Much Like Bach and Mozart

These concept albums by Genesis and other bands works, such as Jethro Tulls Thick as a Brick and the Yes album Close to the Edge are thought of highly by prog fans and academics alike as being more than just long songs, but in fact are; as has been said close to art music. No doubt the members of Genesis would have been exposed to a lot of classical music at their private school Charter House as much as they were exposed to classical writing such as Greek Mythology, which is where the band may have taken a lot of influence for their music. Covach states in his publication Progressive Rock, “Close to the Edge,” and the Boundaries of Style, that progressive rock is very similar to art music in that the artists were trying to produce something different, although this had been done before with Herman’s Hermits fusing rock with classical music with the track Lady Godiva and the Beatles orchestration on the track Eleanor Rigby and the Harpsichord used on the Rolling Stones track Lady Jane. Covach states that prog artists tried to add a level of seriousness to rock and that some saw this as pretentious. He goes on to say that these artists were trying to create something that would not disappear off the charts in a matter of weeks and would eventually be studied by academics, much like Bach or Mozart is studied.

Virtuosity is a big thing in prog music and is something that will attract the listener to the music, such as Rush being referred to as the “musicians musician.” Moore in his publication Rock: The Primary Text, Developing a Musicology of Rock, emphasises the links between prog rock and art music when referring to the likes of Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick and the Genesis album Trespass, in particular the track the Knife as having rhythmic similarities to art music and the track being a paradigm for later progressive music. He continues with similarities in fantasy writing such as Tolkien’s works and the Genesis track Suppers Ready, Led Zeppelins the Battle of Evermore and Syd Barrett and Pink Floyds album, A Piper at the Gates of Dawn with the tracks Bike, The Scarecrow and Astronomy Domine. These fantastical ideas by Genesis again relate to the bands education in classical writing and also through Gabriel’s costumes and antics on stage.