Prog Rock

[Narrowly defined] A loosely connected bunch of English bands working in a rock

idiom circa 1969-78 who sought to expand the possibilities of rock by means of
techniques derived from the history of European ‘art’ (folk, classical and/or avant-
garde) music.

Prog Rock (England c1969-76)

• Rock History
Purist Narrative I: “Authentic” White Rock derived from R & B

55-57 Generation: Rockabilly, Sun studios, Eddie Cochrane etc

58-62 Degeneration: Manufactured Clean Teen idols (Paul Anka, James Darren)
63-70 Regeneration: Surf Music, British Invasion, Psychedelia, Country Rock
70-79 Degeneration: Bland California ‘Cocaine’ Rock (Eagles, Fleetwood Mac),
Glam Rock, Prog Rock, Disco
76-80 Regeneration: Punk/New Wave, Reggae
81-87 Degeneration: Corporate “Stadium” Rock, “Hair Bands”, Synth Pop
87-98 Regeneration: US Punk (Husker Du, Pixies, “Seattle” etc); ‘Political’ Rap &
Hip Hop; Trip Hop; Britpop
99 – present Degeneration: “Boy Band Punk”; Corporate Rap; Robbie Williams

• Purist Narrative II: Rock = ceaselessly Avant-Garde

60s [Rock = counter culture]

Beatles “Revolver;” Dylan “Blonde on Blonde”; Beach Boys “Smile”
(not completed till 2004).
“Acid’ Rock (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, early Pink Floyd,
Soft Machine)
High Conceptual Modernism: Zappa/Beefheart
Minimalism: Velvet Underground.
70s [Rock becomes mainstream - avant rock = anti-rock]
Krautrock (Can, Faust, Kraftwerk)
Avant Brit (Robert Wyatt, Henry Cow); Prog Rock
 Avant Punk (Pere Ubu, Wire, The Pop Group)
The Residents.
80s Irredeemable but for Brian Eno and associates; Sonic Youth.
90s [Electronic] Trip Hop; Jungle; Drum and Bass.
00s Various eg Solex, The Books, Ghost. [Insert favoured artist here so long as hardly
anybody else knows about them!].

• Philip Ennis (1995) The Seventh Stream: The Emergence of Rock n Roll in
American Popular Music

Musical Stream a loose structure: “the sound of ordinary life generating its tribal cries
as it seeks its tribal ties.”
1/. An Artistic System:
Producers (Create); Distributors [Promoters, Labels, Radio, Shops etc]
(Circulate); Audiences (Use); Critics (Evaluate).
2/. A Complex and Mixed Economic Framework (the intertwining of the following):
i/. Consumers select the music they want to purchase from the fare
offered by artists and distributors.
ii/. Third party choice: where radio and television programmers are
given the right to choose the music for the audience.
iii/. ‘Gift’ economy: Everything from free concerts and giveaways to
lines of communication and exchanges between friends.
3/. Participation in some sort of social movement or social formation (egs):
i/. Defence and enhancement of a specific race, class, caste, age group,
gender, or some geographical-cultural entity such as the South, the City, or the
Nation.
ii/. Social formation actively dedicated to a single idea: a search for
social change; sacred celebration; a good time.
4/. An ‘ethos’: distinctive symbols and ways of behaving (hair and clothing styles,
languages, gestures, posture, ceremonies).

• A song in any of the streams is at the same moment a “piece” in the artistic
system, a “product” of its economy, and a unit of “propaganda” in its social
movement.

The creative person is simultaneously the “artist,” an economic “property,” and a

symbolic “leader” to its movement’s followers.

• Three “large” streams: seek audiences of unlimited size regardless of race,

class or nationality

1/. White Pop: commercial music reaching the largest audience: by 1930: theatre
music (Broadway), movie music (Hollywood) and popular songs (Tin Pan Alley – the
Brill Building in New York). After c1960 tendency for performers/producers to (co)
write their own material
2/. Black Pop: Race music (1920-48), Rhythm and Blues (1948-69), Soul (1969-90s),
Rhythm and Blues/Hip Hop (1990s- )
3/. Country Pop: Popular music of the American white South and Southwest.
Before WWII ‘Hillbilly.’ After WWII ‘Country and Western.’ From 1960s ‘Country’.
 • Three Smaller Strands: mistrustful of the commercial imperatives of the
popular music industry

4/. Jazz: developed in New Orleans at the end of c19 and after 1917 gradually
migrated west to Texas and up the Mississippi to Chicago then on to New York.
5/. Folk music: All ethnic and regional cultures contribute to its enormous, untidy and
anonymous reservoir. As the c20 progressed folk performers simply appropriated the
music in their own names.
6/. Gospel: Music of the church. Since the 1990s the rise of Christian Rock.

• The seventh stream

Rock n roll: an amalgam of the other six streams: rock n roll took over and fused
elements from white pop, black pop, country pop, jazz, folk and gospel.

Thus key defining feature of rock n roll is hybridity and eclecticism. (NOT purity!)

• Prog Rock: Two key historical developments

Late 50s and 60s rock internationalizes. British Invasion 1964ff (Brit bands take up
rock n roll and sell it back to the US). Prog Rock = a second wave of Brit bands
taking up rock n roll c 1967-70
Fragmentation of Rock audience c1970
California mellow (Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac)
Glam (David Bowie, Roxy Music, Slade, Sweet)
Rock n roll (50s) revival
Heavy Metal (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin)
Post 60s (eg Dylan, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Rolling
Stones, Post Beatles)
Avant-garde rock (Zappa, Beefheart, Todd Rundgren, Henry
Cow, Robert Wyatt)
Prog Rock.
Prog Lite (Queen, Supertramp, Electric Light Orchestra,
Moody Blues)

• Macan 3 kinds of Prog Rock song (pp 42-43)

3-4 Minute pop songs – basically conventional pop-songs in form but more emphasis
might be placed on contrasting instrumental middle sections than in other pop genres.

6-12 Minute songs – a “song” that has been expanded to enormous proportions by the
inclusion of lengthy instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes, as well as one or
more contrasting bridge sections.

20-80 Minute multi-movement suites – One side of an album (Pink Floyd Atom Heart
Mother); An entire album (Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick); an entire double album (Yes
Tales From Topographic Oceans).
 • Roundabout Yes (1971)

Introduction:
i/. tape recorded sound played backward crescendos/acoustic guitar playing
harmonics and classically influenced melodic pattern in a free tempo
ii/. guitar progression establishing tempo of song (about 135bpm) in 4/4 time.

A: vamp: guitar harmonics; active bass (rising pattern) and drums

1st verse: “I’ll be the roundabout …” concludes in 2/4 time: “callin’ morning driving
thru the sun and in and out the valley”
2nd verse: “The muses dance and sing …” concludes in 2/4
B: Chorus: “In and around the lake …” Harmonies on vocal. Chuck Berry guitar riff.
Switches between 4/4 and 2/4 giving a complex irregularity to the beat pattern.

A: Vamp: including short turnaround with prominent keyboard

3rd verse: “I will remember you …”
Chorus: “In and around the lake …”
Keyboard Turnaround

C: [long section] bass riff (varies Chuck Berry guitar riff from before), many
percussion effects. “Along the drifting cloud … I’ll be the roundabout …”

D: Variation on Introduction. Minimalist synthesiser pattern (cf Philip Glass).

“Pastoral” vocal: “In and around the lake …” Swells

E: long instrumental section strong back beat

i/. Chuck Berry guitar riff from chorus keyboard solo
ii/. Synth and guitar
iii/. Variation on Chuck Berry guitar riff
iv/. Variations on ii

4th verse: “I’ll be the roundabout …” (with harmonies)

Chorus: “In and around the lake …”

F: ‘Beach boys’ harmony vocal odd accents 7/4? “da da da da da da du …”

Conclusion: classical theme on guitar

• Prog Rock: Common Traits

Long songs, highly structured. Extended instrumental solos (on any instrument) only
sometimes improvised.
Multi-mood compositions: songs mix loud passages, soft passages, and musical
crescendos to provide to the dynamics of the arrangement.
Blending of acoustic, electric and electronic instruments.
Inclusion of musical styles from other than a rock format (European folk, baroque and
classical musics, avant-garde musics).
Importance of the keyboard as opposed to guitar (eg entirely keyboard driven bands
like ELP). Keyboard as both virtuoso as well as providing orchestral simulation.
Occasional use of live symphony orchestra for symphonic backing (experimented
with but not common due to prohibitive expense).
Lyrical preoccupations: NOT the here and now - classical “mythological” past;
English history; science fiction future
Concept albums – all tracks on an album relate to an overall concept or even tell a
story.

• Concept Albums

• English Pastoral
• Pseudo-Medievalism

• Genesis: Mythological Past; Englishness (Lewis Carroll; The Fox; 1930s-50s

England; Emily Bronte; Dickens/Thackeray)
• Science Fiction Future; Outer Space

• Influences/precedents
 • Prog Rock (England c1969-76)

• Prog Rock: Key social factors

Education. Middle-class culture. Attendance at University.

The Anglican Church
Agonistic relationship with US culture – wanting to bring something authentically
European into the rock mix.
“Hippy” philosophy.

• Why did Prog Rock decline?

Standard argument: in the period 1967-70 Prog rock bands had a close relationship to
their counter-cultural audience. In the period 1970-76, when prog became more and
more successful, prog bands only played arenas and stadium, and thus became
increasingly alienated from their audience. This facilitated the decline of prog rock.
• Pink Floyd: Roundhouse, Marquee & UFO Club circa 1967

• Pink Floyd 1975; The Wall 1981; 1980s

 • Arguments against the “alienation from audience thesis”

Works okay for Pink Floyd but not really for any other prog rock bands.
Punk rock version simply pro-punk propoganda.
Logical error – no reason to suppose losing original audience = reason for a decline.
Very British argument. Prog remained popular in the United States.

• Prog vs Punk a battle over who represents the counter-culture.

Prog (NOT the here and now). Pot and LSD. Turn back on mainstream culture and
invest in fantasies of otherness.

Punk (The here and now). Speed and alcohol. Noisy oppositional politics. DIY
aesthetic.

© David Baker 2006