The Birth of Prog | Why Prog Happened

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[@Vtreti]

Google translator: "Prague Rock". Greetings from Czech Republic.

[@pauldenby878]

Modry Efekt

[@Batchman-z11]

Plastic People of the Universe

[@heimomoilanen9654]

@@pauldenby878 Great band!

[@cree8vision]

The history of prog rock is so complicated, so entwined and goes so deep. I don't know if anyone has been able to completely put it all together but this is a very good synopsis.

[@jdhill9730]

Progressive Rock pushed the boundaries of what Rock could be. It is still being played at a very high quality in Sweden, Norway, France. The Netherlands and in Japan.

[@realmikegarner]

It was the Moody Blues' Mike Pinder who introduced John Lennon to the Mellotron that ended up on Strawberry Fields. And also gave McCartney the anecdote that lead to She Came In Through The Bathroom Window. Also, Slade did a pretty good cover of the Moodies version 2's first single Fly Me High

[@ms8596]

Brian Wilson was not " jealous" of the Beatles. He was truly inspired and motivated by them. He wanted to top what he heard in Rubber Soul due to admiring it. It inspired him to make the conceptual Pet Sounds, a journey from start to finish. Upon meeting John and Paul in LA, there was a mutual admiration and respect that continues with Paul to this day.

[@mikeymutual5489]

You could be "inspired and motivated' by the Beatles and also be jealous of their success.

[@ms8596]

@@mikeymutual5489 no one has ever reported, nor are there any qoutes showing Brian Wilson was jealous of the Beatles. Making stuff up, creating controversy where the never was any, is never a good look.

[@mikeymutual5489]

@@ms8596 It is a known fact that Brian was a competitive person and was gearing the group to take on the Beatles after they arrived here. Why would you do that if you were not at least a little jealous of their success, which came seemingly out of nowhere? In fact, the whole group was jealous of the Beatles. Try to understand the personalities of the group and human nature before dismissing me. Musicians do not exist in a vacuum. Stop being so naive. But again, just because there was some jealousy (at least in the beginning), that did not mean that there was not also some deep admiration for the Beatles by Brian and the rest of the group.

[@ms8596]

@@mikeymutual5489 your original statement is about Brian, not the group. Again, do not foist your perception of how Brian would have felt or acted. Stick to the facts, plain and simple. Conjecture in a documentary? Yea, no! That documentary gets a D, basically a grade for showing up.

[@mikeymutual5489]

@@ms8596 The fact is that you don't know any more than I do about this, except for you having no real knowledge of Brian and his history. So you get a D for running your mouth while knowing nothing.

[@pkflash2004]

Andy, the 3 videos of yours that I've watched lately - this one on Prog, the History of Drumming and the one on Beauty, I've really enjoyed. They have been realy well thought out and convey a balanced and somewhat objective view point. I also like the videos when you have a right old rant at something !

[@elliotwalton6159]

I love the fact your narration sounds like old phonograph.

[@Kuesel68]

Thank you! That was my first live experience on KZbin :D I think you shouldn't underestimate also the influence of early psychedelia that emerged in the US after the first British Invasion with bands like Vanilla Fudge, Electric Prunes, or Jefferson Airplane. And very badly forgotten is a guy who influenced or even developped just any genres in the 60s, a young Scottish poet by the name of Donovan Phillips Leitch that went from trad. folk to psychedelia (Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow were the first psychedelic singles), childrens songs, art rock, and world music before it even was a thing - and even taught George Harrison how to improve his guitar playing in India. Never underestimate the influence of Donovan also in song writing (I hold it even above Dylan's).

[@Batchman-z11]

In fact it was John Lennon whom Donovan taught to improve his guitar playing, fingerpicking style to be exact. That gave rise to Dear Prudence, Happiness Is a Warm Gun and Julia.

[@billjones8503]

@@Batchman-z11 What!? I've read was the other way around-in India.

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

Wordiness leaves out Love 13th floor elevators! The Vanilla Fudge? Hollies maybe?

[@mikegee3198]

The birth of prog is a fascinating subject. One important aspect is that it was reaction to psychedelia. With all the studio gimmicks such as backwards tapes, tape varispeed, exotic overdubbed instruments and orchestration, multiple keyboards and vocals, much of psychedelia was unable to be played live as it had appeared on record. Prog was a reaction to this. There was a zeitgeist to play live to a high standard of musicianship, to be taken seriously and to ‘progress’ to the level of classical or jazz. This is one reason why prog incorporated aspects of classical and jazz. Anything seen as lightweight or ‘commercial’ was out. The prog movement led to fascinating developments in music as long as it didn’t get too long or self indulgent, and it did lead to levels of virtuosity that have never been bettered. There are many treasures to rediscover.

[@BrianDalton-w1p]

Absolutely correct. Despite all the misunderstandings and misinterpretations Progressive Rock was merely the result of creative artists seeking to expand their genre to reach more interesting and significant heights, just as we saw from the Renaissance through the Baroque and Classical and Romantic and Modern periods. Original Rock and Roll was such a simplistic form of music that there was no place to go but up. The shame is that the movement failed to gain the influence commanded by its predecessors.

[@leechild4655]

Its hell to live through the greatest of times in music and to see it now compared to all the previous years and decades. No wonder everyones mad all the time. We have no good music to sooth our souls.

[@happy2oblige]

Very enjoyable. Love it that Zappa led the way.

[@vannthemannjohnson]

Thank you, Andy! For connecting musical bridges. Learning is exciting!

[@mattmiller4917]

There are lots of great points made in this video, but my favorite is your point about how prog echoes the development of recording technology, allowing for longer and more complex compositions without having to study music on a formal or academic basis. I also loved your point about Dylan as an enabler for ambitious music and also for music not focused so much on singing. My only criticism of this video is that I think twentieth-century classical music post-bop jazz impacted the development of prog more than this video acknowledges, but perhaps that will be included in another video. I also think late modernist literature made an impact, encouraging greater complexity and more use of irony in lyrics. Prog is late modernist rock, hanging on at the same time as postmodern music (punk, postpunk, no wave, etc) was beginning to emerge.

[@delorangeade]

I would be interested if you had any thoughts about where Roy Wood and The Move might fit into the musical frame of late 1960's Britain.

[@Batchman-z11]

Not to mention Jeff Lynne and The Idle Race, and how Wood and Lynne combined to bring forth ELO, who took the "rock with classical instruments" concept to new levels while maintaining pop credentials.

[@ronlyons7455]

Really high marks for this approach . Always learn so much. Love the time trip back. I was 16 in 1970, Long Island NY. Cheers

[@knightrook4264]

Outstanding story-telling. I greatly appreciate your commentary on the technological progress, and especially the credit to Frank Zappa, one of my primary influences.

[@NelsonMontana1234]

Good vid. John Sebastian had a great quote. He said, " If anyone in 1965 said rock and roll was serious music, they'd laugh in your face. And if anyone after 1967 said it wasn't serious music , they'd punch you in the nose. " In those two years we went from "Wooly Bully" and "My Boy Lollipop" to to "Strawberry Fields Forever " and "A Day in the Life." It was inevitable that the musicianship would advance since so many people were becoming musicians and the starting point wasn't surf or Doo Wop. It was about breaking new ground. And part of that was studying jazz, blues, classical and the avant garde . I'm not sure I agree that Dylan was a direct influence on the prog movement. In general, the times they were-a- changin' but that was in everything -- art, film, literature, fashion, morality, philosophy, and of course, all types of music. That too allowed for more experimentation. Botton Line...the Beatles turned a folk art into high art. Then the more skilled musicians took it to the next logical level.

[@JamesPechur]

My Favorite part of Prog Rock is the Canterbury Sound. Soft Machine, etc. But I still appreciate "Wooly Bully".

[@MrDogonjon]

Prog is a song form built from I, IV, V progressions but allowing ii, iii vi to interplay progressions so middle sections and "song within song" can build interesting storytelling. Similarly Sonata Allergo and Choro song forms allow three or more themes to inhabit the same song form creating a longer opus.

[@billphelps5611]

Really enjoyed this style of video. I wasn't bothered by the audio issue, it's the content that counts.

[@richarddavis5542]

Thank you for properly defining Prog Rock. So many mistakenly think that any track that contains heavy keyboards/electronics and is longer than normal is the definition of Prog. The root of Prog is the storytelling. Critics of Prog are often people with short attention spans. While Brian Wilson was in competition with the Beatles he still loved them. I think Brian was also driven because he was tired of doing Pop/serf music. He was longing to be taken seriously as an artist. IMHO 1971 was the best year in Rock music. The albums of all genres of Rock were stellar that year.

[@mikeymutual5489]

"Critics of Prog are often people with short attention spans." Or maybe proponents of prog rock are as self-serving and pretentious as the bands that played that music.

[@MrDogonjon]

A buddy of mine grew up across the street from Brian Wilson. Brian wasn't just crazy but a special kind of crazy that infected everyone including my buddy.... and that is cool...Sorry 1972 was the greatest year in prog from a classical guitarist point of view Genesis Foxtrot= Horizions... Yes Fragile = Mood for a Day ELP/ Greg Lake Pictures= The Sage the best music for a guitarist to want to ever play.

[@370530e]

Lennon thought that Dylan’s music was bollocks and is on record saying so.

[@mikeymutual5489]

@@370530e Is that why he tried so hard to emulate him? Link please.

[@toby9999]

​@mikeymutual5489 If you really want a link, why not google it?

[@styrmugnsell4560]

I was thinking that the bad sound was some kind of joke that I didn’t get…

[@bobnolin9155]

Funny that a video about music has such bad...sound. Sad really.

[@mmestari]

A video that starts by telling about importance of recording, should have better recording/packaging quality.

[@ludochem]

Maybe it s suppose to give a psychedelic vibe...i thought a second it was made by AI :)

[@mikemilne]

Ah, good. I thought there may be something wrong with my phone

[@Jason_Quinn]

very difficult to listen to. if the content wasn't so good, I wouldn't bother

[@Hernal03]

All great bands at 09:30 but another great English band that is somehow never mentioned and deserves to be included as one of the groups that also pushed the artistic envelope with their music is *_The Zombies_* --- their album *_Odessey and Oracle_* recorded during the summer of love in 67' but not released till the following year was also a great example of the type of artistry that led the way to what would eventually become all out Prog rock in the 70's. They also, like _The Beatles_ and _The Kinks,_ wrote most of their own material.

[@artboy57]

Right . I consider most of Argent's work to be solid Prog as well.

[@AndrewjWilson]

Its great to know Andy ,that your a fan of great music, from prog,jazz fusion, punk etc

[@apchsiri1156]

Those six years, indeed. Masterful video.

[@robinjonesguitar]

Really good Andy, excellent stuff, great for teenagers at school for a bit of musical understanding 😀

[@CharlesDavisJr-s8t]

Great job Andy! I enjoy and love your content. Please give us more, and thank you!

[@batterytestchannel-v4v]

I loved this scripted narrative style contrasting your usual extemporised rants. There is definitely a place for both. The topic is not just for noobs. The field is so expansive that one can always pick up something new.

[@keithparker1346]

I prefer this way despite the ironically poor audio

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

The talk is still completely improvised, it's just edited. On the whole I have just taken the 'ums' and 'you knows' out

[@batterytestchannel-v4v]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer respek

[@buckfred1]

Fantastic! Thanks Andy for all your hard work! Prog Forever!!!

[@eastbay_bay]

Thanks Andy! Greetings from America, Pacific Northwest!

[@elliotwalton6159]

"The album has become THE art form for culture." As one who grew up with, and into, this development, your statement struck me as 100% true.

[@vmax4steve524]

My opinion also. Rock music was the number one art form in the western world and anyone with an artistic bent dove into it which is why the music was so good in the late 60's early 70's, along with the ingestion of psychedelics that expanded the consciousness of the musicians and thus expanded the music. Human intelligence and consciousness evolved from the ingestion of psychedelic plants, read Terence McKenna, and the rock music created under the influence reaches deeply into the human pysche that only a few individuals throughout history connected to naturally like the great classical composers.

[@rsmykla]

Great exploration of the flowering and fusion of musical styles within the larger rock genre. Bands like Jethro Tull and Jeff Beck provided an easy entry into the more sophisticated music of prog. For me, these led to the discovery of bands like Gentle Giant and King Crimson whose virtuosity was stunning and inspiring for young musicians like myself and my cohort. I’d love to see you expand a bit more on some of the sub-genres you mentioned, with a focus on musicians central to each. Thanks for a great overview of the evolution of prog-rock. Maybe take a look at Jazz-fusion next: bands like Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Return to Forever, etc.

[@raulcheva]

I would add that other invention, FM radio(started to be huge in the late 60s United States) , permitted the broadcasting of much longer formats like conceptual albums.

[@mikegee3198]

The birth of prog is quite a complicated subject. An important aspect was that prog was a reaction to the complex studio trickery of 1967s psychedelia in that with all the backwards tapes, multi-layered vocals, exotic instrumentations, and numerous overdubs, much of psychedelia was unable to be played live as it had appeared on record. Prog rock was all about playing live - and playing to a high standard of musicianship. There was a zeitgeist to be taken seriously, to ‘progress’ to the level of classical and jazz and this is one reason why prog incorporated elements from classical and jazz. Also at the birth of prog anything seen as ‘commercial’ or lightweight was definitely out, this was all about being taken seriously as musicians, it did produce some amazing music as long as it didn’t get too long or over-bloated. It is a fascinating subject and there are many treasures to discover. 19:15

[@curtdilger6235]

Love the essay form Andy. Great explanation. Cheers

[@syjwg]

I'm so grateful that I've found your channel. I have a wish for a review. It's from a band called SAGA and their album "Live In Transit". They released the album 1982, but the live album (perhaps a few years later) must be one of the best prog rock recordings ever.

[@magenta6]

Excellent big picture overview. Thanks for your work. Born 1960 I grew up listening to some of the great proggers, but am discovering there was a lot more going on. So am listening to some of them for the first time. Good that you mentioned the Moody Blues. Often overlooked and did a lot of innovation.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@sambone8348]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer What ? No mention of Lothar and the Hand People ???

[@drrodrigoromanpena3742]

Well done Andy. Excellent documental. Very cleaver how you connect different topics to tell your story.

[@markc6557]

Thank you. When I started (1967), I used to rate my favorite bands. I had points for "intelligent" music, which meant elements of classical music, virtuoso instrumentation, complex arrangement.... not knowing (yet) that the PROG started. I enjoyed this essay very much. Thanks.

[@markparee99]

Andy, I have been listening to your content for about a year now and generally find it thoroughly engaging. I hope this is not too off-topic, but I have never heard you speak of the band 'Traffic' and where they fit into your historiography of rock and prog rock . Maybe I missed it as I haven't listened to all of your vids. Thx.

[@guitarchannel5676]

Excellent historical perspective.

[@markherzog9484]

I would also add Question of Balance to that list, one of the first holistic albums where each song blended into the next, concept albums became a thing after that…….great listening btw

[@martinrosendahl7150]

Perhaps your best video, thank you

[@davecrowson448]

Thanks for not just including Zappa, but giving him his due credit! Too often he’s completely left out of the conversation

[@privateerburrows]

You forgot to mention Rush; the kings of storytelling. Prog rock was huge in Argentina, too. Bands like Pescado Rabioso and Invisible, one tends to feel sorry for the rest of the world not having heard them.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

But years after the birth of prog

[@dogdays7120]

Never listened to Hot Rats before. Had to pause your video to give it a listen. Oh man, the guitar on Willie the Pimp is awesome. Great video!

[@cliverichards6282]

Many of the British prog rock musicians had a lot of classical music experience in school & youth orchestras and choirs

[@loud7070]

Loved this video. Thank you Andy.

[@robbiecox]

Great! AND you kept it to a concise length.

[@wardka]

I agree a band doesn't have to be from the UK to create prog rock, but it does if you want the best prog rock. Zappa may be an exception but he can be hit or miss for me.

[@ObjectorSnark]

the list of american prog bands from the original years is bizarrely short, especially considering how many of uk prog's most diehard fans are over here. but at the top of that very short list are kansas and happy the man*, and i suppose if you have to, styx. someone recently made the claim (maybe was andy in another video) that the american contribution to progrock during that era was fusion, e.g., zappa, but also mahavishnu orchestra, weather report, chick corea, in that they were blending rock with their *own* national musical "high art" forms like tradjazz, swing, bebop and r&b with avant-garde waves like psychedelica and funk *happy the man never even really got airplay in the us, but they had a strong live fan base in their day. in fact when peter gabriel left genesis his first project was sessioning with htm, who were often critically compared to genesis in terms of musicianship and keyboard-driven epic composition. it reportedly went well, but the fact that gabriel had just left genesis, the last thing he was looking for was to be in another band with a genesis sound

[@Flibbybibby]

Bob Dylan was also blown away by what the BYRDS did with his Mr. Tamborine.

[@joesantamaria5874]

Todd Rundgren would walk into the studio, and emerge weeks or months later with a finished progressive rock album. By himself. All instruments, vocals, songwriting, arranging, production, engineering. A feat not even equaled by Stevie Wonder. Astounding.

[@WiseGuyGene]

I'd like to hear your take on Roxy Music, who straddled the primitive and the avant-garde and hugely influenced the "new wave" bands and 80s pop.

[@vmax4steve524]

Add Be-Bop Deluxe to that.

[@oolongoolong789]

Love the wax cylinder recording.

[@listenanonymous]

Excellent format Andy. Thank you.

[@monkface]

Gosh this is great! I have thought long about so many of these things. It's good to have some things confirmed and other elements introduced. I was just discussing with a friend a couple of weeks ago how I thought English psychedelia was a forerunner of Prog music. And always aware of the Dylan influence too. Even the Wall of Sound/ Phil Spector thing, as commercial as it was, was an attempt at using the studio itself in a different creative way. The technology could be used to alter and shape the finished project. Anyway, great video!

[@arnaudb.7669]

Brilliant beyond belief. Keep up the good work!

[@CasperLCat]

I was 13 in 1975, but I now realize that our music and culture evolved from 1965 to 1974, MORE (arguably) than from 1975 to 2024, which is the part I’ve witnessed personally. History doesn’t always happen at the same rate.

[@shyshift]

Yes made their solo albums in 1975,1976. Close To The Edge was released in 1972.

[@msvergara]

What a great video, very interesting sum up in technological context

[@tma56]

Thank you so much, you are a Professor.

[@jimmyfandago3211]

Hi Andy, I love this channel. What we have to consider re the whole Prog rock genre is that even if the musical output isn't that great, the album covers are fantastic. I've just pulled off the book shelf: Hipgnosis, a great document of the artistic pioneers of the album cover. Roger Dean, Storm Thorgerson et al. A lost art form, killed off by Cd's and downloads.

[@russellereese]

Thumbnail of Ian Anderson and not a word about Tull!

[@clevebaker8399]

Procol Harum !!!! Shine on brightly 😘🥳

[@papajohnloki]

Possibly the most criminally underrated band in the 'rock' genre

[@John-bd2gz]

I was a young music lover when progressive rock first came out. Prior to that, I was well versed in my parents classical record collection and I also liked much of the pop/rock of the day and black gospel music too. Early progressive rock was fascinating music, each new album was an adventure. I think Jon Lord and early Deep Purple are often overlooked, but they, along with King Crimson, were my favorites. Around 1973, much of progressive rock started to become cliche and formulaic and I started listening to other music, but over the years I still hear some good music under the 'prog' moniker.

[@rsqyoung]

I loved Deep Purple particularly "in Rock" and "perfect Strangers", Album after album of great songs..All my mates took the piss. Page better than Blackmore, plant better than Gillan... all bollx as they were totally different. John Lord was probably a better all round keyboard piano player than any of the, just not quite the showman and complete Star package.Always looked down on as a poor mans Zepplin. I like both bands but time is getting kinder to Purple and Zepplins aura is fading somewhat. I play Purple stuff far more than Zepplin but couldn't explain why. Probably because they are more exciting. Zepplin at their best are amazing, but Purple are still playing and creating new music if only in a modified form, as good as, if not better, than ever. We used to thing of both of them as Prog and Heavy Metal, which by todays standards neither are!

[@fossilmatic]

I didn’t really feel bothered by the sound quality, Andy, because your clarity of ideas here was excellent. Plus that image of Dad and Son at 6.17 made me spit out my beer 😅

[@vanceg18]

Great stuff, Andy! But in the late 1950s/early 1960s, the standard for high-end recording was actually a 3-track. Frank Sinatra recorded on a setup like this. Two tracks were a stereo recording of the band, with the third track used for the lead vocal. These recorders had no capability of overdubbing as the later multitrack recorders had, but rudimentary mixing was possible. They could put different amounts or kinds of reverb on the lead vocal compared to the band during the mix. Or they could add a slap-back echo.

[@AldousHuxleysCat]

You were off by a couple of years for Yes doing their solo albums. Late 1973 was when topographic oceans was released. Followed shortly by relayer. It was after the first relayer tour that they took time to do the solo albums. I think Steve Howe was first in the fall of 75 followed by Chris squire, and then the rest of the band released theirs in '76. When I was first listening to this we were calling the music either orchestral rock or classical rock. I always thought the term progressive started being used so that it wouldn't be confused with classic rock.

[@albarton7189]

Absolutely loved this video, especially that crackling sound. I understand there was a mishap during the recording of this, but the crackling adds an element of timelessness and authenticity to your KZbin mini-documentary. Bravo, well done.

[@nickpatten5263]

Good, it’s not just me that heard the crackling then.

[@michaeljozwiak25]

Now the question begs to be asked, was the crackling sounds accidental and improvised or was it an intentional part of the video? That Andy Edwards at times can be as clever and deceptive as a fox;

[@albarton7189]

@@michaeljozwiak25 if it was intentional, then, all I can say is Andy must be a mad genius.

[@slowpawstevet3676]

many of us were at school or working an apprenticeship during the 60s and early 70s, our bands could take us on their freedom journey through their music and we listened to their albums, in reality for most it was a great fantasy imagining living their lifestyle without the harm. Excellent video well done.

[@cwhite3014]

Nice job! I'm wondering where "Thick as a Brick" is in all this. Great album and an amazing listening experience.

[@markmuro4156]

This is great! A master class from the Professor of Prog. Thank you!

[@peterdavies5358]

The most important album in prog is obviously Tales as in popular arguments it is named the step too far, the end of the tether that kickstarted punk. This may or may not be true but one thing that gets overlooked as it's not well known is that Keith Levine, the guitarist from that early PiL incarnation that made Metal Box and he was in the very early Clash, was a huge Yes fan. He roadied for them and was going to go on the Tales tour until Rick I believe sacked him for not being a very good roadie. He loved Steve Howe's guitar and spent all his time picking the brains of Steve and Rick and Rick realised he needed to take the step and get out there himself. Keith himself said that Poptones, I think, was Starship Trooper. If you listen with this in mind you can hear it. The story is out there in the PiL fanzine/blog Fodderstomp.

[@yes_head]

Nice job, Andy. 👍

[@VultureClone]

Interesting video. I would definitely agree on your picks for the beginning of prog. Makes sense.

[@Fuzcapp]

Great video Andy. Really enjoyed it.

[@ThalassicMeasure]

In addition to recording, we mustn't overlook the impact on popular music black Americans have had. Blues, soul, R&B, country, jazz, fusion, rock, hip hop, rap, DJ-based performance, etc., would not exist without the cultural contribution of black Americans.

[@PhilippeLenain]

Excellent definition of the birth of Prog Rock, so many of my generation have struggled to explain what our passion was about... Just a comment: its'Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull on the miniature of the video (background), they're a fundamental piece for the prog movement, but not cited. You couldn't mention them all! Cheers, I'm a suscriber

[@drewtorr]

I was just going to mention Tull, then I saw this as I was scrolling. One of my faves from that era

[@joegrant413]

halfway through and this seems to be your best video yet, Andy! someday you can remark on how artists make AI a compositional element.

[@Mr29roses]

I cant belueve I listened to 10 minutes of this.

[@annode]

Gentle Giant's 'Three Friends' 1972 . A very influential prog record.

[@torunit4620]

As a long time fan of Camel, unmentioned here, I recall their album The Single Factor, after they had lost their way musically, was made to be more commercial at the ultimatum of their record label. They were not as free to make music as we would wish.

[@markkusyrjala7919]

Interesting documentary. Btw talking about unknown European bands..there´s a Finnish prog band called Wigwam that started around 1970. They were unique and virtuoso players each one of them. They are imo one of the best prog bands ever. They had a kind of Finnish sound, sometime Sibelius came to mind and Zappa influence too (interesting detail: Frank Zappa asked the bass player Pekka Pohjola to come to his band) but also the main singer was english so they even had a very british sound too. Its a band worth checking out :)

[@ericarmstrong6540]

Very good documentary. Keep up the good work, Andy.

[@OZRIC1985]

I really enjoyed your analysis of the birth of prog rock! All the bands you mentioned in the video are bands I enjoy listening to. I'm not sure if I agree so much about Bob Dylan's influence on or contribution to prog rock as I have always seen him as being a pioneer in folk music. Of course, he obviously did inspire and influence many rock musicians. I really like your acknowledgement of Frank Zappa's major contribution to prog rock. He was such a brilliant composer as well as a brilliant man and a real thinker. I was born in the 1960s, and I believe that Yes and The Moody Blues were my earliest influences as a huge fan of prog rock. Yes's "Roundabout" and The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" were most likely two of the main songs that gave me a taste of prog rock that hooked me immediately. I do recall hearing some of Pink Floyd's music some time around 1970, and I have been a big fan of theirs for all of these years. Oh, and I can't forget hearing The Beatles (especially Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) very early in my life. It was some time in the mid 1970s when I started really becoming aware of all of the other great bands you mentioned (ELP, Procol Harem, Genesis, etc.). I can never tire of listening to all of the great prog rock music, especially all of the brilliant early prog rock. :)

[@DaveSmithCA]

This video isn't called "History Of Prog". So many people's comments indicate they didn't get the premise of this video. It's about what happened leading up to prog, covering its moment of birth, hence the title. Its timeline basically ends at the beginning of the 1970s. It's not obligated to cover bands like Rush that became well known a few years later. Other videos have already covered prog after it was born. This is not is one of those.

[@WaterShowsProd]

This was really interesting with some very surprising insights. It didn't get bogged down in fan worship or band politics, like so many attempts on this topic often do.

[@elliotwalton6159]

I once read that Bernard Shaw considered the phonograph the greatest invention of his lifetime.

[@artboy57]

A beaut, Andy! Since I was in Jr. high and high school in the early seventies, Prog was my deep dive into music. I liked regular rock and some other genres, but Prog was my thing. Still is!

[@AndrewjWilson]

Superbly explained video, well done Andy 😊

[@paulbennett772]

One thing you failed to mention was recording technology. Better record-cutting machines (& improvements in the quality of vinyl) allowed up to 30mins per side, making the LP the main medium, and hence the development of lengthier pieces of music. UK bands were no longer constrained to write shorter pieces, though commercial considerations prevailed in the USA, and delayed development there of extended compositions for many years. The same applies to Europe, always a smaller market than English language markets.

[@lennon1482]

andy I'm sure you'll know there was a brumbeat scene in the 60s, any info

[@misterknightowlandco]

I think an amazing video would be a deep dive into how technology influences the music created over the ages. You touched on it a few times.

[@TheMDJ2000]

I never knew about George Martin and The Goons. That’s fascinating.

[@DanielMcGrath1969]

Prog! Andy! Creole! Enigma! Regina! Nigel! Black music! White music! It's the Benny Hill Show! Yakety Sax....

[@larrykornfeld6372]

In my humble opinion, the backwards guitar on I’m Only Sleeping is a glimpse into the world of the studio as a member of the band so to speak, and that Tomorrow Never Knows is possibly the first piece of progressive rock ever. ❤

[@lupcokotevski2907]

The brilliant Australian music youtuber, The Righteous Bojambo (aka the Foul Quince) has a highly cerebral 15 minute video 'Achtung Krautrock'. Highly recommended. Zappa gets a mention for context, as does Floyd, Hendrix, Cream. So does Weimar and the war.

[@sabe11a39]

Wonderful expriment! It truly sounds like archival footage of a documentary that should have been from the '90s

[@aminahmed2220]

What a fantastic video have a wonderful weekend Andy ❤😊

[@mikeyratcliff3400]

Cracking stuff! Pleasantly surprised about stock pics of 'new age travellers ' , generally assumed to be more of the punk persuasion but nice to see a nod in our musical diversity, I thank you sir!

[@kevinogracia1615]

Excellent, but no mention of Gentle Giant. Although, I think I'll whip out my "Ars Longa Vita Brevis" Nice album tonight. Haven't heard it in over twenty years. Thanks.