Created in the late 1960s, fashionable in the early 1970s and hated in
the 1980s, Progressive Rock has a colourful and eventful story. Many of
the genre's main protagonists, including Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, remain as popular as ever, while lesser-known
names like Camel, Caravan, Renaissance, Van der Graaf Generator and
Gentle Giant retain cult status. In this completely revised and updated
edition, Stephen Lambe guides the reader through the early years as the
music developed out of the British Progressive Music boom of the late
1960s into its own genre, and reached full maturity in the early 1970s.
He also discusses how the music was received and developed outside the
UK, particularly in the USA and Europe. Received wisdom has it that punk
swept Progressive Rock away in the late 1970s, yet the genre never died.
An early 1980s revival, spearheaded by major label signings Marillion,
IQ and Pallas, burned brightly but fell away sharply later in the
decade. However, in the early 1990s, the movement began to re-establish
itself, largely below the radar, led by Swedish band The Flower Kings
and American group Spock's Beard. The rise of the internet and the
decline of the worldwide pop industry allowed niche music - as
Progressive Rock had now become - to flourish once again in the new
millennium. Stephen Lambe has been co-promoter of the Summer's End
Progressive Rock festival since 2006. He helps promote Welsh band
Magenta, and is Secretary of the Classic Rock Society, whose patrons
include Steve Hackett and Roger Hodgson. He writes regularly for the
magazine Rock Society.
