On Saturday my favorite radio station, WXPN, devoted eight hours of programming to 70's prog rock. While I understand that prog had its mind-expanding, chemically shaped followers back in the early 70's, I can't understand why anyone would still listen to it in 2009 when the recorded works of The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Mitch Ryder, Bob Marley, Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pavement and The Grass Roots remain available for your listening pleasure. And I tried to listen, like a car wreck it was difficult to turn away (or turn the station) as hairy, gnomic, viking helmeted men dressed in the finest wizard robes performed endless tributes to Ommadawn, pilgrimages, voyages, journeys, euphoric hysteria, pharoh kings, small furry animals and brain salad surgeries.
The singers had airy, pinched voices and while the road goes on forever, the song it never ends. The average song seemed to be nine to fifteen minutes of celestial noodling with 77 time changes wrapped in endless soloing... how can that be fun? Yes I'm sure these guys were excellent musicians but I've found that (courtesy of my pre 1991-wary 17 year old nephew) rock and roll can be distilled into 13 seconds, and it sounds like this:
Big D & The Kids Table - "What The Hell Are You Going To Do?"
I say the movement starts here... death to prog and all its unseemly descendants. Who's with me?
The singers had airy, pinched voices and while the road goes on forever, the song it never ends. The average song seemed to be nine to fifteen minutes of celestial noodling with 77 time changes wrapped in endless soloing... how can that be fun? Yes I'm sure these guys were excellent musicians but I've found that (courtesy of my pre 1991-wary 17 year old nephew) rock and roll can be distilled into 13 seconds, and it sounds like this:
Big D & The Kids Table - "What The Hell Are You Going To Do?"
I say the movement starts here... death to prog and all its unseemly descendants. Who's with me?