and we just started this thread and stretched it to six pages.

Oh no no...he meant every word of it! ...I drowned him with a summary of most of this thread, and a follow up is needed, so keep them coming!

...oh sh*t, I am trapped in the middle....HELP!...but no, seriously, i think i will never turn him...it is not my life mission to do either...i was just curious to hear what the prog community thinks regarding this...i noticed some said that prog does not exactly groove, but by far most of the folks here feel that some of it at least does, which is what i agree with...so, mission accomplished, for me at least  

Dayvenkirq wrote: Maybe our blues-loving friend did not exactly mean that prog does not groove; maybe he meant something else and used the wrong words, and we just started this thread and stretched it to six pages.

Good point.

areazione wrote: Groove, for too many, is the ability to shake your head to a 4/4. With regular up/down beats. Soul is associated to a C minor scale. Perhaps diminished, If by then words talk about love & Co., even better and easier to grasp.

God, I hope you don't take those definitions as "carved in stone".

Slartibartfast wrote: .... Anyway prog rock doesn't groove. ....

Why not?