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Prog Britannia
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Dog 3000
Dog 3000
4611 posts

Edited Dec 30, 2008, 19:38
Don't be afraid to be made fun of moog-in-cape man!
Dec 30, 2008, 19:31
IanB wrote:


There has to be a license to be idiotic as well as brilliant otherwise you end up in that closed loop of nostalgia where what is acceptable is what has already been done.


. . . and that's what I love about all that "progressive music in it's broadest sense" of the 67-70something era (including the N. American "jazz rock" which I would argue is our local equivalent of "prog brittania.")

ELP lost millions going out on the road with a symphony orchestra -- an idea as artistically dubious as it was financially suicidal. But I revere them for it!

I also adore the Monkees precisely because they ruined their careers in pursuit of "artistic legitimacy". They could have kept sucking Don Kirchner's golden teat and racked up the big hits indefinitely, instead they wanted to write and produce their own records "like a real band." That was an insane move, and makes the Monkees one of the bravest groups of the 60's in my mind! (Most bands start out "artistic" then sell out -- Monkees went the other direction! That's a real refusenik move.)

Nothing is more boring than an artist that develops a "fear of failure" . . . look what happened to the once-mighty 'n' very-progressive Chicago Transit Authority after they got addicted to having hit singles . . .

Lately I've developed a fascination with CSNY for similar reasons -- they had the world in the palm of their hands and they blew it, maan.

(And I would further argue that "punk" -- particularly the 1977 variety -- was anti-progressive, which is to say downright reactionary. "We only know three chords" basically reflects a fear of trying to be "extraordinary" -- you can't fail if you never really try.)
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