This document discusses the history and characteristics of progressive/art rock music. It notes that the genre emerged in the late 1960s following albums like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, peaked commercially in the early 1970s, and declined in popularity by the late 1970s. Key progressive rock bands included Yes, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, and Pink Floyd. The genre was known for extended instrumental sections, blending styles beyond blues/rock, and drawing on classical music influences.

1. Progressive/art rock
#mac351
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2. Rolling Stones magazine:
Greatest album of all time (2003)
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3. I remember vividly Sergeant Pepper coming
out—there was this incredible buzz of sheer
disbelief. Wherever you went people would
be playing it. Suddenly, with this astonishing
music anything seemed possible.
David Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator)
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4. *The+ ‘progressive rock era’ can be
delineated, emerging around 1967–
1969, peaking in terms of commercial
and aesthetic success from 1972 to
1974, and disappearing altogether (or
at least returning to the musical
underground) between 1977 and
1980
-- Anderton, 2010: 418
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5. The Big 6:
Yes, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Pink Floyd
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11. 1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a
song (simplistic)
2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock
song (simplistic, no stylistic blending)
3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as
units in a larger form (suites; thematic unity
desirable)
4. Adopt a full classical work to a rock-style
performance (classical work transformed by
rock instrumentation)
5. Create a work for rock group and classical
ensemble (rock group partners with
orchestra; blend of both forms)
6. Using the musical language of rock, create
an extended work modeled after a classical
form (difficult to achieve; thematic
development and structure; classical music
in the language of rock)
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12. 1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a
song (simplistic)
2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock
song (simplistic, no stylistic blending)
3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as
units in a larger form (suites; thematic unity
desirable)
4. Adopt a full classical work to a rock-style
performance (classical work transformed by
rock instrumentation)
5. Create a work for rock group and classical
ensemble (rock group partners with
orchestra; blend of both forms)
6. Using the musical language of rock, create
an extended work modeled after a classical
form (difficult to achieve; thematic
development and structure; classical music
in the language of rock)
12

13. 1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a
song (simplistic)
2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock
song (simplistic, no stylistic blending)
3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as
units in a larger form (suites; thematic unity
desirable)
4. Adopt a full classical work to a rock-style
performance (classical work transformed by
rock instrumentation)
5. Create a work for rock group and classical
ensemble (rock group partners with
orchestra; blend of both forms)
6. Using the musical language of rock, create
an extended work modeled after a classical
form (difficult to achieve; thematic
development and structure; classical music
in the language of rock)
13

14. 1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a
song (simplistic)
2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock
song (simplistic, no stylistic blending)
3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as
units in a larger form (suites; thematic unity
desirable)
4. Adopt a full classical work to a rock-style
performance (classical work transformed by
rock instrumentation)
5. Create a work for rock group and classical
ensemble (rock group partners with
orchestra; blend of both forms)
6. Using the musical language of rock, create
an extended work modeled after a classical
form (difficult to achieve; thematic
development and structure; classical music
in the language of rock)
14

15. 1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a
song (simplistic)
2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock
song (simplistic, no stylistic blending)
3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as
units in a larger form (suites; thematic unity
desirable)
4. Adopt a full classical work to a rock-style
performance (classical work transformed by
rock instrumentation)
5. Create a work for rock group and classical
ensemble (rock group partners with
orchestra; blend of both forms)
6. Using the musical language of rock, create
an extended work modeled after a classical
form (difficult to achieve; thematic
development and structure; classical music
in the language of rock)
15

16. 1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a
song (simplistic)
2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock
song (simplistic, no stylistic blending)
3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as
units in a larger form (suites; thematic unity
desirable)
4. Adopt a full classical work to a rock-style
performance (classical work transformed by
rock instrumentation)
5. Create a work for rock group and classical
ensemble (rock group partners with
orchestra; blend of both forms)
6. Using the musical language of rock, create
an extended work modeled after a classical
form (difficult to achieve; thematic
development and structure; classical music
in the language of rock)
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17. ‘lame affectations of a cultured sensibility’
[seeking] ‘to dignify their work, to make it
acceptable for upper-class approbation’
--Miller, 1980: 347-8
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18. ‘“artistic” modes of musical expression –
themes, arrangements, harmonies and
forms that drew on classical
models, specifically those of the
Romantic composers of the nineteenth
century and the “nationalist” composers
such as Bartok, Delius, Copland and
Dvorak.
-- Atton, 2001: 30
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21. 1. arrangements
2. a blending of acoustic, electric and
electronic instruments
3. a mix of soft and loud musical
passages
4. extended instrumental sections
and solos
5. and the use of musical styles other
than the American blues/rock
format common to much
commercially popular music in
Britain, Europe and the USA in the
mid-1960s.
-- Lucky, 1998: 120-1
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22. ‘a tendency to conflate
“symphonic” progressive rock with
progressive rock in general’
‘symphonic orthodoxy’
Ignores: ‘aleatoric and minimalist
music’, ‘riff-based space-rock’ and
‘avante-garde and jazz-inflected’ styles
- Can
- Hawkwind
- Soft Machine
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24. Atton (2001: 31) refers to 3 dominant
elements in the formation and
development of progressive rock
1. its status as a commercial, popular
music product
2. its aim to achieve ‘art’ status as an
electrified form for classical music
3. the countercultural elements from
which it was born
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25. Progressive rock was intended
to be both popular (‘meant for
a wide audience’ and longlasting (of ‘more permanent
value than the six weeks in the
chart and then forget it’)
--Dawbarn, Melody Maker
1969.
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26. ‘a scale and grandeur
unparalleled in rock, and its
inner complexities [to] rival
those of the greatest classical
composers’
-- Williams, Melody Maker,
1970
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27. By 1971, ‘the time was ripe for
the development of progressive
rock’.
-- Palmer in DeCurtis, 2001: 243
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28. Multimedia experience
• By the mid 1970s shows became more
extravagant
• Huge projection screens
• Strange costumes
• Light shows
• Huge tours
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