Prog Fans in Our 60's

Thanks, Bob! I still think Steven W. did more to resuscitate Prog than anyone. That 90s stuff was awesome! And those concerts look so polished. Just as Floyd would have wanted them.

Though it was my brother's album collection that sealed my conversion to "prog" with his In-a-gadda-da-vida, Beatles, Stones, Uriah Heep, Alvin Lee, Brian Auger, Blue Öyster Cult, and Nektar, but I was a Detroit-born Soul/R&B radio fanatic (I lived for CKLW's weekly countdown of their Top 30). it was the arrival of the album-friendly FM radio stations in Detroit, WABX and WRIF, that captivated me--where I was able to hear non-Top 40 Billboard songs from various albums as well as the album versions of some great AM-edited "hits" (like The Moody Blues's "Nights in White Satin," Argent's "Hold Your Head Up," many Led Zeppelin songs including the full version of "Stairway to Heaven," Rod Stewart's "Maggie May," Grand Funk Railroad's "Closer to Home," "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath," Deodato's "Also Sprach Zarathustra," even multiple full-length versions from Marvin Gaye's What's Going On) that's what lured me into album consumerism and alternative musics. 

While I loved my radio days, my records shop days in the 45s section at Kresge's, buying my first Supertramp, Genesis, Nektar, and Yes albums from Record World in the Hollywood Arcade in Petoskey, flipping through bins of cut-outs at Boogie Records in Kalamazoo or Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor, there has been no greater learning or exciting period of musical growth than I've had here in the eleven years I've had at ProgArchives. But I would have never found this place had my same brother not introduced me to the fact that Prog was alive and well in the 21st Century as he slipped me a CD mix of Porcupine Tree songs around 2004. I was floored! I had no idea! I truly thought prog had died in the 1970s! Though my musical tastes had remained fully attracted to off-the-beaten path non-Top 40 indie music, I had also ventured into classical and jazz music history to satisfy my sad loss of progressive rock. Who knew there were prog bands popping up all over the planet throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s? I certainly didn't. My "prog" had been XTC, David Sylvian, Ryuichi Sakamoto, The Church, Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Bill Bruford's Earthworks. Little did I know . . . So little.

So for those interested, here is my journey. If not, please move along, nothing to see here.

I was raised on crooners -- Jim Nabors, Mario Lanza, Al Martino, etc. BUT my dad liked good country -- Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, etc. plus a lot of pop music of the 60s. He also loved Roy Orbison. (And polkas, eee-eye-eee-eye-oh, no). And my mom loved Elvis, even took me to see him in his rhinestone suit a couple of years before his passing.

The first song that really hit me hard, when I was 7 or 8 years old, was "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary. It made me cry. From that day on, I liked songs that were serious or melancholy. Other favorites as I grew up were "Indian Reservation" by the Raiders, "Timothy" by the Buoys (if you've never heard this song, give it a listen and the lyrics will stun you), "Light My Fire" by the Doors and then I discovered Simon & Garfunkel, which changed my life.

The first album I ever bought was "Sounds of Silence," which led me to get the rest of their albums, which I still love today. That led me into other folk artists like Al Stewart, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Shawn Phillips, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Richard Thompson and the like.

Then I discovered Elton John, which changed my life. I listened to his s/t album and was blown away. I then bought Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water (IMHO one of the greatest albums ever made) and everything he did up until Caribou, which I hated. But the big moment for me came on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road -- "Funeral For A Friend" is an all-out prog song and my fave at the time. "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" posed a problem though. It was pretty damn close to hard rock, which until that point I'd shied away from. Now I had to decide, did I like it or not? I did.

I had shunned Zeppelin etc.., buying my parents' line that "it's just screaming." When I told this to my best friend who was trying to get my to listen to Zeppelin, he replied, "Yes, but it's GREAT screaming." That changed the way I looked at things and I gave it a spin. Holy f---k Batman! So this is what I've been missing.

From that point on I absorved everything I could get my hands on. In one year I went from "Your Song" to "The End" by the Doors, "DOA" by Bloodrock and "Dead Babies" by Alice Cooper. (My parents were very impressed).

The next two albums that really impacted me were Jethro Tull "Aqualung," which is in my Top 10 of all time, and Spirit "The Family That Plays Together." Both albums got me interested in cover art, and Spirit is the first group I ever saw in concert -- my mom had to drive me to the show, which was in a high school gymnasium!

But my life changed once and for all when I took "Houses of the Holy" to my buddy's house. Before we put it on, he wanted me to hear something he'd just gotten, an album by a group called King Crimson. I was blown away like never before. The album was even crazier than the cover art. "21st Century Schizoid Man" blew me away, "I Talk to the Wind" was beautiful beyond belief and "Epitaph" was the greatest song I'd ever heard. I made a cassette tape of "Epitaph" recorded over and over; I used to go to sleep listening to it with headphones on.

When my friend loved "Houses of the Holy," I proposed a swap -- and the fool accepted. I remember practically skipping on clouds as I walked home from his house, thinking what a sucker he was. I still think so today, even though I do love "Houses of the Holy."

Then it was off to college in Florida, where my pool-playing abilities earned me extra cash that I promptly spent at Spec's record store in Lakeland. I went to school with a couple dozen albums and came home with nearly 200! I would go to the store, start at the letter A and just look for any album that had the following combination:  A cool cover, 4 or less songs per side, and musicians who played multiple instruments. Mellotrons were desirable. I remember one great purchase with which I discovered Ange, Camel and Caravan all at one time!

Using my method, I found groups like Eloy, Pulsar, Sensations Fix and so on. High school friends introduced me to Hawkwind and Pink Floyd.

After 1979, I felt like prog had died and I hated what happened to the music scene. I lucked into discovering Marillion and Suzanne Vega on the same day by listening to latenight college radio and realized there was good music still out there. Coincidentally, Marillion played shortly after and I attended the show. While in line, a couple of guys who turned out to be in the band Discipline told me of the prog underground and about John Collinge's Progresssion magazine.

A whole new world opened and I've never looked back.

Some of my favorite newer prog groups are Anglagard, Anekdoten, The Psychedlic Ensemble, Edison's Children, Phideaux and although they're now defunct, my all-time faves Porcupine Tree.

One group that should be on prog archives as prog-related is dada. Check out "Puzzle," "A Friend of Pat Robertson," "A Trip With My Dad," "Feel Me" or "Ask The Wind" and see what I mean. They're my next-favorite group of all-time.

My fave from the old days? King Crimson. I literally teared up hearing them do material from their classic albums when I saw them in Cleveland a couple of years ago. Their live version of "The Letters" was chilling and better than any I've heard.

Today as I write this I am halfway to age 63 and have more than 3,300 albums in my collection, the vast majority of which are prog or prog-related.

I love this website for all the good music I've discovered through it.

Thanks for listening!