pluggedin2progressiverock

If you’re 50 years of age or older you just might not like the state of music that’s being released today. Now let alone in our time we’ve had to deal with the transition from vinyl records to 8 track tapes, to cassettes, to CD’s and now Mp3’s! But most of this stuff today doesn’t even feature any new guitar heroes. Now I’m no music snob. I’ll listen to many genres of music; contemporary jazz, classic rock, alternative, etc. But the genre I absolutely enjoy the most is progressive rock.

In the Court of the Crimson King

Now before you refute my opinion with phrases like it’s “bombastic” (I love that word!) “over the top,” “the lyrics make no sense,” please give me the opportunity to support my claim.  For a very short time in the 1970’s on Philadelphia and New York FM stations progressive rock enjoyed considerable airplay. I can’t speak for other parts of the US but in my little corner of the world, I listened to FM radio for the newest and latest releases.

Genesis

Bands mostly from England were getting played on terrestrial radio stations and performing live in small and large venues. Genesis; Yes; Pink Floyd; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Gentle Giant and King Crimson just to name a few of the best.

Now what attracted me to these bands was the superb musicianship. Synthesizers became commercially available and were adopted by some of the best trained keyboard players of the time. Progressive rock was something you couldn’t dance to but rather something that demanded your attention aurally and intellectually. Boy that was a deep statement on my part! The audience for progressive rock grew and so did the size of the venues they performed in. It couldn’t have been a better time!

And then something terrible happened. At least for me. A new form of music entered the arena. It was rebellious and short on quality musicianship but in a way, rebelled against the status quo. That music was punk! It seemed like it happened overnight but progressive rock was now considered old and tired. Some of the biggest bands in progressive rock stopped performing or experienced major personnel changes. It seemed for a time that for fans and purveyors of progressive rock music, we were lost in the desert and tragically could not find our way out. Was it really true? Had progressive music really lost its’ way? And in the words of Robert Fripp of King Crimson, had the music gone “tragically off course?”

Punk was followed by the hair bands of the 80’s and then grunge from the Pacific northwest.  My beloved progressive rock had been missing from my daily life for years.  Ah, but soon a savior would be found.  Internet radio offered a few prog stations and I discovered there were artists from around the world still creating this genre of music.  Like a man dying in the desert I soon began to quench my thirst.  I couldn’t believe that bands continued to record and evolve.  The music I was hearing moved me.  I even went as far as engraving “Prog Rock Lives”  on one of my first iPods.   And that brings us to today. Hopefully you’ve stumbled onto my blog and are wondering what the  #%*  is up with this guy!  What I hope to achieve is to share my absolute love for progressive music through reviews and recommendations of both new and old artists, bands and their music. Welcome to my world, Pluggedin2Progressive Rock.