Med332 progressive rock lecture

Progressive rock? #med332 1

Rolling Stones magazine: Greatest album of all =me (2003)

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I remember vividly Sergeant Pepper coming out—there was this incredible buzz of sheer disbelief. Wherever you went people would be playing it. Suddenly, with this astonishing music anything seemed possible. David Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator)

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[The] ‘progressive rock era’ can be delineated, emerging around 1967–1969, peaking in terms of commercial and aesthe=c success from 1972 to 1974, and disappearing altogether (or at least returning to the musical underground) between 1977 and 1980 -‐-‐ Anderton, 2010: 418

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The Big 6: Yes, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Pink Floyd

6 Classical composi=on: mul=-‐movement suites

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1.  Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a song (simplis=c)

2.  Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock song (simplis=c, no stylis=c blending)

3.  Create a series of rock songs conceived as units in a larger form (suites; thema=c unity desirable)

4.  Adopt a full classical work to a rock-‐style performance (classical work transformed by rock instrumenta=on)

5.  Create a work for rock group and classical ensemble (rock group partners with orchestra; blend of both forms)

6.  Using the musical language of rock, create an extended work modeled ager a classical form (difficult to achieve; thema=c development and structure; classical music in the language of rock)

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‘lame affecta=ons of a cultured sensibility’ [seeking] ‘to dignify their work, to make it acceptable for upper-‐class approba=on’ -‐-‐Miller, 1980: 347-‐8

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‘“ar=s=c” modes of musical expression – themes, arrangements, harmonies and forms that drew on classical models,

specifically those of the Roman=c composers of the nineteenth century

and the “na=onalist” composers such as Bartok, Delius, Copland and Dvorak.

-‐-‐ Aoon, 2001: 30

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1.  arrangements 2.  a blending of acous=c, electric and

electronic instruments 3.  a mix of sog and loud musical

passages 4.  extended instrumental sec=ons

and solos 5.  and the use of musical styles other

than the American blues/rock format common to much commercially popular music in Britain, Europe and the USA in the mid-‐1960s.

-‐-‐ Lucky, 1998: 120-‐1

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‘a tendency to conflate “symphonic” progressive rock with progressive rock in general’

‘symphonic orthodoxy’

Ignores: ‘aleatoric and minimalist music’, ‘riff-‐based space-‐rock’ and ‘avante-‐garde and jazz-‐inflected’ styles -‐  Can -‐  Hawkwind -‐  Sog Machine

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Aoon (2001: 31) refers to 3 dominant elements in the forma=on and development of progressive rock 1.  its status as a commercial, popular

music product 2.  its aim to achieve ‘art’ status as an

electrified form for classical music 3.  the countercultural elements from

which it was born

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Progressive rock was intended to be both popular (‘meant for a wide audience’ and long-‐las=ng (of ‘more permanent value than the six weeks in the chart and then forget it’) -‐-‐Dawbarn, Melody Maker 1969.

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‘a scale and grandeur unparalleled in rock, and its inner complexi=es [to] rival those of the greatest classical composers’ -‐-‐ Williams, Melody Maker, 1970

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By 1971, ‘the =me was ripe for the development of progressive rock’. -‐-‐ Palmer in DeCur=s, 2001: 243

Psychedelic origins

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progressive rock heavy metal jazz-‐rock glam-‐rock

southern rock post-‐rock

Middle-‐class milieu

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Bri=sh inspired by American music

experimental conceptual

Mul=media experience

•  By the mid 1970s shows became more extravagant

•  Huge projec=on screens •  Strange costumes •  Light shows •  Huge tours

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The legacy of prog?

•  Elements of symphonic music today? •  Concept albums today?

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Med332 progressive rock lecture

Education

Transcript of Med332 progressive rock lecture