Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Information About Scandinavian Prog Rock

By Martha Graham


Progressive pop is a subgenre within the rock music. The term is often shortened to prog rock or simply as prog and at times people refer to the subgenre as art rock. Before the term progressive rock came into existence, the subgenre was referred to as progressive pop. The main country of origin of progressive pop was the United Kingdom and the subgenre was developed in an attempt to elevate the genre.

Although the United Kingdom was the main country where the subgenre was developed, further development was done in other Western countries. Some of the western countries that helped to develop the genre further include France, Germany, and Italy. Other European countries also started to develop their own versions such as the Scandinavian prog rock. Psychedelic rock was the mother of progressive pop.

Development efforts started in the mid 1960s and continued until late 1970s. The main reason for the development of prog pop was to give the music more artistic weight and credibility. Bands started adopting instrumentation and compositional methods similar to those used in classical music and jazz in order to earn this genre a higher level of musical sophistication and critical respect.

The danceable beats that earlier characterized the old version were abandoned or incorporated to a lesser extent. Instead, lyrical content, rhythm, compositional structure, and harmony started being incorporated more. Thus, the listener has to put in more effort in order to understand and enjoy the songs. The subgenre borrows musical styles from a number of other genres such as folk and jazz, making it even more sophisticated.

Prog does not stick to the traditional song structure of verse/chorus form, which tends to remain dominant in popular music. Classical-style suites are generated by artists by playing with sections of songs in a way that popular genres fail to accomplish. Harmony is attained through thematic unity among sections. Dynamic contrast results from transitions between acoustic sections and electric sections. Additionally, bands utilize the technique of group improvisation more often.

In progressive pop, more emphasis is given to the band as a whole than to individuals. The genre does not live by the idea of a single, dominant singer leading while being accompanied by a band. The length of most songs range between three and five minutes, but there are some very long pieces too. For example, one should not be surprised to find a piece that plays for over twenty minutes or more.

The reception of this subgenre by the public was mixed. There was a great amount of criticism as well as critical acclaim since the year it was launched. Many have described it as being parallel to classical music composed by some of the most renowned artists in the music industry. Criticism resulted from the desire by many artists to expand the boundaries of the subgenre even more.

The expansion of boundaries of the genre was often accompanied by dismissal of mainstream pop music by some bands and musician. The dismissiveness was considered to be elitism. Themes in this subgenre were also too exotic for British and most European adolescents to identify with due to bad economic times.




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