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151-622: Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records . They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed, and are still musically active with a line-up of Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans . The band formed at

302-466: A Farfisa organ, giving it a wider variety of sounds. Jackson was inspired by jazz musicians, particularly Rahsaan Roland Kirk , and began to play multiple saxophones (usually alto and tenor ) simultaneously. Hammill, for his part, elected to sing in received pronunciation , exploring the full range of his vocal capabilities. "We were all megalomaniacs," said Banton. "We grabbed our own space as best we could." The band started to gig regularly, including

453-469: A progressive rock band. Writing in Record Collector , Toby Manning said the music was "philosophical, even intellectual, complex .. at times, terrifying". While the music on The Aerosol Grey Machine (September 1969) has a more pastoral, hippie feel, with prominent use of Hammill's acoustic guitar , later work featured more complex instrumentation and arrangements. Hammill thinks the style of

604-535: A European, and especially British, phenomenon. Few American bands engaged in it, and the purest representatives of the genre, such as Starcastle and Happy the Man , remained limited to their own geographic regions. This is at least in part due to music industry differences between the US and Great Britain. Cultural factors were also involved, as US musicians tended to come from a blues background, while Europeans tended to have

755-773: A National Research Fellow, and from 1931 to 1934 a research associate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He became an associate professor in 1934 (staying there until 1960). He was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1936. During World War II, Van de Graaff was director of the High Voltage Radiographic Project. After World War II, he co-initiated the High Voltage Engineering Corporation (HVEC) with John G. Trump . During

906-638: A band called Heebalob with Smith. Hammill had already sat in with Heebalob at the Plumpton National Jazz Festival on 9 August, and, impressed by Jackson's playing, invited him to join the band, partly because he also needed a flatmate to help pay with the rent. In September, the new five-piece band began rehearsals in Notting Hill Gate and began to change its sound. Banton, influenced by the effects pedals popularised by Jimi Hendrix , used his electronic skills to modify

1057-399: A continuous aesthetic movement between formalism and eclecticism ". Cotner also says that progressive rock incorporates both formal and eclectic elements, "It consists of a combination of factors – some of them intramusical ('within'), others extramusical or social ('without')." One way of conceptualising rock and roll in relation to "progressive music" is that progressive music pushed

1208-424: A day. In between the tours, the band made an appearance on Belgian television performing "Theme One" and "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". Since the studio recording of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" was a collage of multiple recordings, impossible to reproduce live in one setting, the band simply filmed individual sections of the song and spliced them together in the editing suite. It was the only live performance of

1359-552: A distinctive component of the band throughout its career, with Hammill himself having been described as "a male Nico " or "the Hendrix of the voice". Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful, they have inspired several musicians across various genres. The band formed in 1967 at the University of Manchester , after Chris Judge Smith , who had already played in several British rhythm and blues groups whilst

1510-506: A distinctive component of the band throughout its career. It has been described as "a male Nico " and would later on be cited as an influence by Goth bands in the 1980s. Unlike several other notable prog rock keyboardists, such as Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson , Banton considers himself primarily an organist, due to his background in classical and church music, and only ever used that instrument on stage, albeit heavily modified with customised electronics and devices. Hammill said that "Hugh

1661-443: A diversity of loosely associated style codes. When the "progressive" label arrived, the music was dubbed " progressive pop " before it was called "progressive rock", with the term "progressive" referring to the wide range of attempts to break with standard pop music formula. A number of additional factors contributed to the acquired "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic; technology was harnessed for new sounds; music approached

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1812-620: A following. Only Marillion and Saga experienced international success. Neo-prog bands tended to use Peter Gabriel -era Genesis as their "principal model". They were also influenced by funk , hard rock and punk rock . The genre's most successful band, Marillion, suffered particularly from accusations of similarity to Genesis, although they used a different vocal style, incorporated more hard rock elements, and were very influenced by bands including Camel and Pink Floyd . Authors Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell have pointed out that

1963-608: A foundation in classical music. North American progressive rock bands and artists often represented hybrid styles such as the complex arrangements of Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Rush , the eclectic psychedelia of Spirit , the hard rock of Captain Beyond , the Southern rock -tinged prog of Kansas , the jazz fusion of Frank Zappa and Return to Forever , and the eclectic fusion of the all-instrumental Dixie Dregs . British progressive rock acts had their greatest US success in

2114-645: A four-piece line-up with a quite different sound, and a shortened name of Van der Graaf, to play the spring tour. They produced the album The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome , released in September 1977; cellist and keyboardist Charles Dickie joined the band in August and remained with them for their last year. A further studio album was never recorded, but this line-up recorded a live double-album Vital in January 1978, featuring several new songs. Jackson reunited with

2265-643: A handful of groups purposely emulated or referenced classical music. Writer Emily Robinson says that the narrowed definition of "progressive rock" was a measure against the term's loose application in the late 1960s, when it was "applied to everyone from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones ". Debate over the genre's criterion continued to the 2010s, particularly on Internet forums dedicated to prog. According to musicologists Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell, Bill Martin and Edward Macan authored major books about progressive rock while "effectively accept[ing]

2416-409: A harder sound in the style of arena rock . Few new progressive rock bands formed during this era, and those who did found that record labels were not interested in signing them. The short-lived supergroup U.K. was a notable exception since its members had established reputations; they produced two albums that were stylistically similar to previous artists and did little to advance the genre. Part of

2567-452: A high degree of commercial success during the early 1970s. Between them, the bands Jethro Tull , ELP , Rush , Yes , and Pink Floyd had four albums that reached number one in the US charts, and sixteen that reached the top ten. Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973), an excerpt of which was used as the theme for the film The Exorcist , sold 16 million copies. Progressive rock came to be appreciated overseas, but it mostly remained

2718-455: A management contract with them in December. Through him, the band acquired a bass guitar player, Keith Ellis , with drummer Guy Evans joining not too long afterwards. This line-up recorded a series of demos for Mercury, before recording a single ("People You Were Going To" b/w "Firebrand") on Polydor Records , which was released in January 1969. Melody Maker said the single was "one of

2869-501: A newfound sophisticated musicality and ambitious lyricism in black pop. Among these musicians were Sly Stone , Stevie Wonder , Marvin Gaye , Curtis Mayfield , and George Clinton . In discussing the development, Bill Martin cites 1970s albums by Wonder ( Talking Book , Innervisions , Songs in the Key of Life ), War ( All Day Music , The World Is a Ghetto , War Live ), and

3020-434: A prescient notion of new wave and punk. New wave, which surfaced around 1978–79 with some of the same attitudes and aesthetic as punk, was characterised by Martin as "progressive" multiplied by "punk". Bands in the genre tended to be less hostile towards progressive rock than the punks, and there were crossovers, such as Fripp and Eno's involvement with Talking Heads , and Yes' replacement of Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson with

3171-422: A progressive idea ... Ironically, and quite paradoxically, 'progressive rock', the classic era of the late 1960s through the mid- and late 1970s, introduces not only the explosive and exploratory sounds of technology ... but traditional music forms (classical and European folk) and (often) a pastiche compositional style and artificial constructs ( concept albums ) which suggests postmodernism ." In 1966,

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3322-499: A pupil at Beaumont College . He was then briefly employed as a computer programmer, during which time he subsequently claimed to have written much of the band's early material, before enrolling at Manchester. Smith was so impressed with the quality of Hammill's original material that the two agreed to form a band together. The band name chosen from Smith's list was based on a Van de Graaff generator , an electro-mechanical device that produces static electricity with lightning-like flashes –

3473-538: A pupil in Oundle School , returned from a trip to San Francisco and, inspired by the bands he had seen, put together a list of possible band names to form a new group. After an unsatisfactory audition they had both attended in response to an advert to form a band, he met fellow student Peter Hammill , who was playing some of his original songs. Hammill had begun writing songs and poetry at the age of 12 while at prep school , and progressed to playing in bands while

3624-711: A quite bad audio quality full of distortions. Despite the 1978 split, Banton recalled that the group "never descended very far into our sub-conscience". Banton, Jackson and Evans appeared on Hammill's solo albums, and all four occasionally played together. In 1996, the quartet appeared on stage during a concert by Hammill and Evans at the Union Chapel in London to perform "Lemmings", which was later in March 1997 released as The Union Chapel Concert . In 2003, Banton, Jackson, and Evans joined with Hammill to perform "Still Life" at

3775-483: A re-formed Yes released the relatively mainstream 90125 (1983), which yielded their only US number-one single, " Owner of a Lonely Heart ". One band who remained successful into the 1980s while maintaining a progressive approach was Pink Floyd, who released The Wall late in 1979. The album, which brought punk anger into progressive rock, was a huge success and was later filmed as Pink Floyd – The Wall . Punk and progressive rock were not necessarily as opposed as

3926-501: A regular basis in the 21st century, Peter Gabriel 's "average output has been about 0.2 albums a year". Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful outside of early 1970s Italy, they have inspired notable musicians, including Rush and Julian Cope . Philip Oakey of the Human League said, "The band we really cared about was Van der Graaf Generator. That music was so committed." They were also namechecked by

4077-507: A second B.S. at Oxford University by a Rhodes Scholarship , completing his D.Phil. under John Sealy Townsend at Oxford University in 1928. Van de Graaff was the inventor of the Van de Graaff generator , a device which produces high voltages . During 1929, he developed his first such generator, producing 80,000 volts. By 1933, he had constructed a larger generator generating 7 million volts. Van de Graaff spent 1929-1931 at Princeton, became

4228-445: A second generation of neo-prog bands, emerged in the 1990s. The use of the term "progressive" to describe groups that follow in the style of bands from ten to twenty years earlier is somewhat controversial, as it has been seen as a contradiction of the spirit of experimentation and progress. These new bands were aided in part by the availability of personal computer-based recording studios , which reduced album production expenses, and

4379-457: A session as a guest, something Fripp had never done before at that point. According to Jackson, Fripp "put headphones on and started searing away", listening to the track once, then performing two takes. "Killer", later to become a live favourite, recycled a middle eight from an old Heebalob song, and Smith received a co-composition credit on the track. The album was released in December, but didn't sell as well as The Least We Can Do... because of

4530-653: A slight rename to Van der Graaf. The band split in 1978. After many years apart, the band finally reunited at a gig at the Royal Festival Hall and a short tour in 2005. Since then, the band has continued as a trio of Hammill, Banton, and Evans, who record and tour regularly in between Hammill's concurrent solo career. The group's albums have tended to be both lyrically and musically darker in atmosphere than many of their progressive rock peers (a trait they shared with King Crimson , whose guitarist Robert Fripp guested on two of their albums), and guitar solos were

4681-407: A split live album with Gong offshoot Here & Now . The term " post-progressive " identifies progressive rock that returns to its original principles while dissociating from 1970s progressive rock styles, and may be located after 1978. Martin credits Roxy Music 's Brian Eno as the sub-genre's most important catalyst, explaining that his 1973–77 output merged aspects of progressive rock with

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4832-471: A style derivative of English bands. The "Kosmische music" scene in Germany came to be labelled as " krautrock " internationally and is frequently cited as part of the progressive rock genre or an entirely distinct phenomenon. Krautrock bands such as Can , which included two members who had studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen , tended to be more strongly influenced by 20th-century classical music than

4983-431: A wider palette than that drawn on by the most popular 1970s bands. Progressive rock is varied and is based on fusions of styles, approaches, and genres, tapping into broader cultural resonances that connect to avant-garde art, classical music and folk music , performance and the moving image. Although a unidirectional English "progressive" style emerged in the late 1960s, by 1967, progressive rock had come to constitute

5134-572: 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 style was an emergence of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz , folk , or classical music . Additional elements contributed to its " progressive " label: lyrics were more poetic, technology

5285-521: Is a simple mechanical device. Small Van de Graaff generators are built by hobbyists and scientific apparatus companies and are used to demonstrate the effects of high DC potentials. Even small hobby machines produce impressive sparks several centimeters long. The largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator in the world, built by Van de Graaff himself, is operational and is on display in the Boston Museum of Science . Demonstrations during daytimes are

5436-675: Is commonly believed. Both genres reject commercialism, and punk bands did see a need for musical advancement. Author Doyle Green noted that post-punk emerged as "a kind of 'progressive punk ' ". Post-punk artists rejected the high cultural references of 1960s rock artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan as well as paradigms that defined rock as "progressive", "art", or "studio perfectionism". In contrast to punk rock, it balances punk's energy and skepticism with art school consciousness, Dadaist experimentalism, and atmospheric, ambient soundscapes. World music , especially African and Asian traditions,

5587-543: Is conceptual by definition, due to its prominent theme of questioning the values of Christianity. Its guttural vocals are sometimes used by bands who can be classified as progressive, such as Mastodon , Mudvayne and Opeth . Symphonic metal is an extension of the tendency towards orchestral passages in early progressive rock. Progressive rock has also served as a key inspiration for genres such as post-rock , post-metal and avant-garde metal , math rock , power metal and neo-classical metal . New prog describes

5738-460: Is implied by unsympathetic critics." In early references to the music, "progressive" was partly related to progressive politics , but those connotations were lost during the 1970s. On "progressive music", Holm-Hudson writes that it "moves continuously between explicit and implicit references to genres and strategies derived not only from European art music, but other cultural domains (such as East Indian, Celtic, folk, and African) and hence involves

5889-490: Is one of the most instinctive, baffling, and brilliant people I've known and his intuitive hold on the worlds of music and electronics has always astonished me." Banton used clonewheel organs during the 2005 reformation, but since 2009 he has used the Hammond XK-3c , and thinks Hammond have "cracked that sound at long last". Although Hammill has written the vast majority of the songs in the band's catalogue, and all of

6040-495: Is sometimes limited to a stereotype of long solos, long albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While the genre is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture , few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only a handful of groups, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Renaissance , purposely emulated or referenced classical music. The genre coincided with

6191-649: The Brexit regulations. The passport issue was resolved before the band went on to two shows in Stockholm and Gothenburg , Sweden and one in Oslo , Norway. No one is likely to confuse the savage energy of King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator in their mid-1970s incarnations with the disinterested density of Gentle Giant or the more pastoral, at times delicate, stylizations of Genesis or Renaissance (or even Yes in their quieter moments). Van der Graaf Generator are

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6342-583: The Internet , which made it easier for bands outside of the mainstream to reach widespread audiences. Record stores specialising in progressive rock appeared in large cities. The shred music of the 1980s was a major influence on the progressive rock groups of the 1990s. Some of the newer bands, such as the Flower Kings , Spock's Beard and Glass Hammer , played a 1970s-style symphonic prog, but with an updated sound. A number of them began to explore

6493-807: The Paradiso in Amsterdam was recorded and streamed on the FabChannel website until March 2009, and was released on DVD and CD that June. The first trio recording, Trisector , was released on 17 March 2008. Live concerts were played in Europe in March and April, and in Japan in June, among them, one at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival. There were further concerts in January 2009 in Europe, and

6644-635: The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Following the Queen Elizabeth Hall performance, the band members discussed working together. In mid-2004, they began to write and rehearse new material. The result was a double CD, Present , released in April 2005. Critical response was favourable; BBC Music 's Peter Marsh said the group was "willing to push the envelope a little, and bless them for that", while AllMusic's Dave Thompson said

6795-450: The University of Manchester , but settled in London where they signed with Charisma. They went through several incarnations in their early years, including a brief split in 1969. When they reformed, they found minor commercial success with The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other (released in early 1970 and their only album to chart in the UK), and after the follow-up album, H to He, Who Am

6946-425: The hippie counterculture in favour of a modernist , avant-garde approach. Similarities between the two terms are that they both describe a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. However, art rock is more likely to have experimental or avant-garde influences. "Prog" was devised in the 1990s as a shorthand term, but later became a transferable adjective, also suggesting

7097-451: The new wave of British heavy metal – most notably Iron Maiden – onwards displayed progressive rock influences. Progressive metal reached a point of maturity with Queensrÿche 's 1988 concept album Operation: Mindcrime , Voivod 's 1989 Nothingface , which featured abstract lyrics and a King Crimson-like texture, and Dream Theater 's 1992 Images and Words . Progressive rock elements appear in other metal subgenres. Black metal

7248-884: The popular song began signalling a new possible means of expression that went beyond the three-minute love song , leading to an intersection between the "underground" and the "establishment" for listening publics. Hegarty and Halliwell identify the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Doors , the Pretty Things , the Zombies , the Byrds , the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd "not merely as precursors of progressive rock but as essential developments of progressiveness in its early days". According to musicologist Walter Everett ,

7399-457: The " Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon " on Chicago II . Jazz influences appeared in the music of British bands such as Traffic , Colosseum and If , together with Canterbury scene bands such as Soft Machine and Caravan . Canterbury scene bands emphasised the use of wind instruments, complex chord changes and long improvisations. Martin writes that in 1968, "full-blown progressive rock"

7550-473: The 1950s he invented the insulating-core transformer , producing high-voltage direct current. He also developed tandem generator technology. The American Physical Society awarded him the T. Bonner prize (1965) for the development of electrostatic accelerators . Van de Graaff died on January 16, 1967, in Boston , Massachusetts . In the year that he died, the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator

7701-600: The Beach Boys and the Beatles  ... [They] brought expansions in harmony , instrumentation (and therefore timbre ), duration , rhythm , and the use of recording technology . Of these elements, the first and last were the most important in clearing a pathway toward the development of progressive rock. – Bill Martin Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper , with their lyrical unity, extended structure, complexity, eclecticism, experimentalism, and influences derived from classical music forms, are largely viewed as beginnings in

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7852-565: The Beatles and the Yardbirds . The Beatles' Paul McCartney said in 1967: "we [the band] got a bit bored with 12 bars all the time, so we tried to get into something else. Then came Dylan, the Who , and the Beach Boys. ... We're all trying to do vaguely the same kind of thing." Rock music started to take itself seriously, paralleling earlier attempts in jazz (as swing gave way to bop , a move which did not succeed with audiences). In this period,

8003-469: The Beatles did, it is fair to assume that there would have been no progressive rock." In the aftermath of Sgt. Pepper , magazines such as Melody Maker drew a sharp line between "pop" and "rock", thus eliminating the "roll" from " rock and roll " (which now refers to the 1950s style). The only artists who remained "rock" would be those who were considered at the vanguard of compositional forms, far from "radio friendly" standards, as Americans increasingly used

8154-562: The Beatles' "experimental timbres, rhythms, tonal structures, and poetic texts" on their albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) "encouraged a legion of young bands that were to create progressive rock in the early 1970s". Dylan's poetry, the Mothers of Invention 's album Freak Out! (1966) and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) were all important in progressive rock's development. The productions of Phil Spector were key influences, as they introduced

8305-586: The British magazine Prog to honour the genre's established acts and to promote its newer bands. Honorees, however, are not invited to perform at the awards ceremony, as the promoters want an event "that doesn't last three weeks". In 2019, The Prog Report, named Mike Portnoy and Neal Morse artists of the decade for 2010-2019. During this time, Portnoy released 40 albums, 24 of them with Morse, while Morse released an additional 5 albums of his own. Robert J. Van de Graaff Robert Jemison Van de Graaff

8456-472: The British progressive rock bands, whose musical vocabulary leaned more towards the Romantic era . Many of these groups were very influential even among bands that had little enthusiasm for the symphonic variety of progressive rock. Concurrently, Black American popular musicians drew from progressive rock's conceptual album-oriented approach. This led to a progressive-soul movement in the 1970s that inspired

8607-523: The Byrds' vocal harmonies inspired those of Yes , and British folk rock bands like Fairport Convention , who emphasised instrumental virtuosity. Some of these artists, such as the Incredible String Band and Shirley and Dolly Collins , would prove influential through their use of instruments borrowed from world music and early music . Many groups and musicians played important roles in this development process, but none more than

8758-613: The Earlybird Project. The title comes from the track of the same name on ALT . In 2015, the group released the live album, Merlin Atmos featuring tracks recorded during the 2013 tour, and After the Flood , an album of BBC recordings from 1968–1977. A new album, Do Not Disturb was released in September 2016. It included the song "Alfa Berlina" which documented the group's 1970s Italian tours. Critics speculated that it would be

8909-491: The Isley Brothers ( 3 + 3 ), while noting that the Who's progressive rock-influenced Who Are You (1978) also drew from the soul variant. Dominic Maxwell of The Times calls Wonder's mid-1970s albums "prog soul of the highest order, pushing the form yet always heartfelt, ambitious and listenable". Political and social trends of the late 1970s shifted away from the early 1970s hippie attitudes that had led to

9060-434: The London scene and recorded with a band of English musicians, initiated the trend towards guitar virtuosity and eccentricity in rock music. The Scottish band 1-2-3, later renamed Clouds , were formed in 1966 and began performing at London clubs a year later. According to Mojo 's George Knemeyer: "some claim [that they] had a vital influence on prog-rockers such as Yes, The Nice and Family." Symphonic rock artists in

9211-490: The Moody Blues, Procol Harum and Pink Floyd all contained elements of what is now called progressive rock, but none represented as complete an example of the genre as several bands that formed soon after. Almost all of the genre's major bands, including Jethro Tull, King Crimson , Yes , Genesis , Van der Graaf Generator , ELP , Gentle Giant , Barclay James Harvest and Renaissance , released their debut albums during

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9362-530: The New York City art scene of the early 1960s. The trend of bands with names drawn from literature, such as the Doors , Steppenwolf and the Ides of March , were a further sign of rock music aligning itself with high culture. Dylan also led the way in blending rock with folk music styles. This was followed by folk rock groups such as the Byrds, who based their initial sound on that of the Beatles. In turn,

9513-717: The Nice's Ars Longa Vita Brevis . The latter, along with such tracks as " Rondo " and " America ", reflect a greater interest in music that is entirely instrumental. Sgt. Pepper's and Days both represent a growing tendency towards song cycles and suites made up of multiple movements . Focus incorporated and articulated jazz-style chords, and irregular off-beat drumming into their later rock-based riffs, and several bands that included jazz-style horn sections appeared, including Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago . Of these, Martin highlights Chicago in particular for their experimentation with suites and extended compositions, such as

9664-463: The Only One (December 1970), stabilised around a line-up of Hammill, Banton, Evans and saxophonist David Jackson . The quartet subsequently achieved significant success in Italy with the release of Pawn Hearts in 1971. After several exhausting tours of Italy, the band split in 1972. They reformed in 1975, releasing Godbluff and frequently touring Italy again, before a major line-up change and

9815-539: The United States with hardly any promotion at all, so sales were minimal, but the group decided to reform in the middle of the recording session. Ellis had already committed to joining Juicy Lucy and was replaced by Evan's former bandmate in The Misunderstood, Nic Potter . The band had also enjoyed flautist Jeff Peach's contributions to the album and wanted to recruit a further instrumentalist. "There

9966-441: The adjective "progressive" for groups like Jethro Tull , Family , East of Eden , Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson . According to AllMusic : "Prog-rock began to emerge out of the British psychedelic scene in 1967, specifically a strain of classical/symphonic rock led by the Nice , Procol Harum , and the Moody Blues ( Days of Future Passed )." The availability of newly affordable recording equipment coincided with

10117-422: The avant-garde since the mid-1970s. The term "progressive rock" is synonymous with " art rock ", "classical rock" (not to be confused with classic rock ), and "symphonic rock". Historically, "art rock" has been used to describe at least two related, but distinct, types of rock music. The first is progressive rock as it is generally understood, while the second usage refers to groups who rejected psychedelia and

10268-539: The band evolved due to the culture of music in the late 1960s, stating "the whole of music was laid out in front of you ... it was the blues in wonky time signatures." Both Hammill and Banton have stated that Jimi Hendrix was an influence on the band's sound, with Hammill remarking that "there'd been distortion before, but there hadn't been that real out-there attitude to sound in itself". The group's experimental style has also been compared to Krautrock bands such as Can . Because of their musical influences and line-up,

10419-468: The band finished ahead of their rehearsal schedule, Potter decided to overdub some electric guitar – an instrument he had never played before. The album was released in February 1970 and made the top 50 in the U.K, Melody Maker said "If all our groups were as together as this, the British music scene would improve ten-fold." Potter, however, did not feel he fitted into the increasingly experimental sound

10570-540: The band for these concerts and appeared on six tracks. By the time the album was released in July 1978, the band had already split because of lack of record company support in the United States and financial difficulties. In 1982 a collection of out-takes and rehearsal recordings from the 1972–1975 hiatus was released (initially on cassette only), called Time Vaults . Intended only as a gift for hardcore fans these are mostly not studio-quality recordings, some of them have even

10721-490: The band had to make a decision whether to stay on at university, or quit their courses and move to London to turn professional. Pearne was not keen to abandon his studies, so decided to leave the group. On arrival in London, Hammill and Smith met up with classically trained organist Hugh Banton , who was a brother of one of their friends back in Manchester. Later that year, they met Tony Stratton Smith , who agreed to sign

10872-650: The band has stabilised around Hammill, Banton and Evans, the members think there is a good balance of opinion, with somebody always having the casting vote. The band have been compared with Genesis due to being label-mates at Charisma Records , sharing management with Tony Stratton Smith and performing on the same bill on the 'Six Bob Tour'. Hammill and Banton both reject this comparison, with Hammill noting that Genesis were far more driven to be commercially successful, whereas he prefers to release music without interference from record companies. In particular, he has mentioned that while he himself continues to release albums on

11023-643: The band played several concerts in Canada and the United States in the summer of 2009, among them a performance at NEARfest in Bethlehem PA. It was only the second time Van der Graaf Generator had visited the United States (their first being in New York City in 1976). In spring 2010, the group recorded a new album in Devon . A Grounding in Numbers was released on 14 March 2011. Live at Metropolis Studios 2010

11174-617: The band tended to play darker musical themes than other progressive bands, with the possible exception of King Crimson . However, Hammill has stated that the group is still fun to work with, stating "as far as we're concerned, it's serious fun, but fun nonetheless." Promoting Do Not Disturb , he said "We love making a racket, and that has to do with chaos, which is pretty punk". Hammill's lyrics frequently covered themes of mortality, due to his love of science fiction writers such as Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick , along with his self-confessed warped and obsessive nature. His voice has been

11325-446: The band to implode, and Hammill left to pursue a solo career in mid-1972. The three remaining members recorded an instrumental album with Nic Potter, Ced Curtis, and Pietro Messina, under the name 'The Long Hello'. Their self-titled album ( The Long Hello ) was released in 1974. Hammill's split with the group was amicable, and Banton, Jackson, and Evans, among others, all contributed to his solo work at various times. By February 1975,

11476-420: The band was developing and tended to wait until the others had worked out their parts during rehearsals, adding his bass lines on top at the last minute. After recording three tracks of their third album, H to He, Who Am the Only One , he decided to quit the band. His last gig was on 9 August at the 1970 Plumpton Festival. The remaining members auditioned Dave Anderson, roadie for Brinsley Schwarz and friend of

11627-566: The band was touring successfully, which included a concert in February at the Royal Albert Hall in support of Jimi Hendrix, it broke up in June after playing a final gig at Nottingham's Pop & Blues Festival on 10 May entirely with borrowed equipment. John Peel , who was compering the show, announced their break-up to the audience. In July 1969, Hammill had begun performing solo at the Marquee Club in London, and since there

11778-629: The band's last album, though this has not been confirmed. In 2021 the band embarked on a European tour, due to continue until May 2022. On 24 and 25 October 2021 the band played for the first time in Finland, in two concerts at the Savoy Theatre  [ fi ] in Helsinki . Hammill and Banton performed as a duo as Evans was not allowed to cross the border when his passport was found to be no longer valid, due to recent increased severity in

11929-529: The band, but after a week's rehearsal found that things weren't working out musically. Banton, meanwhile, had become influenced by Vincent Crane's work in Atomic Rooster , where Crane played the bass lines on a Hammond organ 's bass pedals and suggested that he could do this as well. With just days to go before the next gig, they tried rehearsing as a four-piece, and it was successful. Banton later played bass guitar on certain songs, having already learned

12080-690: The best records of the week". But the single was quickly withdrawn under pressure from Mercury, since it violated the contract band members Hammill and Smith signed the previous year. Smith, feeling superfluous to requirements, left the band, amicably, shortly after the recording of the single. He later released demos featuring his time in Van der Graaf Generator on a CD, Democrazy . The remaining 4 members performed for John Peel on BBC Radio 1 's Top Gear radio show in November, and played several gigs in England in

12231-465: The characterization of progressive rock offered by its critics. ... they each do so largely unconsciously." Academic John S. Cotner contests Macan's view that progressive rock cannot exist without the continuous and overt assimilation of classical music into rock. Author Kevin Holm-Hudson agrees that "progressive rock is a style far more diverse than what is heard from its mainstream groups and what

12382-570: The chart there for 12 weeks. The following single, " Theme One ", reached number one in Italy, too. "Theme One" was an instrumental piece, originally written by Beatles producer George Martin as a fanfare for the BBC radio station Radio 1, later to appear on US pressings of Pawn Hearts . Following commercial success in Italy, the band did a six-week tour there at the start of 1972. The band were apprehensive about touring there, concerned they might be playing to half empty venues, but they were all shocked by

12533-415: The complexity of their music, the band were well received on the tour, with Hammill noting "at nearly all the gigs, most of the audience have known most of the songs ... It was like a big family actually, exactly as all of us had pictured it in our wildest dreams." While on tour, the band started working out compositions between gigs for their next album, which would become Pawn Hearts . The intention

12684-421: The condition of "art"; some harmonic language was imported from jazz and 19th-century classical music ; the album format overtook singles ; and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening, not dancing. One of the best ways to define progressive rock is that it is a heterogeneous and troublesome genre – a formulation that becomes clear

12835-653: The creative process that had previously belonged to the artists, and established acts were pressured to create music with simpler harmony and song structures and fewer changes in meter. A number of symphonic pop bands, such as Supertramp , 10cc , the Alan Parsons Project and the Electric Light Orchestra , brought the orchestral-style arrangements into a context that emphasised pop singles while allowing for occasional instances of exploration. Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant and Pink Floyd opted for

12986-462: The current reunion, as "the activity has reinvigorated me. Going from one thing to another is an energizing thing." Hammill revealed via his website that the band's former bassist Nic Potter died on the night of 16 January 2013, aged 61. The group continued to tour in 2013, including the first live performance of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". In 2014, the group collaborated with Soviet dissident artist Vladislav Shabalin for an art venture titled

13137-579: The decline. Music critics, who often labelled the concepts as "pretentious" and the sounds as "pompous" and "overblown", tended to be hostile towards the genre or to completely ignore it. After the late 1970s, progressive rock fragmented in numerous forms. Some bands achieved commercial success well into the 1980s (albeit with changed lineups and more compact song structures) or crossed into symphonic pop , arena rock , or new wave . Early groups who exhibited progressive features are retroactively described as " proto-prog ". The Canterbury scene , originating in

13288-512: The earlier work with John Anthony at Trident, the sessions were produced by the band themselves, and both the Melody Maker and Sounds thought they were a tighter and more cohesive unit than previously. The album in particular saw Hammill making significant use of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. Still Life followed on 15 April 1976. Banton considers this album one of his favourites by

13439-514: The exception rather than the rule, preferring to use Banton's classically influenced organ, and, until his departure, Jackson's multiple saxophones. While Hammill is the primary songwriter for the band, and members have contributed to his solo albums, the band arranges all its material collectively. Hammill's lyrics covered themes of mortality, due to his love of science fiction writers such as Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick , along with his confessed warped and obsessive nature. His voice has been

13590-530: The facilities at Trident to the limit and had involved the use of every single tape machine in Trident at some stage." The experiments included tape manipulation and Banton playing Mellotron and synthesizer . According to Jackson, one section of it features the entire band overdubbed 16 times. The album was released in October 1971 and was not a success in the U.K, but proved highly successful in Italy, topping

13741-596: The first of several live appearances at the Friars Aylesbury in November. Tony Stratton Smith formed Charisma Records and signed the band as his first act, who recorded their second album, The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other from 11–14 December 1969 with producer John Anthony in Trident Studios . Hammill's voice was electronically treated on "After the Flood", while "Refugees" and "White Hammer" featured cello and cornet respectively. Because

13892-402: The format of Arthur Brown's band. Along with two female dancers, the initial line-up was Hammill on guitar and vocals, Smith on drums, wind instruments and vocals, and Pearne on organ (though he did not initially have an instrument). According to Smith, the band initially played as a two-piece, with Smith occasionally using a typewriter as a percussion instrument; their first gig as a three-piece

14043-501: The genre fragmented from the late 1970s onwards. In Robert Fripp 's opinion, once "progressive rock" ceased to cover new ground – becoming a set of conventions to be repeated and imitated – the genre's premise had ceased to be "progressive". The era of record labels investing in their artists, giving them freedom to experiment and limited control over their content and marketing ended with the late 1970s. Corporate artists and repertoire staff exerted an increasing amount of control over

14194-410: The genre into greater complexity while retracing the roots of romantic and classical music. Sociologist Paul Willis believes: "We must never be in doubt that 'progressive' music followed rock 'n' roll, and that it could not have been any other way. We can see rock 'n' roll as a deconstruction and 'progressive' music as a reconstruction." Author Will Romano states that "rock itself can be interpreted as

14345-490: The genre's development and popularity. The rise in punk cynicism made the utopian ideals expressed in progressive rock lyrics unfashionable. Virtuosity was rejected, as the expense of purchasing quality instruments and the time investment of learning to play them were seen as barriers to rock's energy and immediacy. There were also changes in the music industry, as record companies disappeared and merged into large media conglomerates . Promoting and developing experimental music

14496-456: The genre's legacy in this period was its influence on other styles, as several European guitarists brought a progressive rock approach to heavy metal and laid the groundwork for progressive metal . Michael Schenker , of UFO ; and Uli Jon Roth , who replaced Schenker in Scorpions , expanded the modal vocabulary available to guitarists. Roth studied classical music with the intent of using

14647-458: The genre's major acts released debut albums between 1983 and 1985 and shared the same manager, Keith Goodwin, a publicist who had been instrumental in promoting progressive rock during the 1970s. The previous decade's bands had the advantage of appearing during a prominent countercultural movement that provided them with a large potential audience, but the neo-prog bands were limited to a relatively niche demographic and found it difficult to attract

14798-427: The genre. These groups retained some of the song complexity and orchestral-style arrangements, but they moved away from lyrical mysticism in favour of more conventional themes such as relationships. These radio-friendly groups have been called "prog lite". Genesis transformed into a successful pop act, the prog supergroup Asia (consisting of members of Yes, King Crimson, and ELP) scored a number-one album in 1982, and

14949-587: The group "never made a less than fabulous album in their lives. And they're not about to start now." A reunion concert took place at the Royal Festival Hall , London, on 6 May 2005, which was released as Real Time in March 2007. The Festival Hall concert was followed by several European dates in the summer and autumn. The concert in Leverkusen , Germany on 5 November was filmed for the Westdeutscher Rundfunk TV show Rockpalast , which

15100-518: The group. In the summer of 1975, the band gigged in Italy without incident, but when they returned to tour there in November, the intense political situation the country was going through caught up with them. The opening concert in Padua was marked with clashes with communists delivering political speeches, and the audience started throwing missiles towards the stage. After a gig without incident in Genoa ,

15251-478: The guitar in the way that classical composers used the violin. Finally, the Dutch-born and classically trained Alex and Eddie Van Halen formed Van Halen , featuring ground-breaking whammy-bar, tapping and cross-picking guitar performances that influenced " shred " music in the 1980s. By the early 1980s, progressive rock was thought to be all but dead as a style, an idea reinforced by the fact that some of

15402-624: The instrument in the mid-1960s, and Hammill expanded his instrumental capabilities on stage to cover piano and keyboards as well as guitar. Jackson modified his saxophones to be completely electric, as opposed to simply being amplified through a microphone, and combined the sound with a wah-wah pedal and an octave divider . H to He continued to be recorded sporadically throughout 1970, and featured Robert Fripp of King Crimson contributing guitar on "The Emperor in His War-Room". Producer John Anthony knew Fripp socially and invited him to

15553-465: The lack of a hit. Charisma proposed "Killer" as a single, but the band rejected this. Reviewing the album, Sounds particularly praised Jackson's saxophone work, but critical reception overall was mixed. The Hammill/Banton/Jackson/Evans quartet that resulted from H to He, Who Am the Only One is now considered the "classic" line-up. The group played on the ' Six Bob Tour ' in early 1971 with fellow Charisma labelmates Genesis and Lindisfarne . Despite

15704-607: The late 1960s had some chart success, including the singles " Nights in White Satin " (the Moody Blues, 1967) and " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (Procol Harum, 1967). The Moody Blues established the popularity of symphonic rock when they recorded Days of Future Passed together with the London Festival Orchestra . Classical influences sometimes took the form of pieces adapted from or inspired by classical works, such as Jeff Beck 's " Beck's Bolero " and parts of

15855-624: The late 1960s, denotes a subset of progressive rock bands who emphasised the use of wind instruments , complex chord changes and long improvisations. Rock in Opposition , from the late 1970s, was more avant-garde , and when combined with the Canterbury style, created avant-prog . In the 1980s, a new subgenre, neo-prog , enjoyed some commercial success, although it was also accused of being derivative and lacking in innovation. Post-progressive draws upon newer developments in popular music and

16006-472: The level of social and artistic correspondence among British and American rock musicians dramatically accelerated for bands like the Beatles , the Beach Boys and the Byrds who fused elements of cultivated music with the vernacular traditions of rock. Progressive rock was predicated on the "progressive" pop groups from the 1960s who combined rock and roll with various other music styles such as Indian ragas , oriental melodies and Gregorian chants , like

16157-445: The likes of Graham Coxon , Marc Almond , Stephen Morris , Jello Biafra , Mark E. Smith and John Lydon . Coxon is particularly fond of "House with No Door" from H to He (1970), saying the track is "extremely beautiful, with Jackson's truly lovely sax-and-flute instrumental section." Almond recalled hearing "Killer" for the first time saying, "I'd never heard anything like it before. It wasn't just Peter's snarling operatic vocal, it

16308-509: The limits of the CD in the way that earlier groups had stretched the limits of the vinyl LP. Progressive rock and heavy metal have similar timelines. Both emerged from late-1960s psychedelia to achieve great early-1970s success despite a lack of radio airplay and support from critics, then faded in the mid-to-late 1970s and experienced revivals in the early 1980s. Each genre experienced a fragmentation of styles at this time, and many metal bands from

16459-505: The lyrics, he is keen to stress that the arrangements of the music comes from all the group's members. In 1976, being interviewed for the Melody Maker , he said that "VDGG is a band, a real band ... of course [it] is something special, it releases in individual terms parts of us that wouldn't be aired otherwise. In 2013, he reiterated, "Some people don't think Van der Graaf is a democracy, but believe me, it's entirely democratic, with everyone having very vocal and forceful opinions." Since

16610-441: The members of the band were ready to work with each other in a full-time capacity again, and they decided to reform the band. All the members were keen on carrying on with new music, with no nostalgia for their previous era, and did not want to play earlier stage favourites such as "Killer" (the opening track on H to He, Who Am the Only One ) and "Theme One". "We didn't want to continue as if nothing had happened," said Hammill. Banton

16761-411: The mid-1960s economic boom that allowed record labels to allocate more creative control to their artists, as well as the new journalistic division between "pop" and "rock" that lent generic significance to both terms. It saw a high level of popularity in the early-to-mid-1970s, but faded soon after. Conventional wisdom holds that the rise of punk rock caused this, but several more factors contributed to

16912-492: The misspelling is accidental. Smith recalls the reason for this may have been that the device's inventor, the American physicist Robert Van de Graaff , died in 1967, which was widely reported in the media. Among the bands that regularly played the university, including Cream , Jimi Hendrix , and Pink Floyd , they were particularly impressed by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown , and recruited an organist, Nick Pearne, to match

17063-596: The moment we leave behind characterizations based only on the most visible bands of the early to mid-1970s – Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell Critics of the genre often limit its scope to a stereotype of long solos, overlong albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While progressive rock is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture, few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only

17214-475: The neo-prog bands were not so much plagiarising progressive rock as they were creating a new style from progressive rock elements, just as the bands of a decade before had created a new style from jazz and classical elements. Author Edward Macan counters by pointing out that these bands were at least partially motivated by a nostalgic desire to preserve a past style rather than a drive to innovate. A third wave of progressive rock bands, who can also be described as

17365-438: The next months. Meanwhile, Mercury refused to let the band record, and at the same time Stratton Smith refused to let the other members of the band sign to Mercury too, as he did not think the deal was fair to the band (only Hammill remained now of the original three who had signed with Mercury). On top of that in late January 1969 the band's van and equipment were stolen. The theft aggravated their financial difficulties. Although

17516-447: The point at which the LP record emerged as a creative format whose importance was equal to or greater than that of the single. Bill Bruford , a veteran of several progressive rock bands, said that Sgt. Pepper transformed both musicians' ideas of what was possible and audiences' ideas of what was acceptable in music. He believed that: "Without the Beatles, or someone else who had done what

17667-595: The point when "all English bands in the genre should have ceased to exist". More of the major bands, including Van der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant and U.K. , dissolved between 1978 and 1980. Many bands had by the mid-1970s reached the limit of how far they could experiment in a rock context, and fans had wearied of the extended, epic compositions. The sounds of the Hammond , Minimoog and Mellotron had been thoroughly explored, and their use became clichéd. Those bands who continued to record often simplified their sound, and

17818-558: The pop duo the Buggles . When King Crimson reformed in 1981, they released an album, Discipline , which Macan says "inaugurated" the new post-progressive style. The new King Crimson line-up featured guitarist and vocalist Adrian Belew , who also collaborated with Talking Heads, playing live with the band and featuring on their 1980 album Remain in Light . According to Martin, Talking Heads also created "a kind of new-wave music that

17969-566: The possibility of using the recording studio to create music that otherwise could never be achieved. The same is said for the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966), which Brian Wilson intended as an answer to Rubber Soul and which in turn influenced the Beatles when they made Sgt. Pepper . Dylan introduced a literary element to rock through his fascination with the Surrealists and the French Symbolists , and his immersion in

18120-466: The principal progressive groups had developed a more commercial sound. ... What went out of the music of these now ex-progressive groups ... was any significant evocation of art music. – John Covach Some established artists moved towards music that was simpler and more commercially viable. Arena rock bands like Journey , Kansas , Styx , GTR , ELO and Foreigner either had begun as progressive rock bands or included members with strong ties to

18271-524: The progressive rock genre and as turning points wherein rock, which previously had been considered dance music, became music that was made for listening to. Between Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper , the Beach Boys released the single " Good Vibrations " (1966), dubbed a " pocket symphony " by Derek Taylor , the band's publicist. The song contained an eclectic array of exotic instruments and several disjunctive key and modal shifts. Scott Interrante of Popmatters wrote that its influence on progressive rock and

18422-509: The psychedelic movement "can't be overstated". Martin likened the song to the Beatles' " A Day in the Life " from Sgt. Pepper , in that they showcase "the same reasons why much progressive rock is difficult to dance to". Although Sgt. Pepper was preceded by several albums that had begun to bridge the line between "disposable" pop and "serious" rock, it successfully gave an established "commercial" voice to an alternative youth culture and marked

18573-506: The rise of a London underground scene at which the psychedelic drug LSD was commonly used. Pink Floyd and Soft Machine functioned as house bands at all-night events at locations such as Middle Earth and the UFO Club , where they experimented with sound textures and long-form songs. Many psychedelic, folk rock and early progressive bands were aided by exposure from BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel . Jimi Hendrix , who rose to prominence in

18724-472: The same geographic areas in which British heavy metal bands experienced their greatest popularity. The overlap in audiences led to the success of arena rock bands, such as Boston , Kansas , and Styx , who combined elements of the two styles. Progressive rock achieved popularity in Continental Europe more quickly than it did in the US. Italy remained generally uninterested in rock music until

18875-474: The sheer volume of the crowds that came to see them. " Pawn Hearts was seen as the ultimate album by the ultimate band," said Jackson, who at times found it difficult to walk down the street in parts of Italy without being recognised. "The tour was like the prophets have landed ... you couldn't go anywhere without this lunatic 'Generator Mania' breaking out." After the tour, the group was immediately offered another Italian tour, this time doing up to three shows

19026-454: The solo tracks by Guy, David, and Hugh." The master tape of the recording sessions has been lost. Fripp again provided a cameo appearance on guitar. While "Man-Erg" had already been performed on stage, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" evolved in the studio, recorded in small sections and pieced together during mixing. According to producer John Anthony , the track features a lot more studio experimentation than on previous albums, saying "we pushed

19177-516: The song until 2013. By June, the band had performed another Italian tour (the third that year) and wanted to start recording new material (some of which ended up on Hammill's 1973 solo album Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night ). However, the combination of working for too long without a break, combined with a lack of support from Stratton Smith and Charisma and continued financial difficulties caused

19328-498: The sphere, it accumulates to produce an electrical potential much greater than that of the primary high voltage source. Practical limitations restrict the potential produced by large Van de Graaff generators to about 7 MV. Van de Graaff generators are used primarily as DC power supplies for linear atomic particle accelerators used for nuclear physics experiments. Tandem Van de Graaff generators are essentially two generators in series and can produce about 15 MV. The Van de Graaff generator

19479-766: The strong Italian progressive rock scene developed in the early 1970s. Progressive rock emerged in Yugoslavia in the late 1960s, dominating the Yugoslav rock scene until the late 1970s. Few of the European groups were successful outside of their own countries, with the exceptions of Dutch bands like Focus and Golden Earring who wrote English-language lyrics, and the Italians Le Orme and PFM , whose English lyrics were written by Peter Hammill and Peter Sinfield , respectively. Some European bands played in

19630-567: The third day of the tour at the PalaSport in Rome, in front of 40,000 people, saw similar confrontations to the Padua gig. A fire broke out at the venue, but was brought under control. The next day, the band learned that most of their gear had been stolen from the tour van, including Hammill's blue Fender Stratocaster , christened "Meurglys". Despite threats from promoters that the band would continue

19781-548: The tour using hired equipment (which Jackson considered impossible given the electronic modifications he had made to his saxophones), they abandoned the tour. Miraculously, all of Jackson's saxophones had survived the theft. In December 1976, following the World Record tour, Banton quit, and in January 1977, Potter returned to replace him alongside the violinist Graham Smith (formerly of Charisma folk-rock band String Driven Thing ). Jackson then decided to leave, resulting in

19932-628: The wave of progressive rock bands in the 2000s who revived the genre. According to Entertainment Weekly ' s Evan Serpick, "success stories like System of a Down and up-and-comers like the Dillinger Escape Plan , Lightning Bolt , Coheed and Cambria , and the Mars Volta create incredibly complex and inventive music that sounds like a heavier, more aggressive version of '70s behemoths such as Led Zeppelin and King Crimson." The Progressive Music Awards were launched in 2012 by

20083-531: The years 1968–1970. Most of these were folk-rock albums that gave little indication of what the bands' mature sound would become, but King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) and Yes' self-titled debut album (1969) were early, fully formed examples of the genre. Most of the genre's major bands released their most critically acclaimed albums during the years 1971–1976. The genre experienced

20234-478: Was also a major influence. Progressive rock's impact was felt in the work of some post-punk artists, although they tended not to emulate classical rock or Canterbury groups but rather Roxy Music , King Crimson, and krautrock bands, particularly Can. Punishment of Luxury 's music borrowed from both progressive and punk rock, whilst Alternative TV , who were fronted by the founder of the influential punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue Mark Perry , toured and released

20385-435: Was always the idea of having another melodic instrument," recalled Evans. "He [Banton]'ll play a solo, sure, and really give it something, but he doesn't want to do that all the time." Peach was approached to become a full-time member, but dropped out after one rehearsal as he didn't think his playing style fitted the band. The position was eventually filled by saxophonist and flautist David Jackson , who had previously played in

20536-618: Was born in the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion in Tuscaloosa, Alabama , to Adrian Sebastian "Bass" Van de Graaff and Minnie Cherokee Jemison. Robert's great grandfather was Robert Jemison Jr . His father Adrian was a circuit judge. His father was of Dutch descent. His three older brothers Adrian, Jr. , Hargrove , and William were all All-Southern college football players for the Alabama Crimson Tide . William

20687-407: Was broadcast on 16 January 2006. Hammill stated in a December 2005 newsletter that there were no plans for further recordings or performances by the "classic" Van der Graaf Generator line-up of himself, Banton, Evans and Jackson. Hammill subsequently announced that the band would be continuing as a trio, for live and studio work, without Jackson. He later stated that the reason for Jackson's departure

20838-455: Was formed, named after him, notwithstanding the spelling errors. The Van de Graaff crater on the far side of the Moon is named after him. Van de Graaff generators use a motorized insulating belt (usually made of rubber) to conduct electrical charges from a high voltage source on one end of the belt to the inside of a metal sphere on the other end. Since electrical charge resides on the outside of

20989-425: Was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of " art ", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity , which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing. Progressive rock is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism . Due to its historical reception, the scope of progressive rock

21140-443: Was in the middle of building a custom organ at the time, and halted the project to join the reformed group, using a rented Hammond C3 organ instead. Hammill began playing electric guitar in the band, which had been conspicuously absent earlier in their career. The reformed band worked at a prolific pace, rehearsing, and touring France before recording three new albums in just 12 months, beginning with Godbluff (October 1975). Unlike

21291-483: Was in the student union, which lasted five minutes before the group's amplifiers blew up. The band managed to persuade fellow student Caleb Bradley to manage them, and by the start of 1968, the band had managed to record a demo tape influenced by blues and jazz , sending it to Lou Reizner , then the U.K. head of Mercury Records , who offered the trio of Hammill, Smith, and Pearne a recording contract in May. At this point,

21442-551: Was keen to distance the band from that movement: "Their music was like some Brechtian bar band – the opposite of prog rock, really". Nevertheless, the band have been acknowledged as an influence on the neo-prog subgenre that emerged in the 1980s, producing Marillion as its most successful band. Hammill's singing style influenced Marillion singer Fish and he was a support act on Marillion's first album tour. Disbanded Disbanded Progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog )

21593-631: Was known as "Bully" and was Alabama's first All-American . In Tuscaloosa, Robert received his B.S. in mathematics (1922) and M.S. in mechanical engineering (1923) from The University of Alabama where he was a founding member of The Castle Club (later became Mu Chapter of Theta Tau ). After a year working for the Alabama Power Company , Van de Graaff attended the Marie Curie lectures at the Sorbonne in 1925. During 1926, he earned

21744-428: Was no group, he decided to record what was intended to be his first solo album at Trident Studios on 31 July and 1 August, with Banton, Evans, and Ellis as session musicians. However, through a deal worked out by Stratton Smith, the album, The Aerosol Grey Machine , was released in September 1969 by Mercury under the group's name in return for releasing them from their contract. The album was initially only released in

21895-458: Was not part of the marketing strategy for these large corporations, who focused their attention on identifying and targeting profitable market niches . Four of progressive rock's most successful bands – King Crimson, Yes, ELP and Genesis – went on hiatus or experienced major personnel changes during the mid-1970s. Macan notes the September 1974 breakup of King Crimson as particularly significant, noting that Fripp (much later) referred to 1974 as

22046-407: Was not yet in existence; however, albums were released by three bands who would later come to the forefront of the music: Jethro Tull , Caravan and Soft Machine. The term "progressive rock", which appeared in the liner notes of Caravan's 1968 self-titled debut LP , came to be applied to bands that used classical music techniques to expand the styles and concepts available to rock music. The Nice,

22197-479: Was released as a 2CD/1DVD set by Salvo/Union Square Music on 4 June 2012. The band then toured the eastern part of the United States and Canada during June and July 2012, including an appearance at NEARfest Apocalypse in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on 22 June. An album of out-takes and in-studio jams, similar to the second disc of Present , called ALT was released in June 2012. Hammill has stated that he has enjoyed

22348-437: Was that he "seemed to have difficulty in understanding what we had mutually agreed" and that he clashed with the other band members. Relationships between Jackson and the others became strained, and Hammill, Banton and Evans realised that the only way the group could continue was without him. After Jackson's departure, the group took a break before touring as a trio in April and July 2007 over Europe. A concert on 14 April 2007 in

22499-524: Was the mix of instruments ... I became an instant fan." Mentioning their reputation as something of an acquired taste, Lydon said, "There's a few Van der Graaf things I like, but I'm not going to recommend anything to anyone. It might not be for them. Music doesn't come with a set of guidelines." Bruce Dickinson – a fan of the band since he saw them at Oundle School aged 13 – hailed Hammill as one of his childhood heroes. Although Van der Graaf Generator are generally categorised as progressive rock , Cope

22650-635: Was the perfect synthesis of punk urgency and attitude and progressive-rock sophistication and creativity. A good deal of the more interesting rock since that time is clearly 'post-Talking Heads' music, but this means that it is post-progressive rock as well." A second wave of progressive rock bands appeared in the early 1980s and have since been categorised as a separate " neo-prog " subgenre. These largely keyboard-based bands played extended compositions with complex musical and lyrical structures. Several of these bands were signed by major record labels, including Marillion , IQ , Pendragon and Pallas . Most of

22801-420: Was to release a double album, and the band recorded the material; however, for economic reasons, the released recording was a single album containing three tracks – "Lemmings", "Man-Erg", and the 23 minute concept piece " A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers ". Reflecting on this, Hammill said: "Charisma Records felt that it wasn't appropriate for us to release a double album and they vetoed the live studio recordings and

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