The Story of Progressive Rock

Some Prog-Rock 
Cover Album Artwork

I don't know when was exactly for the first time I was listening or falling in love for the first time to progressive rock. The only thing I remember just, Dream Theater was the first band I heard and successfully make me falling in love with progressive rock. Since then I try to explore something more from progressive rock band, then I get some "legendary" name such as Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis, Yes, Focus, etc.

I love progressive rock because of their music represent something different from another genres, like fantasy, adventure, a long and devastating journey, about life, etc. I also love it because of it musicians always high technique in playing the instrument but with a beautiful dynamic symphony and melody. Okay, enough with the jibber-jabber, in this post I'm gonna give some explanation and short history about progressive rock, enjoy.

Okay! Before we read the article, let's play this song first High Hopes from Pink Floyd!!!! Enjoy...

• About Progressive Rock

YES

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Progressive rock (often shortened to prog or prog rock) is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s is mostly as part of an attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. The term "art rock" is often used interchangeably with "progressive rock", but while there are crossovers between the two genres, they are not identical. Progressive rock is a rock music subgenre which originated in the United Kingdom, with further developments in Germany, Italy and France, throughout the mid to late 1960s and 1970s. Developing from psychedelic rock, progressive rock originated, similarly toart rock, as a "British attempt" to give greater artistic weight and credibility to rock music.  Progressive rock intended to break the boundaries of traditional rock music by bringing in a greater and more eclectic range of influences, including free-form and experimental compositional methods, as well as new technological innovations.

Progressive rock saw a high level of popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in the mid-part of the decade, with bands such as Pink Floyd, Golden Earring, The Moody Blues, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes, Camel, Jethro Tull and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Prog rock is essentially a mix of classical music and rock, characterized by virtuoso solos, frequent changes in time signatures, concept albums, and less reliance on the guitar than in hard rock.

• Characteristics

Progressive rock is not crisply delineated from other genres, but is more likely than other types of popular music to feature characteristics such as:

1. Abrupt changes of tempo, key and time signature.
2. Asymmetric time signatures such as 5/8 and 7/8.
3. Very complicated rhythms.
4. Lyrical themes drawing inspiration from fantasy and science fiction.
5. Concept albums.
6. Unusual musical instruments
7. Song organization that eschews the typical "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus" format.
8. Melodies inspired by the complexities of classical music, jazz, and non-Western traditions.
9. Odd synthesizer programming, sound effects and other novel additions.

• History

Progressive rock developed from late 1960s psychedelic rock, as part of a wide-ranging tendency in rock music of this era to draw inspiration from ever more diverse influences. The term was applied to the music of bands such as King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Soft Machine and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Progressive rock came into most widespread use around the mid-1970s. While progressive rock reached the peak of its popularity in the 1970s and early 1980s, neo-progressive bands have continued playing for faithful audiences in the subsequent decades.

• Late 60s and beginning of the 70s

Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso (BMS)

Pink Floyd

It all began with psychedelic music, (i.e. earlier Pink Floyd). Then came bands such as King Crimson and YES at the end of the sixties. King Crimson, along with Van Der Graaf Generator (VDGG) helped define a sub-genre of the progressive music called hard prog ('hard' referring to the tormented atmosphere of their records, however "In The Court In The Crimson King" is symphonic prog). YES were playing symphonic rock, so called because of the use of a symphonic orchestra. Genesis were already recording at the end of the sixties but their links to the progressive rock were not yet defined. With the album "Trespass", things became clear about Genesis. YES and Genesis remain icons in symphonic rock music. At the same time as symphonic rock was developing in Great Britain, many Italian bands were performing a similar type of music : Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso (BDMS), Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Le Orme,etc. These two countries were the most prolific as far as progressive rock is concerned.

• The 70s era

 Jethro Tull

Supertramp

After Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd, their music became softer with ethereal passages : they defined a new sub-genre, space rock. After The Yardbirds split, Keith Relf formed with his wife Jane the band Renaissance, a group that blended folk music with progressive rock. Jethro Tull and Renaissance were also qualified as a folk prog band. Another sub-genre of the progressive rock was also developing in the seventies : art rock, led by bands such as Supertramp, Roxy Music, 10 CC. The aforementioned bands were playing a less complex music than in the different prog sub-class. In Germany, a group called Tangerine Dream was playing a music built solely with respect to electronic instruments, thus their music was called "Electronic" (or New Age"), in spite of the fact that it may incorporate a considerable number of not electronic instruments (as is the situation for Mike Oldfield), Vangelis and Synergy also classified to this sub-genre. Many of the German bands that appeared at the beginning of the seventies were classified as "Krautrock", an additional sub-genre of the progressive rock. Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Cluster playing a minimalistic form of the elctronic music in 70s, this category called ambient.  Moreover, in England a sub-genre based on improvisation and with a jazz background appeared in 1973 with the release of Henry Cow's "Leg End" (RIO, Rock In Opposition).  Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), Atomic Rooster and The Nice belonging to a sub-genre called classical prog, as they often feature a song that is an adaptation of a piece of classical music. Another band was also strongly rooted in jazz but included also influences ranging from Stockhausen to Duke Ellington, via opera : Magma, who created the Zeuhl sub-genre, with a language intelligible only by them ("Kobaïa"). So, at the end of the seventies you have 10 new sub-genres in the progressive rock : art rock, folk prog, classical prog, RIO, jazz-fusion, Zeuhl, ambient, electronic, krautrock, pomp prog.

• The 80s era

The progressive rock was supplanted by the "punk movement" at the end of the seventies, a "music" which aim was to prove that everyone could play music. "Punk" gave rise to the cold wave in the 80s and prog rock was reduced to what was called neo-progressive (a simpler form of the symphonic prog but with much present drums), and an embryo of what became at the beginning of the 90s the metal-prog. Saga were probably the first to play this neo-progressive, but Marillion, IQ and Pendragon are the best representatives of this sub-genre. 

• The 90s era

Dream Theater First Formation

At the late 80s Proggressive Metal were developed with Dream Theater's "Images And Words". owever, in the eighties some groups were already playing a heavy metal based progressive music. In the USA Mike Varney, who founded the prog label Magna Carta, and in Europe the Inside Out Label. Spock's Beard were playing a symphonic prog with references to Gentle Giant and Genesis and Echlolyn and Izz were playing a music closer to neo-prog. Northern Europe, a Scandinavian symphonic prog scene developed with bands such as The Flower Kings, Anglagard and Sinkadus, A Post-RIO scene also developed with Djam Karet, Thinking Plague. Thus, in the nineties you have a revival of the prog scene not only with the appearance of a new sub-genre : metal prog but also with bands playing the styles developed in the seventies.

Focus the Dutch Classical Prog-Rock

Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)
With his synth and iPad

In this age progressive rock always improvising with another new genres with modern instrument such as electronic (dubstep in Muse newest album "The 2nd Law"), until now there're no specific explanation about "How Progressive Rock must be classified?" because Prog-Rock always improvising with any genres as many as possible, that's why I do love this genre, you can improvising with some old-classical melodies or playing it with some modern instrument. In the early age prog-rock always played or combined with some classical instrument (eg. violin, flute, grand piano, etc) but in modern age, people can play it with a modern synthesizer or even an iPad. 

Source: 

http://classicrock.about.com/od/newreleases/a/101_progrock.htm

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive-rock.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_rock