nice to see someone.. Fuxi it was.. answer the question right at the start.... what was new... truly new.. was all the keyboards electronics, and gizmo's that were coming out.. along with with all the multitracked studios where ...as befitting an artist.. you had a larger palate  of colours to dabble with...on a canvas that was FAR larger than previously available.




Edited by micky - February 04 2008 at 23:51

What I meant by long guitar solos is that Pink Floyd (and other such bands) made the instrumental section of the song just as catchy and listenable as the vocal section. Blues definitely took guitar solos, obviously, but how many blues albums have sold as well as Dark SIde of the Moon or The Wall? Instrumental rock music was perfected by artists such as the ones on this site, and like someone earlier said, the prospect of the synthesizer completely aided that. It's common knowledge that Keith Emerson was the first person to play that gigantic Moog onstage, not to mention he worked with Bob Moog (and later, with Korg on their digital Hammond clone); that has to count for something.

fuxi wrote: Catchy moog solos accompanied by a lively rhythm section and Hammond-organ chords! Isn't that a proggy invention?

Actually, that was the Monkees

tszirmay wrote: It's all in the details but the prog movement has done more than any other. Has country music invented anything ? Hip-Hop? Sorry but no contest.

In defense of Hip-Hop, there was some very creative usage of sampling techniques in the late 80's/early 90's, as heard on Public Enemy's 'it takes a nation of millions to hold us back' and The Beastie Boys' 'Paul's Boutique' before all that creativity was unfortunately killed off when Gilbert O'Sullivan sued Biz Markie over royalties. The level of this usage was never heard before and never again, most of the time it was pretty impossible to recognize the origin of the samples

kuipe wrote: At the beginning, taking a cue from the Beatles, progressive rock composers recognized the possibilities of both the long-play record and the long-form song. I say song over "composition" because prog in it's heyday acheived commercial viability because it retained one key feature of "pop" music - the presence of vocal. The long form allowed in turn for a departure, even an abandonment of pop theme and structure providing possibilities of epic and episodic construction, contrast, trance, maintainence of pattern, and space. Length also required texture, and we can thank progressive rock for adding a thousand new voices to guitars, keys, drums and synths - not to mention effects and loops. Finally and most importantly perhaps, Progressive rock musicians provided the promise of a journey. It was the last great era of long composition since the "classical" period.

Well said - and that is your first post. I love this site. What we see happening is the construction of knowledge on this topic. The web enables us to write history almost as it happens. While we acknowledge our biases - I think this is a balanced analysis of the role of progressive rock. The length of the songs/compositions is critical and they are not juts extended jams


Edited by kiwi - February 07 2008 at 12:45

unclemeat69 wrote: tszirmay wrote: It's all in the details but the prog movement has done more than any other. Has country music invented anything ? Hip-Hop? Sorry but no contest. In defense of Hip-Hop, there was some very creative usage of sampling techniques in the late 80's/early 90's, as heard on Public Enemy's 'it takes a nation of millions to hold us back' and The Beastie Boys' 'Paul's Boutique' before all that creativity was unfortunately killed off when Gilbert O'Sullivan sued Biz Markie over royalties. The level of this usage was never heard before and never again, most of the time it was pretty impossible to recognize the origin of the samples

Thank You Mr Meat, as a long time fan of progressive rock and progressive music in general, going back to the late 60s, I think some of the most innovative music that has come out since the early 70s is late 80s to late 90s sample based music, from hip-hop like P.E. to instrumental trip-hop and DrumnBass.

What have progressive rock musicians invented?

Invented? Most likely nothing; despite all the protests that this might bring forth over insane time changes, new genres, etc.
Music wasn't invented, per se, it was DISCOVERED, and then rules were applied.
By way of example; the equal temperament system we use in the west was a compromise, other cultures use different tuning systems, etc. 
So, did J.S. Bach or the Bulgarian Women's Choir or Robert Fripp invent music? I think by default the answer has to be "no".  Did they invent rules to be applied to tonalities and rhythms? I think the answer to this would be "yes".
Or, in the visual spectrum: can anyone invent a new color?  No, but colors, tones and shades can be discovered and palettes and combinations become the rules that are applied to them...
Sorry everyone, I thought that maybe I was onto something here; but my train of thought derailed, my artistic license expired and my attempt at profound thought fell flat.
My apologies...



Edited by Cylli Kat - February 07 2008 at 23:24

Oh, and that guy in Dun invented an instrument called the swisscheeseaphone or something, but then again I have a feeling that there's a good reason nobody ever felt compelled to record him playing it.  

For odd time signatures, just listen to Dave Brubeck Quartet, great band for jazz, even though I only own one album... Take five, that's the one with all the oddities in time. ;)

If we're talking about "What has prog invented which has influenced the rest of the music world ever since?" then my vote would go to:  the idea of an album being a single, unified artwork rather than merely a collection of songs, which is what pop/rock albums tended to be before prog started creeping into the picture.  I say "creeping into the picture" because I don't think you can honestly say that prog had a definite start here or here or here or over here.  (Case in point:  ask prog fans what the first prog rock album was and see how many different answers you get.)  But as a result of prog rock and its spawning of album-oriented bands (bands who didn't have to rely on hit singles for their fame and success), popular music albums, of whatever genre, tend to be seen now as unified works rather than just anthologies of singles with filler.  I'm sure there are exceptions, but the thing is that, when releasing an original studio album, artists THEMSELVES nowadays think of their releases as works as a whole.  That mindset-- thinking of an album in that way-- was what prog gave the music world more than anything else, IMHO.