Political Prog

When Gentle Giant came to do a concert in Italy, some journalists asked if they would play for free. They were astonished, but replied (like good Englishmen) in a very polite way. 

Why did they ask that question?

Because the left-wing movement that gave concerts with singer-songwriters (Guccini, De André, Branduardi, Bennato, Dalla etc.) or prog groups demanded ‘proletarian prices’ for concerts or even free concerts.

Many authors of the Cramps edition (to which Area belonged), like Eugenio Finardi, often gave free concerts.

Some singer-songwriters who had high ticket prices were highly contested, including throwing objects on stage.

Prog music in Italy developed during what have been called the ‘Years of Lead’ (the 1970s). The European movement, especially the French and Italian 1968, coincided in Italy with a series of state massacres. I say "State massacres" because the secret services were always involved (in fact, it was "black terrorism"). In 1969, for example, there was the most famous Italian state massacre, which triggered the extra-parliamentary left-wing movements that later partly led to red terrorism. The last great state massacre took place in 1980-

So 1969-1980 is the time span of the ‘anni di piombo’ and coincides with the prog years.

During this period, the extra-parliamentary left-wing movement gave rise to a series of political practices that were assimilated by prog music: Area, PFM, Banco and Stormy Six were politically aligned and militant groups - and also other lesser-known ones. As I have already explained, Museo Rosenbach, as a group, broke up immediately after their debut  also because of the protests due to the image of Mussolini on the cover of Zartahustra album. The Orme were opposed at prog gatherings because they were openly Catholic.

Consider that in Italy there was a structure, called Gladio, and a Masonic lodge, called Propaganda2, which depended directly on the US, whose aim was to prevent the Communist Party from going into government. These structures were de facto subversive and contained politicians and generals and secret service agents. In 1974 in Italy there were two fascist massacres (but always with the help of the secret services) that were intended to be the prelude to a right-wing coup d'état.

Also in those years, in Italy, there were two epoch-making referendums: the one for abortion and the one for divorce, which saw the victory of the left.