What is prog rock?

“Progressive rock - also known as “prog rock,” “classical rock” or “art rock” - is a unique form of rock music, occurring at the intersection between rock, soul, blues and jazz styles with classical and symphonic sounds and structures.”

The problem of the "correct terminology" is back - “progressive music” or “progressive rock” (or “prog,” for close friends) - with you to choose! The etymology of those terms has become almost “evil,” creating such a “headache” that it is difficult even to consider, much less catalogue this diverting genre of music. But is the “essence” of something not specific to each one of us? After all, what good is it to disparage an album if one has not listened to it? With “progressive rock,” one often only truly enjoys an album after having listened to it several times. Our tympanums are our interpreters, but the “spirit” is our only judge.

It would take a very astute mind to define prog clearly. Many such minds have tried, with varying degrees of success, but ultimately each person has his/her own definition. Given human nature, there is nothing surprising about that, and yet even I have not yet offered a definition to anyone… yet. Now I do so, with, inevitably, an ounce (or maybe more…) of partiality:

I would like to dispense with the myth that “Progressive Rock” emerged in the United Kingdom like a phoenix from the ashes. Indeed, the majority of bands who were newly formed at the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s were very much inspired by the examples of British and American acts such as The BEATLES, FRANK ZAPPA, PINK FLOYD, CREAM, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, SOFT MACHINE, The NICE, PROCOL HARUM, and The MOODY BLUES. They were quickly followed by a new geneneration of progressive rock bands like KING CRIMSON, YES, GENESIS, EMERSON LAKE & PALMER, JETHRO TULL, GENTLE GIANT, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR and many others from all over the world. Also, there were other bands who were looking for totally new forms and methods of playing together, such as HARMONIUM and RUSH (Canada), ANGE and MAGMA (France), AMON DUUL, CAN, ELOY and TANGERINE DREAM (Germany), BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO and PFM (Italy), TRIANA (Spain), STYX and KANSAS (USA), and GONG (muti-national), to name but a few.

By pushing the research a little further, one realizes that, in general, most definitions of “progressive rock” share in common such terms as “EVOLUTION,” “PROGRESSION,” “INNOVATION” and “UNCOMMERCIAL."

The main defining characteristics and tendencies are that the compositions are more elaborate than the standard rock song structure of verse, chorus etc. Musicianship is often taken to the limit - and indeed, many of innovative and open-minded bands in "prog rock" had their origins in the late 1960s art school of Britain. They were created to represent a philosophical approach to rock by experimenting with unusual musical instruments including wind sections (flute, saxophone) and string sections (violin, cellos, harpsichord, etc.), electronic experiments (MOOG & ARP synthesizers, the Mellotron, HAMMOND B-3 organ) and full orchestration. The arrangements incorporate stylisation based on jazzy theory, classical elements, world or even avant-garde music. The lyrics, where they exist, are often poetic, conceptual (a musical "journey" with intricate melodies and harmony) or based in fantasy.

With regard to musical structure, “prog” usually offers complex arrangements - often including long, beautiful instrumental sections (pieces from 6- to 20-minutes long) - and virtuoso musicianship, combining technical mastery and emotional solos. An early example is the 23-minute “Echoes” by PINK FLOYD. Other famous examples include YES’ “Close to the Edge” (18 minutes) and GENESIS’ “Supper’s Ready” (23 minutes). When not forced into using “mainstream” structures, artists have freer reign to integrate their individual and collective cultures and influences - classical (early symphonic prog), jazz, traditional - into the “energy” of their music.

“My ears are lucky to hear

These glorious songs

Of inspiration

And voices crafted fromThunder

The power of life”

- Happy Rhodes, “Feed The Fire” (Warpaint version)

The progressive rock movement began in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s branching off from the fields of psychedelic and underground rock - that somehow progressed beyond the constraints of traditional musical structures by adopting influences from jazz-rock fusion ("jazz-rock" in the U.K. & "fusion" in the U.S.), classical, folk, avant-garde, experimental and world music. It is through these various tendencies that many sub-genres later will be established : Canterbury, symphonic prog (probably the most famous names in prog), space rock, folk prog, Krautrock, Zeuhl, neo-prog, prog metal, post-rock, experimental etc… and it is today one of the most interesting and widely overlooked musical phenomena of the 20th Century.

Like any music, "progressive rock" has subgenres, defined according to the way in which various artists interpreted the new "current." Ultimately, if one wanted to complicate matters, one could "define" an almost unlimited number of subgenres.

However, without being completely exhaustive, the various tendencies (or forms of progressive rock music) are:

Psychedelic (PINK FLOYD), jazz-fusion (FRANK ZAPPA), the Canterbury School (CARAVAN, GONG), Experimental in the Sixties (SOFT MACHINE, KING CRIMSON). There are also theatrical (GENESIS), traditional (EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER), symphonic (YES, CAMEL), Folk Progressive (JETHRO TULL, GENTLE GIANT, RENAISSANCE, the STRAWBS), Italian Progressive Rock (BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, LE ORME, PFM), Hard Progressive (RUSH), German Progressive Current (ELOY - space rock; AMON DUUL II - krautrock), Progressive Electronic (TANGERINE DREAM), Progressive Instrumental (MIKE OLDFIELD), Rock In Opposition, or RIO (HENRY COW), Zeuhl (MAGMA), and art rock/“pomp prog” in the ‘70s and through the ‘80s (SUPERTRAMP). There are even Neo-Progressive in the Eighties (MARILLION, ARENA, PENDRAGON), Progressive Metal (DREAM THEATER, AYREON, PAIN OF SALVATION), and Experimental & Post-Rock in the Nineties (TORTOISE, GOODSPEED YOU BLOCK EMPEROR!).

Another fundamental characteristic of this “cerebral” genre, is its universality (without any commercial or media support) : vibrant "progressive rock" communities span the globe, in South America, Japan, Western Europe (Italy, Holland, Sweden and where it all started, in the UK), Eastern Europe (Poland and Hungary), the USA and in Quebec, Canada with concerts, magazines and specialised distributors devoted to the cause of quality music.

With the advent of the World Wide Web, it is safe to assert that "Progressive Rock" is in full expansion, even though it will probably never again dominate the charts, destined to “progress” perpetually beyond the shallow silliness that has, for so long, been polluting the airwaves.

"You call yourselves progressive

I say it's all regressive

You think you can stand in judgement

So listen here and I'll remind you :

Preaching the converted

’cause it's all you know

Music's dead because

It"s all about the money now…"

(Preaching the converted - "Test Of Willis" - MAGELLAN 1995)

"Music speaks through one language but in many dialects."

(Tracts Promo Discipline Global Mobile 1996)

All intelligent music lovers should be made aware of the wonders of this style!