Vol.179 / Progressive Rock
The year 1969 was very important for rock music, marked by the Woodstock Festival and the debut of Led Zeppelin.
It was a year when rock declared "war" on society.
The following decade—the 1970s—became the golden age of rock, and it was the most brilliant era in its history.
I graduated from high school in March 1979.
During the six years of my most impressionable junior and senior high school days, I was deeply immersed in the energy of rock music.
I was particularly into "progressive rock," commonly known as "prog rock."
Though it’s a relatively niche genre within the broader rock category, it has always been supported by passionate fans since its inception.
The 1970s were especially the heyday of prog.
Experiencing albums like “Starless And Bibleblack” by King Crimson, “Selling England by the Pound” by Genesis, and “Brain Salad Surgery” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer in real time—those moments truly shaped the course of my life.
These days, I sometimes come across fascinating prog-related content on platforms like Ameblo and YouTube.
What’s especially heartening is seeing that many of these are created by people clearly from a far younger generation than mine.
Because progressive rock encompasses such a broad range of elements, my musical interests eventually expanded to jazz and classical music, and even into theater.
As a boy growing up on a small island nation at the edge of Asia, I often felt frustrated with TV, radio, and music magazines that never provided the music I wanted to hear or the information I longed to know.
That dissatisfaction gradually turned into a broader sense of distrust toward the mass media as a whole.
For me, progressive rock represents both the starting point and the ultimate peak of my creative journey.
Its energy is grounded in the spirit of its time and place, and it ultimately becomes a reflection of one's entire life. Naturally, people who share the same values are drawn together by it.
＝ May 18, 2025 MoTets ＝
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