[Article] What is "Prog Rock" or "Progressive Rock" ?

What is "Prog Rock" or "Progressive Rock" ?
by Roytavan

Progressive Rock (or "Prog Rock") is a music sub-genre that incorporates many unique elements not usually found in other types of rock music. These elements make the music distinct and easily identifiable. Many times, prog is characterized by very long instrumental passages, or songs that exceed the standard 3:00 minute radio format.

Sometimes prog rock can sound much like symphonic music, only played on electric instruments. The subject matter of progressive rock songs very rarely ever deals with love or relationships; squonks, aliens, kings and queens, and giant hogweeds are all typical subjects.

Prog is sometimes identified by unusual "meters" or the timing of the music - most standard rock is written in 4/4 time, but prog usually incorporates odd time signatures such as 9/8. Lastly, you can't have "REAL" prog rock without one particular instrument the mellotron.



What have we then got in Prog Rock ?

I believe that Progressive Rock, defined in this way, depict quite well what mostly is understood by this term today, or, that it at least is worth to consider, if it not should be so. It is obviously not a single style but an umbrella for a number of different styles which have some similarities. The main point of this way of defining is for me to separate a large part of the experimental and more ambitious Rock music from the mainstream in order to strengthen its identity and help building it up as a broad cultural movement.

Progressive Rock, again as defined here, has sure gained in popularity over the period of the last 20 years, but I think it is important to support or at least respect each other across the different sub-genres instead of not so rarely almost fighting each other. Those are the main ideas behind this article and some ideas I find very worthy to work for, and I hope some of you do too.

Something quite else is that the definition, I have proposed here, has some stiffness as Prog-Rock is defined by means of certain specific styles, and it might be said to be best suited to classify the different types of music included in Progressive Rock.

Progressive Rock : music springing from or incorporating distinctive elements of the rock genre while expanding beyond its traditional musical limitations and constraints

This definition is very dynamic as it can currently incorporate all the new experimental Rock music. On the other hand, it is very broad and not so little broader and including than the one, I propose. Still, it could be a good alternative, if it could be accepted and used by musicians and fans of “the old sub-genres of Progressive Rock” and “the new ones” which it will include as the part of the genre.

Now, the time has come to test the proposed definition and see what music it can bring with itself. For that purpose, I have made a list of some of the highest acclaimed (rated) and well-known albums, classified by the proposed main sub-genres. This list is based on all ratings as they appeared in RateYourMusic and ProgArchives November 2009 and November 2010.


Sub-genres of Prog Rock :

- Symphonic Prog
Yes (UK) : Close To The Edge (1972)
Genesis (UK) : Selling England By The Pound (1973)

- Eclectic Prog
King Crimson (UK) : In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)
Rush (CAN) : Moving Pictures (1981)

- Progressive Jazz-Rock
Caravan (UK) : In The Land Of Grey And Pink (1971)
Santana (US) : Caravanserai (1972)

- Psychedelic Prog
Pink Floyd (UK) : The Dark Side Of the Moon (1973)
Queen (UK) : The Game (Elektra) (1980)
T2 (UK) : It’ll All Work Out In Boomland (1970)

- Progressive Folk-Rock
Bob Dylan (US) :
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (UK) - Deja vu (1970)

This list must of course be taken with some reservation. The sub-genres, as they appear here, might look like some boxes, we can put albums in. They have though to be understood like labels, we can put on an album, and it happens quite often that an album needs more than one label to be characterized with. Nevertheless, this way of setting it up have some advantages, not least it is well-arranged.

Something else is that not so rarely, the same album might be classified differently by different persons, as they might put the main focus on diverse elements of the music. My classification here is highly based on the way of classifying by Rate Your Music and anyway and me...(hahaaa) , as already said, the whole thing is best to be taken with some reservation and best to be understood as contribution to further considerations and discussions.




10 Best Progressive Rock Albums, That you should be find.

The 10 best progressive rock albums have lent themselves to music history in a way that rock and roll could never have done in its entirety. The progressive rock movement was about creating an artistic body of work. Instead of having an album be a collection of individual songs, progressive rock artists wanted the album to be an entire piece.

1. "Close To The Edge" by Yes. Yes recorded this album in 1972. It is based upon the book "Siddhartha" where the main character finds himself "close to the edge" of a river and discovers a spiritual awakening. The themes of renewal and reawakening are evident in this album and create an amazing feeling of awareness for each listener.

2. "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. This was the ninth studio album released by Pink Floyd. They recorded this album in the midst of touring Europe and finding inspiration in the mental health of their former band member, insight into the music business and the feelings that emptiness and absence brought to them. This album is one of the best progressive rock albums, because it was with this album that Pink Floyd decided to split "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" into two separate pieces. This created the overall feel of an entire piece being made in the album.
3. "Selling England By The Pound" by Genesis. The British group certainly loved their motherland. So much so, in fact, that the entire album "Selling England By The Pound" focused on medieval England and its juxtaposition with the present.

4. "Thick As A Brick" by Jethro Tull. This "album" only consisted of one track that lasted nearly 45 minutes. The idea was based around a fictitious boy name Gerald Bostock. Simply creating an album based on one character and making that into one extremely long song is nothing short of genius, progressive rock.

4. "In The Court Of The Crimson King" by King Crimson. Typically when a band puts forth the effort to strip down their sound, they tend to build it back up again in an entirely different way. King Crimson did that with their debut album in 1969. They took rock and roll and broke it down. From there, they reminded listeners of the jazz and blues influences that served as a catalyst for rebellion in music.

6. "Foxtrot" by Genesis. "Foxtrot" made its mark because of the band's obvious evolution in song making. The instrumentals were much more polished and the lyrics were poignant. Genesis experimented a bit more with their sounds as well, and "Foxtrot" became one of the most celebrated progressive rock albums of all time.

7. "Dark Side Of The Moon" by Pink Floyd. "Dark Side Of The Moon" was a pre-cursor to the exploration of mental illness in "Wish You Were Here." Not only was mental illness a theme in this album, but so was greed, internal conflict and time. This album didn't delve into musical exploration and instrumental messages which was to come in the next album.

8. "Hybrids" by Anglagard. "Hybrids" was an excellent mashup of classic percussions and progressive rock ideology. Mattias Olsson's background in classical training served as a canvas for experimental strings and prolonged beats.

9. "Godbluff" by Van Der Graaf Generator. This album is where the electromechanical keyboard became a signature sound for experimental rock. Because of the keyboard's tight sound, the rest of the instruments followed suit.

10. "Animals" by Pink Floyd. This album was mildly based on the George Orwell novel "Animal Farm," and used that novel as a catalyst for making social and political statements about England's state in government.


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