How Popular was Prog in its Heyday?

They'd probably charge you $60 just to drive by the place

Slartibartfast wrote: Hercules wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: Hercules wrote: Prog was the dominant form of music from about 71 to 77, when punk blew it away. Well I'm rather surprised to hear the news that punk blew prog away in '77 as that's about the time I really got into prog.  That's a tired old bit of crap I hear posted a little bit too much.  Kind of like arguing disco blew prog away.  If anything blew it away it was commercialitis.  And actually it didn't blow it away but just marginalized it somewhat.  The big names were diminished and some quit but if you knew where to look, it carried on just fine, thank you very much. How popular was prog in it's heyday?  I'd give it a 75 or so on a scale of whatever. Not crap at all. I was alive then and can remember the effect all too well. Prog nights and discos in pubs just disappeared within a few months to be replaced by spiky haired, gobbing morons who bounced up and down (pogoing, they called it) to tuneless thrashes from beginners who couldn't play their instruments. And yes, it was the overcommercialism of prog (Wakeman's Myths and Legends on ice being one of the worst cases) that led directly to the punk backlash. Punk was a direct reaction to prog's excesses; overcommercialism and the excessive emphasis on musical virtuosity led to punk, which had an "anyone can play it even if you're totally crap" philosophy. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. Well, I guess there's the perspective from where you lived and where I lived (Atlanta BTW).  We're a bit slower around here.

Sorry, I didn't realise you lived across the pond. You might be absolutely correct where you lived; I finished my Ph D in Canada in June 77 and went home to do post doctoral work in London (Imperial College) and after about 6 months, I walked into an absolute s**tstorm of punk which drove prog off the top of the tree in Britain. Prog DID continue, but at a much lower level. It reemerged with Marillion in the early 80s when punk began to wane. I suspect if you had lived in NY, you might have found my comments applied there too.

Negoba wrote: I think it's a stretch to say that prog was THE dominant form of music. Country (both straight and country-rock) along with related genres of folk-rock and singer-songwriter had a huge surge during the early 70's that did not take quite the hit from disco and punk that prog did.

This is very true. I was a teenager in the 1970s (born 1960) and I had just a few friends who were into prog. Many more were into country rock, soul and funk, heavy rock, glam or singer-songwriters.

On the other hand, I remember Yes, Led Zep, and the Floyd being amazingly popular in the U.K. When I first visited London in the summer of 1975, all the boutiques in Carnaby Street sold posters, T-shirts and merchandise for those bands. Plus all the Roger Dean posters you could wish for. (I remember how surprised I was; I had always assumed Yes was a minority interest.) But when I went back in 1977 the merchandise had all disappeared and you could buy mainly Sex Pistols and Bob Marley stuff. (I still remember how shocked I was!)

But the emergence of punk didn't mean prog disappeared overnight. GOING FOR THE ONE topped the U.K. charts and I believe the ensuing tour was Yes's biggest-grossing ever. After PG left, Genesis just kept growing (commercially, at least) and around the same time Jethro Tull played this amazing concert at Madison Square Garden which was broadcast live around the globe via satellite.

The rise of punk saw the sudden supplanting of prog/hippie culture by punk culture. But don't make the mistake of assuming this was reflected in music sales. Far fewer people bought punk records than you might think. The biggest albums during the brief punk era were not pure punk records. (Nor were they prog.)

The major effect of punk on the music scene was two-fold: it influenced the sound of music for a decade afterwards (and that influence is still discernible), and it saw a dramatic culture change away from the naive, blissful hippie decade 1967-76 (with which prog was associated) to a much harder, more aggressive, self-centered decade (1977-86). After this culture change it became very important for people to ridicule what went before. Flares! Cheesecloth! Prog!

Pop continued to dominate the singles charts, which is why it's called pop, and this is a tautology because whatever dominates the charts is called pop. It's just that pop changed from being prog-influenced to being punk-influenced.

How big was prog in its heyday? Actual prog, the stuff in prog categories in our archives here, sold well but was only a rather small proportion of total music sales. A few bands had top-selling albums, and even fewer had top-selling singles. Soft rock, for example, sold more records than prog. But during that period much of the charts sounded like prog, as this dynamic feedback thingy went on - prog influenced everything else, and because prog is eclectic, everything else influenced prog. So it's easy to be fooled into thinking that prog dominated the airwaves and music charts.


Edited by russellk - May 27 2009 at 14:47

crimson87 wrote: A passion play # 1 on charts =pretty popular

Yeah, I don't think I'll ever understand that, especially seeing the waves of negative criticism it gets to this day.


Edited by Scoppioingola - May 27 2009 at 14:59

There are two myths:

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - May 27 2009 at 15:28

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: 2.- Prog was never the great force some people believe, in the 70's I went to the stores and found such bands as Tavares, The Spinners, Stylistics, Donna Summer, etc, and if lucky enough, one Yes or Pink Floyd album.   Yes, many more people knew Prog, but still the top 40's sucked as usual.   Iván

Edited by Dean - May 27 2009 at 15:48

http://www.gepr.net/marshallmoment.html

Slartibartfast wrote: Hercules wrote: Prog was the dominant form of music from about 71 to 77, when punk blew it away. Well I'm rather surprised to hear the news that punk blew prog away in '77 as that's about the time I really got into prog.  That's a tired old bit of crap I hear posted a little bit too much.  Kind of like arguing disco blew prog away.  If anything blew it away it was commercialitis.  And actually it didn't blow it away but just marginalized it somewhat.  The big names were diminished and some quit but if you knew where to look, it carried on just fine, thank you very much. How popular was prog in it's heyday?  I'd give it a 75 or so on a scale of whatever.

I remember disco.  Even went to a disco once.  I did a little dance, made a little love and got down that night!

Slartibartfast wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there any NeoPunk out there? NeoDisco?  Maybe those music types are so immortal that there's no need for neo versions?