Progressive Rock – A Cure for the Common Chord

A friend of mine maintains that Americans will go for just about anything as long as that thing is being pushed by a dapper gentleman sporting a proper British accent. This is probably even more true of American Christians, of whom I am one. We have a deep love for the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling. Our children have grown up on a steady diet of Thomas & Friends or Angelina Ballerina. Most of the Christian women I know (and even some of the men) are hopelessly addicted to Downton Abbey or Call the Midwife. Many Christians who grew up repulsed by The Beatles now cast a nostalgic eye backward toward a certain group of lovable moptops from Liverpool. Suffice it to say that many American Christians are hopeless Anglophiles ready to lap up just about anything from the UK.

One British export overlooked by the majority of Christians is that of progressive rock. Progressive rock–detested by music critics and the inspiration for the movie This is Spinal Tap–was born in the late 1960s in the hot house of British art schools, flourished in the 1970s, faded in the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of punk rock, new wave, and grunge, and is enjoying an unforeseen renaissance in the new millennium. My introduction to the world of progressive rock (also known as “prog” or “prog rock”) began in the early 70s when the song “Roundabout” by the band Yes was in heavy rotation on FM rock radio. I was a rock radio addict from an early age and I found myself attracted to any and all rock music with a progressive bent. Of course, I also found myself attracted to the music of KISS, but that is beyond the scope of this blog post.

An exact definition of “progressive rock music” is notoriously difficult to achieve. Depending upon whom you are talking to, Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer is pure progressive rock bliss while other hardcore fans tend to dismiss any album released after the mid-1970s as sub-prog. In his online article written for Slate, writer David Weigel quotes Greg Lake—one-third of prog rockers Emerson, Lake and Palmer—as saying, “Most rock music…was based upon the blues and soul music, and to some extent country and western, gospel. Whereas a lot of progressive music takes its influence from more European roots.” Brad Birzer–a Roman Catholic and the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies at Hillsdale College–wrote a piece for National Review in May 2012 in which he stated that progressive rock, “…aims to harmonize soul and mind and connect the horizontal to the vertical, the sea to the sky. It invites the listener in as a participant, immersing him fully into the art rather than placing the art (if most pop music can be called art) next to or near the listener.”

Birzer’s attempt at a proper definition for the music carries a great deal of weight in the prog rock community. He has done yeoman’s work in furthering the music’s current revival by founding Progarchy.com and by writing about the music periodically on The Imaginative Conservative web site.

Interestingly, mainstream Christian sites as First Things and World Magazine have begun to take notice of prog rock and its recent resurgence. A new generation of Christian listeners are discovering that progressive rock cares a great deal about big ideas such as truth, beauty, and goodness in ways that popular music would never attempt.

In the coming weeks I hope to draw the readers of Kuyperian Commentary into the world progressive rock music and act as a sort of tour guide–a guide that has been enjoying this music for nearly 40 years. Of course, our tour will take us beyond the borders of British progressive rock as we also explore prog from Canada (Rush, Saga), Sweden (The Flower Kings), Norway (Magic Pie), Italy (Premiata Forneria Marconi or PFM), Germany (RPWL), France (Magma), and the United States (Kansas, Dream Theater, Spock’s Beard).

If you come along on our tour, let me encourage you to give this music the same concentrated attention you would any other great symphony, painting, sculpture, ballet, or piece of literature. Doing so will expose you to some things that you find repugnant–the same sorts of emotions you might encounter going through an omnibus literature course. However, chances are good that you will discover a wealth of new music that will send your heart and mind soaring.

Finally, some humor to warm your heart and prove that prog rock is more than stuffy guys in capes singing songs about King Arthur.

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Derek Hale has lived all of his life in Wichita, Kansas and isn’t a bit ashamed about that fact. He and his wife Nicole have only six children–four daughters and two young sons of thunder. Derek is a ruling elder, chief musician, and performs pastoral duties at Trinity Covenant Church (CREC). Derek manages a firmware lab for NetApp and enjoys reading, computers, exercising, craft beer, and playing and listening to music. But not all at the same time. He blogs occasionally at youdidntblogthat.tumblr.com.

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