Sub-genres of Progressive Rock

Alternative progressive rock, progressive folk and progressive metal/hard rock are, in my opinion, on the cutting edge of the progressive rock genre. This is due to the fact that while other areas of the genre seem to have remained stagnant in terms of musical creativity and innovation, bands like Dream Theater have been utilizing influences other than classical music in order to play something new. By allowing themselves to be influenced by heavy metal, hard rock and folk these musicians gave themselves an opportunity to create new sub-genres within progressive rock.

The music of Rush can be traced back to earlier progressive rock groups as well as more hard rock groups. The group also appears to discuss many of the same themes within their music as groups from the counter culture, such as individualism. According to Chris McDonald this is due to the fact that the group greatly disliked their suburban upbringings, which they regarded as dull and where persons such as themselves could and would be lost if they did nothing to advance themselves. More evidence for this can be seen in the opening shot of “Subdivisions,” in which a camera pulls away from a busy intersection and pans across a sea of buildings that stretches to the horizon. Later groups, such as the aforementioned Dream Theater, were clearly influenced by Rush as well as Heavy Metal groups. This gives their music a similar feel, yet with a distinct metal punch that changes the sound of the music entirely. For me, I appreciated the music of Dream Theater a lot more than Rush, as I felt Rush was too much like the progressive groups that inspired it, while Dream Theater added a new sound to their music while retaining only the basics of the progressive genre.

Progressive folk artists on the other hand, while being influenced by seventies progressive artists, moved in essentially the opposite direction as Dream Theater and Rush. While these bands show an appreciation for the symphonic music of many progressive rockers, they infused this with folk and acoustic sounding music. This resulted in a more natural sound that was not possible with the heavy electronics used by other groups. Surprisingly, I actually had a great appreciation for this natural sound, as I felt the sound was cleaner and did not risk losing itself within layer upon layer of music. I also found myself enjoying the vocalists for these groups as the differences in each voice were made apparent and capitalized on in a way that is not normally done with today’s popular music, where vocalists seem to be encouraged to sound alike or distort their voices.

Pink Floyd and Krautrockers Lift Off and Fall Back to Earth

Pink Floyd and Krautrockers shifted the meaning and sounds and meaning of progressive rock by reconciling the genre with more traditional rock music while at the same time moving further away as a genre. Pink Floyd was not unlike other contemporary progressive rock bands when they were playing songs and instrumentals such as Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun and Interstellar Overdrive, respectively. Yet their album “Dark Side of the Moon” was a marked departure in some ways from these tracks. By combining the passion they had for electronics, instrumentals, and space rock with rock, blues and jazz and then infusing them with conceptual lyrics about the modern world, they were able to strike a perfect harmony between progressive and more popular music. The thing that made “Dark Side of the Moon” so successful was the fact that it reflected the feelings of so many people who listened to tracks like Money, Time and Us and Them. These were people that may have become disenchanted with the modern world and their own prospects within it and not only heard their own sentiments within the songs but were uplifted by the songs.

Personally, I felt that the strength of the album came from the fact that so many of the songs just sound amazing and could easily stand alone as beautiful songs without lyrics. Of course with lyrics it makes them that much better. Nevertheless, I think it makes the songs that much more special that the lyrics were able to add to and not take away from or merely be there for the sake of being lyrics. The fact that the lyrics contribute so well to the already great music that is present is another reason “Dark Side of the Moon” has been a hit for so long. I also think that this album really helped shift the direction of progressive rock from a symphonic genre that relied heavily on musical skill to one where that skill was present but where songs could be presented in ways that were more “popular” in nature.

Krautrockers too, ventured in a similar direction as Pink Floyd, although admittedly they continued to expand the horizons of earlier progressive rock groups in some regards. According to Ken Hollings, Krautrock tends to be a reflection of German fascination with (and fear of) the future, with electronic sounds a reflecting the cosmos, the space race and the cold war. This created eclectic soundscapes, and fast-paced electronic music that was more of a reflection of more symphonic progressive music. Yet after listening to some Krautrock selections, such as The Velvet Cell by Gravenhurst, and Tribulations by LCD Soundsystem, I found that these groups were also capable of creating music that would be more popular. This was accomplished, not unlike Pink Floyd, by combining the groups’ skills in engineering and playing with more rock influences. This enabled the groups to sound like rock bands while displaying their affinity for their equipment and their incredible musical imaginations.

In taking their music to new heights while getting in touch with their musical roots and attempting to make more reflections on the modern world Pink Floyd and Krautrock bands were able to find a balance between where their music had come from and where it was going. This resulted in a combination of progressive and the popular that had not before been present in progressive rock and moved it away from merely a symphonic genre to one that was capable of taking the audience to new worlds while giving them something more familiar musically. This genre was also able to allow for the writing of truly great, meaningful songs that reflected the concerns the period.

"Classic" Progressive Rock Bands

When reflecting on the “classic” progressive rock bands from the U.K. I found myself having to sift through a myriad of differing styles that I’ve found seems to be typical of music from this genre and period. The use of different techniques and styles is what sets these bands apart from one another and allowed them to move in the directions that they did.

To begin with, King Crimson seems to use everything from distortion to horns and woodwinds to strings to keyboards and mellotron. The band plays at an extremely varied pace within tracks and has a tendency to improvise at various points in their tracks, something that Edward Macan would attribute to the influences of jazz within their music. In some of their songs I found the music to be a little too muddled with improvisation and therefore messy such as in “21^st Century Schizoid Man (Including Mirrors)”. However, other tracks such as “In the Court of the Crimson King” and “Moonchild (Including The Dream and The Illusion)” I found the tracks to be quite beautiful. The bands use of flutes and drums in many of their songs I found contributed greatly to the overall production of several of their tracks.

Yes too, utilizes many of these techniques. But what I found particularly interesting was the groups’ ability to incorporate more classical themes into their music. This can be heard in “South Side of the Sky” where piano figures heavily into the middle part of the song, fit between two more rock-like pieces. Other works draw on jazz and rock influences. Tracks such as “Fish” however, utilize alternative sounds and influences but utilize rock and jazz influences in surreal songs. I found that with songs by Yes the group was able to transition fairly fluidly from one of these styles to another within their songs fairly easily. The transition from harpsichord sounds to rock guitar in “Siberian Khatru” was rather simple and wasn’t particularly troublesome for the listener. Such changes within the music I found enjoyable and felt made the musical skill of the group evident.

With ELP, I felt the group was able to utilize many of the same instruments and styles in songs by King Crimson and Yes, especially in tracks like “Jerusalem,” which is not unlike “In the Court of the Crimson King”, and “Karn Evil 9: 1^st Impression Part 2” which reminded me of “Siberian Khatru,” especially with the use of organ sounds in both songs. Personally, while I greatly enjoyed “Karn Evil 9,” I found most of ELP’s tracks, while including studio experimentation, to be rather boring and lacking in terms of being something new.

Genesis, like Yes and King Crimson tends to utilize time changes heavily with their songs. Organs and keyboards also play key roles in their sound, along with a more rock guitar and some woodwind instruments. Classical and jazz influences are evident from the instruments they use as well as the style of playing especially in “Firth of Fifth.” While I found some parts of their songs enjoyable others, sounded messy and, for lack of a better term, sour. That, while undoubtedly intended, I felt took away from some excellent music.

Overall I found the music of “classic” progressive rock bands to be enjoyable. I greatly appreciated the changes in pace within tracks as well as the instruments played on most of them. The one problem I had with these bands was that at times their songs could sound out of sync and not pleasant to the ear. However, when they played something well, their musical skill and talent always shone through.

The Realization of Others and the Development of Psychedelic Rock

My name is Nick Iwanicki, I’m a Junior history major from Chicago, Illinois.

After studying the development of rock becoming a more progressive genre in the first week of this course, one of the things that I was surprised with was how little early members of the counter culture knew about their movement. In many of the interviews given by people who participated in the counter-culture and the music scene, they always seem to mention that they had no idea that there were other people “like them” that existed. However, events like the Royal Albert Poetry Reading brought subscribers of alternative lifestyles together in a way that gave them a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves. This allowed people to feel much more comfortable sharing creative ideas and confidant that there would be an audience for their works. The psychedelic rock of the time period seems to reflect this, as more emphasis was placed on musical innovation and intellectual expression within music. During this period, music made an important transition from simply creating something popular that meant little or nothing to the listener, and instead giving them something original that was intended to make them think.

Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix were only a few of the groups that attempted to push the limits on what was possible as a musician. Bob Dylan was an exceedingly popular folk singer before he “went electric,” marking an important break with tradition that The Beatles emulated when they began to experiment with their music and write about contemporary problems. Jimi Hendrix too, attempted to expand the horizons of what was possible with a guitar while writing songs about the impending doom of mankind and other topics that previously would not have been included in the repertoire of a popular musician.

Without the realization that there were other people who enjoyed what were considered to be underground lifestyles I feel that the counter culture movement might never have become mainstream. This could have caused groups like The Beatles and Pink Floyd to continuously repress their creative and thoughtful impulses within their music. Even more would have been prevented from signing record deals with labels that desired three-minute songs. Had this been the case, many of the early experiences of progressive music, including psychedelic rock, might never have occurred. I find this interesting because I feel that without the driving force behind exploring what was possible and attempting to use music as a template of conversation, the music that we listen to today would have developed into something that we might not readily recognize.