This thread reminds me of the time when people argued about what the criteria should be for "folk rock." It's another tag given to people who are trying to push classic rock 'n' roll to different levels. I'll have to include the band Pearls Before Swine, with Tom Rapp coming up with lyrics like" But why not include Barenaked Ladies? Even though they're later than Xoic specified, I was surprised at how non-intuitive their lyrics and chord progressions could be:
Hey JLT. I'm not familiar with the other band you mentioned, but Barenaked Ladies definitely isn't a prog band. To understand what prog is, think about the bands—Yes, ELP, Rush, Kansas, King Crimson etc. These are very serious bands, writing about serious topics, often with a philosophical or mystical theme. In fact they were often called pretentious. I doubt BNL gets called that often. I listened to the beginning of the one you posted by Barenaked Ladies, and it isn't in line with prog. It's a very simple repetitive melody—sort of the anthithesis of what prog is all about. Prog bands generally mix up classical and/or jazz influences with rock, and they get all tricky with time signatures and key changes and the like—stuff that most bands couldn't handle. I do appreciate the input though, thanks for playing.
Scifi fans may recognize a member of this band, Billie Mumy. Yes Will Robinson from lost in space, and Lenir from Babylon Five. They are more blues rock, with some shock jock added for seasoning.
Yes, I knew of that band with Bill Mumy. There was another short-lived band called Dino, Desi and Billy that is Dean Martin, Jr, Desi Arnaz, Jr, and Billy Hinsche. They met in a Catholic high school in LA area.
The Charismatic Voice tackles Xanadu: It dropped unexpectedly today, in all 42 minutes of its glory. Love the way she geeks out over insane music like this.
Yes, about as standard as they come. But that's his genius, to have made something so generic and 'everyman' his own. The opening bars of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, for example. Legend.
Been really watching a lot of videos about Yes lately, and especially about Chris Squire. (A shame Squire wasn't included in this version of Yes) It's just mind blowing how they can do such a lengthy and complex song and get everything perfect.
Talking of Jazz drummers, lets not forget Charlie Watts who was the driving force in one of the biggest rock bands in the world, namely The Rolling Stones. Back to the original discussion; where would you place the 60's & 70's band, BAD COMPANY? I'm leaning more toward them being a rock band, who occasionally dipped in and out of prog.
Hey Rad—I would call Bad Company a blues rock band (one of the best). I wasn't aware they dabbled in prog.
Styx, not really, though I did see them frequently with Kansas, who definitely was. Styx, Kansas and REO would frequently go out on tours together, or any 2 of them in combination.
Earlier today I ran across this rather unusual but very interesting video that defines prog in a very different way than I'm used to hearing—as essentially a band with English sensibilities and influences. I think it still needs to be understood that they also play around with time signatures with a great deal of fluidity and borrow heavily from classical or jazz or several other influences, but aside from that, sure, most of them were definitely English.
Thanks for the clarification. Just did a read-up on BAD COMPANY - the group was made up of previous members of FREE, Mott The Hoople & King Crimson. The bass player, Raymond 'Boz' Burrell was with King Crimson and that's why I thought they may have dipped occasionally in prog.
I found an article where Styx says they were pretty prog-oriented, and I guess I'd have to agree, at least with their longer, more intense songs like Miss America and Suite Madame Blue. I suppose they're sort of like Rush or Kansas in that regard, sort of a mix of metal and prog, but not leaning toward the weirder, more mystical/mythical type of prog. It hit me by surprize—I had never heard of Styx as Prog in any sense before. I'm having to re-learn a lot of things thanks to this thread. Styx: "We’ve never moved totally away from our love of prog" I haven't looked into Bad Company as prog yet, but I suspect they didn't do any real prog. It would take more than one band member—everybody would have to be up to the difficult task of tackling those crazy time signature shifts fluidly and gracefully.
Even though I don't play an instrument since I used to plink around on a guitar many years ago, I love videos like this one:
