How did you find these bands?

Snow Dog wrote: lazland wrote: Snow Dog wrote: cstack3 wrote: dysoriented wrote: I asked my father the other day if he had heard of some of the 70's prog acts I listen to. To name a few, King Crimson, Hawkwind, Gentle Giant, Caravan... And he said no. This absolutely baffled me, because his music, in general is proggy! David Bowie, Queen, Bryan Ferry. So I suppose, what I'm asking here is, how was it marketed back then? I was told "We didn't have the internet back then to discover music, we just made do''. And it made me wonder, how people found out about these bands? As I'm guessing it was just as niche then as it is now. Does that make sense?  (By the way, I don't just mean those select few, I mean the whole prog scene, obviously there's a ton of bands/musicians that were active at the time) Ha!  Prog was HUGELY popular back then!  Singles by Yes, ELP, Focus, Flash and other bands received as much airplay back then as Justin Bieber does today!   Rock magazines like Circus were full of news about Yes, Genesis etc.   Not in the UK it wasn't. Most kids never heard of those bands It was a strange situation then. Shows such as Top of the Pops were full of glam, crappy "soul" music from the States, and corny pop. However, the music press then regarded what we call prog or art rock as the epitome, and shows such as Old Grey Whistle Test catered for serious music fans. When Rick Wakeman appeared on this, aided by a news dispute on BBC1, he became an overnight star. Bands such as Yes, Led Zep, The Who, Deep Purple et al sold albums by the truckload. Serious bands sold out gigs at large venues. I don't deny it. But at school. most of my contempraries  didn't delve into these bands.

That's because you were too young. Back in those days three years made a huge difference in the friends you associated with and the music you got to listen to - I would never have shared my taste in music with someone three years younger than me or three years older: "And my brother back at home with his Beatles and his Stones, we never got it off on that revolution stuff". My generation lived Prog Rock - seriously; the school playground would be groups of kids swapping albums and talking music - everything from TONTO and White Noise, through Zappa and Beefheart, to Genesis, Yes and Floyd and out the otherside to Van der Graaf Generator, King Crimson and Gentle Giant - there were kids into Hawkwind and Gong; other's into Hatfield and Caravan; then the European music stated arriving - like Can, Faust, Focus, PFM, Le Orme, Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul, Kraftwerke. Everyone of those bands I heard while at school from other kids in the playgound, in the common room and more importantly, on the 40 minute bus ride home. It is hard to describe and hard to imagine just how popular all this stuff was between 1970 and 1974. I guess a close parallel would be the arrival of New Wave a few years later - it carried that kind of excitement and that level of interest.  

Edited by Dean - March 28 2013 at 12:41

lazland wrote:   It was a strange situation then. Shows such as Top of the Pops were full of glam, crappy "soul" music from the States, and corny pop. However, the music press then regarded what we call prog or art rock as the epitome, and shows such as Old Grey Whistle Test catered for serious music fans. When Rick Wakeman appeared on this, aided by a news dispute on BBC1, he became an overnight star. Bands such as Yes, Led Zep, The Who, Deep Purple et al sold albums by the truckload. Serious bands sold out gigs at large venues.

In the earkt 70s a friend traded me King Crimson's COTCK for Led Zeppelin I.
I was hooked on prog, but didn't have a clue how to find it.
So I searched for albums that had:
1. Awesome cover art
2. Four or less songs per side
3. Musicians who played multiple instruments: guitar, 12-string, double-necked electric, Moogs, ARP string synthesizers, mellotrons, etc.
4. Little to no publicity.
When I went to college I fortunately was fairly good at pool and other (rich) students were not. So I used to take my winnings to a little long-gone record shop in Lakeland Florida called Spec records and start at "A" looking for albums meeting the above criteria. The first week I discovered Camel and Caravan on the same day. Found Genesis, Hawkwind, PFM, Passport and lots others the same way.

dysoriented wrote: Anyone name an album they bought at the time completely unknowing of the band, just based on the cover? Was it any good?

As I had my formative years a bit later, I can't vouch for those who started their music interest in the 70's. But as someone who started listening to music a lot in the early 80's, I can most certainly vouch for the sales pitch of a good album cover.

Hawkwind - Choose Your Masques
Rush - Moving Pictures
Camel - Mirage

...a few examples of albums I bought where I didn't know anything about the bands at all when I bought the albums, the combination of cover art and song titles that enticed me into a purchase.

^^I've done that a lot of times and I can't even remember being let down.

Edited by Guldbamsen - March 29 2013 at 15:59

Pink Floyd actually found me now that I think of it. 

Like many of my age, it was a matter of being familiar with popular prog bands like Yes, ELP, Tull, Pink Floyd, etc. from the radio and hearing about related bands through word of mouth, concerts, music mags & rags.  Artists going solo, such as Hackett and Gabriel.  Cover art conveyed a certain sensability but was not reliable.  For example, I much prefer Roger Dean's covers for Greenslade over his work for Yes, but I never got into the band.  I did buy an occasional album for the cover, which worked out in an acceptable manner as often as not.   Record store employees were also a good source when they found out what you liked, or even if they had similar tastes.  Sometimes they would play something specifically to get your attention and compel to buy, just like that one scene from Hi Fidelity.  Used record stores would usually let you listen to an album just as most of them will now let you listen to a CD.  There were also specialized magazines and newsletters for specific styles as well as fan clubs.  In a phrase, we had lots of resources back in the so-called day which worked quite well.

Dark Side of the Moon was my intro, from my brother.  King Crimson was on the radio with the title track from the first album.  My intro to Genesis was, FYFM.  Don't throw stuff at me ;).  Really liked the song so I bought the album.  Actually bought it 3 times thinking it was a defective album creating the bad production.  Loved the album and worked my way backwards.  ELP and Yes from junior high.  These two and southern rock was all I heard at school. My intro to Tangerine Dream was when I asked a friend for anything like Pink Floyd without the words.  He gave me Thief.  I was hooked with better stuff to come.  Caravan and Camel were from reading magazines and books.

The year 1985 saw me on a vacation to Bali (which extended to many other Indonesian islands over the years.....), I bought PF's 'The Wall' and fell in love with it.  I was 13.  I eventually got around to a video at the local video shop entitled 'Live At Pompeii' (which, having no clue, I thought was 'The Wall' performed live ).  Anyway, I fell in love with what I heard.

dysoriented wrote: I asked my father the other day if he had heard of some of the 70's prog acts I listen to. To name a few, King Crimson, Hawkwind, Gentle Giant, Caravan... And he said no. ...