Flower Power in Full Bloom: Progressive Rock - Part 1

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It seems like every ten years or so, society experiences a great reset.  The end of the ‘60s was like that.  The idealism and teen-culture of the ‘60’s was ten years older and moving into adult life.  Just like everything else in life that was questioned and re-invented, some musicians began pushing the boundaries of what rock music could become. 

 Across the Atlantic, and as Ian Anderson, of Jethro Tull put it, English rockers  "were trying to be originators and not simply relying on American music." Some of the most ground-breaking ‘60s albums led directly to the rise of prog, most prominently, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  This album set a whole new expectation for what bands could do, and for what rock could become.

In this first of a three-part episode on Progressive Rock, we'll take a deep dive into the fascinating world of 'prog rock'.  It's time to 'set your controls for the heart of the sun', everybody!  Come explore progressive rock with me!

Themes In this Episode: 

• Progressive rock in the context of the late 1960's and 1970's; flower power, and the counter-culture.
• Musical context - Classical music and Jazz as foundations
• Influenced by The Beatles and  Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
• The Beatles and The Beach Boys rivalry 
• Social unrest - Kent State, Bobby Kennedy, Martiin Luther King
• Concept albums
• Harnessing new technology

Tracks

• The Who - Underture
• The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
• Jim Ladd/ KMET; Headsets
• The Beatles - A Day in the Life
• The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
• Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Invocation & Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin
• Soft Machine - A Certain Kind
• Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird Suite
• Pink Floyd - Suite from Atom Heart Mother
• Genesis - The Revenge of the Giant Hogweed
• Rush - 2112
• The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
• The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
• Switched On Bach
• The Who - Baba O'Riley
• Alan Holdsworth - Non-brewed Condiment
• The Giles Brothers - Boyfriends & Girlfriends
• King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
• King Crimson - Epitaph
• Emerson Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an Exhibition
• The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• Pink Floyd - The Trial

Dig deeper by checking out these reference episodes from previous American Song seasons:

• Electric Walls of Sound: Jazz Fusion Part 1
• Electric Walls of Sound: Jazz Fusion Part 2
• Musique Contrete: A Radical Rethinking of Sound and Performance
• Action: Reaction - American Bands and American Society Respond to the English Invasion

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