Progressive rock: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Progressive rock 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. Progressive rock is often closely identified with other styles of music such as experimental music, symphonic rock, art rock and progressive metal.

Progressive rock artists sought to move away from the limitations of the radio formatted rock, mainly its cyclic structure, favoring a progressive one (hence the term "progressive"). Progressive rock is often perceived as complex and elaborate music, requiring a high level of musicianship from the artists, mainly because of the impression left by some of the most popular progressive bands.

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

• Long pieces, in some cases over 20 minutes in length. These are often described as epics. (An early example is the 23 Minute long song "Echoes" by Pink Floyd). 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, which is only three seconds shorter.

• Lyrics that are complex and sometimes impenetrable, but usually carefully crafted, covering such themes as science fiction, fantasy, religion, war, love, madness and history.

• Intricate lengthy melodies and harmonies that require repeated listening to grasp.

• Concept albums, in which a theme or set of themes is explored throughout an entire album. Examples are the double concept albums, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes, From Planet Daelthesya To Planet Earth by Master Sound, Dark Side of the Moon, and Animals, the latter two by Pink Floyd. A more recent example is the double (or limited edition triple) CD Snow by Spock's Beard.

• Unusual vocal styles and use of multi-part vocal harmonies. See Area, Magma, Robert Wyatt, Gentle Giant.

• Use of both classical and electronic instruments (particularly keyboards), in addition to the usual rock combination of electric guitar, bass and drums.

• Inclusion of elements from disparate other musical genres, particularly hard rock, classical music and jazz.

• Use of syncopation, unusual time signatures, scales or tunings. Some pieces use multiple time signatures and/or tempos, sometimes overlaid. King Crimson often combined several of these aspects in the same song. Many of Rush's favorites are partly or wholly in 7/8 meter. Dream Theater's fiendishly difficult to play "Dance of Eternity" features changes of time signature in a sequence 5/8-5/8-7/8, 5/8-7/8, 5/8-5/8-7/8.

• Solo passages of great speed, subtlety, complexity and/or difficulty which demonstrates the virtuosity of the player.

• 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, Bartók, Moussorgsky, Prokofiev, Janacek, Alberto Ginastera, and often interpolate extensive quotes from J. S. Bach in lead breaks. Marillion once started concerts with Rossini's La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie), and named their third live album the same. Symphony X has included parts by, or inspired by, Beethoven, Holst and Mozart. Emerson Lake and Palmer has even gone as far as interpreting classical pieces : Pictures at an Exhibition is the prime example, being a Mussorgsky composition to which lyrics were added. Other examples are "The Barbarian" (an arrangement of Bartók's piano piece "Allegro Barbaro") and "Knife Edge" (an arrangement with lyrics of Janacek's Sinfonietta, with the Allemande from J. S. Bach's French Suite in D minor serving as the second half of the lead break).

Although the elements mentioned above are common to progressive rock, none of them can be used to define progressive rock because they are not specific to it.

Progressive rock very often borrows one of these forms (alone or in combination):

• The form of a piece that is subdivided into subpieces in the manner of a classical symphony. An example is the four-part song "Close to the Edge" on the album Close to the Edge by Yes; another is the seven-part "A Change of Seasons" by Dream Theater.

• The form of a piece that is composed of two or more pieces in the manner of a patchwork. Good examples are the multi-part song "Supper's Ready" on Foxtrot by Genesis or the song "A Day In The Life" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.

• The form of 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 illustrates this well.

Having emerged as an entity of its own at the close of the 1960s, progressive rock's popularity peaked in the mid-1970s, when progressive rock 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 the words "pretentious", "pompous", and "overblown" often being used to describe progressive rock. This attitude has remained in place to the present day, particularly among mainstream music writers.

The early 1980s saw something of a revival of the genre, led by groups such as Marillion. Groups that arose during this time are sometimes labelled neo-progressive. At the same time, some progressive rock stalwarts modified themselves to some extent, 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 received another minor surge of popularity in the 1990s with a wave of new bands, many of which played harder-edged music known as progressive metal. These later bands are usually happy to be unashamedly known as progressive, and produce very long pieces and concept albums, a resurgence of the 1970s progressive ethic. Several of the leading bands in the prog-metal genre (particularly Dream Theater) cite pioneer progressive hard rockers Rush as a prime influence.

The work of contemporary artists such as Radiohead, Sigur Rós and Godspeed! You Black Emperor could be said to incorporate some of the more experimental elements of progressive rock, sometimes combined with the aesthetic sensibilities of punk rock, to produce music which many find at once challenging, innovative and imaginative. Tool has done the same thing with traces of heavy metal, with some commercial success.

Progressive rock has also had some influence contemporary classical music, particularly as atonal music has slipped out of fashion. The Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu, for example, publicly cites progressive rock bands as a prime influence on his work.