What ever happened to E.L.P.?

It had nothing to do with competition. ELP were already labelled 'Dinosaurs' as were many other bands in the mainstream rock press. Prog rock had thrived when there was a base of music critics who took them seriously. When that changed it was the beginning of the end. Punk Rock was a much more serious thing than you are crediting it for being and a lot of those guys were well aware of prog bands and even liked them. But too many prog artists were stuck up their own bums and were unable to change. Also plain fact of it is that ELP, Yes, Genesis, Supertramp and many more bands of the classic era were running on fumes and their glory days were in the past. Pink Floyd were always a bit late to the party but kind of adapted because they could see what was happening. ELP should have been too big to fail but history tells us otherwise. His Piano Concerto was indeed a step too far but not because it was bad but because of perception (up own arse and all that). Maybe Love Beach was an attempt to look relaxed and 'hey look at us guys we can get down with the kids etc' . It was utterly unconvincing and actually terrible in a very real way. At least with the Piano Concerto, Keith was being authentic and true to himself. Don't ever lose that or you have nothing.

Hi,

It was a generic comment, and not intended to be taken seriously, or directly as you have. 

The point was, that the music, in those days, was so different, that few people that posted here on this thread can really relate to it, and I don't mean that badly, in the sense that the times are different, but looking at ELP as if it were a today's band, that should be listed in the monthly numbers, or year end best of lists, makes it look like this old band is not that good ... and I find that sad ... to me it's like saying that Stravinsky is old and dead, and the music is crap ... and that would be a comment on the knowledge of music a lot more on the reality of the situation, and a bit about the history of music, that is/was, once again, poor ... remember that Debussy was booed, and Ravel was thrown garbage for a while.

With the media today, we have a chance to set things right, and give the folks that deserve it a chance, and instead, the only thing that can be said is making a comment about what I said instead of adding to the thread.

I stand up to be counted, and was there when the music came around ... a lot of folks here would not be there at all because of the commercial reality of things that is so visible today ... not that it wasn't THEN, but that was EXACTLY what we revolted against, and the FM radio dial was our great helper ... to the point that we still discuss that music. Shame that there is little appreciation for what so many folks did and helped this music, and have to put up with some comments!

But, that's not to say that there were not comments on ELP then. There were, but I think that many folks were confused with their classical nature opposite their pop/rock stuff. It didn't bother me a whole lot, because it was far out ... but in today's style and parlayance, I think ELP would be trashed even more, specially with anyone being able to say whatever they want, regardless. 

And it is very sad that it is all about the "preferences" and not the music itself ... there is nothing more that a true musician wants than appreciation for their work. It's what an art is for, and what artists live for.