In order to understand a specific genre of music, it is important to understand the specifics of the social climate around which this genre was born. The 1970’s was a difficult time both here and in the US. The economy was in recession due to the beginnings of an oil crisis in the Middle East, which caused the environmentalist movement started by Hippies in the 1960’s to gain interest. Many people started to get angry at politicians and at authority in general, sparking various riots and movements. On 22 October 1962, President John F. Kennedy televises evidence of USSR ships transporting nuclear weapons to Cuba. By the 1970s tension across the globe had steadily built up and most of the western world lived in fear of nuclear winter. Music propogated this fear with songs such as Blondie’s “Atomic”, while authorities told us God was on our side. The 1970’s was a time of conflict both in politics and music. This struggle inspired conflicting creativity, including controversial art and opposing musical genres such as Prog Rock versus Punk Rock; Soft Rock versus Ska; Minimalism (in response to a long history of Serialism in Contemporary Music); Disco versus Heavy Rock & Metal among others.
Punk Rock was born as a reaction to an oppressive Establishment and it's misuse of authority. John Lydon, of The Sex Pistols once said, “Early Seventies Britain was a very depressing place. It was completely run-down, there was trash on the streets, total unemployment—just about everybody was on strike. Everybody was brought up with an education system that told you point blank that if you came from the wrong side of the tracks...then you had no hope in hell and no career prospects at all. Out of that came pretentious moi and the Sex Pistols and then a whole bunch of copycat wankers after us.”(1) Punk Rock was a musical movement that reacted against the pastoral sentimentality, expressionistic excess, and superstar bloat of '60s rock with short, fast, hard, acerbic songs. It was also a subculture that scornfully rejected the political idealism and Californian flower-power silliness of hippie myth.(2) Although, many argue it was purely a money-making scheme developed by industry bosses, buying into the opinions of the new generation (3), even though musically a lot of punk bands didn’t actually have much integrity or talent, and in fact managed to break almost every rule in music, that didn’t matter. It was what they were saying that gripped the public’s attention and the industry were quickly becoming aware that talent was not in vogue any more. While there may be some truth to this theory in the UK, the American punk scene began life as a very ‘underground’ venture, with punk clubs like CBGB appearing out of nowhere and the favoured DIY production ethic, implying that it was not a movement began by the industry, but by the musicians themselves. Whatever the case, in both the UK and the US, punk bands appeared to believe in what they were singing about and more popular groups such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols unwittingly became the mouthpiece of a generation. The Punk genre had quickly and agressively publicised a controversial world view and advocation of free speech. Though this was met with heavy opposition, it transpired that this was just what a world in economic decline and apparent political oppression was crying out for.
Progressive Rock, or Prog as it is sometimes known, was mostly a British movement, designed to give Rock music a more respectable element; to show that popular music wasn't just for teenagers. Many Prog Rock artists, with the possible exception of Pink Floyd, came from a Classical background and elements of this came through in their music. This made for some very melodic tunes, and grandiose concept albums telling epic stories, often with Science Fiction elements. Prog was also one of the first Rock movements to incorporate Synthesizers and other electronic instruments. The genre first emerged in 1967 with the advent of Classical/Symphonic rock began by bands suck as Procol Harum and The Moody Blues. Soon, bands began developing the Classical elements of their music into Rock motifs, and with the release of In the Hall of the Crimson King, by King Crimson, Progressive Rock was properly established, and paved the way for acts such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Spock's Beard and many others (4). The Progressive Rock genre was seen by many as 'music for music's sake', as opposed to Punk Rock, which was not about the music at all - it was about the message the artists and bands were attempting to convey. Prog bands rarely had any political agenda or socialogical struggle to imprint on their music, and this is what many people needed from popular music at the time- Artistic escapism. Whereas others sought confirmation that their anguish and frustration with the current socio-political climate at the time, was justified. Punk served this purpose and when the movement started in the UK, in the mid-70's, Progressive rock was in its prime. For a while the two genres lived side by side and gave a good impression of the general mood of the country. In fact, in 1979 Punk and Prog enjoyed something of a crossover with the release of The Wall, a concept album by Progressive Rock outfit, Pink Floyd. The band had not shown any signs of a social or political agenda with their music until this album, but given the state of public opinion, especially amongst the younger generation, it gave the genre more integrity amongst Punk fans. But the controversy surrounding the genre led to many records being banned, including, most notably, God Save The Queen, by The Sex Pistols, which was released to coincide with Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee(5), and included the lyrics:
"God save the queen
She ain't no human being
And there's no future
In England's dreaming"
The record bans increased public interest in The Sex Pistols, and the Punk genre in general, which eventually led to the Progressive Rock scene being pushed back into the niche market. For the latter half of the 70’s Punk ruled the airwaves, and enjoyed more publicity as the 1980’s dawned, with the election of conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
In the end, both the Punk and Prog genres pushed boundaries. One in terms of creating original soundscapes using new instruments and techniques, the other in the form of a new mode of expression. Punk signified the struggle of the extroverted moralist, while Prog represented the struggle of the introverted intellectual. This, of course, attracted very separate fan bases – one anarchic and the other progressive. As will be discussed in this essay, once both genres found their feet in the public domain, the production techniques of their music reflected these world views.
In the early days of Progressive Rock in the early 1970’s, there were not many production techniques to speak of. The Beatles had just released The White Album, Yellow Submarine and others in Nicam Stereo format using 8-track tape. When Progressive Rock began to dominate popular music, new technology was being developed to assist in the development of the electronic element of the genre. The Mellotron experienced a massive revival after bands like Kraftwerk, The Beach Boys and The Beatles had pioneered it in the ‘60’s, while bands like Yes utilised innovative instruments such as the Minimoog (a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog in 1971). The whole idea was to pull the music industry out of the rutt it had fallen into after the music of the 1960’s. There was pressure during this period for Progressive artists to be continually fresh and innovative in their approach to music, using new instruments, original song structures and unique soundscapes; however, many Prog bands, with the possible exception of Pink Floyd, mainly drew from Classical influences. A good example of this is King Crimson’s album, In The Court Of The Crimson King, a title parodying Grieg’s In The Hall Of The Mountain King. Though the album does not specifically draw on Grieg’s work as inspiration, there is much evidence of influence from classical repertoire. This made many of the younger generation feel alienated by the genre. It is for this reason that Pink Floyd enjoyed such widespread popularity, not just from the Prog Rock community, but also from the Punks and general Popular Music fans. Their music focused more on soundscapes and interesting tones, as opposed to complex structure and multiple time and key signature changes as in much of Yes, Rush and later, Dream Theater’s anthologies. Also, the inclusion of important sociological themes in their music such as currency and its dominance over our society in their song, “Money” (from the album Dark Side of the Moon, released in 1973) were big factors in what made the band popular among the younger generation. Interestingly, despite its popularity amongst mainstream audiences, Money is one of the few songs in Pink Floyds repertoire that contains time signature changes. The song changes from 7/4 to 4/4 for the guitar solo and back to 7/4 afterwards. Though it has been suggested that these features were introduced to make it easier for Gilmour to play the solo (6).
One characteristic of the Progressive Rock genre appears to be egotistical artists. Many of the creative forces behind Prog groups such as Genesis, Yes and Rush are notoriously difficult to work with. This is partly to do with Upper-Middle class upbringing and Classical background, but also from the way the genre works. Progressive Rock requires constant innovation and new creative ideas, so naturally the creative forces within a group, however competent have to push the creative envelope further with each release, against financial constraints, contractual obligations and in some cases even acceptable living conditions. Jon Anderson from Yes was markedly fond of experimenting in the studio, also adding to what were at times conflicted relationships within the band and with management. “He originally wanted to record the album Tales from Topographic Oceans in the middle of the woods, and instead decided to put hay and animal cut-outs all over the recording studio, causing lice to infest one of Rick Wakeman’s keyboards. In another incident, Anderson had tiles installed in the studio, to simulate the echo effect of one's vocals in a bathroom”(4). Though it proved stressful for members of Prog bands, this eccentric behaviour added a degree of character to the music and the various disputes, break ups and reformations within the groups became part of the character of the genre.
Among the many creative ideas Pink Floyd used, perhaps the most famous is their use of the pioneering Quadrophonic technology. This is essentially an early form of Surround Sound using four channels and a device inscrutably known as The Azimuth Co-ordinator (TAC). TAC was basically a glorified 4-way pan pot, but the technology was at the cutting edge in the 1970’s. In an article in Studio Sound Magazine from 1975, Pink Floyd producer, Alan Parsons clarifies how the technology was used. On the Quadrophonic edition of the album Dark Side of the Moon, Parsons explains, there was a different set of panning technique used on each track. Unlike the track-for-track consistency evident on nearly all commercial releases of recent years, Dark Side had a lot more variation. On the track, “Great Gig In The Sky”, the Piano (recorded at Abbey Road Studio One, London) was recorded using two close mics for the front two channels and two ambient mics for the two back channels. This produces a very ‘spacious’ sound to the Piano, which is unique to the album. Other techniques, such as spreading the Toms on the drum kit across the back two channels to create the huge fills apparent on the track “Time”.(7) Many producers since the release of Dark Side have attempted to replicate this technique in one way or another. One very prominent example is 2004 Surround release of the album “In Absentia” by Progressive Rock band, Porcupine Tree, which won Best Mix (Non-Orchestral) Award 2004 at the Surround Music Awards (8). Although, like many others since the Pink Floyd release, In Absentia’s Surround mix was recorded for use on stereo media. Unlike Dark Side, which was always intended for a surround mix and as such used techniques such as quad miking a piano, In Absentia used purely Stereo techniques and was then repanned to 5.1 channels. Some have argued that this ‘upmixing’ makes the recording sound quite thin and lacking in low end when compared to the original stereo release(9).
Overall, it seems the Progressive Rock genre is characterised by complex music with constantly changing time and key signatures and innovative structures and sounds, inspired greatly by Classical repertoire; with the possible exception of Pink Floyd, who do not come from a Classical background and create soundscapes with strong underlying themes rather than classical scores. Production-wise, the techniques are cutting edge for the time with a tremendous amount of time and finance injected into the projects after recording.
Despite being one of the definitive UK punk acts of the 1970's, The Sex Pistols were in fact, in part, a manufactured group. Malcolm McLaren, who ran a popular clothing shop with Vivienne Westwood, knew the group in their very early stages as The Strand. The boys used to hang out in his shop and he soon realised their potential. According to Sex Pistols Lead singer John Lydon (whom McLaren convinced to change his name to Johnny Rotten) said McLaren treated them like another extension of his clothing line, "Malcolm and Vivienne were really a pair of shysters: they would sell anything to any trend that they could grab onto"(10). The relationship between McLaren and Lydon was a very odd one. After all on the one hand was McLaren, a wealthy entrepreneur who saw a financial opportunity in an unsuccessful band; and on the other was Johnny Rotten, Anarchic singer in a controversial Punk band. The partnership was an ironic, yet necessary evil if the group were to get their message to the public. This uncomfortable marrying of capitalism and anti-establishmentarianism was reflected in their production methods. Even though the Punk genre largely promoted a Do-It-Yourself production ethic, with many bands producing many of their most famous albums themselves in their own homes, The Sex Pistols had professional equipment and producers to work with from the outset. In 1976 the band signed to EMI and in an interesting move, were paired with Procol Harum and Pink Floyd producer, Chris Thomas; the irony of which was not lost on the band. As aforementioned, the Punk genre, by its very nature is not about the quality of the music, but the message it conveys. Therefore, as long as one can hear the words, the quality of the production is unimportant, and as such there is very little information available on the techniques used both in the recording and the production process. However, Chris Thomas does talk briefly about recording the band in a rare interview with Mix Online. According to Thomas, the first Sex Pistols single, “Anarchy in the U.K.” was mixed very differently to all the subsequent releases. For unknown reasons, Lydon was kept in the dark about the early recording sessions with Thomas, and it was treated like any other commercial release. The final mix of Anarchy reportedly had something like twelve guitar overdubs on it, arranged by Thomas, so it sounded incredibly aggressive. In later sessions, Thomas began to get a feel for what the band was about – simple recordings that say what needs to be said. This production style was ultimately refined when the then Bassist, Glen Matlock was sacked just before the band went into the studio to record the first few tracks for their debut album, “Never Mind The Bollocks”. It meant that the recordings were initially just Guitar and Drums, so Thomas got Guitarist, Steve Jones to just play the root notes of his barre chords on bass: “And that was it-that was the Sex Pistols sound. Because beforehand, when we did ‘Anarchy,’ we spent a day doing the backing track and edited it all up from different takes because it was very loose between bass and drums. Now it was just like a rock because Steve was just playing exactly what he did on the guitar, except on the one string. So suddenly it sounds like this tank rolling down!”(11)
Genres and their characteristics often come about because of social movements or climate, and many of the techniques (both performance and production-wise) and style are dictated by that social movement. In July 1975, UK unemployment figures were the worst since World War II (12), and the public was in constant fear on Nuclear Winter. This sparked fury and aggression in the public, and very soon bands such as The Sex Pistols began to surface, and became a mouthpiece of dissent. Their music was aggressive and rude. Just what the public needed in a time of fear and oppression. The production techniques (albeit after a period of experimentation) were extremely simple, as the main reason for the songs was to get across the message. Anarchy in the U.K. - the first Single from The Sex Pistols, for example, had a very simple Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus structure with very few chords. But the lyrics were very direct and the subject matter, current.
The charts in the 1970’s were rife with new and evolving forms of music. Many opposing each other. Progressive Rock came into fruition around 1969 with the release of King Crimson’s “In the Court of the Crimson King”, a Progressive album inspired by Classical music, with the intent of showing the public that popular music wasn’t just for the younger generation - it could be a respectable art form. As with Punk, and most other genres, the founding ethos of the genre is echoed in the creative elements of the music, performance and production. Prog artists strived with each new release to create something unique, respectable and clever. Sometimes this meant going to strange, avant garde extremes, but this just added to the folklore of the Prog Rock genre.
For all the differences between Progressive Rock and Punk, both were equally popular forms of music and often even crossed over – Pink Floyd’s album, “The Wall” and single, “Money” being ideal cases in point. The 1970’s was a massive transitional period for the Western world, politically, sociologically, and as such, creatively. Progressive Rock and Punk were created out of two different views on the same situation, and as such are two very different art forms, both with their own (sometimes opposing) agendas and artistic merits. Whatever musical tastes one may have, it is impossible not to notice the incredible creative work that can come out of social struggles.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1.
Robb, John, Punk Rock, p. 97.:
2.
New York Times Book Review, July 28, 1996:
PLEASE KILL ME
The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
By Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
Grove Press
3.
I’ve Never Seen Star Wars (Episode 7: David Davis)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403957/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00k21gn/b00jks1t/Ive_Never_Seen_Star_Wars_David_Davis/
4.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:374
5.
Savage, Jon, England's Dreaming, pp. 347–367
6.
Classic Albums: Pink Floyd - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon (DVD), 2003.
7.
http://www.stereosociety.com/body_foursides.html
8.
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=10783423
9.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-802519.html
10.
Robb, John, Punk Rock, p. 83.:
11.
http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_producer_chris_thomas/
12.
Savage, Jon, England's Dreaming, pp. 108.:
Songs/Albums:
Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
The Wall (Pink Floyd)
In The Hall of the Crimson King (King Crimson)
Anarchy In The U.K. (The Sex Pistols)
Atomic (Blondie)
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