Should politics return to Prog music?

When Marillion released their album titled Sounds That Can't Be Made last year, it contained the controversial track Gaza which addressed one of the long standing Middle Eastern controversies. With more than ten years to reflect on the events of 9/11, two Gulf wars and world wide economic and social divides; would you like to see more of these topics addressed in the lyrics of Prog music songs (even if they are controversial) or should Prog music, with the old political guard with artists such as Zappa, Floyd and KC long faded and mute, remain an escapist or purely aesthetic medium devoid of any social and political commentary?



Edited by SteveG - June 19 2014 at 19:48

I personally enjoy a good political song ala Forgotten Sons and Gaza. I though Gaza was great because it focused on the effect the Israeli/Palestinian conflict had on ordinary people. I think a lot of times we don't address world problems and just hide our heads in the sand and ignore them. Bravo to Marillion for saying something important with Gaza.

Obama Prog

It could work, but most if not all artists lack the combination of humility, talent, and self-awareness to do it without appearing naive or full of themselves. It's either be preachy or embarrassing either way.

And Zappa's stuff was basically American culture satire masquerading as music. Almost a different thing entirely.

stonebeard wrote: It could work, but most if not all artists lack the combination of humility, talent, and self-awareness to do it without appearing naive or full of themselves. It's either be preachy or embarrassing either way.And Zappa's stuff was basically American culture satire masquerading as music. Almost a different thing entirely.

I agree with you on all counts. Not all prog bands could pull it off, but enough could. I was a bit tongue-in-cheek about Zappa's views which are not relevant to the discussion.

Edited by SteveG - June 16 2014 at 14:44

What happens when the politics involved is diametrically opposite to your personal ideology?

Dean wrote: What happens when the politics involved is diametrically opposite to your personal ideology? If Zappa had been a rabid right-wing tea-bagger would it have made a difference to anyone's appreciation of his music? If Peter Hammill and/or Peter Gabriel had sung songs in honour of P W Botha instead of Steve Biko would we like them as much?

Of course, therein lies the rub. I appreciate listening to the argument of opposing views, but I'm firmly in the minority in regard to this.

Edited by SteveG - June 16 2014 at 15:00

As long as it's left wing and anti religion, I don't think I could listen to Teabagging God Fearing stuff.

I don't avoid political lyrics as a matter of principle, being a fan of Frank Zappa and all, it's just that very often when a political ideology becomes integral to the band concept the resulting music suffers artistically as a result. It's more a problem in punk and the national-romantic kind of black metal (e. g. Drudkh), though, than in progressive rock though it is the main thing keeping me away from the "Rock In Opposition" scene.

Really I prefer ideology in music to be more a matter of the music embodying a specific set of more abstract virtues from which the artists' political ideals also are derived, rather than expressing a stance you simply can agree or disagree with. It might not be quite as effective in terms of concrete activism, though, but more likely to get interesting music out of. Zappa could get away with the latter because he usually had the interesting music to back it up with.

To use the examples of punk, it's what separates Amebix from The Exploited.

Edited by Toaster Mantis - June 16 2014 at 15:25

The content lyrics in music are one part of the whole thing, if i had to stop listening to every bands that i don't share the social, political or religious message, i would be listening to the same music. This is why i prefer don't care too much about lyrics and concentrate on how they get in harmony with the music. I pay attention to Peart's lyrics a bit more but i wouldn't say that it  add a lot to the listening experience. However sometimes when i hear Neal Morse sings with the word "Jesus", Jon Anderson talk bout "love" and some esoteric message, i just find it funny more than anything else.

Edited by rdtprog - June 16 2014 at 15:18