Punk rock

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Punk rock Stylistic origins: 1950s R&B, rock and roll, country, and rockabilly, 1960s garage rock, frat rock, psychedelic rock, pub rock, glam rock, and proto-punk Mid 1970s United States, Australia and United Kingdom. Vocals Guitar Bass Drums

Cultural origins: Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity:

Chart-topping in the UK, less success elsewhere. Some success for pop punk, especially ska punk and Two Tone Alternative rock Emo New Wave Post-punk

Derivative forms:

Subgenres
Anarcho-punk Christian punk Crust punk Garage punk Hardcore Horror punk Oi! Pop punk

Fusion genres
Anti-folk Chicano punk Death rock Folk punk Funkcore Jazz punk Deathcountry Psychobilly Queercore Ska punk Two Tone

Regional scenes
Punk rock in Belgium Brazil

Other topics

History Cassette culture DIY Pioneers First wave Second wave Punk cities Punk movies Fanzine Fashion

Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music movement which began around 19741975 (although transitional forms can be found several years earlier), exemplified by the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Clash. The term is also used to describe subsequent music scenes that share key characteristics with those firstgeneration "punks," and it is often applied loosely to mean any band with "attitude" or "youthful aggression." The term is sometimes also applied to the fashions, ideology, subculture, or irreverent "DIY" ("do it yourself") attitude associated with this musical movement.

Contents
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1 Characteristics 2 History o 2.1 Origins o 2.2 Early emergence o 2.3 Genres of Punk o 2.4 Legacy and recent developments 3 See also 4 Sound samples 5 References 6 Notes 7 External links o 7.1 General Resources o 7.2 Articles o 7.3 Band Databases o 7.4 Regional
o

7.5 Miscellaneous

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Characteristics
Punk bands often emulate the approach of sixties garage rock bands. Punk rock emphasizes simple musical structures and arrangements. The early UK punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue in 1977 famously included drawings of three chord shapes captioned, "This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band". Most punk songs have a verse-chorus structure and 4/4 time. Short songs are also a staple of punk rock. Songs are normally about two and a half minutes in length, but sometimes are less than thirty seconds, and on very rare occasions, a punk rock band will release a song that exceeds four minutes in length; this is common feature of songs by The Clash and the Dead Kennedys. Punk rock usually has fast tempos, especially hardcore punk.

Typical punk instrumentation includes a drum kit, one or two electric guitars, an electric bass, and vocals. The drums typically sound heavy and dry, and are usually a minimal set-up, usually a four-piece kit (snare drum, one mounted or standing tom, one floor tom and one bass drum), and a lesser amount of cymbals, usually a simple set-up of hi-hats, one or two crashes and a ride cymbal. The drum beats are usually very simplistic, playing basic quarter note grooves with not very technical bass drum or snare drum patterns (however in hardcore punk the drumming is considerably faster and quite technical, but the same drum set-up is featured). The guitar parts are made up of highly distorted power chords similar to Link Wray, though some bands, especially California punk rock bands, take a surf rock approach, with lighter, "twangier" guitar tones. Punk vocals often sound nasal, gravelly, or throaty. Production is minimalistic, with tracks sometimes laid down on tape recorders in garages. More often than not, the band themselves produce, record, and distribute the album. In the mid-1970s, punk lyrics introduced a confrontational frankness of expression and social and political relevance that had been missing from contemporary music. Songs like The Clash's "Career Opportunities" and "London's Burning" dealt with unemployment, boredom and other grim realities of urban life; some were openly disparaging of governments and monarchies, as in The Sex Pistols God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK; and still others were decidedly anti-romantic in depictions of sex and love, such as Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to Fuck" and The Voidoids' "Love Comes in Spurts". Other themes associated with punk rock lyricism include anti-conformity, such as in Bad Religion's "Automatic Man." [edit]

History
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Origins

UK Punks, circa 1986 The phrase "punk rock" (from "punk", meaning a beginner or novice[1]) was originally applied to the untutored guitar-and-vocals-based rock and roll of United States bands

of the mid-1960s such as The Standells, The Sonics, and The Seeds, bands that now are more often categorized as "garage rock". The term was coined by rock critic Dave Marsh, who used it to describe the music of ? and the Mysterians in the May 1971 issue of Creem magazine[2], and it was adopted by many rock music journalists in the early 1970s. For example, in the liner notes of the 1972 anthology album Nuggets, critic and guitarist Lenny Kaye uses the term "punk-rock" to refer to the Sixties "garage rock" groups, as well as some of the darker and more primitive practitioners of 1960s psychedelic rock. Shortly after the time of those notes, Lenny Kaye formed a band with avant-garde poet Patti Smith. Smith's group, and her first album, Horses, released in 1975, directly inspired many of the mid-1970s punk rockers, so this suggests one path by which the term migrated to the music we now know as punk. In addition to the inspiration of those "garage bands" of the 1960s, the roots of punk rock draw on the snotty attitude, on-stage and off-stage violence, and aggressive instrumentation of The Who; the snotty attitude of the early Rolling Stones, which can be traced back to Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent of the late 50's; the abrasive, dissonant style of The Velvet Underground; the sexuality, political confrontation, and on-stage violence of Detroit bands Alice Cooper, The Stooges and MC5; the UK pub rock scene and political UK underground bands such as Mick Farren and the Deviants; the New York Dolls; and some British "glam rock" or "art rock" acts of the early 1970s, including David Bowie, Gary Glitter and Roxy Music. Influence from other musical genres, including reggae, funk, and rockabilly can also be detected in early punk rock. Punk rock was also a reaction against tendencies that had overtaken popular music in the 1970s, including what the punks saw as superficial "disco" music and bombastic forms of heavy metal, progressive rock and "arena rock." Punk also rejected the remnants of the hippie counterculture of the 1960s. Bands such as Jefferson Airplane, which had survived the 1960s, were regarded by most punks as having become fatuous and an embarrassment to their former claims of radicality. Eric Clapton's appearance in television beer ads in the mid-1970s was often cited as an example of how the icons of 1960s rock had literally sold themselves to the system they once opposed.

Cover of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The cultural critique and strategies for revolutionary action offered by the European Situationist movement of the 1950s and 1960s were an influence on the vanguard of

the British punk movement, particularly the Sex Pistols. Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren consciously embraced situationist ideas, which are also reflected in the clothing designed for the band by Vivienne Westwood and the visual artwork of the Situationist-affiliated Jamie Reid, who designed many of the band's graphics. The British punk movement also found a precedent in the "do-it-yourself" attitude of the Skiffle craze that emerged amid the post-World War II austerity of 1950s Britain. Punk rock in Britain coincided with the end of the era of post-war consensus politics that preceded the rise of Thatcherism, and nearly all British punk bands expressed an attitude of angry social alienation. [edit]

Early emergence
The first ongoing music scene that was assigned the "punk" label appeared in New York in 1974-1976 centered around bands that played regularly at the clubs Max's Kansas City and CBGB. This had been preceded by a mini underground rock scene at the Mercer Arts Center, picking up from the demise of the Velvet Underground, starting in 1971 and featuring the New York Dolls and Suicide, which helped to pave the way, but came to an abrupt end in 1973 when the building collapsed[3]. The CBGB and Max's scene included The Ramones, Television, Blondie, Johnny Thunders (a former New York Doll) and the Heartbreakers, Richard Hell and The Voidoids and the Talking Heads. The "punk" title was applied to these groups by early 1976, when Punk Magazine first appeared, featuring these bands alongside articles on some of the immediate role models for the new groups, such as Lou Reed, who was on the cover of the first issue of Punk, and Patti Smith, cover subject on the second issue. At the same time, a less celebrated, but nonetheless highly influential, scene had appeared in Ohio, including The Electric Eels, Devo and Rocket from the Tombs, who in 1975 split into Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys. During this same period, bands that would later be recognized as "punk" were formed independently in other locations, such as The Saints in Brisbane, Australia, The Modern Lovers in Boston, and The Stranglers and the Sex Pistols in London. These early bands also operated within small "scenes", often facilitated by enthusiastic impresarios who either operated venues, such as clubs, or organised temporary venues. In other cases, the bands or their managers improvised their own venues, such as a house inhabited by The Saints in an inner suburb of Brisbane. The venues provided a showcase and meeting place for the emerging musicians (the 100 Club in London, CBGB in New York, and The Masque in Hollywood are among the best known early punk clubs). While the London bands may have played a relatively minor role in determining the early punk sound, the London punk scene would come to define and epitomize the rebellious punk culture. After a brief stint managing the New York Dolls at the end of their career in the US, Englishman Malcolm McLaren returned to London in May 1975. He started a clothing store called SEX that was instrumental in creating the radical punk clothing style. He also began managing The Swankers, who would soon become the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols soon created a strong cult following in

London, centered on a clique known as the Bromley Contingent (named after the suburb where many of them had grown up), who followed them around the country.

Cover of The Clash album London Calling. An oft-cited moment in punk rock's history is a July 4, 1976 concert by the Ramones at the Roundhouse in London (The Stranglers were also on the bill). Many of the future leaders of the UK punk rock scene were inspired by this show, and almost immediately after it, the UK punk scene got into full swing. By the end of 1976, many fans of the Sex Pistols had formed their own bands, including The Clash, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Adverts, Generation X, The Slits and X-Ray Spex. Other UK bands to emerge in this milieu included The Damned (the first to release a single, the classic "New Rose"), The Jam, The Vibrators, Buzzcocks and the appropriately named London. In December of 1976, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers united for the Anarchy Tour, a series of gigs throughout the U.K. Many of the gigs were cancelled by venue owners, after tabloid newspapers and other media seized on sensational stories regarding the antics of both the bands and their fans. The notoriety of punk rock in the UK was furthered by a televised incident that was widely publicised in the tabloid press; appearing on a London TV show called Thames Today, guitarist Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols was goaded into a verbal altercation by the host, Bill Grundy, swearing at him on live television in violation of at the time accepted standards of propriety. One of the first books about punk rock The Boy Looked at Johnny by Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons (December 1977) declared the punk movement to be already over: the subtitle was The Obituary of Rock and Roll. The title echoed a lyric from the title track of Patti Smith's 1975 album Horses. During 1977, a second wave of bands emerged, influenced by those mentioned above. Some, such as The Misfits (from New Jersey), The Exploited(from Scotland), GBH (from England) Black Flag (from Los Angeles), Stiff Little Fingers (from Northern Ireland) and Crass (from Essex) would go on to influence the move away from the original sound of punk rock, that would spawn the Hardcore subgenre.

In the UK, punk interacted with the Jamaican reggae and ska subcultures. The reggae influence is evident in much of the music of The Clash and The Slits, for example. By the end of the 1970s, punk had spawned the 2 Tone ska revival movement, including bands such as The Beat (The English Beat in U.S.), The Specials, Madness and The Selecter. Gradually punk became more varied and less minimalist with bands such as The Clash incorporating other underground musical influences like ska and rockabilly and even jazz into their music, but the message of the music remained the same; it was subversive, counter-cultural, rebellious, politically incorrect and often anarchist. Punk rock dealt with topics such as problems facing society, oppression of the lower classes, the threat of a nuclear war, etc. Or it delineated the individuals personal problems, such as being unemployed, or having particular emotional and/or mental issues, i.e. depression. Punk rock was a message to society that all was not well and all were not equal. [edit]

Genres of Punk

The Swedish punk band Ebba Grn, a poster from 1981 While it is thought that punk had a decline in the 80s, many sub-genres branched off playing their own interpretation of punk rock. The United States saw the emergence of hardcore punk, which is known for fast, aggressive beats and political lyrics. Early hardcore bands include Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Bad Brains, The Descendents, early Replacements and The Germs and the movement developed via Minor Threat, Minutemen and Hsker D, among others. In New York, there was a large hardcore punk movement led by bands such as Agnostic Front, The Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law, Sick of it All, and Gorilla Biscuits. Other styles emerged from this new genre including skate punk, emo and straight edge.

It can be argued, though, that Washington, DC was the site of hardcore punk's first emergence. In the UK, meanwhile, diverse post-punk bands emerged, such as Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, Gang of Four, Siouxsie & the Banshees & Public Image Ltd, the latter two bands featuring people who were part of the original British punk rock movement. Although most the prominent bands in the genre pre-dated the 1980s by a few years, it wasnt until the 1980s that journalist Garry Bushell gave the sub-genre Oi! its name, partly derived from the Cockney Rejects song Oi! Oi! Oi!. This movement featured bands such as Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects, Blitz, and Sham 69. Bands sharing the Ramones' bubblegum pop influences formed their own brand of punk, sporting melodic songs and lyrics more often dealing with relationships and simple fun than most punk rock's nihilism and anti-estalishment stance. These bands, the founders of pop punk, included the Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Rezillos and Generation X. [edit]

Legacy and recent developments

The underground punk movement in the United States in the 1980s produced countless bands that either evolved from a punk rock sound or claimed to apply its spirit and DIY ethics to a completely different sound. By the end of the 1980s these bands had largely eclipsed their punk forebearers and were termed alternative rock. As alternative bands like Sonic Youth and the Pixies were starting to gain larger audiences, major labels sought to capitalize on a market that had been growing underground for the past 10 years. In 1991, Nirvana achieved huge commercial success with their album, Nevermind. Nirvana cited punk as a key influence on their music. Although they tended to label themselves as punk rock and championed many unknown punk icons (as did many other alternative rock bands), Nirvana's music was equally akin to other forms of garage or indie rock and heavy metal that had existed for decades. Nirvana's success kick-started the alternative rock boom that had been underway since the late 1980s, and helped define that segment of the 1990s popular music milieu. The subsequent shift in taste among listeners of rock music was chronicled in a film entitled 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which featured Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, and Sonic Youth; Nirvana also featured in the film Hype! A new movement in the mainstream became visibile in the early and mid-1990s, claiming to be a form of punk, this was characterized by the scene at 924 Gilman Street, a venue in Berkeley, California, which featured bands such as Operation Ivy, Green Day, Rancid and later bands including AFI, (though clearly not simultaneously, as Rancid included members of the defunct Operation Ivy). Epitaph Records, an independent record label started by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, would become the home of the "skate punk" sound, characterized by bands like The Offspring, Pennywise, NOFX, and The Suicide Machines, many bands arose claiming the mantle

of the ever-diverse punk genre -- some playing a more accessible, pop style and achieving commercial success. The late 1990s also saw another ska punk revival. This revival continues into the 2000s with bands like Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake. The commercial success of alternative rock also gave way to another style which mainstream media claimed to be a form of "punk", dubbed pop punk or "mall punk" by the press; this new movement gained success in the mainsteam. Examples of bands labeled "pop punk" by MTV and similar media outlets include; Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and Sum 41. By the late 1990s, punk was so ingrained in Western culture that it was often used to sell commercial bands as "rebels", amid complaints from punk rockers that, by being signed to major labels and appearing on MTV, these bands were buying into the system that punk was created to rebel against, and as a result, could not be considered true punk (though clearly, punk's earliest pioneers also released work via the major labels). This debate continues among young punk acolytes (who, as do most new generations, seek a sense of originality or authenticity) amid the popularity of modern "pop punk" in the early 2000s, including the emo trend of recent times, and the Grammy success and superstar status in 2005 of Green Day. There is still a thriving punk scene in North America, Japan and Europe. The widespread availability of the Internet and file sharing programs enables bands who would otherwise not be heard outside of their local scene to garner larger followings, and is in keeping with the DIY ethic championed by some earlier punk bands. [edit]

See also

Protopunk Punk DIY Culture List of forerunners of punk music (ca. 1968-1976) List of musicians in the first wave of punk music (ca. 1976-1985) List of musicians in the second wave of punk music (ca. 1985-present) List of punk movies Timeline of punk rock Punk ideology List of rock genres List of punk genres

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Sound samples

"I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones, from Road to Ruin, 1978. 28 seconds, 540 KB. "Dot Dash" by Wire, a single from 1978. 30 seconds, 519 KB. "London Calling" by The Clash, from London Calling, 1979. 30 seconds, 616 KB.

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References

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs, ISBN 0679720456 The Boy Looked At Johnny: The Obituary of Rock and Roll by Julie Burchill & Tony Parsons, 1978, Pluto Press, UK, ISBN 0861040309X Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain, 1997, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140266909 England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, 1991, Faber and Faber, UK, ISBN 0312069634 Burning Britain - A History Of UK Punk 1980 to 1984 by Ian Glasper, Cherry Red Books, ISBN 1901447243

Like any musical genre, it's hard to pinpoint that time and place where it actually began. But unlike any other musical genre, Punk rock was started as a deliberate reaction to the mass commercialism of music. In the year 2000, it's common to see someone "being A punk," rather than seeing someone "be punk." In the late 60's and early 70's, the music industry rang eerily familiar in its method of promoting trends over music. The public was being spoon-fed music that corporations simply intended to make a profit from. The backlash to this came to be known internationally as Punk rock. New York, early 1970's. Young, virtually unknown artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, and the Dolls of New York(changed later to New York Dolls) brought about a new style of "alternative-bohemian" entertainment, rooted in a "do-it-yourself" attitude. Short, frenetic songs, aggressive, sometimes confrontational stage presence, and angry messages against consumerism hit the stages at venues like New York's CBGB's, starting the movement that would be known as punk rock. Bands like the Ramones and the Talking Heads would evolve out of the punk rock movement, and become influences for those who shared a similar distaste in what was occurring in the music industry. Some say the underlying roots of punk was the frustration and anger from being treated as sheep, while others say punk stemmed from the "politics of boredom." It was both. Malcolm McLaren has an indelible role in the history of punk rock, either beloved or hated for his managerial skills. In February of 1975, the New York Dolls, once a forerunner in punk, tried to revive a lagging career by hiring McLaren as their new manager. Understanding the value of shock, McLaren took the band and reintroduced them as born again communists.

They draped themselves in communist flags and said catchy phrases like "better red than dead." Unfortunately for the band, they continued to fail. Fortunately for McLaren, they continued to fail. After his attempt with the New York Dolls, McLaren relocated to England and teamed up with his friend Bernie Rhodes. The two nurtured a band that was arguably their greatest success, the Sex Pistols. McLaren and the Pistols adopted an anarchistic view of the world that made them instaneous celebrities. With spiked hair, tattered clothes, and safety pins as jewelry, they frequented talk shows and publicly badmouthed fellow artists, bands, and musicians. They spoke harshly of the British class system and the subjugation of the working class. They made news for concert violence and fighting with fans. The Sex Pistols were also as notorious for their brashness as they were for their inability to play their instruments. Their shock value not only brought them fame, but made them the single most recognizable punk band. Therefore, many believed that punk rock began with the Pistols, while others believed it made punk into a novelty and signified the beginning of the end. Despite the internal turmoil in the punk movement, punk rock made several things clear to international audiences. Punk Rock, in its subculture, managed to break down many barriers of expression and language. It made an indentation in the commericial music industry. It provided a fresh alternative to a boring, stagnant music scene. But most of all, punk's legacy lies in its introduction of self employment and activism. It illustrated that anyone can do it themself, without reliance on the commercial media or the luxury of having financial abundance. Against the backdrop of mass consumer conformity, the punk rock movement made a statement of individuality that was heard worldwide.
The History of Punk Rock By: Eric Jaffe Punk means many different things to different people. Punk is part of the "next" generation's "fumbled attempts to get drunk, listen to the band, get laid, and get the last bus home." (Chamberlain 1) Punk is "really creative rock 'n' roll music that is fun and upbeat, excellent melodies." (Cuellar 4) Punk is "hard-driving, inyour-face music, but at the same time, there's intelligence behind it. That's the thing I really latched on, because that was a combination that is very rare to find." (Cuellar 3) "Part of it [being a 'punk'] is not caring and being what you damn well want to be." (Cuellar 3) "Punk's about boredom and partying, pure and simple." (Cuellar 3) "Punk was a new music, a new social critique, but most of all, it was a new kind of free speech." (Marcus 2) Just two years after the Beatles hit America (1966), Iggy Pop decided to form a band that would be completely unlike anything that anyone had ever heard. Iggy formed the Stooges in Detroit, Michigan, with friends who could barely play their

instruments. They had very little musical knowledge to interfere with the ideas that they had. Their 1968 performances consisted of an aural background for Iggy's body contortions, self mutilation, dives into the audience, and screamed insults at those who had come only to be entertained, not to be involved in the show. The Stooges' extreme bizzareness did not make them popular like the Doors', whose antics they pre-dated. As a Neanderthal version of the Velvet Underground, the band managed to achieve the distinction of the first true influence on punk. Ironically, they were signed by the major label Elektra, and their 1969 debut was produced by John Cale. It was highlighted by the classic "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and the pre-punk "No Fun." In "1969," they revealed the source of their outrageousness to be boredom, chanting "another year with nothing to do." They were bored with the music scene, and bored with being poor, a condition that they remained in after not achieving anything above a cult status. Also from Detroit, MC5 articulated their boredom in a slightly more politicized and distinctly blue collar manner, coming to prominence in the 1968 Democratic Convention riots as figureheads of John Sinclair's White Panther Party. While their heavy sounding music was not particularly original, (They were largely derivative of the Who.) their attitude inspired many future punk bands, prophesizing the Sex Pistols' with EMI and Virgin. Like the Stooges, MC5 was scooped up by Elektra. They were soon embroiled in controversy over the lyric "Kick out the jams motherfuckers!" When one record store called Harvey's refused to stock the album, the group responded by taking out a full page advertisement in a local newspaper that read "Fuck Harvey's!" Elektra was not amused, especially when MC5 went further and plastered stickers bearing the Elektra logo all over the record store's windows. MC5 and Elektra parted shortly after that. By 1970, the provocative Detroit scene lured the Alice Cooper away from San Francisco and Frank Zappa's Straight Records to claim the Motor City as their new home. Singer Vincent Furnier, who acquired the name "Alice Cooper" from a Ouija board, expanded upon the theatrics of Iggy Pop's brand of Theater of the Possessed with his own style of shock-rock. With a Theater of the Absurd stage show consisting of garish make-up, live boa constrictors, and toy dolls meeting their death in electric chairs and gallows, combined with the new artistic credibility in the albums "Love It To Death" (1970) and "Killer" (1971), it became increasingly difficult to remain bored in Detroit. Punk rock is generally considered to have surfaced in 1975, but exactly who the first punk act was is undetermined. If anybody were to tell you that they can pinpoint the first punk band, they are either lying or confused. Many early bands such as Iggy and the Stooges, the MC5, Richard Hell and the Voidoids displayed some aspects of punk, but no band combined all of the elements, in my opinion, until the Ramones gathered in 1975. The Ramones self-titled debut album, released in 1976, was the first example of punk rock, and they are generally accepted as the creators of the genre. Being tired of music that they considered boring, the Ramones gathered and began to piece their own sound together. The lack of originality in music was a key factor in the creation of the Ramones' sounds. "No one tried to do anything original, and if they did, it came out

sounding like Stevie Ray Vaughan or ZZ Top." (Cuellar 4) Another factor was their lack of technical skill as compared to the bands of 1975. Their music would usually only utilize a few chords per song, and lyrics were often repetitions of short phrases. Many popular punk bands were often referred to as "Three chord wonders." Because of this, Ramones' songs are characterized by their amateur and aggressive sound. Examples of some of their more famous songs include "The Blizkrieg Bop," "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," "Cretin Hop," "Pinhead, "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?," and "I Wanna Be Sedated." The Ramones brought back the two-minute song, creating a sound that many found reminiscent of early rock 'n' roll. Others, blown away by the buzzsaw guitars and unconventional lyrics, condemned them. Legend has it that a touring representative from the A&M label saw the Ramones and got up and left in disgust after only hearing half of a song. Even later, record companies were not thrilled with punk, because it was very unstable. Danny Fields once said "American radio, then as now, doesn't like to participate in anything that is dangerous, or revolutionary, or radical. So [eventually] the whole thing [punk] became a great pile of shit that no one wanted to go near." The Ramones directly influenced British punk acts, helping to spawn the British punk scene. They played a fourth of July concert in London, which was attended by many members of future punk bands, such as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, Generation X, and Souxsie and the Banshees. This was the seed for what was to become the huge London punk scene of 1977. The Sex Pistols took the amateurist style of the Ramones, added a streak of nihilism, creating a sound and an image that is still the ideal in punk rock. The music of the Sex Pistols was even more raw and unrefined than the Ramones'. A fast paced rhythm guitar, sometimes out of tune, was the main musical feature of the Sex Pistols' music. Basslines were slaughtered by the Sex Pistols' most renown member, Sid Vicious, who oftentimes played drunk or on heroin. Johnny Rotten, singer for the Pistols, and Vicious are often seen as two of the "all time greatest punks," contributing so much to the punk style, both musically and fashionably. The nihilistic lyrics of the Sex Pistols were the crux of their music. Johnny Rotten half sang, half screamed the lyrics over crackling PA systems. Pistols' songs savagely attacked the status quo, making them instant villains. Some of their songs were "Anarchy In The UK," the punk anthem of all time, "God Save The Queen," a harsh rewriting of a traditional British song, and "No Feelings." The Sex Pistols were largely responsible for the vilification of Punk Rock and its followers, and for their actions both on and off the stage. Lyrics often raised huge controversies, especially the lyrics of "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy In The UK." Jon savage described the reaction to "Anarchy In the UK": "They set themselves up as national bogeymen. In England, the word 'anarchist' had the same connotation as 'communist' did in the US, raising the specter of an unseen but omnipresent enemy." (Chamberlain 3) The Pistols' actions offstage made headlines more often than their performances did. During a live interview with Bill Grundy, on the Today Show, they swore repeatedly. Soon after, the BBC was flooded with complaints. There was one incident where a television set was kicked in during an interview. These acts helped to keep punk rock in the public eye and win over many new followers.

Besides a huge influence on punk musically, the Sex Pistols also helped to create the look that came to characterize most punks. The Pistols, particularly Rotten, were characterized by wearing ripped blue jeans and obscene tee-shirts. Their manager, Malcom MacLaren, was also the owner of a fashion boutique called SEX. Seeing the Pistols as a way to help promote his fashions, he began to imitate their style in his work. The maniac pace and aggression of the Pistols in the UK and the Ramones in the US is seen as the bucket of water that woke rock from a long, Sgt. Pepper'sinduced sleep. Now it is 1990 and many people say punk is dead. Others say punk is still dying. Still others say the story of rock 'n' roll is nearly over. Many believers of this theory often see only the superficial qualities of the subculture made visible through the mass media. The fashion and the well publicized scandals of Sid Vicious and friends were as far as most people saw outside the subculture. In Facing The Music, edited by Simon Frith, Mary Harron reduced the meaning of punk to "the spectacle of middle-class children dressing up in a fantasy of proletarian aggression and lying desperately about their backgrounds." (McNiel 401) Harron attributed her perceived failure of punk firstly towards the bands' misdirected hatred; toward stars of the previous generation like the Who or Rolling Stones, toward their records companies, toward even their fans with more venom than they directly toward the government. Because they had no "real" political focus, not even a simple issue like Vietnam, Harron believed punk accomplished little besides reviving the British pop industry before it failed. It is clear that Harron merely took a glimpse of the smoke from the forest fires sparked by punk. Underneath the smoke was a whole new opportunity for children to become active in a culture that they could call their own. If promoters and record company executives thought that they could capture the quintessential punk and drag him into board rooms, they were sadly mistaken. It was as futile as trying to capture youth. It was not only impossible, it was stupid to even attempt. The first punk caught in the corporate snare was Johnny Rotten and he quickly died in captivity. Lamenting his capture in a statement at the end of the last Sex Pistols' tour, he said "Have you every felt you've been cheated?" Here he was pondering his own fate rather than those in the audience. Later he would form a band sarcastically called Public Image and wrote the title song which describes a bitter embrace of success seen through the eyes of the quintessential punk: You never listen to the words I say You only see me by the clothes I wear... Or did the interest go so much deeper It must have been the color of my hair. Two sides to every story, somebody had to stop me I'm not the same as when I began It's not a game of monopoly. The Public Image, you got what you wanted The Public Image belongs to me My entrance, my own creation

My grand finale, my goodbye.

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Rock and roll

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Jump to: navigation, search For other uses of "rock and roll", see Rock and roll (disambiguation).
Rock Stylistic origins: Rock and roll, ultimately blues (mostly jump blues and Chicago blues), country music and R&B

Cultural origins: Late 1940s United States Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity: Derivative forms: Guitar - Bass - Drumsoccasionally Keyboards
Much, constant and worldwide since the 1950s

Alternative rock - Heavy metal Punk rock

Subgenres
Art rock - British rock - Christian rock - Desert rock -

Detroit rock - Experimental rock - Garage rock - Girl group - Glam rock - Glitter rock - Group Sounds - Hard rock - Heartland rock - Instrumental rock - Jam band Jangle pop - Krautrock - Post-rock - Power pop Protopunk - Psychedelia - Pub rock (Aussie) - Pub rock (UK) - Rock en espanol - Soft rock - Southern rock - Surf

Fusion genres
Aboriginal rock - Afro-rock - Anatolian rock - Blues-rock - Boogaloo - Country rock - Cumbia rock - Flamencorock - Folk-rock - Indo-rock - Jazz rock - Madchester Merseybeat - Progressive rock - Punta rock - Raga rock Ra rock - Rockabilly - Rockoson - Samba-rock - Tangorockro

Regional scenes
Argentina - Armenia - Australia - Austria - Belarus Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Brazil - Cambodia Canada - Chile - China - Czech Republic - Croatia Denmark - Dominican Republic - Estonia - Finland France - Greece - Germany - Hungary - Iceland - India Indonesia - Ireland - Israel - Italy - Japan - Latvia Lithuania - Malaysia - Mexico - Nepal - Netherlands New Zealand - Norway - Peru - Philippines - Portugal Russia - Serbia and Montenegro - Slovenia - South Africa - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Tatar - Thailand Turkey - Ukraine - United Kingdom - United States Uruguay - Vietnam - Zambia

Other topics
Backbeat - Rock opera - Rock band - Performers - Rock anthem - Hall of Fame - Social impact

Rock and roll Portal

Rock and roll (also spelled rock 'n' roll, especially in its first decade), is a genre of music that emerged as a defined musical style in the Southern United States in the 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the country, and the world (rhythm sample). It later evolved into the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock'. As a result, "rock and roll" now has two distinct meanings: either traditional rock and roll

in the 1950s style, or later rock and even pop music which may be very far from traditional rock and roll (rhythm sample). From the late 1950s to the mid 1990s rock was perhaps the most popular form of music in the western world. Rock and roll is most typically played with an electric guitar, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes a piano or keyboard. In the early rock and roll style of the early 1950s, the saxophone was often the lead instrument, replaced by guitar in the late 50's.

Contents
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1 Precursors and origins 2 Early North American rock and roll (1953-1963) o 2.1 Rockabilly o 2.2 Covers 3 Teen idols 4 British rock and roll 5 Books 6 See also

7 External links [edit]

Precursors and origins

Main article: Origins of rock and roll Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in America in the 1950s, though elements of rock and roll can be heard in rhythm and blues records as far back as the 1920s. Early rock and roll combined elements of blues, boogie woogie, jazz, and rhythm and blues with influences from traditional Appalachian folk music, gospel, and especially country and western. Going back even further, rock and roll can trace a foundational lineage to the old Five Points district of mid-19th century New York City, the scene of the first fusion of heavily rhythmic African shuffles and sand dances with melody-driven European genres, particularly the Irish jig. Rocking was a term first used by black gospel singers in the American South to mean something akin to spiritual rapture. By the 1940s, however, the term was used as a double entendre, ostensibly referring to dancing, but with the hidden subtextual meaning of sex; an example of this is Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight." This type of song was usually relegated to "race music" (the music industry code name for rhythm and blues) outlets and was rarely heard by mainstream white audiences. During the 1920s and 1930s, many white Americans enjoyed seeing and listening to African-American jazz and blues performed by white musicians. They often objected to experiencing the music as performed by the original black artists, but found it acceptable when the music was performed by whites. A few black rhythm and blues musicians, most notably Louis Jordan, achieved crossover success with whites and blacks, but most were rewarded with poverty and eventual obscurity. While increasingly it would became the fashion for rock and roll musicians to write their own material, many of the earliest rock and roll hits were covers of earlier rhythm and

blues or blues songs. Blues recordings by such artists as Robert Johnson and Skip James also proved to be important inspirations for 1960s British blues-rockers such as The Yardbirds and Cream and Led Zeppelin in the 1970s. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this type of music for a multi-racial audience, and it is Freed who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the rollicking R&B music that he brought to the airwaves. Freed also organized rock and roll shows attended by both whites and blacks, further helping to introduce African-American musical styles to a wider audience. There is much debate as to what should be considered the first rock and roll record. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was recording shouting, stomping music in the 1930's and 40's, which were largely undistinguishable from mid-50's rock 'n' roll. She scored hits on the pop charts as far back as 1938 with her Gospel songs, such as "This Train," "Up Above My Head", "Down By The Riverside", and "Rock Me". Little Richard said she was his favorite singer in the early 1940's and was invited to sing with her onstage in 1944 when she heard him sing her hit "Strange Things Happening Every Day" before one of her concerts. Other significant recording artists of the 1940's and early 1950's included Roy Brown ("Good Rocking Tonight" 1948), Big Joe Turner ("Honey Hush" 1953 and "Shake, Rattle n Roll" 1954), Fats Domino, and others. Rolling Stone magazine argued for (to some controversy) in 2005, "That's All Right (Mama)" (1954), Elvis Presley's first single for Sun Records in Memphis as the first Rock 'n' Roll song. Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" (1954), which in early 1955 became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, is another candidate. Bo Diddley's 1955 hit "Bo Diddley backed with "I'm A Man" introduced a new pounding beat and unique guitar playing that some say was the beggining of Rock 'n' Roll. Hovever, it is also important to note that, if the heart of rock and roll is the beat, then rock and roll and boogie woogie are nearly the same. Both are 8 to the bar, 12-bar blues; the essential difference is that rock and roll has a greater emphasis on the back beat than boogie woogie...if you take any boogie woogie record of the 1930s or '40s, and sit a drummer down to play snare on the backbeat, then you have turned it into Rock 'n' Roll. In this way, Little Richard exploded onto the music scene combining boogie-woogie piano with a heavy back beat and over-the-top raspy, shouted, gospel-influenced vocals never before heard in recorded music. He has been credited by Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson and many other artists for starting a new kind of music. Further, James Brown and others have credited Little Richard's band for first putting the funk in the rock 'n' roll beat. Elvis Presley once told Little Richard, "You're music has inspired me. You are the greatest." The first artists to score in a big way with secular rock 'n' roll hits in 1955 were the influencial and pioneering: Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. [edit]

Early North American rock and roll (1953-1963)

Whatever the beginning, it is clear that rock appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were coming to the surface. African Americans were protesting segregation of schools and public facilities. The "separate but equal" doctrine was nominally overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954. It can hardly be a coincidence, then, that a musical form combining elements of white and black music should arise, and that this music should provoke strong reactions, of all types, in all Americans. The phrase was heard on Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five's version of Tamburitza Boogie recorded on August 18, 1950, in New York City. However, there are earlier usages of the term, such as the 1949 record, "Rock And Roll Blues," by Erline Harris, and the 1948 record by Wild Bill Moore, "Rock And Roll," as well as a record by Paul Bascomb with the same title, though a completely different song, in 1947. Even as early as 1922, Trixie Smith had a song titled "My Man Rocks Me with One Steady Roll," but the phrase was first recorded in 1916, on the Little Wonder record label, in a song called The Camp Meeting Jubilee, where the singers say "We've been rocking and rolling in your arms, in the arms of Moses." On March 21, 1952 in Cleveland, Alan Freed (also known as Moondog) organized the first rock and roll concert, titled "The Moondog Coronation Ball" The audience and the performers were mixed in race and the evening ended after one song in a near-riot as thousands of fans tried to get into the sold-out venue. The record industry soon understood that there was a white market for black music that was beyond the stylistic boundaries of rhythm and blues and so social prejudice and racial barriers could do nothing against market forces. Rock and roll was an overnight success in the U.S. making ripples across the Atlantic, culminating in 1964 with the British Invasion. [edit]

Rockabilly
Main article: Rockabilly In 1954, Elvis Presley recorded at Sam Phillips' Sun studios in Memphis, the regional hit "That's All Right (Mama)." Elvis played a rock and country & western fusion called rockabilly, which was characterized by hiccupping vocals, slapping bass and a spastic guitar style. He became the first superstar rock musician. It was the following year's "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & The Comets that really set the rock boom in motion, though. The song was one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, even causing riots in some places; "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough for both the group and for all of rock and roll music. The song's inclusion in the film "The Blackboard Jungle" marked the beginning of a mutually beneficial marriage of the genre to film. It had been recorded in 1954 with limited sales, but exploded in 1955 after the release of the movie, which used it in the opening sequence. If everything that came before laid the groundwork, "Clock" certainly set the mold for everything else that came after. With its combined rockabilly and R & B influences,

"Clock" topped the U.S. charts for several weeks, and became wildly popular in places like Australia and Germany. The single, released by independent label Festival Records in Australia, was the biggest-selling recording in the country at the time. In 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly became the first rock musicians to tour Australia, marking the expansion of the genre into a worldwide phenomenon. That same year, Haley toured Europe, bringing rock 'n' roll to that continent for the first time. [edit]

Covers
Main article: Cover version Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up the tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke joint circuit. Before the efforts of Freed and others, black music was taboo on many white-owned radio outlets. However, savvy artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock, and raced to cash in with white versions of this black music. White musicians also fell in love with the music and played it everywhere they could. Covering was customary in the music industry at the time. One of the first successful rock and roll covers was Wynonie Harris's transformation of Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight" from a jump blues to a showy rocker. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. Exceptions to this rule were found, such as Wynonie Harris covering the Louis Prima rocker "Oh Babe" in 1950, and Amos Milburn covering what may have been the first white rock and roll record, Hardrock Gunter's "Birmingham Bounce," in 1949. Black performers saw their songs recorded by white performers, an important step in the dissemination of the music, but often at the cost of feeling and authenticity. Most famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of Little Richard songs, though Boone found "Long Tall Sally" so intense that he couldn't cover it. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. Little Richard once called Pat Boone from the audience and introduced him as "the man who made me a millionaire." The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James's tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with a perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer, Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie." [edit]

Teen idols

On February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) were tragically killed when a plane Holly had chartered from Mason City, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota, crashed in a blinding snowstorm shortly after take-off, plunging the rock & roll world into mourning over its first major tragedy. The accident happened at a time when Elvis was in the Army (before focusing more on Hollywood), Chuck Berry was in jail for violating the Mann Act, Jerry Lee Lewis had disgraced himself by marrying his underaged cousin, and Alan Freed had been convicted in the Payola scandal. The first golden sub-section of the rock and roll era had ended abruptly. The coronation of the teen idols was as symbolic as it was sudden. When the Winter Dance Party Tour (Holly's ill-fated tour) continued the following night, a trio of young clean-cut, teen-aged, sweater-clad singers were hired to finish out the schedule. Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Robert Velline (renamed Bobby Vee) rocketed to stardom singing smooth, ballad-like, almost standard-type love songs, borrowing more from Pat Boone and Frank Sinatra than the guitar maestros and piano pounders who went before them. Clanton, Avalon and Vee opened the door for a virtual army of crooner types, like Neil Sedaka and Bobby Vinton, who dominated the rock and roll scene with their dreamy sounds. While the beach music that characterized the California sound was a sub-section unto itself, those with whom it came to be most associated (the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean) found themselves to be considered teen idols as well because of their popularity with the young ladies. While the teen idols managed to claim the period from 1959-1964 as their own, they couldn't duplicate the excitement of rock and roll's early days. But an upstart young quartet from England was about to change all that. [edit]

British rock and roll

Main article: British rock The trad jazz movement brought blues artists to Britain, and in 1955 Lonnie Donegan's version of "Rock Island Line" began skiffle music which inspired many young people to have a go, including John Lennon, whose "The Quarrymen", formed in March 1957, would gradually change and develop into The Beatles. These developments primed the United Kingdom to respond creatively to American rock and roll, which had an impact across the globe. In Britain, skiffle groups, record collecting and trend-watching were in full bloom among the youth culture prior to the rock era, and color barriers were less of an issue with the idea of separate "race records" seeming almost unimaginable. Countless British youths listened to R&B and rock pioneers and began forming their own bands. Britain quickly became a new center of rock and roll. In 1958 three British teenagers formed a good rock and roll group, Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later renamed Cliff Richard and the Shadows). The group recorded a hit, "Move It", marking not only what is held to be the very first true British rock 'n' roll single, but also the beginning of a different sound British rock. Richard and his band introduced many important changes, such as using a "lead guitarist" (virtuoso Hank Marvin) and an electric bass.

The British scene developed, with others including Tommy Steele, Adam Faith and Billy Fury vying to emulate the stars from the U.S. Some touring acts attracted particular popularity in Britain, an example being Gene Vincent. This inspired many British teens to begin buying records and follow the music scene, thus laying the groundwork for Beatlemania. At the start of the 1960s, instrumental dance music was very popular. Hits such as "Apache" by The Shadows and "Telstar" by The Tornados form a British branch of surf instrumental music. [edit]

Books

The Fifties by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Halberstam (1996) Random House (ISBN 0517156075) provides information and analysis on Fifties popular culture exploring major social and cultural changes including television, transistor radios, the phenomenon of Elvis Presley and the rise of rock-and-roll. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll : The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music by editors James Henke, Holly George-Warren, Anthony Decurtis, Jim Miller. (1992) Random House (ISBN 0679737286) The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll by Holly George-Warren, Patricia Romanowski, Jon Pareles (2001) Fireside Press (ISBN

Doom metal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search It has been suggested that sludge metal be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Doom metal is a form of heavy metal that emerged as a recognised subgenre in the mid-1980s. It is slow and heavy and intended to evoke an atmosphere of darkness, despair and melancholy. It is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, and a number of early Black Sabbath tracks, such as "Black Sabbath", are often considered embryonic or prototypical doom metal songs.

Contents

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1 History of doom metal 2 Instrumentation 3 Stylistic divisions within doom metal o 3.1 Traditional doom o 3.2 Epic doom o 3.3 Death/doom o 3.4 Funeral doom o 3.5 Drone doom o 3.6 Stoner doom o 3.7 Sludge doom 4 List of bands 5 See also 6 Notes and references

7 External links [edit]

History of doom metal

Although in the beginning of the 1970s both Black Sabbath and the American Pentagram performed a kind of music that can be considered proto-doom, neither band is generally considered as an actual doom metal band. From the late 1970s to mid 1980s, bands such as Trouble, Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General contributed much to the formation of doom metal as a distinct genre. The form of music played by these artists can be described as being rooted in both the music of Black Sabbath and, especially in the case of Witchfinder General, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The slowness of their music is often also seen as a reaction to the constantly increasing speed of contemporary thrash metal and speed metal. Doom metal first became widely popular with Sweden's Candlemass, who are hailed in the mainstream metal press as one of the most important and influential doom metal bands; their 1986 album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is considered a genre-defining release (at least within the epic subgenre of doom metal). According to the proponents of the classic doom metal style, the most prototypical doom metal band would be Saint Vitus, who released their self-titled debut album in 1984 - two years before doom metal as a genre was recognised in the mainstream metal press. Doom metal developed further in the early 1990s, when a number of bands started combining the slow, melancholic, doom metal style that was pioneered in the 1980s with influences from death metal and other forms of extreme metal, including growled vocals. The first band to combine these styles may have been the heavily Celtic Frost-influenced Winter, although this style is generally associated with and made popular within mainstream heavy metal by three British bands: Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema. Nowadays, the original brand of doom metal with clean vocals is usually labelled "traditional doom." During the 1990s the doom metal genre developed further styles, although classic doom and death/doom have remained central to the present. A number of bands, such as The Gathering and Theatre of Tragedy took the music of Paradise Lost, got rid of

some of the slowness and started experimenting with female vocals,[1] thereby helping to create the generally more accessible genre of gothic metal. Although this genre is generally considered to be influenced by doom metal, it is not usually considered a subgenre of doom metal: certain elements, such as the slowness and the emphasis on heavy riffing, are often absent. Other bands took the opposite road and ventured into much more extreme and inaccessible territories, which led to the formation of subgenres such as funeral doom and drone doom, pioneered by Thergothon and Earth respectively. It has been argued that a nexus exists between doom metal, stoner metal and psychedelic music, although each of these genres have developed on their own. The stoner metal of bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Queens of the Stone Age shares with doom metal a heavy sound and a strong Black Sabbath influence, but generally has a different objective: whereas doom metal aims for dark atmospheres, stoner metal aims for a groovy and psychedelic sound. A number of doom metal bands, however, such as (later) Cathedral and Electric Wizard, have combined doom metal with psychedelic influences, thereby creating a style which can be considered a hybrid form of doom metal and psychedelic rock. [edit]

Instrumentation
Like most kinds of metal, doom metal is typically based upon an instrumentation of vocals, guitar, bass guitar and drums, and heavy guitar riffing is considered an important feature within almost all of its subgenres. Some doom metal bands, especially newer bands, also use keyboards. In classic doom, however, keyboards still are relatively uncommon. Although more commonly associated with gothic metal, a number of doom metal bands, such as My Dying Bride or Funeral, have also made use of violins in their music. On the whole - however - doom metal remains by and large a genre of guitar-oriented music. [edit]

Stylistic divisions within doom metal

[edit]

Traditional doom
Slow, melancholic, riff-based metal influenced by Black Sabbath as well as the NWOBHM movement. Typical examples: Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Solstice, Reverend Bizarre. Four "waves" have so far been recognised in the history of traditional doom: the first one started with the originators of the entire genre, the proto-doom bands Black Sabbath and Pentagram; the second one has been located in the mid-1980s, especially in the work of Saint Vitus and Candlemass; the third one started with the success of Cathedral's debut album Forest of Equilibrium; the fourth one has recently been affiliated with Reverend Bizarre.

[edit]

Epic doom
A similar form to traditional doom with a stronger medieval and/or fantasy influence. Epic doom traces its roots through more traditional metal such as Manowar and Iron Maiden in addition to emulating the concepts of pre-doom bands such as Black Sabbath. A number of bands who embraced this style emerged from the West Yorkshire region of England in the mid/late 1980s, such as Solstice, and Mourn. [edit]

Death/doom
A mixture of doom metal with a number of elements from death metal, most notably growled vocals. Typical examples: Winter, early Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Katatonia, Swallow the Sun. [edit]

Funeral doom
Funeral Doom is a style that takes the slowness of doom metal to further extremes, and that puts a strong emphasis on an atmosphere of despair and emptiness. The style can be seen as a departure from death/doom, slowing down the music even further, and frequently incorporating influences from ambient music, creating a sound which is distorted and gloomy, but often dreamy at the same time. Vocals are usually growled, but are often much less in the foreground than in other styles of music, and are rather used to provide an additional texture to the music. The style was originally pioneered by Thergothon, and later also by Skepticism and Funeral; modern examples include Mournful Congregation, Shape of Despair, Stabat Mater, and Until Death Overtakes Me. [edit]

Drone doom
Also known as drone metal, drone doom is a style which is even more minimalistic and inaccessible than funeral doom. Generally influenced by noise and ambient music, the music often mainly consists of distorted downtuned guitars and bass, usually with lots of reverb applied to the final mix, with clear (melodic) themes being a rarity. Drone doom tracks are generally long, with typical drone tracks lasting between ten and thirty minutes; some drone doom releases even consist of only one album-long track. Vocals and even drums are often absent, and the music often lacks any beat or rhythm in the traditional sense. Like funeral doom, drone doom typically emphasizes despair and emptiness, although apocalyptic and cryptic themes are also common. Innovator Stephen O'Malley, heavily influenced by Earth, can be largely credited with the creation of drone doom as a recognised subgenre, being or having

been involved with seminal acts such as Burning Witch and Sunn O))). Sunn O))) and their predecessor Earth can be considered the two most influential bands of the genre. See also: Drone music [edit]

Stoner doom
A hybrid form of doom metal and stoner rock. Typical examples: (late) Cathedral, Sleep, Acrimony, Eternal Elysium, Spiritual Beggars. A significant borderline case are Electric Wizard, whose music can be seen as a mixture of traditional doom, stoner doom, and sludge doom. Australian doom/stoner band Pod People, have coined the term "stoom" (an portmanteau of 'stoner' and 'doom') to describe this style of music. [edit]

Sludge doom
Main article: Sludge metal Combining the thick, riffing sound of stoner doom with the raw abrasiveness and shrieked vocals of hardcore, sludge is at the outer limits of doom metal and is an acquired taste (although a couple of bands, such as Eyehategod and Crowbar, are fairly well known within the metal community). Even though many sludge bands sport the "booze 'n' bongs" image synonymous with stoner rock, they lack the stoner rockers' positive outlook on life, with lyrical themes typically centered around misery and hatred. Typical examples: Eyehategod, Crowbar, Cement Pig, Grief. [edit]

List of bands
Main article: list of doom metal bands [edit]

See also

Stoner metal Gothic metal List of heavy metal genres

From the early days of Black Sabbath to the modern-day Death/Doom-Metal of

My Dying Bride - A complete historical overview of our beloved genre.

Early doom bands of the seventies...

Most people agree that Black Sabbath is amongst the most influential bands for all heavy metal in general, and Doom-Metal is no exception. Their early albums 'Black Sabbath', 'Paranoid', 'Master Of Reality', 'Vol. 4', 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', and 'Sabotage' are all without doubt, masterpieces, and without them Doom-Metal (or even metal in general) would not exist at all. Whilst Black Sabbath were definitely well ahead of their time, and as such one of a kind, they certainly weren't without their contemporaries (Pentagram, Blue Cheer, Black Widow). Some of the earliest prototypes of Doom-Metal were in fact songs of the late sixties and early seventies that, whilst not wholly doomy, contained countless great riffs that came to shape the sound of DoomMetal in later years. Such songs include Iron Butterfly's 'Inna Gadda Da Vida'. One of Black Sabbath's main contemporaries - Pentagram - can be counted as one of the earliest Doom bands around, often intertwining with the band Bedemon one could perhaps best label their style of music as "Proto Doom". Black Sabbath has a huge impact on their sound but they focused more on the doomy side of this style. Thus creating some of the first ever Doom-metal records!

The eighties...
The 1980s brought with them the first bona fide Doom-Metal acts. This was the era in which bands such as Def Leppard, Warrant, and Bon Jovi came to the foregrounds and professed to be "heavy metal", and where thrash/speed and death metal bands ruled the metal scene. The press also applied the term "heavy metal" in a nasty pigeonholing manner to any band that wore tight spandex and big hair. Whilst there are so many bands during that time that were truly deserving to fly under the banner of DoomMetal, they were vastly outnumbered by these Glam-metal acts. The eighties were also known for the end period of the NWOBHM, another semi-fast style of metal. So in an era where speed was the prominent factor in extreme music, Doom-Metal acts where greatly outnumbered, but this is the era where Doommetal was mostly developed and created a name for itself. One 80s band that made Doom big was Trouble. Originally from Chicago, this band got together in 1979 but gained popularity from 1984 onwards. Trouble's music stands for slow, dragging heavy metal, clearly influenced by Black Sabbath. Due to Christian beliefs of the band and its effect on their lyrics the band initially fell under the label White-metal. Saint Vitus, another early doom-oriented band, had perhaps the biggest influence on the Doom-metal landscape (together with Candlemass). Their early work was on SST (Greg Ginn from Black Flag's label) and was mostly fronted by Wino who gained more fame later with semi-doom majors The Obsessed. Wino became one of the most legendary figures of Doom-metal in his own right. From his beginnings with The Obsessed, moving on to St. Vitus, and re-forming The Obsessed, he became one of the most prominent and influenctial figures within the Doom-metal scene. He now frequents the Stoner

scene with his current band Spirit Caravan. In 1986, Swedish band Candlemass released the album 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus', a milestone in early Doom-Metal. Once called "the heaviest band in the world" they picked up where Black Sabbath left off in 1976. The material on 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus' was in the same style as old Black Sabbath (with Ozzy) but with modern contemporary influences. Candlemass' best years were those with vocalist Messiah Marcolin, a man with an exceptionally clear, deep voice. For doom newbies the CD 'As It Is, As It Was: The Best Of Candlemass' (Music For Nations, 1994) gives a good overview of their works. Another doom pioneer in the late eighties was Lee Dorrian's band Cathedral. When Lee left Napalm Death in 1989 nobody expected such a volte face. As opposed to Napalm Death's ultra-fast music Cathedral's first releases were ultraslow, super-heavy doom in its purest form. Check out the albums 'In Memorium' and 'Forest Of Equilibrium'. Cathedral's later works are more seventies-rock oriented and the doom atmosphere has slowly faded away. One label that was very important to this first generation of Doom-metal, and was mainly active during the very end of the eigthies to the mid nineties, was the Hellhound Label. This label signed a great deal of Doom-metal acts whose sound later became known as the "hellhound sound", industriously forming a clear foundation for future Doom-metal acts to build upon. Bands like The Obsessed and Count Raven released many records through this label.

The nineties...
The early 90s heralded a change in the Doom-Metal landscape. With Death-metal having taken over the metal torch halfway through the eighties, Doom-Metal enjoyed a revival. New bands emerged that sought a mix between original Doom-Metal and Death-metal. Early pioneers like Winter with their release 'Into Darkness' in 1990 and Thergothon with their brilliant demo 'Fhragn-nagh Yog-Sothoth' in 1991 broke through the original boundaries of traditional Doom-Metal and formed the building blocks for modern day DoomMetal. Lets also however not forget a band like diSEMBOWELMENT. Bands like Winter, Thergothon and diSEMBOWELMENT could not gain the success later doom bands would have with this new style. Three bands from England, whom all shared the same label, Peaceville, propelled the Death/Doom genre to the level at which it stands today; Paradise Lost being the first with their release of 'Lost Paradise' in 1990 (which still had a strong death-metal influence). With 'Gothic' in 1991 they however almost single-handed set the standard for modern-day doom. Fellow label mates My Dying Bride succeeded in opening the gates for countless new Doom-Metal bands. Their first official release on Peaceville, 'Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium', in 1991 already showed this band was destined for greatness and with their second full length 'Turn Loose the Swans' in 1993 they set their status as the largest modern-day Doom-Metal band. Another influence on this new form of Doom-Metal was the third Peaceville band called Anathema. Despite being one of "the big three" they always remained the smallest and least influential.

Also worth mentioning is that at the beginning of the ninties, a band called Earth (no, not Black Sabbath with their orignal name) created some of the heaviest Sabbath influenced music ever. This band became a huge influence on so-called "Drone Doom", an extreme form of Doom-metal. Nor can we overlook the rise of an odd child within the Doom family, Sludge Doom; very heavy, miserable sounding Doom-metal that perhaps lacks the mournfull and emotions of Doom but fills those with pure filth, discust and anger. Of course also attoning to the teaching of Black Sabbath. Midway through the nineties the need for experimentation within the metal genre as a whole also touched the Doom-Metal genre. Bands like The 3rd and the Mortal created a more atmospheric type of doom with albums like Tears Laid in Earth' and were one of the first metal bands to have a fulltime female lead singer. Following in the wake of Thergothon, slower and more extreme acts than normal Death/Doom also started to emerge like Funeral, Skepticism and Esoteric. The experimentation "disease" lead to the many different types of Doom-Metal we know today. From the slow and emotionless sounds of Esoteric, Evoken and Skepticism to the Gothic/Doom-Metal hybrids like Theatre of Tragedy. And let's not forget that there is a whole host of new and old bands who still play the orignal style of Doom from the 80s. Owing to this flurry of experimentation, the boundaries between genres faded and various great Doom-Metal giants moved away from the sound they helped create, giving the whole Doom-Metal genre a creative input of which we have not yet seen the last. The new millenium has already proven that by making 2001 one of the best years for heavy Doom since the early ninties. This indeed promises much for the future...

Doom Metal (See also) heavy metal psychedelic metal

Doom metal is a variation of heavy metal music which is slow and dark and filled with tension. Black Sabbath's early albums were a great source of inspiration for the genre . Bands like Trouble and Candlemass combined these influences with more modern ones to clearly define the genre in the late 80's. Originally from Chicago, Trouble formed in 79 but did not become popular until 84. Their music is slow and darkly melodic with slow grinding guitars reminiscent of Black Sabbath. Often confused with death metal Doom metal is much slower and not as closely associated with occult themes. Trouble were actually Christians and were originally labeled white metal by the label crazed media. In 86 Swedish born band Candlemass released Epicus Doomicus Metallicus combining early heavy metal influences ala Sabbath and fusing them with modern-day influences. A band from England called Paradise Lost was a very strong influence on the current doom metal movement.

In the early 90s doom metal once again became popular. New bands like Winter broke through the original boundaries of the genre and moved it forward to a more modern style. In the mid 90's bands like The 3rd and the Mortal created albums like Tears Laid in Earth' featuring a female lead singer and leading to a more atmospheric hybrid of doom metal. Slower and more extreme acts like Funeral, and Esoteric began to make their presence known in the doom genre. Doom metal is still a viable genre and its influences are also felt in other genres which absorbed its influences like psychedelic metal for one. Thank you for your interest in Houston Rock Record Label Silver Dragon Records. Below is some information on our record label and website catering to rock fans and musicians

Ce este doom metal?

Stilul muzical care face obiectul cercetarii noastre - doom metal - poate fi caracterizat drept dramatic, plin de tristete, romantism, depresie si melancolie. Emana o atmosfera ntunecata si meditativa, de o intensitate ce nu poate fi regasita n nici un alt gen. In acest sens, pe lnga instrumentele binecunoscute de care se foloseste ntregul gen metal, multe din formatiile de doom se folosesc, de instrumente armonice care apartin mai degraba muzicii clasice, precum vioara, pianul, flautul s.a. Diversitatea genului este extrem de mare, de la doom-metal lent, la ritmurile medii, foarte armonice si, ocazional, episoade de doom-metal foarte rapid si energic. Un numar mare de trupe folosesc voci normale, curate si chitari lente, "urletele" sau riffurile grele nereprezentnd o trasatura esentiala. Profunzimea muzicii este o caracteristica importanta a doom-metal si poate mbraca forme variate, de la sunetele guturale ale unor formatii precum Paradise Lost, la riffurile la Sabbath ale celor de la St. Vitus, la sunetele transcedentale ale trupei Lake of Tears, sau depresia romantica ce se regaseste n melodiile celor de la My Dying Bride. Versurile genului se axau initial pe un sentiment al pierderii sperantei care constituie si n prezent o trasatura a genului. Multe din versurile recente, nsa, prezinta un nivel de implicare mult mai personal, concentrndu-se asupra unor experiente personale de genul dragoste, tristete, pierderi insurmontabile, pierderea credintei sau altele. Textele religioase au nceput si ele sa fie privite ca surse potentiale pentru versuri si idei, de cele mai multe ori, nsa, acestea prezinta o conotatie simbolica si nu ar trebui percepute ad literam. In ceea ce priveste limba n care sunt scrise aceste versuri, limbile straine sau cele vechi, precum latina, spaniola, franceza, greaca sau chiar japoneza au devenit destul de populare n cadrul textelor doom-metal si adesea pot conferi o nota de arta baroca. Formatiile doom-metal acorda, n general, o atentie deosebita designului diverselor aspecte vizuale legate ntr-un fel sau altul de muzica proprie: copertele albumelor, logo-uri, grafica numelui formatiei si altele. In acest sens se folosesc de anumite prototipuri, cum ar fi fotografii ntunecate, sumbre, chiar sinistre, precum flori ofilite, biserici si statui, influente draconice sau clasice etc. In aceeasi directie se nscrie si alegerea numelui trupei, al albumelor sau al melodiilor. Astfel, ele pot fi recunoscute destul de usor, multe formatii de gen folosind nume mai putin comune, cu relevanta mitologica, poetica sau istorica. Doom-metal se prezinta, n ansamblu, ca un stil destul de dificil de ascultat si de nteles, din mai multe motive. In primul rnd nu este vorba de un gen comercial: multe din melodii dureaza, n medie, ntre 6 si 8-9 minute, recordurile n materie depasind 20 de minute. In al doilea rnd, natura versurilor implica un anumit nivel de informatie culturala, pentru a descifra si nteleger referirile istorice si mitologice foarte numeroase. Imaginea genului doom-metal este perceputa, nsa, cu totul diferit. In opinia publica s-au nradacinat o serie de prejudecati care fac ca stereotipul fanului doom-metal sa fie asociat cu satanismul, tendinta catre suicid, depresia. Genul nu are nici o legatura anume cu vreun cult sau altul, desi versurile pot cuprinde, dupa cum am spus, numeroase referinte mitice sau religioase, care se limiteaza, nsa la o valoare simbolica. De asemenea, motivul pierderii credintei sau ncrederii (eng: faith), adesea abordat n versurile doom, poate fi usor interpretat ca fiind de sorginte satanica. Mesajul aflat n spatele acestora rezida, de fapt, n tristetea si durerea care fac pe cineva sa-si piarda credinta / ncrederea si n nefericirea care rezulta din aceasta, fiind, mai degraba, un substitut simbolic pentru suferinta. Mesajul doom-metal nu promoveaza suicidul si nici nu ar putea conduce la tendinte suicidale. Sinuciderea este, adesea, o consecinta a unei tulburari, dezordini mintale, cum ar fi depresia care, la rndul sau, are la baza o combinatie de factori. Multi medici o vad ca pe o disfunctionalitate a

sinapselor serotoninice si norepinefrinice, ceea ce cauzeaza un dezechilibru chimic la nivelul creierului. Muzica - indiferent de gen - constituie, de obicei, una dintre putinele pete de culoare din viata unei persoane suferinde de depresie. Ca un ultim argument, mai mult de 99% din numarul de acte suicidale (iar numarul acestora pare sa nregistreze o crestere progresiva n ultimii 10 ani) implica persoane care nici nu au auzit vreodata de doom-metal ca gen muzical.

Progressive rock
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Progressive rock Stylistic origins: European classical music, Free jazz, Blues-rock, Psychedelic rock

Cultural origins: late 1960s, United Kingdom Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity: Derivative forms: Guitar - Bass - Keyboards Piano - Drums
Large in the 1970s, moderate since the 1990s

Art Rock

Subgenres
Symphonic rock - Math rock - Space Rock

Fusion genres
Avant-progressive - Progressive metal

For the unrelated swedish music style, see progg. Progressive rock (sometimes shortened to prog rock or prog) is a subgenre of rock music which arose in the late 1960s, reached the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, and continues as a musical form to this day. Progressive rock artists reject the limitations of popular music and aspire to create music for serious listening, often alluding to the sophistication of jazz and classical music, sometimes mixing folk and world music influences in as well.

It is musical dynamics, as well as the virtuosity of the musicians, which most distinguishes progressive rock. As with its counterpart, progressive jazz, progressive rock is very much a musicians form of music, designed to be analyzed and studied by knowledgeable listeners, as opposed to many other types of rock music that are more easily used for dancing or background music. The major acts that defined the genre in the 1970s are Jethro Tull, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rush, Gentle Giant and King Crimson. Progressive rock is difficult to define conclusively and to everyone's satisfaction, as the above bands do not sound anything alike, nor did they necessarily appeal to the same music fans during their era of greatest popularity. Outspoken King Crimson leader Robert Fripp has voiced his disdain for the term. Indeed, in some cases the bands themselves or well-known critics would question whether one or another of the above bands fit the term progressive rock as it is now defined by the music industry, as well as many fans. There is also debate on whether the musical output of artists and bands as varied as The Moody Blues, Frank Zappa, Deep Purple, Phish, Tool and The Flaming Lips belongs to the genre.

Contents
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1 Characteristics of progressive rock 2 History of progressive rock o 2.1 Precursors o 2.2 First progressive rock acts o 2.3 Rise and fall o 2.4 1980s revival o 2.5 Third wave and prog metal o 2.6 Influences o 2.7 Progressive Rock Festivals 3 See also 4 External links o 4.1 Reviews

5 Further reading [edit]

Characteristics of progressive rock

King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, released in October of 1969, is often cited as the first progressive rock work. It contained many of the elements that would mark the genre in the years to come: lengthy and articulated songs, odd time signatures, experimental use of instruments, and obscure album covers. There is probably no single element that is shared by all music that has been considered to be progressive rock. Still, there are certainly noticeable trends; these common, though not universal, features are:

Long compositions, sometimes running over 20 minutes, with intricate melodies and harmonies. These are often described as epics and are the genre's clearest nod to classical music. A very early example (perhaps the first multipart suite to appear in prog rock) is "In Held Twas In I" by Procol Harum, clocking in at 17:30. Classic examples include Genesis' 23-minute "Supper's Ready" and Jethro Tull's 44 minute "Thick as a Brick", while one of many prominent examples by more recent bands is Dream Theater's 42-minute "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence." Many progressive rock songs (including most of the aforementioned "epics") are made up of shorter parts that in some cases could be songs in their own right. Yes' single "Soon," for example, is actually a five-minute excerpt from "The Gates of Delirium," which is over 20 minutes long. Often, though not always, these parts are explicitly called out on the track list of the album on which they appear, sometimes deliberately alluding to the use of movements in classical suites. For example, Yes' "Close to the Edge" is divided into four parts, Rush's "2112" into seven, Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" into nine. Sometimes, parts of what is, at least in name, the same composition appear on several different albums; parts of King Crimson's "Larks Tongues in Aspic" have appeared on three different albums in three different decades to date; as of 2006, Dream Theater's suite dealing with Mike Portnoy's struggle with alcoholism has encompassed the opening tracks of their last three albums and is not yet complete. Lyrics that convey intricate and sometimes impenetrable narratives, covering such themes as science fiction, fantasy, history, religion, war, madness, and literature. It is relatively rare for progressive rock songs to be about love or sex, and practically unheard-of for such songs to concern other pop staples such as dancing or cars.

Most progressive rock bands have also avoided direct political commentary, preferring to shade their views in fictional or allegorical settings for example, Genesis' album Selling England by the Pound is tied together by a theme of commercialism versus naturalism. (A number of notable exceptions exist, though most postdate progressive rock's commercial heyday.)

Concept albums, in which a theme or storyline is explored throughout an entire album or series of albums, sometimes in a manner similar to a film or a play, often called "rock operas" (a term popularized by The Who, though they are not generally considered a progressive rock act). In the days of vinyl, concept albums were often two-record sets with strikingly designed gatefold sleeves. Famous examples include The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, and the series of albums by Pink Floyd, starting with The Dark Side of the Moon. More recent examples include Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrche and Metropolis Part II: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater. Prominent use of instruments unusual in rock music, including electronic instrumentation, as well as unusual vocal styles. Perhaps the most famous example of such instrumentation is the extensive use of the flute by Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson. Keyboard instruments including the synthesizer, organ, piano, and Mellotron are very common in progressive rock, much less so (though by no means unheard-of) in other rock genres. Other examples include the use of nonwestern instruments, particularly ethnic percussion. Gentle Giant are the progressive rock band best known for their vocal style, though many progressive rock singers such as Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator take highly unusual approaches as well. o Related to this is the prominence of multi-instrumentalists such as Mike Oldfield, Ian Anderson, and Neal Morse. o Perhaps surprisingly, in the progressive heyday, the use of orchestras and choirs was quite rare among the best-known progressive rock bands; the most famous examples from the late 60s and early 1970s are probably the title suite from Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, The Nice's Five Bridges Suite and Yes' second album Time and a Word, all of which predate those bands' most successful, and arguably most progressive, period. More usually, the aforementioned Mellotron was used to simulate strings or a choir. Less well-known bands such as Renaissance did make extensive use of an actual orchestra. Such instrumental choices, particularly the use of orchestras, have become much more common in recent progressive rock. Use of unusual time signatures, rhythmic techniques, scales, or tunings. Many pieces use multiple time signatures and/or tempi, sometimes concurrently (King Crimson's "Thela Hun Ginjeet", for example, contains passages in which some band members play in 7/8 and others in 4/4 to create an "offbalance" effect). An extremely wide dynamic range, with very quiet and very loud passages often occurring in the same piece of music. Use of compression to reduce this effect is much less common than in other forms of rock music. This is characteristic of music that is meant to be listened to relatively closely and for

its own sake, as opposed to relatively casually or as background noise (as are several of the features on this list, in fact). Solo passages for virtually every instrument. This contributed to the fame of such performers as guitarists David Gilmour and Steve Howe, keyboardists Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson, and drummer Neil Peart. Inclusion of classical pieces on albums. For example, Emerson, Lake and Palmer have performed arrangements of pieces by Copland, Bartk, Moussorgsky and others, and often feature quotes from J. S. Bach in lead breaks. Sometimes these pieces are significantly reinterpreted; Jethro Tull recorded a version of a Boure by Bach in which they turned the piece into a "sleazy jazzy night-club song" (in Ian Anderson's own words). An aesthetic linking the music with visual art, a trend started by The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and enthusiastically embraced during the prog heyday. Some bands became as well-known for the art direction of their albums as for their sound, with the "look" integrated into the band's overall musical identity. This led to fame for particular artists and design studios, most notably Roger Dean for his work with Yes, and Storm Thorgerson and his studio Hipgnosis for their work with Pink Floyd and others. H.R. Giger's painting for Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery is one of the most famous album sleeves ever produced, although it was censored to remove a phallus. By way of contrast, Charisma Records allowed Paul Whitehead to produce evocative gatefold album covers and sleeves for Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator without interference from the record label. The use of sound effects in compositions, otherwise known as Musique concrte. This is a particular trademark of Pink Floyd with examples including the entirety of "Speak to Me", the opening track from Dark Side of the Moon, but other bands did this too; for example, sounds of warfare can be heard throughout Jethro Tull's single "Warchild". The Mars Volta make heavy use of ambient noise on their album Frances the Mute. Exchanging of members. Though not nearly to the degree of jazz artists, there is a tendency for members of progressive rock groups to work between bands and create side projects. For instance, Jon Anderson of Yes sang on a King Crimson album, and Robert Fripp of King Crimson played on two Van der Graaf Generator albums. Drummer Bill Bruford has worked with Yes, Genesis (very briefly), King Crimson, prog supergroup UK, and many other projects. In the 1990s, a touring version of Yes that included almost everyone who had ever been a member included two full lineups who played in various combinations "in the round" during concerts. More recently, Dream Theater side projects have come to outnumber the band's own albums, involving nearly every current and former member of the band working with a bewildering variety of members of other recent prog bands.

[edit]

History of progressive rock

[edit]

Precursors
Progressive rock was born from a variety of musical influences in the late 1960s. The later Beatles and many psychedelic bands began to combine traditional rock music with instruments from classical and Eastern music. An important precursor, Beck's Bolero, composed by then-Yardbirds Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page in 1966, is a brief reworking of Maurice Ravel's "Bolro". Psychedelic rock continued this experimental trend and began to compose very long pieces, although usually without any carefully thought-out structure (for example, Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" or "1983... (A Merman Should I Turn to Be)" by Jimi Hendrix). Bands such as The Nice and the Moody Blues began deliberately combining rock music with classical music, producing longer pieces with deliberate structures. German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream introduced a variety of synthesisers, tape effects, and other unusual sounds in their compositions, usually in purely instrumental albums. By the mid- to late-'60s, The Who had also created concept albums and rock operas, as well as long live rock song performances although those were often in the more blues-based improvisational style also featured by contemporaries Cream and Led Zeppelin. All these bands are sometimes considered "early progressive," or as part of a transitional genre between psychedelic and progressive, sometimes referred to as proto-prog. [edit]

First progressive rock acts

Key early progressive rock bands included The Nice and Soft Machine and the roots of the genre can be traced back to the mid-sixties. However, King Crimson's appearance in February 1969 is often seen as a pivotal moment. King Crimson were quickly followed by other English progressive rock bands, including Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), and Jethro Tull. It is worth noting that, aside from ELP, these bands began their careers before King Crimson, and changed their musical styles considerably following the release of In the Court of the Crimson King. As for ELP, they inherited their singer and bassist, Greg Lake, from the original King Crimson lineup. Progressive rock also gained momentum when many rock fans grew disillusioned with the "Peace and Love" movement. Progressive rock often distanced itself from the "smiles and sunshine" of 1960s pop music and moved towards darker and sometimes more violent themes. For example, Genesis' Trespass includes "The Knife", a song about a violent demagogue, and "Stagnation", a song about a survivor of a nuclear attack. Genesis labelmates, Van der Graaf Generator, often took an existentialist approach that bordered on nihilism, even in album titles, such as Godbluff. Progressive rock was especially popular in continental Europe. Indeed, progressive rock was the first form of rock that actually captivated countries such as Italy and France. This era saw a great number of European progressive rock bands, most notably Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Area and the aforementioned Banco del

Mutuo Soccorso and Le Orme from Italy, and Ange and Magma from France. Of these bands, only PFM was significantly successful in the English-speaking world. Germany also had a significant progressive movement, often referred to as Krautrock. The Italian progressive rock has been considered somehow a case of its own (sometimes cited as a separated genre, as "Italian symphonic rock"): although most of the bands scored appalling success even in their home country (often releasing only one LP), today CDs of otherwise unknown groups like Museo Rosenbach, Osanna, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Semiramis etc., along with the more renowned ones, are increasingly sought by fans as true classics of the genre, and also attracting the interests of higher musical critics and universities. A strong element of avant-garde and counter-culture has long been associated with a great deal of progressive rock. In the 70's, Chris Cutler of Henry Cow formed a loose collective of artists referred to as Rock in Opposition or RIO, whose purpose was essentially to make a statement against the music industry. The original members included such diverse groups as Henry Cow, Samla Mammas Manna, Univers Zero, Etron Fou Leloublan, Stormy Six, and later Art Zoyd, Art Bears, and Aqsak Maboul. The Rock in Opposition movement was short lived, but the artists came to be recognized as some of the originators of Avant-progressive rock. Dark melodies, angular progressions, dissonance, free-form playing, and a disregard for conventional structure are all elements that have been used to describe these artists. [edit]

Rise and fall

Fans and music historians have a variety of ways to categorize the flavors of 1970s progressive rock. The Canterbury scene can be considered a sub-genre of progressive rock, more oriented towards Jazz rock, or simply another collection of true progressive rock bands. Other bands took the genre in a more commercial direction. These bands, including Renaissance, Queen and Electric Light Orchestra, are sometimes classified as "progressive rock", "commercial rock", or "symphonic pop." Over time, Led Zeppelin and Supertramp, among others, also incorporated more unusual instrumental elements, odd time signatures, and long compositions into their work. In a similar "prog pop" vein was Manfred Mann's Earthband. A feature of The Earthband were virtuoso Minimoog solos by Mann and they were considered a top class prog act which was surprising given Manfred Mann's more well known 60's heritage. Progressive rock's popularity peaked in the mid-1970s, when prog artists regularly topped readers' votes in mainstream popular music magazines in England and America. By this time, several New World progressive rock bands had been formed. Kansas, which had actually existed in one form or another since 1971, became one of the most commercially successful of all progressive rock bands. Toronto's Rush were equally successful, with a string of hit albums extending from the mid-1970s to the present (though little of their recent work falls into the progressive rock category). Less commercially successful, but at least as influential as either band, were the Dixie Dregs, from Georgia (argurably more of a fusion band).

Yes performing in 1977. With the advent of punk rock in the late 1970s, popular and critical opinion in England and America moved toward a simpler and more aggressive style of rock, with progressive rock increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. As Martin Smith once said in a BBC interview "The whole progressive [rock] genre ground to a halt overnight with the Sex Pistols." [edit]

1980s revival
Main article: Neo-progressive The early 1980s saw something of a revival of the genre, led by innovative artists such as Marillion, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon, Galahad, Pallas, and Saga. Groups that arose during this time are sometimes termed neo-progressive or neo-prog (also referred to as the New Wave Of British Prog Rock). Bands of this style were influenced by '70s progressive rock groups like Genesis, Yes, and Camel, but incorporated some elements that were reflective of the New Wave and other rock elements found in the 80s. The digital synthesiser became a prominent instrument in the style. Neo-prog continued to remain viable into the '90s and beyond with bands like Arena, Jadis, Collage, and Iluvatar. Their sound was generally similar in style and sound to neo-prog pioneers like Marillion and IQ, which differentiated them from the emerging Third Wave movement in the 1990s. Some progressive rock stalwarts changed musical direction, simplifying their music, making it more commercially viable. In 1982, the much anticipated supergroup Asia, composed of Steve Howe (Yes), Carl Palmer (ELP), John Wetton (King Crimson), and Geoff Downes (Yes), surprised (and disappointed) with their pop-oriented debut album. Top 5 single "Heat of the Moment" rotated heavily on MTV for years, while the first Asia album established a sales record for 1982. This demonstrated a market for more commercialized British progressive rock -- incidentally, the same style purveyed by North American Top-40 stalwarts such as Styx and Journey for several years. Other British bands followed Asia's lucrative example. In 1983, Genesis achieved some international success with "Mama", a song with heavy emphasis on a drum

machine riff. This signalled a very commercial direction during the 1980s. In 1984, Yes also had a surprise comeback with 90125, featuring their only number one (US) single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart." Written by guitarist Trevor Rabin prior to joining Yes, "Owner" was accessible enough to be played at discos, and more recently has been remixed into a trance single. Often sampled by hip-hop artists, "Owner" also incorporated contemporary electronic effects, courtesy of producer/ex-member Trevor Horn. Likewise, Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987 was a departure from their traditional extended play concept albums, featuring much shorter songs and an all together much more electronic sound. Many progressive rock fans were unhappy with the direction taken by these bands, but others simply accepted the changes and enjoyed the music. Yes, for instance, enjoyed a brief renaissance during the 1980s with a mixture of old and new fans. Moreover, other progressive rock bands like Rush arguably released some of their best material during the early and mid-1980s, due to a merge of new wave and early progressive sounds. [edit]

Third wave and prog metal

Main article: Progressive Metal The progressive rock genre enjoyed another revival in the 1990s. A notable kickoff to this revival were a trio of Swedish bands nglagrd, Anekdoten and Landberk in 1992-1993. Later came the so-called "Third Wave", spearheaded by such bands as Sweden's The Flower Kings, the UK's Porcupine Tree, Italy's Finisterre and Deus Ex Machina, and Spock's Beard, Echolyn and Glass Hammer from the United States. Arjen Anthony Lucassen with the backing of an array of talent from the progressive rock genre, produced a series of innovative concept albums. While not necessarily sounding alike, many of the Third Wave bands had very strong ties musically to the 1970s progressive rock acts, often to the point of sounding 'retro' in nature. One of the most commercial bands of the alternative rock movement, The Smashing Pumpkins, incorporated progressive rock into their unique, eclectic style, going so far as to release two albums dealing with the same concept, and Seattle's Soundgarden helped bridge the gap between progressive rock and the Grunge movement. Phish would often be referenced in their early albums as a technical example of progressive rock due to their unique sound and the incorporation of many elements considered to be "characteristic" of progressive rock. Their 1988 release Junta is often seen as a 1980s progressive rock landmark. In recent years, one of the more commercially viable categories of prog has been progressive metal, which mixes some of the common elements associated with progressive rock (lengthy compositions, concept albums, virtuosity) with the power and attitude associated with metal. One distinguishing characteristic is the prominence of a keyboard instrument to a music (metal) that is normally fairly guitar dominant. Several of the leading bands in the prog-metal genre (Dream Theater (U.S.), Ayreon (Netherlands), Opeth (Sweden), and Fates Warning (U.S.) cite pioneer progressive hard-rockers Rush as a prime influence, although their music shows large influences

from bands such as Black Sabbath or Deep Purple as well. Tool have cited pioneers King Crimson as an influence on their work. King Crimson opened for Tool on their 2002 tour, and expressed admiration for Tool while denying the "prog" label [1]. Meanwhile, other heavy metal bands not generally considered prog-metal, such as System of a Down have nevertheless incorporated prog-influenced elements like bizarre shifts in time signatures and tempo in their music. In recent years, a number of heavily classical-influenced goth metal bands have emerged in Europe, most notably Finland's Nightwish. Though they probably do not think of themselves as progressive metal bands, fans of the genre often consider them to be such and indeed, several could claim at least as many of the "characteristics of Progressive Rock" listed above as bands like Dream Theater. It should be noted that the term "progressive" in the early 1970s had been coined to emphasize the newness of these bands, but by the 1980s the term had become the name of a specific musical style. As a result, bands such as King Crimson which continued to update their sound were not always called "progressive", while some newer self-described "prog" bands purchased vintage mellotrons in order to recreate the sound of early 1970s prog. Fans and hostile critics alike had established "progressive rock" as the permanent name of this genre, and so the connection to the usual meaning of "progressive" became irrelevant. [edit]

Influences
The work of contemporary artists such as Ween, post-rock bands like Sigur Rs and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and alternative or new prog groups like Radiohead and Muse could be said to incorporate some of the elements of progressive rock, sometimes combined with the aesthetic sensibilities of punk rock. A better example of a contemporary progressive band however is probably The Mars Volta, who are notable for intentionally fusing punk with progressive rock, two elements once polar opposites. The cult English band Cardiacs has specialised since 1980 in a kind of progressive punk sound which has influenced a slew of other bands who are occasionally described (with tongue-in-cheek) as pronk acts. Among the more experimental and avant garde musicians, the Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu publicly cites progressive rock bands as a prime influence on his work, while Chicago's indie-rock band The Fiery Furnaces could also be considered progressive, blending electronic and orchestrated bits into their craft, while also expanding on The Who's mini rock-opera ethic. There are also a number of contemporary prog bands, such as Mostly Autumn that combine Celtic, and sometimes pagan, influences with earlier prog rock styles. Other bands of note incorporating progressive rock into their sound include The Mars Volta, Umphrey's McGee, Porcupine Tree, dredg, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Kayo Dot, Opeth, and Coheed and Cambria [edit]

Progressive Rock Festivals

Renewed interest in progressive rock in the 90s eventually led to the beginnings of musical events and festivals that centered around progressive rock acts. The first ProgFest was held on May 29th, 1993, in UCLA's Royce Hall and featured Sweden's Anglagard, England's IQ, Quill, and Citadel. Interest in the festival was large enough for others in the U.S.A. to start similar events. ProgDay, held at Storybook Farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, first emerged during Labor Day weekend in 1995 and is planning its 12th festival in 2006. The most successful of these festivals to date is NEARfest, which held its first event on June 26th & 27th, 1999 in Bethlehem, PA to approximately 400 fans. With a diverse lineup and an ability to get big name talent, the festival eventually grew in popularity to fill a 1,000 seat venue, and later relocated to Trenton, NJ in 2002 to a venue which seated over 1,850. The festival relocated back to Bethlehem, PA in 2004 and is still active. Other current festivals of note include Rosfest in Phoenixville, PA, Baja Prog in Mexicali, Mexico, CalProg in Whittier, CA, Prog In The Park in Rochester, NY, Gouveia Art Rock in Portugal and Rio Art Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A definition of Progressive Rock Music

Progressive rock ("prog") is an ambitious, eclectic, and often grandiose style of rock music which arose in the late 1960s principally in England, reaching the peak of its popularity in the early 1970s, but continuing as a musical form to this day. Progressive rock was largely a European movement, and drew most of its influences from classical music and jazz fusion, in contrast to American rock, which was influenced by rhythm & blues and country, although there are notable exceptions in the New World such as Kansas and Rush considered by many to be the finest examples of the form. Over the years various subgenres of progressive rock have emerged, such as symphonic rock, art rock and progressive metal.

Progressive rock artists sought to move away from the limitations of radio formatted rock and pop, and "progress" rock to the point that it could achieve the sophistication of jazz or classical music. It is admired by its fans for its complexity, requiring a high level of musical virtuosity to perform. Critics have often derided the genre as pompous and self-indulgent. This is because, unlike such stylistically consistent genres as country or hip hop, progressive rock is difficult to define in a single conclusive way. Outspoken King Crimson leader Robert Fripp has voiced his disdain for the term. The major acts that defined the genre in the 1970s (Yes, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush and King Crimson) do not sound alike. There is also debate on whether bands such as The Beatles, Phish, and Radiohead belong to the genre.

Some common, though not universal, elements of progressive rock include:

Long compositions, sometimes running over 20 minutes, with intricate melodies and harmonies that require repeated listening to grasp. These are often described as epics and are the genre's clearest nod to classical music. An early example is the 23-minute "Echoes" by Pink Floyd. Other famous examples include Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" (43 minutes), Yes' "Close to the Edge" (18 minutes) and Genesis' "Supper's Ready" (23 minutes). More recent extreme examples are the 60-minute "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" by Green Carnation and "Garden of Dreams" by The Flower Kings.

Lyrics that convey intricate and sometimes impenetrable narratives, covering such themes as science fiction, fantasy, history, religion, war, love, and madness. Many early 1970s progressive rock bands (especially German ones) featured lyrics concerned with left-wing politics and social issues.

Concept albums, in which a theme or storyline is explored throughout an entire album in a manner similar to a film or a play. In the days of vinyl, these were usually two-record sets with strikingly designed gatefold sleeves. Famous examples include The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes, 2112 by Rush, Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall by Pink Floyd, and the more recent Metropolis Part II: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater and Snow by Spock's Beard. Aqualung, perhaps the best-known record by Jethro Tull, is often regarded as a concept album due to its recurring themes, but songwriter Ian Anderson has always claimed that the album is just "a bunch of songs".

Unusual vocal styles and use of multi-part vocal harmonies. See Magma, Robert Wyatt, and Gentle Giant. Prominent use of electronic instrumentation particularly keyboard instruments such as the organ, piano, Mellotron, and Moog synthesizer, in addition to the usual rock combination of electric guitar, bass and drums.

Use of unusual time signatures, scales, or tunings. Many pieces use multiple time signatures and/or tempi, sometimes concurrently. Solo passages for virtually every instrument, designed to showcase the virtuosity of the player. This is the sort of thing that contributed to the fame of such performers as keyboardist Rick Wakeman and drummer Neil Peart.

Inclusion of classical pieces on albums. For example, Yes start their concerts with a taped extract of Stravinsky's Firebird suite, and Emerson Lake and Palmer have performed arrangements of pieces by Copland, Bartk, Moussorgsky, Prokofiev, Janacek, Alberto Ginastera, and often feature quotes from J. S. Bach in lead breaks. Jethro Tull recorded a famous cover of J. S. Bach's "Bouree", in which they turned the classical piece into a "sleazy jazzy night-club song", according to Ian Anderson. Marillion started concerts with Rossini's La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie). Symphony X has included parts by, or inspired by, Beethoven, Holst and Mozart.

An aesthetic linking the music with visual art, a trend started by The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper's and enthusiastically embraced during the prog heyday. Some bands became as well-known for the art direction of their albums as for their sound, with the "look" integrated into the band's overall musical identity. This led to fame for particular artists and design studios, most notably Roger Dean, whose paintings and logo design for Yes are so essential to the band's identity they could be said to serve the same function as corporate branding. Hipgnosis became equally famous for their unusual sleeves for Pink Floyd, often featuring experimental photography quite innovative for the time (two men shaking hands, one of whom is in flames, on the cover of Wish You Were Here). H.R. Giger's painting for Emerson Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery is one of the most famous album sleeves ever produced.

Progressive rock compositions sometimes take the following forms:

A piece that is subdivided into movements in the manner of a classical suite. Examples are the four-part "Close to the Edge" by Yes, six-part "Hemispheres" by Rush, and the seven-part "A Change of Seasons" by Dream Theater. All of TransAtlantic's epics are multipart.

A piece that is composed of a patchwork of musical themes that could conceivably stand as individual songs, but together serve to relate a complete narrative through music. Examples are "Supper's Ready" on Genesis' Foxtrot (the "Willow Farm" section of which was played as a single), "A Day in the Life" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, Jethro Tull's Aqualung from the album of the same name, and "The Gates of Delirium" on Yes's album Relayer (from which the single "Soon" was taken).

A piece that allows the development of musical ideas via progressions or variations in the manner of a bolero or a canon. "King Kong" on Frank Zappa's Uncle Meat is an example.

Progressive rock's popularity peaked in the mid-1970s, when prog artists regularly topped readers' votes in mainstream popular music magazines. With the advent of punk rock in the late 1970s, and its earlier precursor pub rock, popular and critical opinion moved toward a simpler and more aggressive style of rock, with progressive rock increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. This attitude has remained in place to the present day.

The early 1980s saw something of a revival of the genre, led by artists such as Marillion, Saga, and Kate Bush. Groups that arose during this time are sometimes termed neoprogressive. Around the same time, some progressive rock stalwarts changed musical

direction, simplifying their music and including more obviously electronic elements. In 1983, Genesis achieved international success with the song "Mama", with its heavy emphasis on a drum machine riff. In 1984, Yes had a surprise number one hit with the song "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which contained modern (for the time) electronic effects and was accessible enough to be played at discos.

The genre enjoyed another revival in the 1990s with the so-called "Third Wave", spearheaded by such bands as Sweden's The Flower Kings, the UK's Porcupine Tree, and Spock's Beard from the United States. One of the most important bands of the alternative rock movement, The Smashing Pumpkins, incorporated progressive rock into their unique, eclectic style, going so far as to release two albums dealing with the same concept.

In recent years, the most commercially viable category of prog has been progressive metal. These bands are usually happy to be known as progressive, and produce very long pieces and concept albums. Several of the leading bands in the prog-metal genre (particularly Dream Theater) cite pioneer progressive hard-rockers Rush as a prime influence. Meanwhile, other heavy metal bands not generally considered prog-metal, such as System of a Down, have nevertheless incorporated prog-influenced elements like bizarre shifts in time signatures and tempo in their music.

The work of contemporary artists such as Ween and post-rock bands like Sigur Rs and Godspeed You! Black Emperor could be said to incorporate some of the experimental elements of progressive rock, sometimes combined with the aesthetic sensibilities of punk rock to produce music which many find challenging, innovative and imaginative. The Mars Volta is notable for intentionally fusing punk with progressive rock, two elements once polar opposites. Among more experimental and avant garde musicians, the Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu publicly cites progressive rock bands as a prime influence on his work.

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The history of Progressive Rock Music (1967 - 2004)

Through this "mini guide" of the "progressive music", it is intended that you would discover the kind of music by the means of four chronicles whereby each one covers one wave of the progressive movement. They correspond to this era : end of the Sixties (prehistory), the Seventies (the golden age), the Eighties (the silver age, the birth of neo progressive rock) and at the Nineties at our days (rebirth and new progressive metal).

Research & Redaction in French by ProgLucky, CANADA (FOUNDER OF PROGARCHIVES.COM)

SPECIAL THANKS...! Improved and adapted in English by Ian Alterman (Maani), USA (FORUM MODERATOR + SPECIAL COLLABORATOR)

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The development of Progressive Rock Music

Written by

Lucas BIELA

The development of Progressive Rock Music, a difficult task

Late 60s and beginning of the 70s I would say it all began with psychedelic music, i.e. essentially Jimi Hendrix and earlier PINK FLOYD (all their stuff with Syd Barrett). Some people say that The BEATLES also had a contribution to the prog movement). Then came bands such as KING CRIMSON and YES at the end of the sixties. KING CRIMSON, along with VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR (VDGG) helped define a sub-genre of the progressive music called hard prog ('hard' referring to the tormented atmosphere of their records, however "In The Court In The Crimson King" is

symphonic prog). YES were playing symphonic rock, so called because of the use of a symphonic orchestra. GENESIS were already recording at the end of the sixties but their links to the progressive rock were not yet defined. With the album "Trespass", things became clear about GENESIS. YES and GENESIS remain icons in symphonic rock music. Other bands followed their steps later : GENTLE GIANT, CAMEL among others. At the same time as symphonic rock was developing in Great Britain, many Italian bands were performing a similar type of music : BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORCO (BDMS for short), PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM), Le ORME, QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA (QVL) among others. These two countries were the most prolific as far as progressive rock is concerned.

Let's go back to England to focus on another sub-genre that comes from the Canterbury country. CARAVAN defined that sub-genre with their second album and bands like HATFIELD AND THE NORTH and later NATIONAL HEALTH followed (plus a band that didn't come from England but from USA, HAPPY THE MAN). The first GONG album ("Camembert Electrique", featuring Pip Pyle on drums who later joined HATFIELD and NATIONAL HEALTH) belongs also to this sub-genre. Daevid Allen (who later founded GONG) formed with Robert Wyatt SOFT MACHINE, a band that could be regarded as belonging to the Canterbury scene for their first three releases, but that turned to jazz-fusion (with "Third"), another sub-genre that included also later Bruford and BRAND X, and in the USA Frank ZAPPA.

So, all the beginning of the seventies, 3 sub-genres are already established : symphonic (YES, GENESIS), Canterbury (CARAVAN, earlier GONG), hard prog (KING CRIMSON, VDGG).

The 70s After Syd Barrett left PINK FLOYD, their music became softer with ethereal passages : they defined a new sub-genre, space rock. GONG were also following the same way with "Angel Egg" (but with humour), their best record to date. After The YARDBIRDS split, Keith Relf formed with his wife Jane the band RENAISSANCE, a group that blended folk music with progressive rock. Along with JETHRO TULL, RENAISSANCE were qualified as a folk prog band. The popularity of RENAISSANCE grew after Annie Haslam replaced Jane Relf on vocals and they releases the great "Scheherazade And Other Stories" in 1975. JETHRO TULL released "Aqualung" in 1971, an album that is considered as a classic today, but I would recommend the flow-up "Thick As A Brick" as an introduction to their contribution to the folk prog scene.

Another sub-genre of the progressive rock was also developing in the seventies : art rock, led by bands such as SUPERTRAMP, ROXY MUSIC, 10 CC. These groups were playing a simpler music than in the other prog sub-genre. In Germany, a group called TANGERINE DREAM was playing a music based exclusively on electronic instruments, hence their music was called "Electronic" (or New Age"), although it may include many not electronic instruments (as is the case for Mike OLDFIELD), VANGELIS and SYNERGY belong also to this

sub-genre. Many of the German bands that appeared at the beginning of the seventies were classified as "Krautrock", an additional sub-genre of the progressive rock, including GROBSCHNITT, AMON DL, ASH RA TEMPEL. A minimalistic form of the "electronic" music appeared also in the seventies : ambient. KRAFTWERK, Brian ENO, CLUSTER belong to this category. Moreover, in England a sub-genre based on improvisation and with a jazz background appeared in 1973 with the release of HENRY COW's "Leg End" (RIO, Rock In Opposition).

I forgot to mention that EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (ELP), band that gathered members of KING CRIMSON, ATOMIC ROOSTER and The NICE released albums ("Tarkus" being regarded as their best) belonging to a sub-genre called classical prog, as they often feature a song that is an adaptation of a piece of classical music ("Pictures At An Exibition" for example). The NICE and Rick WAKEMAN belong also to this sub-genre, In North America, some groups tried to mix hard rock with progressive elements, such bands are RUSH, STYX among others (KANSAS could also be added to this category but it is also close to the English symphonic prog scene). They were called pomp prog as the intros and outros of some of their songs are "pompous".

I mentioned previously the development of a jazz-fusion scene with BRAND X (featuring Phil Collins), Bruford, and ZAPPA, the music of this latter could be considered as a unique sub-genre (mix of jazz, doo-wap, rock). Another band was also strongly rooted in jazz but included also influences ranging from Stockhausen to Duke Ellington, via opera : MAGMA, who created the Zeuhl sub-genre, with a language intelligible only by them ("Kobaa").

So, at the end of the seventies you have 10 new sub-genres in the progressive rock : art rock, folk prog, classical prog, RIO, jazz-fusion, Zeuhl, ambient, electronic, krautrock, pomp prog

The 80s The progressive rock was supplanted by the "punk movement" at the end of the seventies, a "music" which aim was to prove that everyone could play music. "Punk" gave rise to the cold wave in the eighties and prog rock was reduced to what was called neo progressive (a simpler form of the symphonic prog but with much present drums), and an embryo of what became at the beginning of the nineties the metal prog . SAGA were probably the first to play this neo prog, but MARILLION, IQ and PENDRAGON are the best representatives of this sub-genre. Landmarq albums include "Misplaced Childhood" by MARILLION, "Masquerade Overture ('96)" by PENDRAGON and "Ever" by IQ.

The 90s Metal prog developed with DREAM THEATER's "Images And Words". However, in the eighties some groups were already playing a heavy metal based progressive music :

QUEENSRYCHE, FATES WARNING, WATCHTOWER. Thanks to Mike Varney in the USA, who founded the prog label Magna Carta, and in Europe the Inside Out Label. Apart from metal prog. SPOCK'S BEARD were playing a symphonic prog with references to GENTLE GIANT and GENESIS and ECHLOLYN and IZZ were playing a music closer to neo prog. In the Northern Europe, a Scandinavian symphonic prog scene developed with bands such as The FLOWER KJINGS, ANGLAGARD and SINKADUS, A post RIO scene also developed with DJAM KARET, THINKING PLAGUE Some groups play jazz-fusion : KENSO, CARTOONE, DEUS EX MACHINA. PORCUPINE TREE and OZRIC TENACLES play space rock. COLLAGE, CLEPSYDRA are great bands hat are strongly influenced by IQ and MARILLION.

Thus, in the nineties you have a revival of the prog scene not only with the appearance of a new sub-genre : metal prog but also with bands playing the styles developed in the seventies.

I hope these informations will help you in your investigation.

Written by

Lucas BIELA

The genres of progressive rock music

Progressive rock (shortened to prog, or prog rock when differentiating from other... genres) is a broad and convergent style of rock music and progressive music which arose in the late 1960s , reaching the peak of its popularity in the early 1970s , but continuing as a musical form to this day. This genre music is a catalyst to raise considerably the level of musicanship among rock bands and bring a new level of depth and sophistication to rock. Popular bands associated with progressive rock include JETHRO TULL, KING CRIMSON, GENESIS, PINK FLOYD, YES, the much-discussed newscomers ARENA, IQ, PENDRAGON, DREAM THEATER, MARILLION, PORCUPINE TREE and many other bands come from there. If you're not familiar with Prog Rock, it's a rather adventure some style of music . We hope you enjoy your browse through thirty years of progressive rock history when you visit our Progressive and related departments. Nowadays its more underground but with a very loyal following.

One of the most defining characteristics of prog is the classification of bands and artists. There are various sub-genres of progressive rock (or "prog", as it is sometimes abbreviated). People can (and will) argue for hours about whether this or that band belongs in this or that sub-genre. This list below is just a simple outline of the characteristics of each sub-genre, and by NO means a strict guideline. Remember, this is not a definitive list.

SUB-GENRES

Art Rock Canterbury Scene Experimental/Post-Rock Indo-Prog/Raga Rock Italian Symphonic Prog Jazz Rock/Fusion Krautrock Neo Progressive Prog Folk Prog Related Progressive Electronic Progressive Metal Proto-Prog Psychedelic/Space Rock RIO/Avant-Prog Symphonic Prog Various Genres Zeuhl

Art Rock
This was the original name of progressive rock music. We now use this within the umbrella of Prog or Progressive Rock as category that is used to refer to explorative works by bands that cross different genres or have an experimental nature that is not specific to one genre. Some of these bands may have had roots in other prog categories in their early years but later became more AOR or mainstream or vise versa starting out mainstream then becoming prog. These bands are considered primarily to be prog bands.

Garion81 All Art Rock artists list

Canterbury Scene
A fraternal collective of musicians clustered around the Kentish tourist town that is home to the Church of England's Archbishop, the Canterbury Scene provided the cradle for a halfdozen of the most freewheeling British bands of the post-psychedelic era. Though the

direct musical similarities between Canterbury's major bands the Soft Machine, Caravan, Gong, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Hatfield & the North, Egg, National Health aren't overwhelming, each featured a clever synthesis of jazz improvisation and rock rhythms with clever, intellectual songwriting tied to psychedelia. It's no wonder the Canterbury bands became so close, since many of its major figures began their musical careers in a beat group called the Wilde Flowers. Together from 1963 to 1969, the Wilde Flowers included most of the figures who later formed Canterbury's two best bands, the Soft Machine (Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers) and Caravan (Pye Hastings, David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Richard Coughlan). After both the Soft Machine and Caravan released their debut albums in 1968, they became popular in England's psychedelic underground. By the early '70s however, a series of fragmenting lineup changes and the subsequent formation of new bands soon multiplied the force of the Canterbury scene. Early Soft Machine member Daevid Allen formed Gong, and both Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt eventually left the Softs to begin their own solo careers. The musicians that led the new incarnation of the Soft Machine, including Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper, began pushing the band in the direction of instrumental jazz-rock. By the mid-'70s, many of the remaining Canterbury bands had progressed from psychedelic and prog-rock to embrace extended fusion jams with few lyrics. Many of Britain's better avant-garde or fusion musicians of the 1970s and '80s including Fred Frith, Allan Holdsworth, and Peter Blegvad also began their career playing in Canterbury bands. All Canterbury Scene artists list

Experimental/Post-Rock
EXPERIMENTAL: Experimental music is any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is. There is an overlap with avant-garde music. John Cage was a pioneer in experimental music and defined and gave credibility to the form. As with other edge forms that push the limits of a particular form of expression, there is little agreement as to the boundaries of experimental music, even amongst its practitioners. On the one hand, some experimental music is an extension of traditional music, adding unconventional instruments, modifications to instruments, noises, and other novelties to orchestral compositions. At the other extreme, there are performances that most listeners would not characterize as music at all.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Experimental Music".

POST-ROCK: The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords."

Originally used to describe the music of such bands as Stereolab, Disco Inferno, Seefeel, Bark Psychosis and Pram, it spread out to be frequently used for all sorts of jazz- and Krautrock-influenced, instrumental, electronica-added music made after 1994. Bands from the early 1990s such as Slint, or earlier, such as Talk Talk were influential on this genre. As with many musical genres, the term is arguably inadequate: it is used for the music of Tortoise as well as that of Mogwai, two bands who have very little in common besides the fact that their music is largely instrumental.

The aforementioned Tortoise was among the founders of the movement. After the second Tortoise LP Millions Now Living Will Never Die, the band became a post-rock icon. After Millions... many bands (e.g., Do Make Say Think) began to record, inspired by the "Tortoisesound" and were often described as post-rock.

In the late nineties, Chicago, Illinois, became the home base of many different groups. John McEntire (of Tortoise) became an important producer for lots of them, as well as Jim O'Rourke (of Brice-Glace, Gastr del Sol and many more). Post-rock began to range from the slow, guitar-based ambience of Boxhead Ensemble to the up-tempo electronica of Stereolab.

Montreal, Quebec band Godspeed You Black Emperor! later renamed 'Godspeed You! Black Emperor' brought a political element with anti-globalization movement leanings.

By the early 2000s, the term had started to fall out of favor, while the major artists kept on making high quality recordings. The wide range of styles covered by the term had robbed it of its usefulness almost from the moment it was coined.

Closely related to post-rock is the genre known as Math rock, characterized by more percussive timbres, and more dissonant harmonic gestures.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Post-rock".

All Experimental/Post-Rock artists list

Indo-Prog/Raga Rock
The private, metaphysical relations to oneself, to the other, the symbolism of existence are connected, transfigured by the particular expression of raga, classical India music. The emotion provided by this music is not only affective. Its a real message, an aesthetic of the nature, of the divine, a virtue able to guide the listener to a state of emotional trance. In the mid-60s with the launch of international success of raga masters as Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar KhanEuropean and American artists will become more and more captivated by the dynamical relation between mystical emotion, spirituality and music. The emergence of Raga schools from everywhere (still perpetuating the ancestral musical traditions), the travels of our modern classical, jazz and popular composers to India will provoke a growing agitation for this musical universe. The emphasis on repetitive circular rhythms, ornamentation (gamaka), the use of patterns, the sense of long, endless improvisations are the central characteristics of this music in term of practice and form. Emotionally, the function on the listener is hypnotic, voluntary trying to reach him into a higher state of consciousness, modulating his perception of time. The basic conception of drone (continuous sound form) will be taken back in popular music and turned into electronic drone (for instance by the 70s Berlin underground electronic scene). After Seventh sons first original but rather discreet effort simply called raga (1964), famous bands as the Beatles in Revolver and Traffic in their album Mr Fantasy will be seduced by the sonorities of Indian raga music, occasionally integrated sitar elements to their music. Among the most notorious artists who participate to the original dialogue between rock and Indian music we can quote many jazz musicians influenced by world elements (the guitarists Volker Krieger, Steve Tibbetts, the clarinet player Tony Scott). They are often recognised to practice a fusion between jazz rock harmonies and ragas instrumentations (tabla, sitar). Among them Collin Walcott and Alberto Marsicano were Ravi Shankars pupils. The world of raga rock can also include folk bands as Quintessance, Fit & Limo, Flute & Voice which are largely impregnated by mysticism, sonic meditation and sitar.

Philippe Blache All Indo-Prog/Raga Rock artists list

Italian Symphonic Prog

Indeed so much progressive music has emerged and continues to emerge from Italy that some people believe it belongs in its own sub-genre. Lyrics are almost entirely in Italian. Compositions sometimes follow traditional Italian arrangements and compositional style, some based on particular regions of Italy. However, Italian prog styles can, and do, also fall within all of the other sub-genres. All Italian Symphonic Prog artists list

Jazz Rock/Fusion
Sometimes includes progressive jazz. This style fuses traditional jazz arrangements, instruments, and performance style with elements of progressive rock. The result is usually instrumental jazz-rock with a somewhat more technical and complex edge. Very interesting to listen to - especially if you are a musician who marvels at the amazing virtuosity of some of these artists. All Jazz Rock/Fusion artists list

Krautrock
Krautrock refers to the legions of German bands of the early '70s that expanded the sonic possibilities of art and progressive rock. Instead of following in the direction of their British and American counterparts, who were moving toward jazz and classical-based compositions and concept albums, the German bands became more mechanical and electronic. Working with early synthesizers and splicing together seemingly unconnected reels of tape, bands like Faust, Can, and Neu created a droning, pulsating sound that owed more to the avant garde than to rock & roll. Although the bands didn't make much of an impact while they were active in the '70s, their music anticipated much post-punk of the early '80s, particularly industrial rock. Kraut rock also came into vogue in the '90s, when groups like Stereolab and Tortoise began incorporating the hypnotic rhythms and electronic experiments of the German art-rock bands into their own, vaguely avant-garde indie rock

Krautrock can also be considered as 70's "acid" rock from Germany. A majority of bands experiment long instrumental improvisations with an important use of psychedelic effects, weird electronic sounds.

Updated by Philippe Blache (2005-09-21) All Krautrock artists list

Neo Progressive
The Neo-Progressive subgenre of progressive rock grew out of a movement in the early 1980s by a number of U.K.-based bands that focused on music that was deeper than new wave, both instrumentally and lyrically. The premier band of the genre was Marillion, who went from lengthy club tours to the top of the charts within a few years and dropped from popular favor almost as fast. Neo-Prog bands are generally influenced by early Genesis, Camel, and to a lesser extent, Van der Graf Generator and Pink Floyd. The music holds a much more lush sound than general rock, but lacks the sophistication of truly symphonic progressive bands like Yes or amel. Instrumentally, the bands tend to be characterized by a "noodling" approach that focuses on dynamic solos, and at its best, neo-prog lyrics are deep, insightful, and acerbic. Whether neo-prog is diluted progressive or adventurous pop depends on the point of view of the listener most progressive rock listeners are likely to find the genre dull and unchallenging, while fans of AOR will find the mix more interesting than most rock bands. Although all of the major bands are still producing albums, the classic era of neo-prog effectively ended when vocalist Fish left Marillion in 1987. All Neo Progressive artists list

Prog Folk
In the wake of the 60s, a Folk revival started on both sides of the Atlantic, and got quickly linked with a protest movement, not always, but often linked to more left-wing tendencies, which did not sit well with the authorities. BOB DYLAN, JOAN BAEZ, WOODY GUTHRIE, JOHN

DENVER, BUFFY STE-MARIE, but also the FARINA couple Richard and Mimi for the US and SHIRLEY COLLINS and EWAN McCOLL (mentor of BERT JANSCH, JOHN RENBOURN ) for the UK and HUGUES AUFRAY in France. In Quebec, there was the Chansoniers phenomenon among which CLAUDE LEVEILLE and FELIX LECLERC were the most popular, waking up the sleepy Belle Province and stand up for itself from the English rule. The English part of Canada also brought up JONI MITCHELL, LEONARD COHEN (although he was from Montreal) and NEIL YOUNG.

As DYLAN turned electric with his Highway 61 Revisited album, much to the dislike of purists who yelled for treason, Folk Rock was born, opening the floodgates for younger artists to turn on the electricity. As DYLAN soon abandoned to style to create Country Rock with his next album, his British equivalent Scotsman DONOVAN stayed true to Folk Rock. In the US, THE BYRDS were the main promoters of the style by now, culminating with the superb Eight Miles High track with a lengthy (for the times) guitar solo of almost one minute. But countless other bands on the west coast, such as LOVE, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (and later its spin-off HOT TUNA), GRATEFUL DEAD, QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, and TIM BUCKLEY all started in the folk rock realm. Even San Frans SANTANA with its Latino traditional music and, on the east coast, NYs THE LOVING SPOONFUL had folk roots. Notwithstanding the immense popularity of SIMON & GARFUNKEL and their delicious harmonies, Folk Rock was appealing only to the rock public as the older generations turned their backs in folkies.

In the UK, following on their countrymen DONOVAN, many Scotsmen were very influent in exploring new grounds for folk rock: INCREDIBLE STRING BAND (led by Scots Palmer and Williamson) with their two highly influential albums 5000 Layers Or The Spirit Of The Onion & The Hangmans Beautiful Daughter and THE PENTANGLE (led by other Scots Renbourn, Jansch and McShee and their superb bassist Danny Thompson) and its incredible fusion of folk, blues and jazz style were very instrumental in developing the style to the same extent as FAIRPORT CONVENTION and THE STRAWBS who by that time were still more conventional US west-coast folk rock. The single artistes in folk rock became known as Folk Troubadours were also numerous and often presented a more progressive side of folk: AL STEWART, NICK DRAKE, ROY HARPER, TYRANOSAURUS REX (actually a duo of Steven Took and Marc Bolan) , JOHN MARTYN etc

However, the real angular album that will lead to further change of Folk Rock is FAIRPORT CONVENTIONs Liege & Lief album, that proved to be highly influential for another generation of groups: this album concentrated into electrifying seminal English traditional folk and retained that quaint Englishness taste. It is interesting to see that both leaders of FAIRPORT quit the band after this success to go their respective way: Sandy Denny to a solo folk songwriting career and Ashley Hutchings to a very traditional folk rock. By this time, most connoisseur were talking of Acid Folk, Psych Folk, and Progressive Folk, all

having limited differences and no particularly drawn-out limits or boundaries, but all relying on experimental or groundbreaking adventures and good musicianship but not necessarily of an acoustic nature.

Groups like THE THIRD EAR BAND and QUINTESSENCE relied on eastern Indian music influences and, sometimes, medieval tones. Other groups like the weird COMUS, THE TREES, SPYROGIRA, FOREST, the superb JAN DUKES DE GREY (all listed in the ProgArchives) but also TRADER HORNE, TUDOR LODGE, FOTHERINGAY, MAGNA CARTA, TIR NA NOG (all of whom could also be in the ProgArchives) were out to break new ground but with less commercial success as their predecessor. By 1972, all of the glorious precursors bands were selling fewer records and had problems renewing themselves and a newer generation of groups was relying in a more Celtic jigs or really traditional sounds. Such as HORSLIPS, DANDO SHAFT, STEELEYE SPAN, AMAZING BLONDEL, ALBION DANCE BAND and SPRIGUNS OF TOLGUS. Although JETHRO TULL had some definitive folk roots right from the start, their only albums that can be regarded as Prog Folk are 77s Songs From The Woods and 78s Heavy Horses. Ian Anderson (another Scots) was very keen in acoustical traditional songs. Some Folk Troubadours such as TIM BUCKLEY and JOHN MARTYN started turning records more and more axed towards fusing jazz and folk (a bit in what THE PENTANGLE were doing) , others became more and more electric and they started to be referred to as Singer Songwriters especially those with country rock influences.

In Germany, HOELDERLIN (and their fantastic debut album), EMTIDI, OUGENWEIDE, CAROL OF HARVEST, WITTHEUSER & WESTRUPP were exploring German folk while KALACAKRA , SILOAH and EMBRYO were indulging with Indian music. In South America, most notably in Chile, LOS JAIVAS (very bent upon Andean Indian music) and EL CONGRESSO (more Spanish-Latino folklore) were using folk in their rock, so much that some press talked about them referring it with the hateful term Inca Rock. In Quebec, the progressive movement exploded with the cultural identity and the Chansoniers tradition and this was carried out with LES SEGUIN and HARMONIUM and so many more. In France, many groups were out for folk rock such as RIBEIRO ALPS, TANGERINE, and ASGARD. In Spain, Flamenco playing a dominant role as well as Basque folk, TRIANA, ITOIZ and HAIZEA were the head of the movement once the Franco regime fell apart after his death.

There is also a very important medieval music influences dimension in some groups as the term Medieval Folk was also mentioned for a while but apparently dropped by musicologists. Among the UK groups are obviously GRYPHON, GENTLE GIANT and THIRD EAR BAND, in France: MALICORNE and RIPAILLE and in Scandinavia: ALGARNAS TRADGARD and FOLQUE.

Hugues Chantraine All Prog Folk artists list

Prog Related
Rock and Pop Bands and Artists after 1970 who were not truly prog (as that term is generally and broadly defined, even by the site), but who were clearly not mainstream or simply rock bands.

A wide subgenre that encompasses two kinds of bands/artist, that either consist of progressive artist that strayed away from their progressive roots into mainstream rock or were influenced by progressive rock.

Even though the music by these artists is sometimes unrelated it had things in common with prog music in that it was very structured and even adventurous, sometimes hard or heavy, sometimes mellow, strong melodies, good hooks are an integral part of most of the material. Sometimes these artists pioneered other rock genres.

Though most of these artist can't really be considered progressive themselves, their relation to progressive music is not to be underestimated.

Garion81 All Prog Related artists list

Progressive Electronic
Krautrock groups such as Can and Neu! integrated synthesizers and tape manipulations into their rabid experimentalism, but the two most important electronic artists to emerge from the scene were Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Kraftwerk pioneered the concept of pop music performed exclusively on synthesizers, and their robotic, mechanical, hypnotic style had a tremendous impact on nearly all electronic pop produced in the remainder of

the 20th century. Tangerine Dream, meanwhile, was indebted to minimalist classical composition, crafting an atmospheric, slowly shifting, trance-inducing sound that helped invent the genre known as space music. Other crucial figures included Klaus Schulze, who explored a droning variation on space music that was even more trancelike than Tangerine Dream, and Brian Eno, whose inventive production and experiments with electronics in a pop context eventually gave way to his creation of ambient music, which aimed to blend thoroughly into its environment and often relied heavily on synthesizers. Ambient and space music helped give rise to new age, which emphasized the peaceful, soothing, and meditative qualities of those influences while adding greater melodicism; the progressive electronic branch of new age crafted a more dramatic, lushly orchestrated style that broke with electronic music's roots in minimalism. Synth-pop, techno, and its artier companion electronica all owed a great deal to the basic innovations of early electronic artists as well. All Progressive Electronic artists list

Progressive Metal
Progressive metal (shortened to prog, or prog metal when differentiating from progressive rock) is a heavy brand of progressive rock which is characterized by the use of complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and other features.

Its origins can be traced all the way back to traditional progressive rock acts of the 1960s and '70s like Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Genesis and Rush, but progressive metal didn't develop into a genre of its own until the mid-1980s. Acts such as Dream Theater, Queensrche and Fates Warning took elements of these progressive rock groups, primarily the instrumentation and compositional structure of songs, and merged them with heavy metal characteristics attributed to bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. The result could be described as a progressive rock mentality with heavy metal sounds.

The genre reached its commercial peak in the early '90s when Queensrche's "Silent Lucidity" became a massive radio and MTV hit. It was not a typical progressive metal song (it is more accurately described as a heavy metal power ballad), but nonetheless it opened

Queensrche's music to a whole new legion of fans, which in turn had an effect on the popularity of other progressive metal bands of the time. In 1993 Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under", a more typical progressive metal song than "Silent Lucidity" but still more accurately described as straight heavy metal, became popular on radio and MTV.

If fringe progressive metal acts are to be included, Tool would be the most popular group in the genre. Tool exploded to prominence in the mid 90s with the release of their second album, nima, and have since gone on to become one of the most popular rock acts in the world. Their eclectic mix of heavy metal, rhythmic drumming, complex structures and deep lyrics has prompted many people to classify them as a progressive metal band although their music differs substantially from traditional progressive acts (see Diversity section, below).

Progressive metal could be broken down into countless sub-genres corresponding to certain other styles of music that have influenced progressive metal groups. Two bands that are commonly identified as progressive metal, King's X and Opeth, are at opposite ends of the sonic spectrum to one another. King's X are a group influenced very heavily by softer mainstream rock and grunge, whereas Opeth's growling vocals and ultra heavy guitars usually see them cited as death metal.

A good single example of the genre's diversity is The Mars Volta, who have successfully joined progressive metal and hardcore, genres which 10 years ago were opposites of each other in every way.

Classical and symphonic music has also had a significant impact on sections of the progressive metal genre, with bands such as Symphony X and Spock's Beard fusing traditional progressive metal with a complexity and grandeur usually found in classical. Similarly, bands like Liquid Tension Experiment and Planet X have a large jazz influence, as has their progenitor Dream Theater.

GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Progressive Metal".
This article is licensed under the All Progressive Metal artists list

Proto-Prog
Rock Bands in existence prior to 1969 that influenced the development of progressive rock. The late 60's was a predominately experimental period for music. These bands were moving in a stream that eventually led to prog. The influence could have come from new sophisticated forms of writing and playing music, recording techniques, new instruments and vocal harmonies to name a few. Some of these bands became progressive rock bands themselves others did not.

Garion81 All Proto-Prog artists list

Psychedelic/Space Rock
Psychedelic Progressive: Emerging in the mid-'60s, as British Invasion and folk-rock bands began expanding the sonic possibilities of their music. These groups confined themselves to the brief, concise verse-chorus-verse patterns of rock & roll, they moved toward more free-form, fluid song structures. Just as important, the groups began incorporating elements of Indian and Eastern music and free-form jazz to their sound, as well as experimenting with electronically altering instruments and voices within the studio. Bands range from early Pink Floyd, and Djam Karet, to newer artists like Phish and Ozric Tentacles. These days, psychedelic commonly informs music space rock and space fusion.

Space Progressive Rock: Space rock tends to be jam-orientated, with synthesizer and guitar effects approximating that propulsive "interstellar traveller" sensibility of vintage science fiction films. Hawkwind is the genres key innovator. Examples: Hawkwind, Alien Planetscapes, Quarkspace, Amon Dl (the English lineup).

All Psychedelic/Space Rock artists list

RIO/Avant-Prog
Rock-in-Opposition Often abbreviated RIO, this form of progressive rock relies heavily on early 20th century avant-garde classical structures. Dominated by dissonant chords, odd time meters, polyrhythms, and abstract, sometimes politically-oriented vocals, this style is often dismissed even by die-hard progressive fans. Like the other more avant-garde styles such as Krautrock, it should be listened to, and not just heard. Musicianship is extremely high, yet appreciation is somewhat low. This form of prog is best appreciated in live concert settings as the interaction between musicians is quite astounding to watch.

Avant-Prog - Avant-Prog is short for avant-garde progressive rock. This style appeared in the late 1970s as the extension of two separate prog rock sub-styles: Rock in Opposition (RIO) and prog of the Canterbury scene. RIO is a term restricted to temporal limits; Canterbury prog to geographical limits. The late 1970s onward saw the development of an avant-prog scene often functioning in the margin of mainstream prog. A host of groups and artists mainly from the USA, but also from Europe and Japan, started to write mostly short instrumental pieces that focused on complexity and stripped down instrumentation, while avoiding the pomposity and stage props of the big prog acts All RIO/Avant-Prog artists list

Symphonic Prog
Symphonic is without doubt the sub-genre that includes the most bands in Progressive Rock because for many people it's almost synonymous classic Prog, something easy to understand being that most of the classic and/or pioneer bands released music that could be included in this sub-genre, except JETHRO TULL and PINK FLOYD (who still blended some symphonic elements), even KING CRIMSON who very soon expanded their horizons to more experimental music, made their debut with a Symphonic album, "In the Court of the Crimson King" which is a cornerstone in the development of the genre.

The main characteristics of Symphonic are the ones that defined all Progressive Rock: (There's nothing 100% new under the sun) which among others are:

Mixture of elements from different genres. Complex time signatures. Lush keyboards. Explorative and intelligent lyrics, in some cases close to fantasy literature, Sci Fi and even political issues. Non commercial approach Longer format of songs

In this specific case the main characteristic is the influence of Classical music (understood as Orchestral works created from the late Gothic to Modern Classical) using normally more complex structure than other related sub-genres like Neo Progressive (That's why sometimes the borderline that divides Symphonic from Neo is so unclear being that is based mostly in a degree of complexity rather than in an evident structural difference)..It is easy to find long keyboard solos reminiscent of Johan Sebastian Bach or melodic works that could have been written by Handel.

As in any other genre, different Symphonic bands had different approaches to Classic Music, for example YES and GENESIS are mainly influenced by the Baroque and Classical periods, while EMERSON LAKE & PALMER has a predilection for post Romantic and modern authors like Mussorgsky, Rimsky Korsakov, Bartok or Ginastera, being that their sound is less melodic and more aggressive.

The peak of the genre starts in 1969 and lasts until the mid/late 70's (more precisely until the release of A Trick of the Tale), when the genre begins to blend more mainstream influences that took to the birth of Neo Progressive (a new approach for a new decade).

It is important to remember that even though the creative peak of Symphonic Progressive ended before the 80's, we can find a second birth in the 90's coming from the Scandinavian countries (specially Sweden with ANGLAGARD or PAR LINDH PROJECT) and even bands that still in the 21st Century recreate music from this period like SPOCK'S BEARD or ECHOLYN.

Before ending this short description I feel necessary to say (In order to be strictly accurate) that the term Symphonic is not 100% exact, because these bands very rarely played symphonies and was probably used because the music that influenced the genre was performed by Symphony Orchestras, but it is so widely accepted by the Progressive

Rock community that would be absurd and futile for anybody to attempt a change after so much time.

Ivn Melgar Morey, Peru 2006 All Symphonic Prog artists list

Various Genres
Albums or CD's where more than one artist is featured either as a SAMPLER or a TRIBUTE to a particular band. Examples: - Peter and The Wolf - Prog Fairytale - 1975 / The Reading Room - 2000 / Leonardo - The Absolute Man - 2001 / Best Prog Rock Album in the World... Ever - 2003 / Un Voyage En Progressif Volume 1 to 8 / Kalevala - A Finnish Progressive Rock Epic. All Various Genres artists list

Zeuhl
Zeuhl is an adjective in Kobaan, the language written by Christian Vander, drummer and founder of the French band Magma.

Pronunciation: zEU(h)l, while the EU are like a French E with a slight U, and the (h) is a semi-silent letter which is an integrated part of the EU, totaling in a "syllable and a half".

The word means celestial, although many times it is misunderstood as meaning "celestial music", since the members of Magma describe the genre of their music as Zeuhl. Zeuhl Wortz, though, means Music of the universal might.

The genre is a mixture of musical genres like Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Modernism and Fusion. Common elements: oppressive or discipline-conveying feel, marching themes, throbbing bass, an ethereal piano or Rhodes piano, and brass instruments.

Muzic rock
De la Wikipedia, enciclopedia liber

(Redirecionat de la Rock) Sari la: Navigare, cutare Rockul (sau Rock & Roll), desemneaz un gen muzical cu un sound greu previzibil, de unde i marea varietate de stiluri. n perioada de nceput, cnd rockul i-a fcut apariia prin combinaia muzicii country cu bluesul, rockul era cel mai bine caracterizat prin energie, rebeliune i ritmuri uor de fredonat dar pe msur ce genul s-a maturizat, renunnd la multe din calittile originale, punnd mai mult accent pe miestrie i ducnd muzica la extreme. Cu excepia primilor ani ai istoriei sale, rockul a rmas divizat n numeroase stiluri, foarte ndeprtate ca sound - o destinaie fireasc pentru un gen care i-a nceput viaa printr-o fuziunue de stiluri.

Cuprins
[ascunde] 1 Stiluri o 1.1 Alternative/Indie-Rock o 1.2 Art-Rock/Experimental o 1.3 Folk/Country Rock o 1.4 Hard Rock o 1.5 Pop/Rock o 1.6 Punk/New Wave o 1.7 Rock & Roll/Roots o 1.8 Soft Rock o 1.9 Psychedelic/Garage o 1.10 Europop o 1.11 British Invasion

2 Formaii romneti [modific]

Stiluri
[modific]

Alternative/Indie-Rock

Cultur goth. Industrial Alternative Pop/Rock Goth Rock Lo-Fi Grunge Shoegaze Britpop Post-Rock/Experimental Funk Metal Indie Rock Paisley Underground Jangle Pop Punk Revival Post-Grunge Third Wave Ska Revival Neo-Psychedelia Riot Grrrl Space Rock Adult Alternative Pop/Rock Dance Alternative Cocktail Dream Pop Punk-Pop British Trad Rock Dance Industrial Madchester Psychobilly Ska-Punk Cowpunk Chamber Pop Twee Pop Emo Slowcore Ambient Pop C-86 Indie Pop Noise Pop Math Rock Queercore

Sadcore Shibuya-Kei Skatepunk Garage Punk Alternative Folk Neo-Glam College Rock Pop Underground Underground American

[modific]

Art-Rock/Experimental

Rock Progresiv/Art Rock Experimental Kraut Rock Noise-Rock Neo-Prog Rock Experimental Canterbury Scene

[modific]

Folk/Country Rock

Country-Rock Singer/Songwriter Folk-Rock British Folk-Rock

[modific]

Hard Rock

Blues-Rock Hard Rock Southern Rock Thrash Death Metal Black Metal Glam Rock Grindcore Heavy Metal Speed Metal Hair Metal Arena Rock Alternative Metal British Metal

Boogie Rock Industrial Metal Rap-Metal Guitar Virtuoso Progressive Metal Neo-Classical Metal Album Rock Aussie Rock Pop-Metal Rap-Rock New Wave of British Heavy Metal Detroit Rock Glitter Punk Metal Stoner Metal Scandinavian Metal Goth Metal Doom Metal Symphonic Black Metal Sludge Metal Power Metal

[modific]

Pop/Rock

Pop Pop/Rock Girl Group Bubblegum Teen Idol Brill Building Pop Comedy Rock Baroque Pop Sunshine Pop AM Pop Celebrity

[modific]

Punk/New Wave

Synth Pop Punk Alternative Pop/Rock Hardcore Punk New Wave Power Pop Ska Revival

Mod Revival Post-Punk New Romantic No Wave Proto-Punk Rockabilly Revival Oi! Garage Rock Revival British Punk New York Punk L.A. Punk Punk American Straight-Edge Sophisti-Pop College Rock

[modific]

Rock & Roll/Roots

Rock & Roll Tex-Mex Instrumental Rock Rockabilly Roots Rock Surf Pub Rock Hot Rod Surf Revival American Trad Rock Jam Bands Heartland Rock Frat Rock Hot Rod Revival Retro-Rock Latin Rock Bar Band

[modific]

Soft Rock

Singer/Songwriter Adult Contemporary Soft Rock Pop/Rock

[modific]

Psychedelic/Garage

Psychedelic Garage Rock Acid Rock Psychedelic Pop British Psychedelia Obscuro

[modific]

Europop

Euro-Pop Euro-Rock Swedish Pop/Rock Euro-Progresiv

[modific]

British Invasion

British Invasion Psychedelic Merseybeat British Blues Mod British Psychedelia Freakbeat Early British Pop/Rock Rock Album Highlights

[modific]

Formaii romneti

Compact Magica Stone Fixion Ordinul Negru Argus Iris

Progressive Rock

The Progressive Rock Era marked a period of experimentation that is unique in the history of rock and roll. Its music, while made with mostly traditional "rock" instruments, produced songs and sounds that pushed the limits of conventional rock and expanded the limits of what you could do musically within the rock genre. What distinguishes progressive rock from other genres in the rock world is the emphasis on composition over basic song structure. The lengths on most progressive rock songs exceed five minutes regularly, and often filled an entire side of an album (Yes' Close To the Edge, Genesis' Supper's Ready and Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Karn Evil 9). Many progressive rock bands relied on keyboards as a predominate instrument as opposed to the guitar. While traditional rock and roll is ultimately based on the blues, progressive rock tends to be based more in European classical music and post bop jazz. Gustav Holtz's Mars was a concert staple at King Crimson concerts in the early 70's and Emerson, Lake and Palmer put Copeland's Hoedown and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in their repertoire. Because European classical music is known for grandiose instrumental passages and post bop jazz is known for improvisation, the influence they provided to the structure of progressive rock cause a division on how the movement was, and is, viewed in rock history. For example in the early 70's progressive groups such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer were viewed by both fans and critics as innovators and geniuses. A popular joke circulating during the same time period was Q: How do you spell pretentious? A: EL-P.

Beginnings
While the period does not have an exact "starting date" many rock historians and musicians who played at that time believe that the Progressive Rock Movement was set in motion by the release of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. "After Sgt. Pepper, there were no rules to follow -- rock and pop bands could try anything, for better or worse," said Stephen Thomas Erlewine in the All Music Guide. Seemingly overnight, numerous groups that would have profound influence on music in the 1970's began to form (mainly in England). Jethro Tull was founded in Blackpool by eccentric flutist Ian Anderson. The Electric Light Orchestra was the vehicle for musicians Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood to incorporate a full time string section into a rock and roll band. And a band from Manchester called Pink Floyd, released what many musicologists called the first psychedelic album with The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Even established bands of the time began to experiment with the rock sound, such as the Moody Blues, who recorded their Days of Futures Past album with conductor Peter Knight and the London Symphony Orchestra. Even the Rolling Stones also got

into the act (and divided their fan and critical base in the process) with the psychedelic Their Satanic Majesties Request. While the majority of songs that were played on the radio were similar in structure to those that received airplay before this new era of experimentation began, the course was clearly set. Small college radio stations and specialty shows such as Clyde Clifford's Beaker Street (which reached most of the Northern Hemisphere) began to play selections from these albums, which intern gained enormous popularity with college students who were particularly interested in the alternative culture that was developing throughout the country.

1969-73 The Golden Era

The year 1969 saw the new experimental movement gained its common name "progressive rock" (although the origin of this is unknown). Nineteen sixty-nine also saw a new batch of bands that would eventually become the embodiment of the genre. Yes released its first album on Atlantic (although larger success would not come to the band until 1971's The Yes Album). King Crimson released In The Court Of The Crimson King, which garnered the most attention among fans and critics alike (Pete Townsend of The Who called In The Court..."an uncanny masterpeice." The era of 1969-73 proved to be the golden age of the movement, aided by an influx of new bands such as Genesis and the first progressive rock "supergroup," Emerson, Lake and Palmer featuring keyboardist Keith Emerson of The Nice, bassist Greg Lake of King Crimson and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster) and a new breed of FM stations who ignored the tight restrictions of AM Pop Radio in favor of a more freer format that accompanied Progressive Rock bands. Progressive bands also were making strides in AM commercial radio. Yes hit the American Billboard Charts with a condensed version of "Roundabout" in 1972, Genesis received some mainstream airplay in 1973 with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" and Jethro Tull grabbed stateside success with 1971's "Aqualung" remains a staple of classic rock radio. In 1973 Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon which stayed on the Billboard Chart of the Top 200 records through 1987. The movement arrived at mainstream success. However the dynamic of the music scene was beginning to change and by 1974 an anti- progressive movement had begun.

1974-76 Decline
Progressive Rock had always had it's detractors, but by 1974 there was an out and out anti-progressive movement in the form of Pub Rock. "If pub rock is anything, it is loose and unpretentious -- these were guys that played music for the hell of it...This kind of rootsy music stood in direct contrast to the glam rock, hard rock, and prog rock that dominated the British charts," said the All Music Guide. While Pub Rock ultimately did not come anywhere near the status that

progressive rock enjoyed, groups like Ducks Deluxe and Dr. Feelgood, represented a back to basics approach to music that stood against everything that the movement had stood for. Pub Rock served as inspiration to and paved the road for the next musical movement that would overthrow progressive rock from the mainstream plateau: Punk Rock. Punk Rock was directly opposite to anything thing that progressive rock stood for. While Progressive bands preferred long, winding "compositions," Punk Rock were extremely short, simple songs. A classic example of this is the debut album from New York Punk legends, The Ramones, whose 1976 debut album clocked in with 14 songs at 28 minutes (Jethro Tull's Thick as A Brick, which many consider a progressive rock masterwork, takes approximately 50 minutes). Prog Rock specialized in complex, melodic sequences. Most Punk Rock groups, on the other hand only knew four chords, and the overall emphasis of the song was on rhythm. The Punks also made their displeasure with the progressive movement, which they regarded as old and self indulgent, widely known,. The single most famous example of the "punk additude" on Progressive was done by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols who regularly wore a T-Shirt on stage saying "I Hate Pink Floyd." The message began to resonate. The Punk movement changed the landscape of music. No longer was it considered in fashion to make long, complicated compositions. The younger audience that Prog Rockers held only a few years before had now gravitated towards punk (those that didn't were drawn to disco). Sales of progressive rock albums began to plummet. The era was coming to an end.

Epilogue 1976- Present

Emerson Lake and Palmer, after enjoying resounding success before the emergence of Punk, disbanded in 1978. Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975 to pursue a solo career. While the remaining members carried on, the band, under the leadership of Phil Collins departed the progressive format for a more pop oriented sound. They became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1980's. Yes, one of the biggest selling acts of the progressive rock era struggled on after the punk explosion before splitting up in 1980. The group reunited less than three years later and had a top ten hit with "Owner of a Lonely Heart," which, like Genesis, emphasized a more pop oriented format. Other groups continued to perform. Jethro Tull released jtull dot com in 1999. King Crimson reunited in 1994 (after disbanding in 1975, reuniting in 1981 and splitting up again in 1984), to record Thrax and Pink Floyd, while never quite matching the success of Dark Side of the Moon, remains one of the top concerts grossers in the music business. But there is no new blood to carry the values of the movement. While some modern bands embark on progressive-like ventures (Dream Theater, Smashing Pumpkins and Spiritualized) there is no out and out new progressive band in the national music map.

Which makes what happened during its era, very special. There was nothing that sounded like it before, and nothing has sounded like it since.