Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock.progressive
Titolo: Edward Macan's "Rocking The Classics: English Progressive..."

Progressive Rock: A discussion of, and thoughts provoked by,
Edward Macan's "Rocking The Classics: English Progressive
Rock and the Counterculture" (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997)
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Edward Macan's "Rocking the Classics" is an insightful
examination of the origins of progressive rock
in England, the conditions which made its emergence and
short-lived mass popularity possible, and its
continued existence to the present day. As one who
discovered this music during the late 1970's and
has been enamored of it ever since, this book has provided
me with much to reflect on.
The following essay is a discussion of the book itself, as
well as a personal reflection on the points
made by Macan. Rather than discussing individual bands and
artists, my focus, and interest in the
book, is the author's points about the development of, and
support for, the music as a style, as well as
from a social and cultural perspective. Throughout the essay
I will quote the author freely using his
ideas and comments as a springboard for my own thoughts.
Macan's words will, at all times, be
italicized with corresponding page numbers noted. In
addition, words and phrases, both Macan's and
my own, that I feel require emphasis will be bolded.
I. The Emergence Of The Progressive Rock Style
In Macan's discussion of the influences and conditions that
lead to the emergence of progressive rock,
three elements stand out:
1) Musical - progressive rock's roots in psychedelic music
and the European classical tradition.
2) Cultural - progressive rock as a product of the 1960's
counterculture.
3) Economic - the unprecedented, and short-lived, creative
license permitted by the record companies
in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
The combination of classical music and rock was one of the
hallmarks of classic period progressive
rock, a music that grew from the psychedelic scene. Pointing
to the Beatles as a major influence, if not
the instigators, of psychedelic music's development in the
late 1960's Macan says:
It was in the Beatles music of 1966 and 1967 - particularly
in their album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band - that many of the elements that later
characterized English progressive rock first
appear. One sees in this album a self-conscious eclecticism,
a mixing of many different musical
styles in which devices derived from several styles of
classical music figure prominently. (pg. 20)
I have heard countless debates surrounding the question,
"Were the Beatles progressive?", and Macan
makes an interesting point regarding the legendary band's
contribution. While the Beatles may not
have been progressive in the classical sense, their
influence was critical to progressive rock's
evolution. Besides, even if we look at "progressive" in the
technical sense of the term (i.e., progress), a
quick listen to Meet The Beatles alongside Sergeant Pepper
should come across quite glaringly as the
musical equivalent of the horse and buggy vs. The Lear jet.
In short, if that isn't progress I don't know
what is.
In terms of culture, Macan attributes the appearance of
progressive rock to:
The sudden emergence during the mid-1960's of the
counterculture, a youth-based subculture that
first appeared in isolated urban areas such as the Haight
Ashbury district of San Francisco and
London, and from there spread across much of the Western
world. The counterculture consisted
largely of young, middle-class white people who had
consciously rejected the lifestyle of their
parents in favor of more experimental paths. (pgs. 15-16)
Noting that the musicians and fans belonged to this same
subculture, Macan refers to the symbiotic
relationship between the audience and musicians. In its
earlier years, progressive rock bands
performed in smaller clubs and Macan sees this close
interaction as critical to the support that built for
the music despite overwhelming hostility from music
journalists. Of course, as progressive bands
moved from clubs to large concert halls and stadiums, this
relationship broke down.
Looking at the state of progressive rock today we see
something of a return to this relationship
between fans and performers. The few festivals that are held
each year demonstrate a great deal of
interaction between the attendees and the performers, many
of whom are family people with careers
outside their participation in the band. Furthermore,
several of the musicians are active on the internet
- a medium that has become a new form of close interaction -
and readily exchange email with those
who care to write. In fact, some of progressive rock's
pioneers are now on the internet, and while a few
are eager to interact with the progressive fan community (I
was thrilled to get a reply to my email to
Nektar's Roye Albrighton), others post to newsgroups and
lists (on the occasions that they do) with
their email addresses blanked out. Still, its important to
note that even these individuals are monitoring
their fan's discussions.
Noting why progressive rock developed in England -
specifically, Southern England - Macan says:
Obviously, a style like progressive rock, with its
references not only to classical music but also to the
art and literature of high culture, was not going to spring
from a working-class environ. Its
emergence depended on a subculture of highly educated young
people. (pg. 147)
This class element associated with the hippies, and the
counterculture as a whole, is critical in
understanding who constituted both the progressive rock
musicians and their fan base. The
counterculture consisted to a large extent of middle-class,
educated members of the Western world.
On reflection this doesn't seem surprising as such people
would have the time, some level of financial
means, and the inclination to reflection, that would
facilitate the experimentation with lifestyles and
spiritual journeys that the counterculture was so obsessed
with.
The class element is also important in understanding the
almost universal hostility progressive rock
received from rock journalists, who Macan says viewed the
music as elitist and a betrayal of rock's
populist origins (pg. 169). Spirituality, as opposed to the
political, accounts for much of what put
progressive rock in its own category. Macan states that:
Progressive rock represents an Apollonian extension of
countercultural values, emphasizing an
inner spiritual quest and the search for some sort of deeper
metaphysical truth. Neither style [heavy
metal being the other] put much stake in direct political
action. As a result of their drug use many
hippies believed that the material world was essentially
unreal, and that attempts to change this
exterior world via political revolution were ultimately
useless - ones' energies were best spent on
seeking inner transformation. (pg. 173)
Though I never lived a hippy lifestyle, and my participation
in the counterculture was limited, Macan's
arguments do make sense as I reflect on my coming of age in
the 1970's. In the later part of that
decade political action was the last thing on my mind.I
worked almost fulltime from the time I was in
high school. As for leisure time, drinking, smoking
marijuana, listening to music with the group of my
friends who sought the same, and pondering my own future
were my primary activities.
In terms of politics, I never seriously read a newspaper
until 1985 (when I was 26 years old). However,
it is notable, within the context of Macan's arguments, that
that first newspaper was read 1) during a
backpacking trip through Europe, a trip intended more for
soul searching and transformation than for
travel in and of itself; and 2) though that newspaper lead
to a monumental political awakening and
awareness, it never lead to my becoming politically active.
Though fascinated with politics (I went on
to earn a B.A. and M.A. in international relations) my
overriding personal concerns to this day are with
personal growth.
In considering the economic conditions that made progressive
rock's rise possible, Macan looks to the
major record companies of the day:
There is no doubt that record company turbulence during the
late 1960's and early 1970's gave
artists recording at this time a creative control over their
music that was virtually unprecedented in
the history of popular music. There is also no doubt that
without this leeway for experimentation, the
economic conditions would have never existed for progressive
rock's appearance. (pg. 18)
Were the record companies any less money oriented then than
they are today? Certainly the classic
progressive bands were selling albums and concert tickets.
It amazes me to remember the kinds of
albums I could buy in any commercial record store in the
late 1970's. However, I also remember that
in this period many of the albums I bought were in the
cut-out bins, and the cutout-bin as a treasure
trove only seemed to last for a limited number of years. I
also recall buying dozens of progressive
import records in this period at bargain prices, and I'm
fairly certain this was stock bought up when
JEM, a large importer, went out of business. Therefore,
though these recordings were widely available
to me, the fact that I was finding them in the bargain bins
indicates the genre's commercial decline in
this period, or at least the decline of record company
support for the music.
In summarizing the emergence of the early classic period of
progressive rock, Macan says:
The remarkable thing is not that the golden age of
progressive rock and its ancillary styles did not
last longer; but rather that the special convergence of
cultural, aesthetic, and commercial conditions
- without which the genre could have never emerged -
occurred in the first place. (pg 221)
II. The Transformation From Subculture To Taste Public, And
The
Post-Progressive Revolution
As the 1970's moved on, record company support for any but
the already established bands dwindled.
Most progressive bands that emerged in the later part of the
decade worked within the framework of
the style developed by the classic bands. Coinciding with
this were changes in progressive rock's fan
base. Macan says that:
At the beginning of progressive rock's golden age, the
audience for the major progressive rock bands
could be described as a genuine subculture, united not only
by aesthetic tastes but also by lifestyle
and world view. By 1976, however, the audience for these
bands increasingly came to resemble a
taste public, united mainly by aesthetic taste rather than
by an adherence to a common lifestyle or
world view. (pg. 29)
It was in the post-1976 period that I discovered progressive
rock and consider myself a classic
example of this taste public Macan refers to. I never really
lived the lifestyle, and few of my friends
were into the music, with the exception of the classic
progressive bands. I grew up in a suburb of
Buffalo, NY where both progressive rock and heavy metal were
very popular. I still remember a
number of bands (Pegasus, Fair Weather, and 805 for the
benefit of those from the area) who regularly
played the bars performing classic progressive rock covers.
Furthering his discussion of the growing taste public Macan
says:
The progressive rock subculture as it was redefined during
the 1980's consists largely of audiophiles
who are concerned with the music itself, rather than with
allegiance to a specific lifestyle. Members
of this taste public communicate via underground journals
and keep abreast of new music via mail
order catalogs which specialize in contemporary progressive
rock releases on small, independent
labels, rereleases of obscure recordings from the late
1960's and 1970's, and collectable LP's from
the 1960's and 1970's. As a result, the progressive rock
taste public of today is more geographically
dispersed than it was even during the height of the
progressive rock movement during the 1970's. (pg.
200)
Being on my own to discover new music, my lifeline to the
more obscure bands in the 1070's was a
1976 JEM import catalog obtained at a local record store. I
remember discovering Camel and Gong by
reading their descriptions in the JEM catalog. By extension,
I discovered Henry Cow (and a whole
new world) by buying the Greasy Truckers album (also
described in the JEM catalog) because Camel
and Gong were featured. I also recall having tremendous
success discovering progressive bands by
buying albums purely on the basis on the cover art. Thus, I
seem to represent Macan's taste public,
pursuing the music for its own sake.
Throughout the 1980's my access to the music increased for
two reasons. First, I discovered Wayside
Music through an advertisement in Goldmine, and, second, I
moved from Buffalo to Atlanta where
music beyond the classic progressive bands was strongly
supported both on the radio (Hey Atlanta
people! Is WREK still the greatest?) and in the clubs. So
via mail order, free-form radio, and the
opportunity to see some great live performances (mostly
along more RIO type lines) I was able to
expand my horizons without the benefit of belonging to any
particular group or subculture.
In the 1990's the opportunity for discovery and
communication with others has changed radically due
to the internet. Now living in Columbus, OH, I don't have
the advantage of good radio, but through the
internet I have discovered several journals, attended a
number of festivals, and, for the first time ever,
discuss progressive rock with fellow travelers the world
over. Its interesting that Macan doesn't
mention the internet in his book. I never would have
discovered journals like Expose and Progression
if I wasn't on the internet, nor would I have been aware of
the Progscape and ProgDay festivals I
attended.
The internet has not only been valuable in bringing together
progressive rock's taste public, but it also
illustrates the geographic dispersement issue Macan talks
about. This is most reflected at the festivals.
Thus far I've attended Progscape 94 and both ProgDays. In
each case people from all over the USA,
and several other countries attended. However, the end
result was that the crowds were small and
consisted almost exclusively of hardcore fans from the
internet and those they brought with them.
Does the internet progressive rock community represent a
subculture consistent with that which
Macan describes? I think not. It is, however, a critical
means of communication among a
geographically dispersed taste public that goes a long way
toward keeping the scene alive, if not full of
vitality. Moreover, it has provided musicians with limited
funds a means by which they can promote
themselves to potential fans. I've purchased numerous
recordings after listening to sound files on
World Wide Web home pages, and in the process made some
great discoveries.
Technology now makes recording and releasing one's own music
a viable alternative to the record
companies that didn't exist in the 1970's. And between
Usenet and the Web, musicians have an
opportunity to be heard. There is, of course, the matter of
mass appeal and marketing beyond those
who participate on the progressive newsgroups or read the
progressive journals. There has been no
indication of even the chance of a return to the days when
progressive rock was supported by the
major record companies. I remember posting on
rec.music.progressive when echolyn was signed to
Sony that the event was progressive rock's opportunity to
gain the ears of the uninitiated. I should have
known better.
But what about the progressive rock style and its evolution
to the present day? Though the last thing I
intended in this essay was a "What is prog" discussion,
Macan's comments make the question
unavoidable, but not as painful as it usually is.
Just as In the Court of the Crimson King signaled the
emergence of the mature progressive style,
Macan refers to the post progressive rock revolution
initiated by King Crimson's Discipline album (pg.
212). Macan makes a distinction between the post progressive
style that has the most potential for
genuine musical development, and the neo-progressive
movement which is primarily influenced by the
classic Yes/Genesis/ELP styles (pgs. 220-221).
Thus, we have two very general descriptions. Neo-progressive
referring to the continuation of the
classic style, and post-progressive which takes progressive
in the technical sense of moving forward.
Furthering his discussion of progressive in terms of
"progress", Macan says:
The lessons of the 1980's incarnation of King Crimson is
that progressive rock is ultimately more an
attitude than a specific style; that there are viable
choices for established and emerging progressive
rock bands other than being buffeted by the currents of
mainstream pop or endlessly repeating the
tried-and-true formulas of the classic progressive style;
and most important for future progressive
music musicians, that a whole world of musical influences
beckons. (pg. 212)
As someone who loves everything from the most blatant
Genesis clone to the most experimental RIO
style releases, I am inclined to be liberal in my
definitions of what I categorize as progressive rock. We
can define and categorize endlessly, but the final
determination is based on what we accept as being
progressive rock. The term has, in fact, become something of
an umbrella term for a number a related
styles. The rec.music.progressive faq breaks progressive -
for the purpose of newsgroup discussion -
into the following categories:
Ambient, Art Rock, Canterbury, Classical Rock, Electronic
Progressive, Experimental Industrial,
Fusion, Krautrock, Neo-Classical Progressive, Progressive
Folk, Progressive Metal, RIO, Space
Fusion, Space Rock, Symphonic Progressive, and Zeuhl.
It could be argued that this is too broad. However, what is
does accomplish is a recognition of all the
categories that are accepted by enough people as being
progressive that they warrant inclusion as a
categories.
On this point Macan says:
No matter how musically promising a style may appear, its
cultural power will ultimately depend on
the degree to which it fulfills the role of self-definition
among a group of people and not on its
potential for purely musical development. (pg. 221)
That is, do enough of us agree that neo-progressive for
example, despite its adherence to the influence
of the classical period, is still to be considered
progressive rock? It is that agreement among several
people, that is a sufficient condition for inclusion. Not
long ago I had an email exchange with a fellow
who argued it was wrong for me to include Captain Beefheart
on my progressive home page because
Beefheart wasn't, in his opinion, progressive. Neither of us
could convince the other. Oh well, I know
it when I hear it.
In closing, I can only say that Rocking The Classics is a
must read for anyone who loves progressive
rock, old and new. If you're new to the music, the book
holds a wealth of valuable information. If
you're a longtime listener, it will give you much to think
and reminisce about.

Press, 1997)
Aggiungerei anche che Edward è un eccellente vibrafonista e musicista
e participerà al triplo tributo Mellow per gli ELP.
--
Dr. Mauro Moroni
MELLOW RECORDS LTD
mor...@pangea.it
http://www.pangea.it/music/mellow

 ...
bravo stànz, chiarisce fra l'altro che il rock sinfonico è solo una
parte del progressivo;
ma non capisco chi è l'autore; se sei tu perché mettere così a dura
prova il mio zoppicante (dalle 4 zampe) inglese?
Rama Riconoscente
-- 
That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.
(The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock)
http://www.mythos.it/utenti/ramapage/index.htm
mirror: 
http://www.freeweb.org/freeweb/Ramapage