How to get into: Prog rock

Motoring journalist James May was once tasked at lapping a 1980s Ford Capri around a French circuit faster than a Renault Twingo, in the words of fellow Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, to rescue the dignity of the “prog rock generation”.

“Think of King Crimson… Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis.”

Richard Hammond himself wasn’t entirely enthusiastic, adding that “rather like prog rock, James’ lap is gonna last forty-eight minutes and make no sense to anyone.”

And, to be honest, that’s a pretty accurate description of the genre.

At its best, the prog rock discography exemplified some of the some of the most beautifully chaotic pieces of music

The first rule about getting into prog rock is: don’t. Well, don’t if your average Spotify session begins with Sabrina Carpenter and ends with Taylor Swift.

Yet, listening to prog rock can be very rewarding. At its best, the prog rock discography exemplified some of the some of the most beautifully chaotic pieces of music.

What is prog rock? The genre emerged here in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s.

Diverging from the typical pop/rock scene of the time (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the like), prog rock was instead characterised by experimental instrumentation and composition akin to that associated with classical and then jazz musicians.

With prolonged solos and album cuts, often indecipherable lyrics, and eccentric live performances, prog rockers were the natural successors to Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Chopin. Prog rock sort of assumed a certain level of intellect within its listener. Just as Chopin would never have anticipated a hoodie on a stolen bike (or the nineteenth-century equivalent) to consume his music, prog rock was tailored for a very specific audience.

Come the end of the decade and the emergence of far more cooler acts like The Clash and Sex Pistols, though, prog rock was largely extinct and soon to be ridiculed, its bands transitioning to a more listener-friendly, pop-driven sound.

And it is these more digestible, 1980s efforts from these bands that are the ideal gateway into the genre.

Fans of 1980s music may well be familiar with Yes’ ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’, their highest charting single in the United States. The song itself really underscores the departure from their original sound, but even still, certain entries on the same album (90125) still exhibit the prog rock magic.

‘Changes’ is driven by an absolutely killer rhythm guitar riff yet does not surrender the experimentalism, being bookended by a vibraphone solo courtesy of drummer Alan White (no, not that one).

Once accustomed to this era of Yes, their earlier music is among the greatest blueprints of the genre.

I’d be fairly certain that no other group has written a song about a game of chess before, but through fantastical lyricism and haunting vocal performance from Jon Anderson, ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’ really works.

“Don’t surround yourself with yourself, move on back two squares.”

In a similar way, the Phil Collins era of Genesis acts as a gateway into their classic discography.

Gabriel’s solo career is another easy gateway into early Genesis, his career ever since his departure (1975) retaining the eccentricity that made early Genesis so revered

Among their many Collins-era hits, Duke’s ‘Turn it on Again’ is the most alike experimentally to the Peter Gabriel’s prog rock era of the band, with its unusual time signatures that alternate between verse and chorus. Of course, the pop-influenced nature of Duke pleased Patrick Bateman.

Gabriel’s solo career is another easy gateway into early Genesis, his career ever since his departure (1975) retaining the eccentricity that made early Genesis so revered.

The final two Gabriel-era albums Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway exemplify some of the very best prog rock, in particular their maiden charting single in the United Kingdom ‘I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’.

Actor Tony Robinson once acknowledged that the lyrics to The Lamb may well just be “bollocks”, but its artistry and character more than made up for it.

Gabriel leaving Genesis is perhaps the most consequential moment in music history. Not only kickstarting his own lauded solo career, having won seven Grammys, Gabriel’s departure facilitated Collins’ emergence from behind the drumkit, and with it the enormous commercial success both of Genesis and Collins himself.

Pink Floyd themselves need very little introduction, while King Crimson’s ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ and vocalist/bassist Greg Lake’s supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer were fellow pioneers of the genre.

I see prog rock as the last hurrah of Old England: the cobbled streets; the country houses; and the public schools. It’s no wonder that the classic lineup of Genesis met while attending Charterhouse School in Surrey. Its sound was defined by grandeur and pompousness, and the pioneers revelled in it.