Neo-progressive rock (commonly abbreviated neo-prog) is a

subgenre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

that developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band,

Marillion Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...

, achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the genre have continued to record and tour.

Characteristics

Neo-prog is characterised by deeply

emotional Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

content, often delivered via dramatic

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

and a generous use of imagery and theatricality on-stage. The music is mostly the product of careful

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

, relying less heavily on

improvised Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

jamming. The subgenre relies very much on clean, melodic and emotional

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

solos, combined with keyboards. The main musical influences on the neo-prog genre are bands from the first wave of progressive rock such as early

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

, and to a lesser extent

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...

and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

and

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

were also influences on the genre.

History

In the book ''The Progressive Rock Files'', author Jerry Lucky dedicates a chapter to neo-progressive rock with the title "A Neo Beginning!", stating that this subgenre "surfaced in late 1981, bearing testimony to the lasting values of this musical form" of progressive rock, but distinguishing it from this main genre, saying, "Sure the sound was a bit different ... a little more bite, a little more eighties". Later in the same book, Jerry Lucky suggested that neo-prog peaked in the mid-1980s: "As 1984 dawned all of the British neo-progressive rock bands release material." Famous neo-prog albums were

's ''

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They were noted for their style-transc ...

'',

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

' '' The Sentinel'', Pendragon's ''Fly High Fall Far'',

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

's '' Art and Illusion'',

Solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

's ''Silent Dance'', IQ's '' The Wake'', and

Quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

's ''Fire in the Sky''. A predecessor to this genre was

The Enid The Enid are a British progressive rock band founded by keyboardist and composer Robert John Godfrey. Godfrey received his main musical education from The Royal College of Music. He is previously known for his work with Barclay James Harvest ...

, who fused rock with classical but were more heavily influenced by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

than by more modern composers. The change of approach can be heard in the shift toward shorter compositions and a keyboard-based sound in the 1980s Rush albums ''

Signals A signal is both the process and the result of Signal transmission, transmission of data over some transmission media, media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processin ...

,'' '' Grace Under Pressure,'' ''

Power Windows Power windows or electric windows are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by pressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a crank handle. History A small number of cars in the 1920s, such as the 1925 Flint Model E-55, f ...

'' and ''

Hold Your Fire ''Hold Your Fire'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian progressive rock band Rush, released on September 8, 1987. It was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, AIR Studios in Montserrat and McClear Place ...

''. Neo-progressive bands emphasised individual solos instead of group

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

, and they included more world-music elements. Lyrics became more personal and less esoteric. Concept albums were still created, but not as frequently and on a smaller scale.

Digital synthesizer A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds, in contrast to older analog synthesizers, which produce music using analog electronics, and samplers, which play back digital rec ...

s took over many of the roles formerly filled by bulkier keyboards such as Mellotrons and organs, and their modern sound tended to minimise the folk influences that had been typical of 1970s progressive rock. Heavy metal bands such as

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

and

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche () is an American progressive metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one Extended play, EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record ...

began to explore the mythological themes and extended concepts that had previously been the territory of progressive rock. Early neo-prog was marked by sophisticated

and often dark themes. While the accessibility of neo-prog to the mainstream is debatable, the form did generally seem more radio-friendly, with shorter and less complex songs than earlier progressive rock. Nonetheless, neo-prog never achieved the heights of popular success that the first wave of progressive rock in the 1970s did, with only one band, Marillion, achieving arena status. Marillion achieved major success across Europe in particular and produced eight top ten UK albums between 1983 and 1994, peaking in popularity with their album ''

Misplaced Childhood ''Misplaced Childhood'' is the third studio album by the British neo-prog band Marillion, released in 1985. It is a concept album loosely based on the childhood of Marillion's lead singer, Fish, who was inspired by a brief incident that occurre ...

'' in 1985, which topped the UK album chart and produced two top five hit singles in the UK. The album has been called "the cornerstone of the entire 'neo-prog' movement". Following this peak, neo-prog declined in popularity as a genre, although several bands have continued to record and tour, with Marillion and their ex-singer Fish in particular both maintaining a large

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

. Along with Marillion, Fish and Edison's Children,

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

's ambitious work has been credited with inspiring a revival of interest in progressive rock.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Neo-prog
on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neo-Progressive Rock Progressive rock English styles of music Rock music genres Neo-progressive rock

Characteristics

History

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links