Let me explain where I'm coming from. The term Progressive Rock is a noun, a term which is descriptive. This is not just rock. At some point, way back in the mists of time, that would be the late sixties and early seventies it changed into something else because of what musicians did with the musical elements available to them. Now this will be the tough point, but I think it needs to be made. Progressive Rock music no-longer progresses because the genre criteria have long since been established. I realize this may be a difficult "pill" to swallow in our oh-so-postmodern culture where the concept of "progress" is held up to such mythic proportions, but there you have it. Progressive Rock no longer progresses because it has already arrived and fully satisfies the specific needs of the genre the term represents. There was a time while writing one of the earlier editions of The Progressive Rock Files where I wanted to capitalize the "P" and the "R" of progressive rock to drive the point home about this genre description being a noun and not a verb.

But let's say for a minute that the concept of music progressing within a genre holds some validity. Since most critics no longer accept slight tonal or rhythmic modifications to an artist's repertoire, this would mean each time an artist recorded a piece of music it would have to sound significantly or even entirely different than the last recorded work or they could be branded as "not having progressed" from their earlier effort. Given this faulty concept, how does one establish a band's identifiable "sound"? It would never sound the same way twice. Please note I'm not referring here to a band's sound that changes over time as they incorporate further influences and develop their writing skills. What I'm specifically referring to is the false concept of forced progress that is IMPOSED on artists by critics who require heightened amounts of out-of-the-mainstream compositions to satisfy their jaded ears. You'll note that critics tend to generally be at what they feel is the leading edge of any musical genre. This is primarily because they become super-saturated with material and like any addiction, requires more and more of whatever-it-is to provide the resulting high. This is not so with the general public who will rarely ever be exposed to the same number of releases. Which is why I maintain this then puts the critic in the precarious position of critiquing compositions through jaded and unrealistic expectations. Sorry folks, progress is not the criteria by which you define something as Progressive Rock.

It's senseless to think that each time an artist creates music (or literature, paintings or any art for that matter) that it must progress to some new level. What's important is that the artist be true to their creative nature. Their idea of progressing may be simply creating music that is different from the last work. And that's successfully obtained by using different notes, instruments, arrangements, structure, production etc.. It is not necessary for great music to make significant leaps from piece to piece. Modern critics place unrealistic demands on artists to reinvent themselves each time they come out of the studio. Further to this point many of these critics also seem to have created different benchmarks for progressive rock than they have for other pop and rock music.

Progressive Rock incorporates elements of both rock and pop but should not defined by either's style and I'm coming more and more to feel it's a mistake to use a rock or pop reference point when approaching Progressive Rock music. It's difficult to even describe the musical diversity that exists in the progressive rock world. You have a range of artists from Gordon Giltrap to Steve Hackett, Univers Zero to Henry Cow and Minimum Vital to Yes. The shear number of musical influences in just these six artists is staggering. The manner in which those elements have been absorbed is so all-encompassing that fans of pop and rock have trouble finding their familiar benchmarks. Progressive Rock is something truly alien and new to them. For this reason it is not understood either by Pop or Rock critics as we dealt with in another editorial.

This stylistic distance or musical gulf that exists between rock and progressive rock becomes an issue when dealing with the mainstream media. Given the difficulty mass media critics have in grasping something more challenging than the latest three-minute alternative rock song. Alternative ROCK is first and foremost rock music. This can't be said of Progressive Rock.

I mentioned in a previous editorial that our genre is saddled with the term "rock" and as a result progressive rock is traditionally included in all things rock but this has proven to be a dismal failure when it comes to promoting the genre. By way of example take a look at the rise of "World Music". This genre was virtually unknown a decade a go and yet now every record store has a section devoted exclusively to "World Music". The same is true of the often-maligned genre of "New Age" music. And yet, progressive rock is mixed in with Rock or Heavy Metal or sometimes even Jazz. At the record store/media level progressive rock has a severe lack of identity. Because we use the term Rock, it is sold in…played in…and unfortunately lost in the world of rock music. But the real question is, does it fit there? I would say no. While World Music, New Age, and even the inappropriately named Alternative Music have come to enjoy recognition as legitimate musical genres, Progressive Rock continues to be maligned, ridiculed and ignored.

We need to each become a committee of "one" and begin petitioning the record stores we frequent to consider setting up a "Progressive Rock" section. This section may be small in some stores but at least it's a start. So let's take on this project. Next time you're at a record store ask to be directed to the Progressive Rock section and if they don't have one, ask them why.

About the Author:
Jerry Lucky is the author of the book The Progressive Rock Files, now entering its 5th edition. Please feel free to send feedback to Jerry at www.jerrylucky.com.