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Topic: Songs about prog rockPosted By: Prog_Traveller
Subject: Songs about prog rock
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:04
I'm wondering if there are any songs, albums or even just references, about prog. I personally don't know of any or at least any direct ones.
Replies: Posted By: Michael678
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:08
none that i could think of.
------------- Progrockdude
Posted By: apps79
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:14
Still there is one: ''Revelation'' by Ageness from the ''Showing paces'' album...a semi-personal track with excerpts from Genesis' songs and original tunes mixed, borrowing lyrics from the legends' famous songs and combining them in story-telling piece of how the band became a Genesis-influenced group...very humurous and quite unique track.
------------- When the power of love overcomes the love of power,the world will know peace...
listen to www.justincaseradio.com , the first ever Greek Progressive Rock radio
Posted By: Horizons
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:19
The Sun In My Eyes - The Tangent
------------- Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:24
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:25
It's kind of a stretch but when Pink Floyd references themselves in lyrics they're technically singing about prog ("The band is just fantastic that is really what I think, oh by the way which one's Pink", "Pink isn't well he stayed back at the hotel"). Then there's always Crimso's '74 lyrics that were supposedly a dig at Sinfield ("health food fa**** with a bartered bride", "as you twinkle by in moccasin sneakers").
------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:26
"Prog: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tron" by G. StrangeLove and Weaksauce.
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:26
Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin ~ Arjen Anthony Lucassen
... The Wall ~ Pink Floyd
------------- What?
Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:27
Dammit, the Egg song got posted while I was trying to...
------------- Magma America Great Make Again
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:28
zravkapt wrote:
Other than artists who make self-references in their work, this is about all I can come up with...
too slow
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 16:34
There is "The Prog Song "by a quite new band called Nautilus (didn't know it til now, and haven't really listened to the lyrics, I just googled " "The Prog Song" title ".
Band frontman Ian Anderson was surprised by the critical reaction to their previous album, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqualung_%28Jethro_Tull_album%29" rel="nofollow - Aqualung (1971), as a "concept album", a label he firmly rejects to this day.
In an interview on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Studio_with_Redbeard" rel="nofollow - In the Studio with Redbeard (which spotlighted Thick as a Brick),
Anderson's response to the critics was: "If the critics want a concept
album we'll give the mother of all concept albums and we'll make it so
bombastic and so over the top". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick#cite_note-and-6" rel="nofollow - [6]
Ian Anderson has been quoted as stating that Thick as a Brick
was written "because everyone was saying we were a progressive rock
band, so we decided to live up to the reputation and write a progressive
album, but done as a parody of the genre."
With Thick as a Brick, the band created an album deliberately integrated around one concept: a poem by a super-intelligent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England" rel="nofollow - English schoolboy, named http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bostock" rel="nofollow - Gerald Bostock , about the trials of growing up. Beyond this, the album was a send-up of all pretentious "concept albums". (The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom" rel="nofollow - idiom "thick as a brick" is an expression signifying someone who is "stupid" or "slow to learn or understand").[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" rel="nofollow -
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 17:19
cstack3 wrote:
Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" was a deliberate parody of the bombastic prog (ELP, Yes etc.) of the era:
Band frontman Ian Anderson was surprised by the critical reaction to their previous album, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqualung_%28Jethro_Tull_album%29" rel="nofollow - Aqualung (1971), as a "concept album", a label he firmly rejects to this day.
In an interview on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Studio_with_Redbeard" rel="nofollow - In the Studio with Redbeard (which spotlighted Thick as a Brick),
Anderson's response to the critics was: "If the critics want a concept
album we'll give the mother of all concept albums and we'll make it so
bombastic and so over the top". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick#cite_note-and-6" rel="nofollow - [6]
Ian Anderson has been quoted as stating that Thick as a Brick
was written "because everyone was saying we were a progressive rock
band, so we decided to live up to the reputation and write a progressive
album, but done as a parody of the genre."
With Thick as a Brick, the band created an album deliberately integrated around one concept: a poem by a super-intelligent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England" rel="nofollow - English schoolboy, named http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bostock" rel="nofollow - Gerald Bostock , about the trials of growing up. Beyond this, the album was a send-up of all pretentious "concept albums". (The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom" rel="nofollow - idiom "thick as a brick" is an expression signifying someone who is "stupid" or "slow to learn or understand").[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" rel="nofollow -
------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 18:33
The entire 200 Motels album might also count, what with Zappa being on the site as well. Not to mention that Faust actually have a song titled Krautrock.
------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 19:09
Toaster Mantis wrote:
Not to mention that Faust actually have a song titled Krautrock.
"It was good, you know, to be called Krautrock. We even made a song like this." -Jean-Hervé Péron
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 19:16
The.Crimson.King wrote:
I guess that makes Ian's "Thick as a Brick 2" a parody of a parody
Har! I've lived that life, myself!
Here, I'm playing lead guitar in the Tulsa, OK band "Casual Crobar," which was a Spinal Tap cover band = a parody of a parody! Someday I have to load some vids and share them, we were wild!
My favorite song was Eno's "Baby's On Fire," which I sang and played lead guitar on!
I can understand Ian's attitude completely, he always liked to stick a finger into folks' eyes!
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 23:21
cstack3 wrote:
The.Crimson.King wrote:
I guess that makes Ian's "Thick as a Brick 2" a parody of a parody
Har! I've lived that life, myself!
Here, I'm playing lead guitar in the Tulsa, OK band "Casual Crobar," which was a Spinal Tap cover band = a parody of a parody! Someday I have to load some vids and share them, we were wild!
Brilliant Chuck! I used to do a cover of "Stonehenge" (minus the dwarfs of course)
------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987
Posted By: Prog_Traveller
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 23:47
I actually did think of one: "This is not a prog song" by RPWL
Posted By: Prog_Traveller
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 23:52
Regarding Jethro Tull's "thick as a brick" album I heard Ian say in a radio interview once that "Thick as a brick was to progressive rock what Airplane was to Airplane movies." So yeah he did view it as a parody of prog. That said TAAB does work as a serious piece of prog music(even if the lyrics aren't always that serious).
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: November 25 2013 at 23:53
Fragile Dreamer by Onevoice http://onevoiceofficial.bandcamp.com/track/fragile-dreamer" rel="nofollow - http://onevoiceofficial.bandcamp.com/track/fragile-dreamer
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 03:09
Prog_Traveller wrote:
Regarding Jethro Tull's "thick as a brick" album I heard Ian say in a radio interview once that "Thick as a brick was to progressive rock what Airplane was to Airplane movies." So yeah he did view it as a parody of prog. That said TAAB does work as a serious piece of prog music(even if the lyrics aren't always that serious).
It's the Don Quixote of progressive rock: The kind of parody that's artistically better than most of the stuff it's making fun of.
------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 03:23
Prosecutor: Now, we've already heard your brilliant testimony regarding the events leading up to the creation of a recorded entertainment that is know in the vernacular as 'An Album' that goes by the title of "Thick As A Brick", but I believe you also have new and startling evidence to present to the court.
Witness: Indeed. Something so heinous that it goes beyond the bounds of moral decency, a product of such turpitude that women and small children may faint at the sight of it ... Exhibit B, please.
Judge: Ah, yes. Exhibit "B"
Defender: Objection!
Judge: Overruled!
Prosecutor: If it would please M'Lud, we would like to present Exhibit "B".
Judge: Proceed...
The prosecutor produces a large card from behind the desk. He holds it for the jury to see:
Prosecutor: The Prosecution rests M'Lud.
------------- What?
Posted By: LakeGlade12
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 12:16
Glass Hammer Chronometree is a concept album about a guy called Tom who thinks aliens are talking to him though his old Prog records. Its interesting stuff, I wonder what the mental state of Tom was during this period?
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 12:19
That guy sounds like a distant cousin of Neil from The Young Ones.
------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 12:31
Funny you mention Glass Hammer, Lakeglade, there's that bit right in the middle of `Knight of the North ' from `The Inconsolable Secret' I always assumed was about a prog song! :
"All this talk of Ancient battles, All this talk of Kings and villains, All this rambling On 'bout evil, Monstrous armies, Swords and heroes He was singing a song of slaying
What's he saying, Where's this leading Kind of makes my brain hurt Why can't he speak plain? What's the use of Spinning these stories? Can't he find a better use For the words he writes?
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 12:41
Toaster Mantis wrote:
That guy sounds like a distant cousin of Neil from The Young Ones.
I love when Neil curses the BBC TV after hours test screen : "Not this band again...Crap...play some Hawkwind or Marillion"
------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987
Posted By: WeepingElf
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 13:59
The German band RPWL has a song titled This is not a Prog Song on their album The RPWL Experience, which is about the band itself, especially the common criticism that they are just a Pink Floyd rip-off.
------------- ... brought to you by the Weeping Elf
"What does Elvish rock music sound like?" - "Yes."
Posted By: LakeGlade12
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 14:21
Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote:
Funny you mention Glass Hammer, Lakeglade, there's that bit right in the middle of `Knight of the North ' from `The Inconsolable Secret' I always assumed was about a prog song! :
"All this talk of Ancient battles, All this talk of Kings and villains, All this rambling On 'bout evil, Monstrous armies, Swords and heroes He was singing a song of slaying
What's he saying, Where's this leading Kind of makes my brain hurt Why can't he speak plain? What's the use of Spinning these stories? Can't he find a better use For the words he writes?
They must have been thinking of KC "Lizard" when they wrote those lyrics.
"Burnt with dream and taut with fear Dawn's misty shawl upon them. Three hills apart great armies stir Spit oath and curse as day breaks Forming lines of horse and steel By even yards march forward."
Posted By: Sanmartinphase7
Date Posted: November 26 2013 at 19:29
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: November 27 2013 at 08:45
Jethro Tull's "Strange Avenues" from the album "Rock Island" makes a reference to "Aqualung" (Looking like a record cover from 1971). On the Rock Island tour, when Ian Anderson was singing that line, a picture of the Aqualung album appeared on the back of the stage.
Posted By: Prog_Traveller
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 09:48
WeepingElf wrote:
The German band RPWL has a song titled This is not a Prog Song on their album The RPWL Experience, which is about the band itself, especially the common criticism that they are just a Pink Floyd rip-off.
I already mentioned that one but thanks for seconding it. I saw them play it live and it was pretty cool.
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 15:40
Comment on all the TAAB discussion:
Answer to the question: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Maybe.
------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"
Posted By: WeepingElf
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 16:29
Prog_Traveller wrote:
WeepingElf wrote:
The German band RPWL has a song titled This is not a Prog Song on their album The RPWL Experience, which is about the band itself, especially the common criticism that they are just a Pink Floyd rip-off.
I already mentioned that one but thanks for seconding it. I saw them play it live and it was pretty cool.
Yes, I overlooked that one. A single-line post is easy to miss
------------- ... brought to you by the Weeping Elf
"What does Elvish rock music sound like?" - "Yes."
Posted By: DaveyByTheSea
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 11:30
How about Octavarium by Dream Theater ?
------------- Skyline Teacher taught me everything!
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 12:30
...the very origin of the band "Porcupine Tree" is rooted in satire of prog rock!
Porcupine Tree originated in 1987 as a collaborative hoax project by Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks. Partially inspired by the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_music" rel="nofollow - - progressive bands of the 1970s, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd" rel="nofollow -
The two fabricated a detailed back-story including information on alleged band members and album titles, as well as a "colourful" history which purportedly included events such as a meeting at a 1970s rock festival and several trips in and out of prison.
Posted By: WeepingElf
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 14:30
@Davey, cstack3: Of course! Octavariun contains a host of progressive rock titles in its lyrics, and Porcupine Tree started as a fictional 70s rock band. How could we miss these until now?
------------- ... brought to you by the Weeping Elf
"What does Elvish rock music sound like?" - "Yes."
Posted By: Prog_Traveller
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 14:50
Well being that Porcupine Tree started out as more of a psychedelic rock
band or at least as much psych as anything else they were more of a
parody of psych bands.
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 16:30
Prog_Traveller wrote:
Well being that Porcupine Tree started out as more of a psychedelic rock
band or at least as much psych as anything else they were more of a
parody of psych bands.
As Steven Wilson stated, "It was something that I started doing as soon as I had the money to buy my own studio equipment. When you've got a studio in your house you tend to do things you wouldn't do when you're paying to go into a professional studio, where you're watching the clock all the time. The one thing I wanted to do, because I had a great love of late 60's/early 70's psychedelic and progressive music, was to make my own slant on that."
Posted By: Kotro
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 05:41
First thing that came to mind:
------------- Bigger on the inside.
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 19:49
The.Crimson.King wrote:
cstack3 wrote:
The.Crimson.King wrote:
I guess that makes Ian's "Thick as a Brick 2" a parody of a parody
Har! I've lived that life, myself!
Here, I'm playing lead guitar in the Tulsa, OK band "Casual Crobar," which was a Spinal Tap cover band = a parody of a parody! Someday I have to load some vids and share them, we were wild!
Brilliant Chuck! I used to do a cover of "Stonehenge" (minus the dwarfs of course)
Well done, TCK!!
Lord Rick says that TFTO was the inspiration for much of "Spinal Tap"!
There are people who think the film This Is Spinal Tap is simply a very funny 'mockumentary'. Well, with Yes we lived it.
Take the hilarious scene in the film in which the bass player is trapped in a giant pod - that actually happened to Alan one night.
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 23:47
Porcupine Tree's Mellotron Scratch
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: December 01 2013 at 03:46
I thought Spinal Tap were specifically based on Uriah Heep, heard it elsewhere that they were based on Saxon however.
------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 01 2013 at 04:33
Just about every 70s & early 80s rock band inspired Spinal Tap and practically every band from that era has claimed responsibility for parts of the script - which is quite probable because it's a pastiche of all of them. Satire/parody works best when it's mostly believable; when so many bands claim it was based upon them it shows just how close to reality it was and how well Guest and Reiner et al researched for the film.
However...
Even in the most sedate well behaved bands on the most well organised tours bizarre things happen that beggars belief at times, every tour has a Spinal Tap moment no matter how big or small the band.
------------- What?
Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: December 03 2013 at 22:09
I always thought "IT" last song on the Lamb---referred to prog--If you think this is pretentious--you've been taken for a ride--....................
Posted By: *frinspar*
Date Posted: December 04 2013 at 01:51
"Cantermemorabilia" - The Tangent
Didn't know that about PorcTree's creation. Interesting stuff.
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: December 04 2013 at 10:41
Dean wrote:
Just about every 70s & early 80s rock band inspired Spinal Tap and practically every band from that era has claimed responsibility for parts of the script - which is quite probable because it's a pastiche of all of them. Satire/parody works best when it's mostly believable; when so many bands claim it was based upon them it shows just how close to reality it was and how well Guest and Reiner et al researched for the film.
However...
Even in the most sedate well behaved bands on the most well organised tours bizarre things happen that beggars belief at times, every tour has a Spinal Tap moment no matter how big or small the band.
That's why the movie is especially so funny to musicians. We've all been there at some point.
Posted By: Bitterblogger
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 13:04
Frankly I'm surprised no one's mentioned "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" by the Moody Blues.
And the verse from "Going For The One":
Now the verses I've sang don't add much weight,
To the story in my head, so I think I'll go and write a punch line.
But they're so hard to find in my cosmic mind . . .
Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 16:12
So true about GFTO---Jon was addressing all the music critics who were constantly (and probably still are) making fun of his lyrics and him.
Posted By: Farks
Date Posted: January 09 2014 at 17:23
"Why Does It Hurt When I Pee" by Frank Zappa.
http://youtu.be/3vmPwZT-9zY
Posted By: Bitterblogger
Date Posted: January 09 2014 at 18:27
Don't see how this is "about" prog rock--unless it's to highlight the unusual choice of percussion (maracas)
Posted By: Farks
Date Posted: January 09 2014 at 20:32
Bitterblogger wrote:
Don't see how this is "about" prog rock--unless it's to highlight the unusual choice of percussion (maracas)
Listen to how he describes the song in the introduction.
Posted By: AreYouHuman
Date Posted: January 09 2014 at 20:58
twosteves wrote:
So true about GFTO---Jon was addressing all the music critics who were constantly (and probably still are) making fun of his lyrics and him.
Not the first time for them, at least IMO. I've long thought that Sound Chaser was descriptive of the band's approach to composition.
Posted By: AreYouHuman
Date Posted: July 30 2014 at 21:50
The Score by Emerson, Lake & Powell. It seems to serve as a shout-out to their fans, complete with a reprise of the “Welcome back my friends” line.
------------- Caption: We tend to take ourselves a little too seriously.
Silly human race! Yes is for everybody!
Posted By: The Doctor
Date Posted: July 30 2014 at 23:05
Don't know if this has been mentioned or not but the album "Chronomotree" by Glass Hammer is about a prog rock album that holds a secret message from aliens (or the protagonist smoked one too many while listening to it).
------------- I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 31 2014 at 00:26
The Doctor wrote:
Don't know if this has been mentioned or not but the album "Chronomotree" by Glass Hammer is about a prog rock album that holds a secret message from aliens (or the protagonist smoked one too many while listening to it).
LakeGlade12 wrote:
Glass Hammer Chronometree is a concept album about a guy called Tom who thinks aliens are talking to him though his old Prog records. Its interesting stuff, I wonder what the mental state of Tom was during this period?
Posted By: Xonty
Date Posted: July 31 2014 at 06:10
Triceratopsoil wrote:
Was going to say this too always annoyed me how the verses were in 4/4 and Campbell says something like "I used to sing in 4 time" "Krautrock" by Faust too, but that must have been mentioned already..
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: July 31 2014 at 07:29
Toaster Mantis wrote:
I thought Spinal Tap were specifically based on Uriah Heep, heard it elsewhere that they were based on Saxon however.
The bit when one of them gets trapped in the pod is based on Yes as it actually happened to Alan White.
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 31 2014 at 15:15
A lot of bands claimed that Spinal Tap was about them. When I saw ELP on the Black Moon tour in 1992, ELP seemed to be imitating Spinal Tap with the Roman pillars style back drop (made me think of that mini Stonehenge). Its all very generic really.
Posted By: Tapfret
Date Posted: August 03 2014 at 03:16
I swear I have posted to this thread before. Or one of the same subject.
... The Wall ~ Pink Floyd
zravkapt wrote:
I saw them play it live and it was pretty cool. 
