Thanks for watching everyone. I thought I'd done so good getting Red Barchetta and YYZ pronunciations right for the Rush heads, yet I had no idea Neal Peart was pronounced Peert! I guess we can add him to the list along with Mutt Lange (apparently pronounced Langer but everyone says Lang) or Chad Kroeger (pronounced like Freddy Krueger though everyone says Crow-ger). Who are some other big names we collectively butcher unknowingly?!
There are discrepancies in pronunciation among people with the same last name. For example, brothers Carmine and Vinny Appice (both legendary drummers) disagree. I’m not not sure who claims which but one says “APP-uh-see”, the other says “uh-PEES” (they’re both wrong. In phonetic Italian, it is pronounced “ah-PEE-chay”). Another drummer of Italian descent, Terry Bozzio, refers to himself as “BO-zee-oh”. His ex wife Dale insists on using the pronunciation “BAH-zee-oh”. Think I need to side with Terry on that one, he was born with the name. Capiche?
Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks. Both have said many times that their last name is pronounced as "Davis", but I rarely hear others pronounce it that way.
@@shaunsteele6926you are right once I was listening to Elephant talk and got confused by Matte kudasai. Or listening to Three of a perfect pair and got confused with Larks part 3 lol 😅
What I really like about King Crimson 80s era is that despite changing their sound, there's still undeniable signals that what you're listening *is* King Crimson and not just a completely different band. Things like Fripp's experimentations with ambient loops and electronics, uncommon time signatures even in their poppiest songs, mysterious and poetic lyrics, they're all there. Same goes for King Crimson's 90s and 2000s output. Despite changing their genre, they still sound like themselves, you can recognize from a distance that what you're listening is King Crimson. That's a surprisingly rare bar many bands don't achieve, and part of the reason Crim is my favourite band ever.
Btw if like me you like 80s KC I can't recommend Robert Fripp's solo album "Exposure" enough, it was made before the band reformed, in 1979, and it really feels like a key transitional record between KC's late 70s and their early 80s output. It also features Daryl Hall, Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill and some members of The Roches and is such a fun, genre-roulette record with lots of surprises.
@@mrbungle3310 its moments? Come on!!! "Sleepless" Is a very AvantGarde track on that years, bass lines are so ellaborated... Not squire, Lake nor wetton had such work on that specific period than Levin
I love "Mystic Rhythms." True to its name, it has an air of mysticality and warmth about it, and it makes for one hell of an atmosphere at night. It's tied with "Marathon" as my favorite single on the album.
No matter what they did, it always ultimately sounded like Rush. Which may be a lot of why their 80s stuff didn't crack top 40 radio the way Genesis or the solo Peter Gabriel stuff did. I've heard Geddy joke multiple times that "if anyone other than us had played this song it would've been a #1 hit".
I absolutely love 80s era Rush. It is easily my go-to for listening. I appreciate that Geddy stopped some of his shrieking and also love how they incorporated synths and technology. And as a kid of the 80s, it was impossible not to love Genesis.
Rush is my 2nd favorite band (and it’s a suuper close second). I always look at them as having 3 eras: 70s Prog stuff 80s Rush (which I also include Roll the Bones into because it fits right in with Presto) and Modern Heavy Rush (Counterparts - Clockwork) I love the Prog stuff and the modern stuff as much as the next guy, but my favorite Rush ended up being the 80s synth. I’ve got nothing against fans having their own favorite eras/albums, and I get some of their music not clicking with some people, but I hate the “they went off the rails in the 80s and then were good again once they got heavy with counterparts!” narrative. You can have your preferences and not be a douchey old fart about it. I admire Rush for always doing whatever they want, and man, how boring would they have been if they just kept trying to make Hemispheres over and over again in the 80s? Or “eh we found success with Moving Picture. Let’s just make that album five more times!” Them moving on from the 70s epics was ironically the most progressive thing they could have done. Luckily I think most of the fanbase is a bit more open minded, and appreciated the band trying new things even if the results weren’t their favorite. Their career-spanning versatility is one of the reasons I love them so much.
@@sub-jec-tivGUP is a fabulous recording, my favourite of the 80's output by far. They lost me by Hold Your Fire though. The songs are ok but it kind of puts me to sleep.
@@sub-jec-tiv Mostly it's the original 70s super-fans that don't like the 80s stuff. I got into them in 1989 when I was 16 and I think Power Windows is their masterpiece. But I do love Grace Under Pressure! To her infinite credit, Donna Halper, the DJ who broke Rush in the US in 1974, loves their entire discography to this day and can talk in depth about every song they ever wrote.
@@Sephioss My dude, I love Gentle Giant, they introduced me to Rabelais and for that I will be forever grateful, but they also wore shiny satin frilly shirts on stage. Rick Wakeman put on a laser light icecapades show about King Arthur. Prog is an inherently embarassing genre, and as a prog lover I have to admit that my love of Prog has never and will never get me laid (unlike, say, my love of punk or jazz). No one is yelling "hell yeah turn that shit up" whenever I put something like Dr. Z's "Three Parts to My Soul: Spiritus, Manes et Umbra" on the turntable, well except maybe me. All that having been said, 73-74 King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator and a select handful of other (mostly German) bands were on such another plane altogether when it came to their craft, their skill, their aura and aesthetics, their daring, their lyrical ability and their egoless performance ethos, that they transcend and become not embarassing.
@@oliviertruchon5648 my Prog Rock playlist in MusicBee is showing me that I have 237 Prog Rock albums in my collection, gonna go out on a limb here and say I know something about the genre.
~~ saw Rush in 1981 - YES in 1984 - King Crimson in 1982 & 84 - Asia in 1982 & 83 - David Gilmour in 1984 - some of the best shows I've ever been to ..
Gilmour '84 would be About Face tour? That was during the very short time he routed out his black strat to have a kahler tremolo (every 80s guitar player had do be able to do a dive bomb) but almost immediately regretted it and put a hunk of wood back in with the original strat bridge. Any memories from that show? did he play All Lovers Are Deranged? Was Rachel Fury in his backup girls yet? How hot was she? Probably super hot.
@@IAmKillEveryone -- yes - About Face was released in early '84 - venue where I saw them was Merriweather Post Pavilion - open air - mid-July - normally very hot & humid near D.C. by then but humidity was taking the day off and Gilmour even mentioned it and was in very good spirits about it - band was amazing - Chris Slade killed it on drums - All lovers are deranged was played - only 3 PF songs - Money - with extended lead jam tradeoffs between Gilmour & Mick Ralphs - Run like Hell - and of course .. Comfortably Numb - if you missed it - this is earlier in the same year from UK .. czcams.com/video/ud-0N4MxkEI/video.html
In defense of Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse of Reason was a pretty big hit. It ultimately went quadruple platinum. The track Learning to Fly went number 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. And I think it has a number of solid tracks on the album, including One Slip and On the Turning Away.
I agree. It's not as "Floyd" sounding as The Wall and prior albums but it's far better than The Final Cut and still better than anything Waters put out.
Hold Your Fire is such an underrated gem of a record. Really heartfelt and uplifting in an aspirational/don't surrender kind of way. And I will defend Tai Shan to my grave.
First Rush album I ever bought after being introduced to them with Power Windows and Signals. Sorry my friend but I have to always skip Tai Shan!!!! Fantastic album and saw them on the HYF tour in England 1988 (?)
It is tough not to just focus on Rush in a video like this. They did the best job of adapting to this decade but still maintained their proggy integrity.
After the breakup of King Crimson in 1974, Fripp went on to do a lot of solo and session work where he experimented with his style. He brought his influence into every record he played on and left a larger impression than most people assume. I'd say that he, along with Brian Eno, is one of the biggest reasons the early 80s sounded the way it did. One of the albums he played on and helped influence the stylistic direction of was Talking Heads's Fear of Music.
I agree with @@colinburroughs9871here, but there are people I respect who love eighties genesis. I think eighties genesis is mostly AoR with a confused smooshing in of occasional cleverness. Seventies genesis to me is classical literature to the other prog bands' swords and sorcery.
Aside from a couple of MTV friendly songs like Sleepless 80's KC holds up extremely well. There was a good amount of experimental stuff too which is legitimately avant garde (Industry etc). Discipline is easily one of their best albums.
Discipline for sure their best. Love in the court of the crimson king but it's overrated. Love red but it's still got that one crappy song and it's not as long as discipline.
A) King Crimson has always been my favourite band and I haven’t seen the 80’s albums as a sort of “adaptation” to that era, but a natural evolution. B) Not on the list, the band Renaissance, that was a bit mainstream early on did definitely give up most/all of their proggish style and became just another popgroup.
Great video! Really should've made mention of Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins solo work as well. Sledgehammer took over the top spot on the charts from none other than Genesis in July 1986, and had a really cool, groundbreaking video to go with it (the most played video in MTV history). Also, love or hate his solo stuff, Phil Collins 80's pop domination is absolutely remarkable! Another honorable mention, even though they weren't Prog, would be Grateful Dead with Touch of Grey in 1987. The fact that they made the top 10 on the Billboard charts and had a video in heavy rotation on MTV with this track was simply amazing!
Jethro Tull was the Prog Band that really tried everything creatively in the 80s. I love it. A, Broadsword, Under Wraps and Crest of a Knave are awesome!
@@silhouettoofaman2935 "Tom Sawyer" doesn't fall into the "New Wave 80s" era of Rush, though. I know I said "80s era" in my comment but it was in reference to the video we're commenting on haha!
@@fendergibs Yeah, that's a good point. I think for me Subdivisions just really more captures that era. But an argument could be made either way! They're both great songs so I'll just listen to both! :)
A lot of prog bands didn't make it through the 80's so I have immense respect for those who did. KC's 80's albums are probably my favourites in their discography, with Red. Great vid!
You had the labels Classical as well as Rock. Very generalized. When we mixed the two it was called classical rock. Too many labels today as everyone tries to break down creativity to it's base like some chemical.
You can add Jethro Tull to the mix. Their albums in the first half of the 80s (A, Broadsword and the Beast and Under Wraps) had lots of synth and New Wave influences.
Never clicked a video so quickly. Growing up as a teen, I noticed that every prog band I would dive into had this 80s phase with lots of synths and poppy grooves. I loved it! It's always such a vibe when virtuous musicians play pop.
I think it should be noted that a key piece of the 80s KC lineup is Tony Levin, probably one of the best bassists of that era or really any era. He absolutely strengthens every track on Discipline/Beat/Three of a Perfect Pair, but he also worked alot with Peter Gabriel in the same decade. We have him to thank for helping to make tracks like _Sledgehammer_ and _Shock the Monkey_ . Plus he used the best version of the guitar, the Chapman Stick. In a way, there's three guitarists and one bassists on 80s KC tracks, with Levin compressing the role of guitarist and bassist with one beautiful instrument. We need more Stick in music, shit slaps.
80's Rush is SOOO much more accessible. I can listen to it anytime but it doesn't sacrifice any of the playing, and lyrically, some of their best content came from the 80's onwards. Prog Rock epics are great but it's not digestable for everyday listening. I actively avoid most comments on Genesis, Pink Floyd and Rush band pages because there's always people just needlessly going on about how bad the "Later Years" stuff was. It's not for everyone but banging on about and putting down 40+ year old albums is kind of sad. Appreciate the video!
Thank you for mentioning Missing Persons. In my humble opinion, my theory is, Terry Bozzio heard Rush's Moving Pictures & inspired him to write Spring Session M released a year later.
Thanks for this insight about Missing Persons. I had never heard of this band, and instantly liked their output - save perhaps the vocals, just not my style. And you are right, I can hear a lot of early 80’s Rush in there, with quite creative drum parts.
Most of the band are Frank Zappa alumni. Terry was recently a guest on Thomas Lang's CZcams Channel where the discuss Terry's solo on Frank's "Baby Snakes & writing Spring Session M. Terry & Dale were married for several years. Met Date in 1998 at a show on Long Island & met Terry at a drum clinic in Portland Maine in October 2005 with Chad Wackerman & Marco Minneman.
Signals by Rush and 90125 (my #s 4 and 5 albums of all time) shaped my childhood and pre teen years. Couple that with huge portions of Abacab and the Genesis self titled album, plus The Police and Missing Persons, and it was an awesome childhood full of poppish musical complexity. Nice mention of Terry Bozzio as well. It seemed to be the era of the Drummer, as you had Bozzio, Peart, and Stewart Copeland getting as many headlines as anyone else. They still had their style but it was inside a song.
The most New Waveish thing Genesis ever did was probably the song Who Dunnit? from Abacab in 1981. When I first bought the album back then and heard it, I cringed and was saying wtf? to myself over and over, and was frankly embarrassed by it, as I had already been a Genesis diehard since 1975. It seemed like a throwaway track so I just ignored it. But then I saw Genesis on the Abacab Tour and they played Who Dunnit?. Phil was dressed in some bizarre goggles, Rutherford was playing the drums, and Banks I think was wearing a snorkel mask. It was both bizarre, but admittedly funny. I then realized it was Genesis poking fun at both "New Wave" and themselves (hey, we're going to be a New Wave band now). In the context of the concert, it was just 5 minutes of silliness and very lighthearted compared to their usual "serious" persona. Tony Banks' usually complex keyboard sounds were very simple "synth pop" sound that was being played all over MTV by that time. Since Genesis was way too talented to create this seriously, after seeing them do it in concert it was obviously a satiric parody of the direction of music and of themselves. You really should have showed the Who Dunnit? video in this! In retrospect, the album version of the song Abacab, with its extended instrumental guitar/synth tradeoff and dual drumming is probably the song which most signified a change in sound from the 70s, the more sparse, less dense 80s sound with lyrics that were really nonsense. They created that tune purely out of a band jam, no prewritten songs were brought in for the most part. Yet live, I always thought that song kicked azz. I saw Genesis in 1980, 81, 82, 84 twice, and 87. I saw Yes on the Drama tour in 1980. After seeing them with the classic lineup in 77, 78 and 79, what a shock that was to see them without Anderson and Wakey. But, the concert was still damn good because I liked the harder edged sound of the Drama album (I thought Tormato sucked, a mess). Obviously when playing the older tunes, I especially missed Wakeman's majestic keyboards. I actually skipped the other 80s "YesWest" tours, as I was less enthused about 90125. I saw the new Crimson in Jan 1984 in a small on campus college chapel which couldn't have held more than 300! Sat dead center in the 3rd pew, about 20 feet from Bruf's drum kit! Incredible show. I saw the 87 Delicate Sound of Thunder Tour also, another epic show that was surreal to watch. Rush I regret not seeing until the late 80s, but still was an active listener throughout the decade. Their run from Permanent Waves through Power Windows was their peak. I'm a bit surprised you didn't even mention the Prog Supergroup ASIA in this video, given the massive popularity of that 82 debut album, with a simplified streamlined sound that influenced so much of 80s guitar rock. Still think its a great album and got far too much derision thrown at it by a segment of the uber serious snooty "Prog Nerds" division of the fanbase. Also, no mention of Camel, Peter Gabriel solo. By 1978 PG was wearing a short almost punkish haircut and definitely was exploring different sounds.
"who dunnit" was almost left off the album and "you might recall" or "naminau" was going to be put on instead. i think "who dunnit" was admittedly their homage to Devo, they were fans.
@@ab8817"You Might Recall" was meant to be on the album instead of "Who Dunnit?" and "Naminanu" was part of the supposed Dodo Suite: Naminanu - Dodo/Lurker - Submarine. "Who Dunnit?" was only put on the album at Ahmet Ertegun's insistence. If you replace the entire B side of Abacab with You Might Recall and the Dodo Suite, it becomes a quite decent album imo.
@@ab8817 Ahh yes, of course Devo. Can definitely hear that. I was actually thinking it sounded a lot like early XTC myself but I suppose you could say that of a few bands of the era with this one.
While I love Rush from the seventies for their musical experimentations and crazy ass song lyrics, I also love their eighties stuff for their just beyond musical competence and singular lyrics that in my opinion are about the best in rock and roll. Hold your fire is likely my favourite rush album with Power Windows number two. The bass on Marathon is beyond prog but ironically is still pretty melodic, the bass in that song almost takes the place of the guitar in establishing the melody. While I listen to YES stuff from the seventies in awe, I listen to their eighties stuff just as more generally listenable. Maybe because I was too young in the seventies to really be into music and came to it later. The 'song' format was too much in my head so I liked that, but really still paid attention to lyrics. But nothing from the eighties could approach La Villa Strangiato or Awaken. THose are classics that the will be studying in the coming years as something singular 'bands' who were collective orchestras and composers.
My boomer father thought my taste in music was total crap until he heard La Villa Strangiato. His only complaint was Alex’s guitar sound but he was impressed with Geddy and Neil because there was that stretch (The Ghost Of Aragon?) that sounded impeccably played
Alex is well known for complaining that the keyboards were crowding him out on those records, but I think you have an excellent point that the bass was in some ways just as much of a factor there. Geddy's most active bass parts are on the 4 "synth era" records (Signals to Hold Your Fire) and on some songs they really are the melody (I'm thinking in particular of The Enemy Within and Turn The Page).
My ex brother-in-law is an AMAZING bass player, and he said he didn't understand how Geddy could play Turn The Page and sing at the same time without messing one or both up.@@ischmidt
I could go on and on about how amazing Rush as a band was throughout their whole career. They never "sold out," so to speak; they may have changed their sound a little over the years, but musically they were still distinctly Rush. The lyrics were still intelligent and philosophical, the instrumentals, while simpler than their earlier work, were still tight and varied, and of course there remained the masterful percussion of the professor himself Neil Peart.
Throughout the late 70s, Rush (or perhaps more properly Peart, who sort of dragged the rest of the band with him) was very much into reggae and New Wave. When it was Neil's turn to control the tape deck on the bus, it was more often than not Bob Marley; for about thirty years, Neil curated a mixtape/playlist of songs he liked for every tour which would get played over the PA before a Rush show, and in tours of the UK in the late 70s, he'd include a Police track which would cause the (basically metalhead) audience to boo for a few minutes. A Philadelphia concert promoter also infamously booked Blondie to open for Rush around that time. So the adapting of New Wave norms (which started in earnest in January 1980's "Permanent Waves"... the name of that album itself meaning that there is no "New Wave", just permanently good music) came because they marinated themselves in that sound for years. Neil would later write that a lot of musicians who defined themselves by virtuosity couldn't adapt to punk and new wave. "What am I going to do? Forget how to play?" Some figured out how to do interesting things in the new style and were joined by punks whose chops grew to the point that they could play as well as the prog masters (e.g. Sting and Summers (though not Copeland, who was a prog drummer before The Police)) and thrived in the 80s. Peart hypothesized that there was a cycle in popular music, where when the music on the radio got too far beyond what 3-4 teenagers in their garage could reasonably expect to be able to play along to they'd create something new that they could play. The new scene would sweep almost everything aside (a few masters from the old would adapt) and then become more complex as the new masters explored and learned how to write and play, and the cycle would turn. "Wave after wave will flow with the tide and bury the world as it does. Tide after tide will flow and recede leaving life to go on as it was."
The prog rock 80's transformations have always been very interesting to me, superficially it seems like them cashing in, "writing pop tunes is easy for us, let's get rich" and I think there is an element of that, but I also think it has a lot to do with acknowledging prog was limiting their audience and musicians ultimately want to connect with people and create experiences that resonate. I love this period, esp. what Yes, Asia, GTR, and Genesis did.
I hate it. 80s pop music was such a fucking joke its a shame these amazing bands watered themselves down so puffy haired nobodies would like their music.
80s Rush is probably my favorite era of the band! Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire are albums I've listened to countless times and still do now.
Thanks for this, I would never had realised that 80’s King Crimson was a very single influence on many a jazz prog metal band, or could sit side by side with my other pop prog favourites like the Police or Ozriks… awesome man!!!
Thanks for this video! I'm so sick of progheads talking about this era of these bands as if they brought the plague. I absolutely love early prog, but I love all these bands' 80s period just as much. There's room for everything, and how progressive is it to stick to one type of sound or music your whole carreer? I so much enjoy songs that have a great hook and dont last 20 minutes as well. There's beauty in tight songwriting, hell even in cheesiness.
I love cheesy 80's pop almost as much as 70's prog, IDC IDC lol. I'm not a big enough music nerd to say if it's "good music", but IDC I'm still listening to it.
I’d love if you did a video on The Cult. They basically changed sound every album from 84-94 which usually ended up working in their favor, while still sounding like The Cult.
The 80s king crimson line up is the best 4 piece rock ensemble of all time they walk the line of progressive songwriting and accessibility better than anyone man. They also had such an incredible mix of humor and art bro i literally could not praise them anymore. Thank you for making this video this topic doesnt get nearly enough attention
great video! The least "Prog" thing those bands could have done is keeping their 70's style. Instead, they truly PROGressed, embraced new styles and morphed their sound. All those bands ( especially crimson) were still highly innovative and experimental in the 80's, they just became less " rock".
@@shaunsteele6926 for the most part, yes. But many kept elements of their 80's sound ( "Construction Of Light" by King Crimson or " Roots To Branches" by Jethro Tull for example) or incorporated newer elements from the 90's ("Thrak"and " The Power To Believe" by King Crimson draw from both 90's alternative and from Progressive Metal). But overall, I sadly agree. Most of these bands either disbanded or stopped evolving, i.e. stopped being Prog. I loved the latest releases by Yes and Eloy for example, but they are just retro.
The 80s were the last great decade for pop radio (some AOR stations also added a poppier element , so it wasn't just Top 40) and the prog giants' evolution really lent the era a sense of sophistication. Add in great 80s albums from even older bands like the Kinks and the Who, who also embraced technology and even made a couple of solid dancefloor bangers, and you get 3 generations going on four making amazing music. I'm so glad other people love this era. I listen to this music now and I have dreams about people and things I haven't thought about in years . . . crazy. PS: Gotta add to the chorus of Rush fans chiming in . . . .Grace Under Pressure was my first Rush album (and tour). I knew the big hits from Moving Pictures, but I bought it after Grace because once you get the Rush bug, it stays in your system. I was a New Wave girl but also just a rock chick, and one of my besties was a phenomenal drummer. I had already started playing bass, and he pushed me to learn most of the Rush back catalog.
Don't forget Styx. In the 70s they had great prog songs like "Fooling Yourself" & "Suite Madame Blue". In the 80s they had new wave songs like "Too much time on my hands" & "Mr Roboto".
Always loved Styx but they were like Prog Lite. It was hard to really think of them as a prog band especially with so much mainstream radio airplay. Actually Yes had quite a bit of mainstream airplay in the 70's as well (Sweet Dreams, Starship Trooper, Seen All Good People, Roundabout) but their long form and complex album work definitely set them apart. To me Styx is like the less adventurous brother of Kansas. Love them both though.
@@rembeadgc I found them both pretty adventurous at times, but both Styx & Kansas are prog-lite. But let's not forget about all the commercial music from Genesis, Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd and even.........ELP. Pretty much if the band was famous, they dabbled outside the standard prog genre.
This is a great video. Rush and Genesis certainly sailed the 80s with style. One worth mentioning is Jethro Tull - the dramatic shift on A (which I love), and a genuine hit album in Crest of a Knave.
Perhaps he just thought Tull was doing more of the usual "we do everything so well and ably" that they weren't sufficiently embarassing to be put here, but I disagree. Under Wraps deserved some attention, even though I genuinely think it is good shi
Under Wraps was a train wreck. But they started down that synthy road with A and the excellent Broadsword. Then they won a Grammy with Crest of a Knave, with its drum machine lead single, Steel Monkey.@@andreborges2881
@@andreborges2881 everything they did from A (yet another prog project that began life as a different name but the gradual rebandification of the sessioneers necessitated a rebrand) through 'crest of a knave' was as radical a change as rush's was in the 1980s via the heavy use of synths, and even anderson's lyrics moving away from familiar bucolic themes to songs about skyscrapers, motorcars, and femme fatale cold war spies.
@@andreborges2881 one of the most notable (probably meant as an underhanded compliment at the time) critique about under wraps that 'if you took out ian's voice, you'd have ultravox'
nailed it... "it should be contemptible, but it's infectious. dammit." nice coverage. that comment re: genesis, who never recovered. crimson did some great work in that era and went on to do more under-covered stuff... last couple of albums are amazing, and the recent live shows with 3 drummers have been utterly epic. I've seen 3 of them. oh, and Peter Gabriel just released a new album at age 73 and it's pretty good. if I'm still eating solid food at 73 I'll be happy.
Rush handled the 80's the best of all these groups IMO. Genesis and Rush are my two favourite bands of all time, but I struggle with post Duke Genesis, with the exception of a few songs here and there. Rush didn't strip the music down like Genesis did, they just evolved their sound while maintaining the complexity and the cerebral nature of the music.
@@66limelightLol, One For The Vine and Burning Rope both have something like 40 modulations, I'm very confident more than any of the Gabriel era songs, even the overrated Supper's Ready.
@@66limelight Have you heard A Trick of the Tail, Wind & Wuthering & And then there were three?? They are all prog rock albums. It's starting to slip by ATTWT obviously, but for a relatively short time the band were probably at their peak in terms of musicianship and composition in the two years after Gabriel left and before Hackett went.
I think that Genesis became completely pop after Duke. From Abacab onwards you can definitely tell some prog elements, but they are too diluted and don't really stand out that much. Still there are some really good songs like Mama IMO
My uncle is a singer,and had a cd box set of a Time Life Best of the 1980s."Learning to Fly " from Pink Floyd was one of my favorite songs on it as a kid
For Rush, I would have made many points about "Grace Under Pressure" REALLY showing the New Wave influence, with guitarists such as "Paul Reynolds" (Flock of Seagulls), "The Edge" (U2) and "Midge Ure" (Ultravox) for Alex Lifeson and his deep reverb & echo added to his signature guitar tone. Also lets not forget (though many would want to) *Kansas* and their 2nd an last album with vocalist John Elefante; "Drastic Measures" which is VERY New Wave/Prog (except for "Mainstream"), with a 80's Pop quality but with the Kansas sound by a thread. It was Kerry Livgren that said "The album that should not have been called Kansas", but I actually enjoy it. Their next 2 albums would be Pop influenced but they also had some standout proggier tunes with "Steve Morse" on guitar (with Rich Williams respectively) and new member "Billy Greer" would be their longest running Bassist. *Asia* is another, but I guess not-so "New Wave" affiliated but an 80's pop sound to their type of Prog Rock, much like Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", both I quite enjoyed. I especially liked "Yet Another Movie" and "One Slip". *Saga* the Canadian Neo-Progressive Rock band started getting that New Wave vibe on "Heads or Tales" (1983) and then went full 80's Prog Pop with a touch of New Wave on "Behaviour" (1985), "Wildest Dreams" (1987), "A Beginners Guide to Throwing Shapes" (1989) and 2 more albums until going FULL Prog with their excellent conceptual album "Generation 13" (1995). *Jethro Tull* and albums; "A" (1980), "The Broadsword and the Beast" (1982), "Under Wraps" (1984) either had a few tracks or all out New Wave or 80's Pop influences. *Premiata Forneria Marconi* (PFM)" had; "Come ti va in riva alla città" (1981), "PFM? PFM!" (1984), "Miss Baker" (1987) with New Wave/80's Prog-Pop. *Eloy* albums; "Performance" (1983), "Metromania" (1984) very much influenced by New Wave (and may have lost its many fans). *Crack the Sky* and; "White Music" (1980), "Photoflamingo" (1981) with its Punk/New Wave inspirations, "World in Motion 1" (1982), "Raw" (1986), "From the Greenhouse" (1989) Prog-Pop/New Wave. *3* (Keith Emerson, Robert Berry, Carl Palmer); "To the Power of Three" (1988) with its touches of New Wave and Prog-Pop, though "Desde la Vida" is probably the Proggiest of tracks (the standout track for me, and the single "Talkin' About"). Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush were creating their own versions of "New Wave". And if it wasn't for the Ensemble Comedy show "Fridays", I would have not dived into King Crimson, but their appearance on the program blew my socks off. I vaguely knew about them (but knew Bill Bruford), and proceeded to buy the 3 "Primary Color Albums" and then went backwards into their catalogue. Genesis after "ABACAB" was hit or miss with me, though I do enjoy the self-titled album. Yes was re-vitalized with Trevor Rabin, and it would be my 1st time to see them on the "90125" Tour, and for "Big Generator" and then finally going backwards fully into their catalogue. But "Talk" (1994) is on my Top 5 Yes albums along with "Drama" (1980) which was my 1st real exposure to the band (even though hearing their famous tracks on AOR Radio), and I _thought_ the vocals were Jon Anderson at that time.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that our weird sub-set of Proggies are particularly keen to bang out self-referential videos, there’s so much about prog on CZcams. But this is an absolute banger of a mini-doc. Awesome piece of work, thanks Man.
I saw Floyd on the MLoR tour at Manchester Maine Road in '88. Definitely in my all time top five of live bands I've seen. Others are The Who at the NEC, Pearl Jam at the Bercy in Paris, Elbow at Wolves Civic, and The Robben Ford Band at Ronnie Scotts.
Although lesser known at first, Split Enz started off as an art rock/prog band but by about 1978 or '79 embraced a much more streamlined pop band with a lot of cool quirks.
@@robertmccoy9901 Another highlight was seeing them perform "I Hope I Never" on Fridays. Their level of musicianship was always at a very high level. ♥️♥️♥️👍👍👍
12:14 Perfect editing that made me chuckle. I love how your script acknowledges and makes the most of the footage you're using at the time. It's a little detail a lot of channels don't bother with. Good attention to detail: how prog of you.
amazing video! your writing is super informative yet absolutely personal and honest. happy to hear your pov is very pro-pop and praising these very different albums and what makes them special. also respect for using whole clips with audio o7
Dude your channel is awesome. I've gone back thru all your older videos, and as I have a damaged brain, I love your particular brand of sonic discourse. Keep up the good work.
Genesis in the 80s was still pretty good. Duke is still one of the band's top albums, and it started their pop/80s area. It gets too much hate. And Genesis is probably my favorite prog band
This mostly-overlooked topic is great. When putting together a playlist in YT Music called The Sounds of Science, I noticed how much mid 80s danceable music was created by former 70s prog rockers. I thought you brought a great balanced approach to this, and your script was excellent. My nomination for additonal mini-chapter would be Asia, qualifying as a veteran prog supergroup standing in for ELP.
No band was better at taking complex music and making it accessible for people that weren’t even into Prog as Rush was. Even an album like Hold Your Fire where most of it sounds extremely poppy, there’s just so much going on underneath it all. If you were a long time fan of them, what a journey it was from album to album. Not too many bands changed their sound as much as they did while still sounding like no other band. They were just so damn unique, I love it all.
Před 5 měsíci+4
Great video. Love all these bands …cheers from Rio 🎊🥰
Hey, i wanted to say thanks for the video! Ive never been a prog rock fan or of most 80s stuff, but i really enjoy hearing people breakdown the music they’ve listened to.
I always felt like rush by the virtue of being a bit younger than a lot of other prog bands where a lot more open to this. There's a reoccuring trope where alex lifeson will go from playing an agressive riff to suddenly sounding like Jonny Marr and it always works.
I prefer 70's prog, epic, shrieking Geddy Lee, epic solo Rush to anything else but I will say that Power Windows is a masterpiece. And one of my all time favorites. Every song on that record is a banger.
Thanks for making this video. I've been thinking about this very subject a lot recently, so it came along at the perfect time for me! I feel like Jethro Tull should also be included, but I guess you need to draw a line somewhere. Feel free to make a series of videos about each of these individual bands... maybe even ALL about their '80s output!
It never fails to capture me- 80s King Crimson still holds up amazingly, especially for how little it ever receives airtime. I still prefer 70s, nothing beats LTiA and Red, but still...
@@ThomB1031Larks Tongues in Aspic has more of the raw "Red" sound. LTiA pt II is honestly one of my favourite KC songs. Amazing live, especially the concert in Frejus that's on Bruford's CZcams channel.
Thrilled to be in the company of such fine weirdos. Cheers, folks. Also, no one ever seems to talk about Hold Your Fire, but I love that album. Thanks for talking about it.
How can you leave out Asia (not a 70s Prog band, but formed from them) or Emerson Lake and Powell (not Palmer)? More importantly, there's The Fixx. They have always been viewed as a New Wave band, but put aside the 4/4 time and short songs, and you'll see all of the elements of Prog: the philosophical lyrics, the deeper meanings, the highly technical playing. It's all there, they just arrived too late for the 1970s.
The Fixx were deeply influential on Rush, or at least Alex Lifeson, in the 80s. To the extent that Rush hired The Fixx's producer Rupert Hine for Presto. (Rupert is possibly best known for producing and playing most of the instruments on Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me", which he also included members of The Fixx on).
You have made a video worthy of historical music study. This is a trend in music that always intrigued me. My personal favorite Yes album is Big Generator, but the majority of songs they made that I like are before that actual album. Nicely done.
I think Rush constantly improved and did some of their best work in the 80's. Their albums were more mature and consistent and they cut out some of their more weird tendencies from the 1970's, like concept albums and sci-fi/fantasy stuff and 25 minute songs. They were much tighter in the 80's.
Neil's lyrics were far more real and relatable in the 80s. I turned 50 not long ago and Time Stand Still hits harder than a freight train, whereas I have no immediate plans to fly any ships into black holes a la Cygnus X-1. And the playing's not only tighter on the 80s records, but it feels more effortless. Geddy's craziest basslines are all on Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire. I don't understand how it's physically possible to play and sing "Turn The Page" or "The Enemy Within" at the same time and I've seen him do it live multiple times.
Interesting and cool video I would have possibly made space for including Asia in it. I understand why you didn't (them not being a 70s prog band, but an 80s supergroup full of 70s prog musicians)
Excellent insights and some bits I wasn't familiar with that will make me go back and relisten to some things, particularly Rush (and not so much Genesis). Thanks.
This video has a *really* great vocal mix. The voiceover sounds warm and intimate, like a conversation in the lounge with a beer. Whatever equipment / settings you're using (or not using) it sounds great. Thumbs up 👍
Drama is actually my favorite Yes album, it retains the prog but also has the new wave tinge and even some metal influence. I love how Crimson trying to go new wave/80s pop is still weird af
King Crimson didn't purposely "go new wave" and certainly not pop. By 1980 Fripp was exploring all new electronic sounds, worked with Eno, Peter Gabriel etc. Then he meets Belew who had the Talking Heads influences. When you put it all together, the old more symphonic orchestral but also harder edged Crimson naturally morphs into a more electronic slightly more accessible Crimson. They weren't trying to be Flock of Seagulls or the Human League.
for someone who's always loved 70s prog and has now been obsessively rediscovering 80s new wave pop, this is one of the best videos I've ever seen would love to see a similar breakdown on 70s punk going into 80s post-punk/goth
Thanks for watching everyone. I thought I'd done so good getting Red Barchetta and YYZ pronunciations right for the Rush heads, yet I had no idea Neal Peart was pronounced Peert! I guess we can add him to the list along with Mutt Lange (apparently pronounced Langer but everyone says Lang) or Chad Kroeger (pronounced like Freddy Krueger though everyone says Crow-ger). Who are some other big names we collectively butcher unknowingly?!
John McLaughlin comes to mind
I know Isle of Mann proggers "Potpourri Segue" get very upset if you butcher their name.
There are discrepancies in pronunciation among people with the same last name. For example, brothers Carmine and Vinny Appice (both legendary drummers) disagree. I’m not not sure who claims which but one says “APP-uh-see”, the other says “uh-PEES” (they’re both wrong. In phonetic Italian, it is pronounced “ah-PEE-chay”). Another drummer of Italian descent, Terry Bozzio, refers to himself as “BO-zee-oh”. His ex wife Dale insists on using the pronunciation “BAH-zee-oh”. Think I need to side with Terry on that one, he was born with the name. Capiche?
Try Carmine Appice and Vinny Appice. Two drummer brothers who pronounce their surnames differently!!!
Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks. Both have said many times that their last name is pronounced as "Davis", but I rarely hear others pronounce it that way.
I loved this era of King Crimson.
Elephant Talk!
Actually my favorite KC
I can listen to it but it's not my favorite. All the songs sound the same lol
@@shaunsteele6926you are right once I was listening to Elephant talk and got confused by Matte kudasai. Or listening to Three of a perfect pair and got confused with Larks part 3 lol 😅
@@joaquinlezcano2372 musically they're all alike lol
What I really like about King Crimson 80s era is that despite changing their sound, there's still undeniable signals that what you're listening *is* King Crimson and not just a completely different band. Things like Fripp's experimentations with ambient loops and electronics, uncommon time signatures even in their poppiest songs, mysterious and poetic lyrics, they're all there. Same goes for King Crimson's 90s and 2000s output. Despite changing their genre, they still sound like themselves, you can recognize from a distance that what you're listening is King Crimson. That's a surprisingly rare bar many bands don't achieve, and part of the reason Crim is my favourite band ever.
Btw if like me you like 80s KC I can't recommend Robert Fripp's solo album "Exposure" enough, it was made before the band reformed, in 1979, and it really feels like a key transitional record between KC's late 70s and their early 80s output. It also features Daryl Hall, Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill and some members of The Roches and is such a fun, genre-roulette record with lots of surprises.
fripp said "[kc] isn't a band, it's a way of doing things."
Although there was a crossover with Talking heads and Brian Eno
good take
80's King Crimson is my favorite of the bunch. But I still love that Yes/Buggles Drama album.
That drama album Is one of my favorites ever.....AND you know? 2011 Fly from here got that spirit
Fly from here is essentially a re recording of the Buggles 1981 album.
@@andrewsoos2113 not the entirety..just the initial suite
Beat is sooo good... discipline is obviously amazing...and three of a perfect pair has its moments
@@mrbungle3310 its moments? Come on!!!
"Sleepless" Is a very AvantGarde track on that years, bass lines are so ellaborated... Not squire, Lake nor wetton had such work on that specific period than Levin
"Mystic Rhythms" by Rush is most definitely the perfect marriage of old and new. I could listen to a 10-hour loop of that song and just drift away.
Same
I love "Mystic Rhythms." True to its name, it has an air of mysticality and warmth about it, and it makes for one hell of an atmosphere at night. It's tied with "Marathon" as my favorite single on the album.
And the video just so cool too (especially compared to "Time Stand Still")
One of the most slept on tunes ever imo
There's not many better Rush tunes- and it's one of the most unique they've done
The Alan Parsons Project did VERY well in the 80s! Although they had only 3 albums in the 70s.
4 albums
@@edelineableful oh yeah, I forgot Eve.
@adamp2029 don't we all
Good point.
They definitely belong in a Part II of this video.
Rush always reacted musically to the era but never sold out, what an incredible discography they left behind
All this machinery making modern music can still be openhearted
not so foolish hearted it's really just a question of your honesty
No matter what they did, it always ultimately sounded like Rush. Which may be a lot of why their 80s stuff didn't crack top 40 radio the way Genesis or the solo Peter Gabriel stuff did. I've heard Geddy joke multiple times that "if anyone other than us had played this song it would've been a #1 hit".
Rush did it better than any of them! I love 80s Rush!!❤️🎶🎶😁🔥🔥
@@SoundlabStudios63 Yeah, but I say: Glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity.
And I'm sticking to it.
I absolutely love 80s era Rush. It is easily my go-to for listening. I appreciate that Geddy stopped some of his shrieking and also love how they incorporated synths and technology. And as a kid of the 80s, it was impossible not to love Genesis.
Their 80s stuff is so underrated, especially by their super-fans. Especially Grace Under Pressure.
Rush is my 2nd favorite band (and it’s a suuper close second).
I always look at them as having 3 eras:
70s Prog stuff
80s Rush (which I also include Roll the Bones into because it fits right in with Presto) and
Modern Heavy Rush (Counterparts - Clockwork)
I love the Prog stuff and the modern stuff as much as the next guy, but my favorite Rush ended up being the 80s synth.
I’ve got nothing against fans having their own favorite eras/albums, and I get some of their music not clicking with some people, but I hate the “they went off the rails in the 80s and then were good again once they got heavy with counterparts!” narrative. You can have your preferences and not be a douchey old fart about it.
I admire Rush for always doing whatever they want, and man, how boring would they have been if they just kept trying to make Hemispheres over and over again in the 80s? Or “eh we found success with Moving Picture. Let’s just make that album five more times!” Them moving on from the 70s epics was ironically the most progressive thing they could have done. Luckily I think most of the fanbase is a bit more open minded, and appreciated the band trying new things even if the results weren’t their favorite.
Their career-spanning versatility is one of the reasons I love them so much.
@@sub-jec-tivGUP is a fabulous recording, my favourite of the 80's output by far. They lost me by Hold Your Fire though. The songs are ok but it kind of puts me to sleep.
@@sub-jec-tiv Mostly it's the original 70s super-fans that don't like the 80s stuff. I got into them in 1989 when I was 16 and I think Power Windows is their masterpiece. But I do love Grace Under Pressure! To her infinite credit, Donna Halper, the DJ who broke Rush in the US in 1974, loves their entire discography to this day and can talk in depth about every song they ever wrote.
I honestly think that's when they truly peaked. Favorite era of rush by far
Those three 80's King Crimson albums are great albums.
I discovered them last year, absolutely spectacular. The live album 'Absent Lovers' is fantastic as well
Don’t forget Asia, which had alumni from Yes, King Crimson and ELP.
I unapologetically loved that first Asia record!
I can forgive forgetting Asia in the heat of the moment...
It always came off as a bunch of musicians who could do anything they wanted, choosing to make boring pop music for a paycheck.
What about Kansas?
They even had one of The Buggles as producer, if I recall correctly!
King Crimson was one of the handful of not embarrassing Prog bands in the '70s and they continued that streak in the '80s.
What makes other prog bands embarrassing?
Why you call them embarassing ?
Also you would call like that Camel or Gentle Giant too ?
Seems that he didn't know what he's talking about.
@@Sephioss My dude, I love Gentle Giant, they introduced me to Rabelais and for that I will be forever grateful, but they also wore shiny satin frilly shirts on stage. Rick Wakeman put on a laser light icecapades show about King Arthur. Prog is an inherently embarassing genre, and as a prog lover I have to admit that my love of Prog has never and will never get me laid (unlike, say, my love of punk or jazz). No one is yelling "hell yeah turn that shit up" whenever I put something like Dr. Z's "Three Parts to My Soul: Spiritus, Manes et Umbra" on the turntable, well except maybe me. All that having been said, 73-74 King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator and a select handful of other (mostly German) bands were on such another plane altogether when it came to their craft, their skill, their aura and aesthetics, their daring, their lyrical ability and their egoless performance ethos, that they transcend and become not embarassing.
@@oliviertruchon5648 my Prog Rock playlist in MusicBee is showing me that I have 237 Prog Rock albums in my collection, gonna go out on a limb here and say I know something about the genre.
King Crimson -Waiting Man Live at Frejus 82 is a thing of beauty.
~~ saw Rush in 1981 - YES in 1984 - King Crimson in 1982 & 84 - Asia in 1982 & 83 - David Gilmour in 1984 - some of the best shows I've ever been to ..
Gilmour '84 would be About Face tour? That was during the very short time he routed out his black strat to have a kahler tremolo (every 80s guitar player had do be able to do a dive bomb) but almost immediately regretted it and put a hunk of wood back in with the original strat bridge. Any memories from that show? did he play All Lovers Are Deranged? Was Rachel Fury in his backup girls yet? How hot was she? Probably super hot.
@@IAmKillEveryone -- yes - About Face was released in early '84 - venue where I saw them was Merriweather Post Pavilion - open air - mid-July - normally very hot & humid near D.C. by then but humidity was taking the day off and Gilmour even mentioned it and was in very good spirits about it - band was amazing - Chris Slade killed it on drums - All lovers are deranged was played - only 3 PF songs - Money - with extended lead jam tradeoffs between Gilmour & Mick Ralphs - Run like Hell - and of course .. Comfortably Numb - if you missed it - this is earlier in the same year from UK .. czcams.com/video/ud-0N4MxkEI/video.html
Lucky bastard
Rub it in why don't you! 😁
In defense of Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse of Reason was a pretty big hit. It ultimately went quadruple platinum. The track Learning to Fly went number 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. And I think it has a number of solid tracks on the album, including One Slip and On the Turning Away.
I agree. It's not as "Floyd" sounding as The Wall and prior albums but it's far better than The Final Cut and still better than anything Waters put out.
Sorrow and Dogs of war are also the bangers. I love also a bit depressing Yet another movie/Round and around and A new machine part1&2
That shitty album proved Waters was the most important member of the group
I love AMLOR. Super underrated. Total movie in your head.
Commercial success doesn't equal quality music
King Crimson got through the 80s the best of all of them. Fantastic music.
Undoubtedly uncompromising. The most progressive-minded of the bunch, they didn't give into the temptation of resorting to formulaic pop piffle.
Hold Your Fire is such an underrated gem of a record. Really heartfelt and uplifting in an aspirational/don't surrender kind of way. And I will defend Tai Shan to my grave.
Agreed. My first Rush album.
First Rush album I ever bought after being introduced to them with Power Windows and Signals. Sorry my friend but I have to always skip Tai Shan!!!! Fantastic album and saw them on the HYF tour in England 1988 (?)
If the band themselves ranked 'I Think I'm Going Bald' over 'Tai Shan', you know it's a stinker. 😅
I'm with you. Tai Shan isn't near any of my top 10 lists but it's still a nice, peaceful tune and I like it.
@@M2Mil7er ouch.
It is tough not to just focus on Rush in a video like this. They did the best job of adapting to this decade but still maintained their proggy integrity.
Agreed. In my opinion, Rush never made a bad album, and the 80s had a great run of music from them. Power Windows is actually my all time favorite.
@@johnhoran9840 Power Windows is a sheer work of art.
Yes, it is. I've listened to it hundreds of times. I only wish Hold Your Fire's production had the same sound. @@robtymec2045
for awhile in the late 80s they became a bit of an "adult contemporary" band with some jazzy prog elements
Yet there was always that incredible drumming to set them apart from the rest.@@shaunsteele6926
After the breakup of King Crimson in 1974, Fripp went on to do a lot of solo and session work where he experimented with his style. He brought his influence into every record he played on and left a larger impression than most people assume. I'd say that he, along with Brian Eno, is one of the biggest reasons the early 80s sounded the way it did. One of the albums he played on and helped influence the stylistic direction of was Talking Heads's Fear of Music.
Genesis is my favorite of the bunch. It’s so unbelievable how many great songs they have made during the 80s
It's a product of it's time and lot's of it is pretty meh. Tame and commercial. Woot. Genesis in the 70's > 80's.
I agree with @@colinburroughs9871here, but there are people I respect who love eighties genesis. I think eighties genesis is mostly AoR with a confused smooshing in of occasional cleverness. Seventies genesis to me is classical literature to the other prog bands' swords and sorcery.
Genesis is top, always fun to listen to
Aside from a couple of MTV friendly songs like Sleepless 80's KC holds up extremely well. There was a good amount of experimental stuff too which is legitimately avant garde (Industry etc). Discipline is easily one of their best albums.
Ever hear the 12" Dance Mix version of "Sleepless"?
Sleepless is a great groove
Discipline for sure their best. Love in the court of the crimson king but it's overrated. Love red but it's still got that one crappy song and it's not as long as discipline.
There is no "crappy" piece on Red. None. Zero.@@ash_11117
@@ash_11117 which one is the crappy song? Can't think of a really bad one, even the improv is nice
A) King Crimson has always been my favourite band and I haven’t seen the 80’s albums as a sort of “adaptation” to that era, but a natural evolution.
B) Not on the list, the band Renaissance, that was a bit mainstream early on did definitely give up most/all of their proggish style and became just another popgroup.
Great video! Really should've made mention of Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins solo work as well. Sledgehammer took over the top spot on the charts from none other than Genesis in July 1986, and had a really cool, groundbreaking video to go with it (the most played video in MTV history). Also, love or hate his solo stuff, Phil Collins 80's pop domination is absolutely remarkable! Another honorable mention, even though they weren't Prog, would be Grateful Dead with Touch of Grey in 1987. The fact that they made the top 10 on the Billboard charts and had a video in heavy rotation on MTV with this track was simply amazing!
Mike And The Mechanics also enjoyed quite a lot of success in the 80's and 90's.
In the summer of ‘86 you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing Phil Collins or Peter Gabriel.
Even Steve Hackett with GTR
Jethro Tull was the Prog Band that really tried everything creatively in the 80s. I love it. A, Broadsword, Under Wraps and Crest of a Knave are awesome!
It didn't all click with me (especially UW), but I've always admired the effort!
I think it could be argued that Subdivisions was the big hit of Rush’s 80s era.
New world man was Rushs only top 40 song, technically
Considering "Tom Sawyer" is their most played song to date, I'd argue not.
@@silhouettoofaman2935 "Tom Sawyer" doesn't fall into the "New Wave 80s" era of Rush, though. I know I said "80s era" in my comment but it was in reference to the video we're commenting on haha!
@@fendergibs Yeah, that's a good point. I think for me Subdivisions just really more captures that era. But an argument could be made either way!
They're both great songs so I'll just listen to both! :)
@@theanalogkid7 Ah, gotcha. In that regards, yes, "Subdivisions" and technically "New World Man" are the big hits of that time.
A lot of prog bands didn't make it through the 80's so I have immense respect for those who did. KC's 80's albums are probably my favourites in their discography, with Red. Great vid!
You had the labels Classical as well as Rock. Very generalized. When we mixed the two it was called classical rock. Too many labels today as everyone tries to break down creativity to it's base like some chemical.
You can add Jethro Tull to the mix. Their albums in the first half of the 80s (A, Broadsword and the Beast and Under Wraps) had lots of synth and New Wave influences.
almost everyone was embracing the synth/new wave sound at that point. If you didn't you were deemed "old fashioned" and didn't get any radio play
Lots of people hate A and Under Wraps though. (Broadsword is pretty awesome though.)
@@TheGerkuman
I ❤ Black Sunday
@@rubengomezocana5974 I like half of A, and Black Sunday is definitely the best track on there.
And Emerson and Lake with Powell too
Power Windows is extremely under appreciated. “Territories” is a dance song that also fits New Wave.
Emotion detector for me.
80s King Crimson is really incredible stuff
Never clicked a video so quickly. Growing up as a teen, I noticed that every prog band I would dive into had this 80s phase with lots of synths and poppy grooves. I loved it! It's always such a vibe when virtuous musicians play pop.
virtuous??
I think it should be noted that a key piece of the 80s KC lineup is Tony Levin, probably one of the best bassists of that era or really any era. He absolutely strengthens every track on Discipline/Beat/Three of a Perfect Pair, but he also worked alot with Peter Gabriel in the same decade. We have him to thank for helping to make tracks like _Sledgehammer_ and _Shock the Monkey_ .
Plus he used the best version of the guitar, the Chapman Stick. In a way, there's three guitarists and one bassists on 80s KC tracks, with Levin compressing the role of guitarist and bassist with one beautiful instrument. We need more Stick in music, shit slaps.
Always loved Discipline and Beat by KC, and Drama by Yes. Some good stuff came out of this era
80's Rush is SOOO much more accessible. I can listen to it anytime but it doesn't sacrifice any of the playing, and lyrically, some of their best content came from the 80's onwards.
Prog Rock epics are great but it's not digestable for everyday listening.
I actively avoid most comments on Genesis, Pink Floyd and Rush band pages because there's always people just needlessly going on about how bad the "Later Years" stuff was.
It's not for everyone but banging on about and putting down 40+ year old albums is kind of sad.
Appreciate the video!
Thank you for mentioning Missing Persons. In my humble opinion, my theory is, Terry Bozzio heard Rush's Moving Pictures & inspired him to write Spring Session M released a year later.
Thanks for this insight about Missing Persons. I had never heard of this band, and instantly liked their output - save perhaps the vocals, just not my style. And you are right, I can hear a lot of early 80’s Rush in there, with quite creative drum parts.
Most of the band are Frank Zappa alumni. Terry was recently a guest on Thomas Lang's CZcams Channel where the discuss Terry's solo on Frank's "Baby Snakes & writing Spring Session M. Terry & Dale were married for several years. Met Date in 1998 at a show on Long Island & met Terry at a drum clinic in Portland Maine in October 2005 with Chad Wackerman & Marco Minneman.
Signals by Rush and 90125 (my #s 4 and 5 albums of all time) shaped my childhood and pre teen years. Couple that with huge portions of Abacab and the Genesis self titled album, plus The Police and Missing Persons, and it was an awesome childhood full of poppish musical complexity. Nice mention of Terry Bozzio as well. It seemed to be the era of the Drummer, as you had Bozzio, Peart, and Stewart Copeland getting as many headlines as anyone else. They still had their style but it was inside a song.
The most New Waveish thing Genesis ever did was probably the song Who Dunnit? from Abacab in 1981. When I first bought the album back then and heard it, I cringed and was saying wtf? to myself over and over, and was frankly embarrassed by it, as I had already been a Genesis diehard since 1975. It seemed like a throwaway track so I just ignored it. But then I saw Genesis on the Abacab Tour and they played Who Dunnit?. Phil was dressed in some bizarre goggles, Rutherford was playing the drums, and Banks I think was wearing a snorkel mask. It was both bizarre, but admittedly funny. I then realized it was Genesis poking fun at both "New Wave" and themselves (hey, we're going to be a New Wave band now). In the context of the concert, it was just 5 minutes of silliness and very lighthearted compared to their usual "serious" persona. Tony Banks' usually complex keyboard sounds were very simple "synth pop" sound that was being played all over MTV by that time. Since Genesis was way too talented to create this seriously, after seeing them do it in concert it was obviously a satiric parody of the direction of music and of themselves. You really should have showed the Who Dunnit? video in this!
In retrospect, the album version of the song Abacab, with its extended instrumental guitar/synth tradeoff and dual drumming is probably the song which most signified a change in sound from the 70s, the more sparse, less dense 80s sound with lyrics that were really nonsense. They created that tune purely out of a band jam, no prewritten songs were brought in for the most part. Yet live, I always thought that song kicked azz.
I saw Genesis in 1980, 81, 82, 84 twice, and 87. I saw Yes on the Drama tour in 1980. After seeing them with the classic lineup in 77, 78 and 79, what a shock that was to see them without Anderson and Wakey. But, the concert was still damn good because I liked the harder edged sound of the Drama album (I thought Tormato sucked, a mess). Obviously when playing the older tunes, I especially missed Wakeman's majestic keyboards. I actually skipped the other 80s "YesWest" tours, as I was less enthused about 90125.
I saw the new Crimson in Jan 1984 in a small on campus college chapel which couldn't have held more than 300! Sat dead center in the 3rd pew, about 20 feet from Bruf's drum kit! Incredible show.
I saw the 87 Delicate Sound of Thunder Tour also, another epic show that was surreal to watch.
Rush I regret not seeing until the late 80s, but still was an active listener throughout the decade. Their run from Permanent Waves through Power Windows was their peak.
I'm a bit surprised you didn't even mention the Prog Supergroup ASIA in this video, given the massive popularity of that 82 debut album, with a simplified streamlined sound that influenced so much of 80s guitar rock. Still think its a great album and got far too much derision thrown at it by a segment of the uber serious snooty "Prog Nerds" division of the fanbase.
Also, no mention of Camel, Peter Gabriel solo. By 1978 PG was wearing a short almost punkish haircut and definitely was exploring different sounds.
"who dunnit" was almost left off the album and "you might recall" or "naminau" was going to be put on instead. i think "who dunnit" was admittedly their homage to Devo, they were fans.
@@ab8817"You Might Recall" was meant to be on the album instead of "Who Dunnit?" and "Naminanu" was part of the supposed Dodo Suite: Naminanu - Dodo/Lurker - Submarine. "Who Dunnit?" was only put on the album at Ahmet Ertegun's insistence.
If you replace the entire B side of Abacab with You Might Recall and the Dodo Suite, it becomes a quite decent album imo.
@@IdiotAmigo thats right! yes and i have seen those re-sequencing uploads on youtube, its very cool to relisten to the album in a whole new way.
@@ab8817 Ahh yes, of course Devo. Can definitely hear that. I was actually thinking it sounded a lot like early XTC myself but I suppose you could say that of a few bands of the era with this one.
80's Crimson's topnotch! The absolute zenith is the Absent Lovers version of Waiting Man
TALK TO EM!!!! 🗣🔥
While I love Rush from the seventies for their musical experimentations and crazy ass song lyrics, I also love their eighties stuff for their just beyond musical competence and singular lyrics that in my opinion are about the best in rock and roll. Hold your fire is likely my favourite rush album with Power Windows number two. The bass on Marathon is beyond prog but ironically is still pretty melodic, the bass in that song almost takes the place of the guitar in establishing the melody.
While I listen to YES stuff from the seventies in awe, I listen to their eighties stuff just as more generally listenable. Maybe because I was too young in the seventies to really be into music and came to it later. The 'song' format was too much in my head so I liked that, but really still paid attention to lyrics.
But nothing from the eighties could approach La Villa Strangiato or Awaken. THose are classics that the will be studying in the coming years as something singular 'bands' who were collective orchestras and composers.
My boomer father thought my taste in music was total crap until he heard La Villa Strangiato. His only complaint was Alex’s guitar sound but he was impressed with Geddy and Neil because there was that stretch (The Ghost Of Aragon?) that sounded impeccably played
Neil's use of the electronic percussion was tastefully done, and it didn't hinder his always impressive chops.
Rare to meet another Rush fan who's an actual fan of HYF and PW. They both trade off 1st and 2nd place spots in my book, depending on my mood.
Alex is well known for complaining that the keyboards were crowding him out on those records, but I think you have an excellent point that the bass was in some ways just as much of a factor there. Geddy's most active bass parts are on the 4 "synth era" records (Signals to Hold Your Fire) and on some songs they really are the melody (I'm thinking in particular of The Enemy Within and Turn The Page).
My ex brother-in-law is an AMAZING bass player, and he said he didn't understand how Geddy could play Turn The Page and sing at the same time without messing one or both up.@@ischmidt
I could go on and on about how amazing Rush as a band was throughout their whole career. They never "sold out," so to speak; they may have changed their sound a little over the years, but musically they were still distinctly Rush. The lyrics were still intelligent and philosophical, the instrumentals, while simpler than their earlier work, were still tight and varied, and of course there remained the masterful percussion of the professor himself Neil Peart.
Throughout the late 70s, Rush (or perhaps more properly Peart, who sort of dragged the rest of the band with him) was very much into reggae and New Wave. When it was Neil's turn to control the tape deck on the bus, it was more often than not Bob Marley; for about thirty years, Neil curated a mixtape/playlist of songs he liked for every tour which would get played over the PA before a Rush show, and in tours of the UK in the late 70s, he'd include a Police track which would cause the (basically metalhead) audience to boo for a few minutes. A Philadelphia concert promoter also infamously booked Blondie to open for Rush around that time. So the adapting of New Wave norms (which started in earnest in January 1980's "Permanent Waves"... the name of that album itself meaning that there is no "New Wave", just permanently good music) came because they marinated themselves in that sound for years.
Neil would later write that a lot of musicians who defined themselves by virtuosity couldn't adapt to punk and new wave. "What am I going to do? Forget how to play?" Some figured out how to do interesting things in the new style and were joined by punks whose chops grew to the point that they could play as well as the prog masters (e.g. Sting and Summers (though not Copeland, who was a prog drummer before The Police)) and thrived in the 80s. Peart hypothesized that there was a cycle in popular music, where when the music on the radio got too far beyond what 3-4 teenagers in their garage could reasonably expect to be able to play along to they'd create something new that they could play. The new scene would sweep almost everything aside (a few masters from the old would adapt) and then become more complex as the new masters explored and learned how to write and play, and the cycle would turn.
"Wave after wave will flow with the tide and bury the world as it does. Tide after tide will flow and recede leaving life to go on as it was."
Thela Hun Ginjeet is just so good. But the Invisible Touch I could do without ever hearing again.
The prog rock 80's transformations have always been very interesting to me, superficially it seems like them cashing in, "writing pop tunes is easy for us, let's get rich" and I think there is an element of that, but I also think it has a lot to do with acknowledging prog was limiting their audience and musicians ultimately want to connect with people and create experiences that resonate. I love this period, esp. what Yes, Asia, GTR, and Genesis did.
I hate it. 80s pop music was such a fucking joke its a shame these amazing bands watered themselves down so puffy haired nobodies would like their music.
80s Rush is probably my favorite era of the band!
Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire are albums I've listened to countless times and still do now.
Thanks for this, I would never had realised that 80’s King Crimson was a very single influence on many a jazz prog metal band, or could sit side by side with my other pop prog favourites like the Police or Ozriks… awesome man!!!
Thanks for this video! I'm so sick of progheads talking about this era of these bands as if they brought the plague. I absolutely love early prog, but I love all these bands' 80s period just as much. There's room for everything, and how progressive is it to stick to one type of sound or music your whole carreer? I so much enjoy songs that have a great hook and dont last 20 minutes as well. There's beauty in tight songwriting, hell even in cheesiness.
I love cheesy 80's pop almost as much as 70's prog, IDC IDC lol. I'm not a big enough music nerd to say if it's "good music", but IDC I'm still listening to it.
I’d love if you did a video on The Cult. They basically changed sound every album from 84-94 which usually ended up working in their favor, while still sounding like The Cult.
you dont need cymbals if you're in the Southern Death Cult
The Cult was super underrated. The Doors 2.0
The 80s king crimson line up is the best 4 piece rock ensemble of all time they walk the line of progressive songwriting and accessibility better than anyone man. They also had such an incredible mix of humor and art bro i literally could not praise them anymore. Thank you for making this video this topic doesnt get nearly enough attention
great video!
The least "Prog" thing those bands could have done is keeping their 70's style. Instead, they truly PROGressed, embraced new styles and morphed their sound. All those bands ( especially crimson) were still highly innovative and experimental in the 80's, they just became less " rock".
except most of them returned to the 70s style by the 90s lol
@@shaunsteele6926 for the most part, yes. But many kept elements of their 80's sound ( "Construction Of Light" by King Crimson or " Roots To Branches" by Jethro Tull for example) or incorporated newer elements from the 90's ("Thrak"and " The Power To Believe" by King Crimson draw from both 90's alternative and from Progressive Metal). But overall, I sadly agree. Most of these bands either disbanded or stopped evolving, i.e. stopped being Prog. I loved the latest releases by Yes and Eloy for example, but they are just retro.
The 80s were the last great decade for pop radio (some AOR stations also added a poppier element , so it wasn't just Top 40) and the prog giants' evolution really lent the era a sense of sophistication. Add in great 80s albums from even older bands like the Kinks and the Who, who also embraced technology and even made a couple of solid dancefloor bangers, and you get 3 generations going on four making amazing music. I'm so glad other people love this era. I listen to this music now and I have dreams about people and things I haven't thought about in years . . . crazy.
PS: Gotta add to the chorus of Rush fans chiming in . . . .Grace Under Pressure was my first Rush album (and tour). I knew the big hits from Moving Pictures, but I bought it after Grace because once you get the Rush bug, it stays in your system. I was a New Wave girl but also just a rock chick, and one of my besties was a phenomenal drummer. I had already started playing bass, and he pushed me to learn most of the Rush back catalog.
Don't forget Styx. In the 70s they had great prog songs like "Fooling Yourself" & "Suite Madame Blue". In the 80s they had new wave songs like "Too much time on my hands" & "Mr Roboto".
Always loved Styx but they were like Prog Lite. It was hard to really think of them as a prog band especially with so much mainstream radio airplay. Actually Yes had quite a bit of mainstream airplay in the 70's as well (Sweet Dreams, Starship Trooper, Seen All Good People, Roundabout) but their long form and complex album work definitely set them apart. To me Styx is like the less adventurous brother of Kansas. Love them both though.
@@rembeadgc I found them both pretty adventurous at times, but both Styx & Kansas are prog-lite. But let's not forget about all the commercial music from Genesis, Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd and even.........ELP. Pretty much if the band was famous, they dabbled outside the standard prog genre.
This is a great video. Rush and Genesis certainly sailed the 80s with style. One worth mentioning is Jethro Tull - the dramatic shift on A (which I love), and a genuine hit album in Crest of a Knave.
Crest won the Metal Grammy in 1989 beating out Metallica And Justice for All. Hilarious
I feel so very prog having watched this. I must now search for a power pop video to return me back to home base.
RUSH mixing prog.with new wave Is awesome!!!
No mention of Tull? How prog of you.
Perhaps he just thought Tull was doing more of the usual "we do everything so well and ably" that they weren't sufficiently embarassing to be put here, but I disagree. Under Wraps deserved some attention, even though I genuinely think it is good shi
Tull be hippies.
Under Wraps was a train wreck. But they started down that synthy road with A and the excellent Broadsword. Then they won a Grammy with Crest of a Knave, with its drum machine lead single, Steel Monkey.@@andreborges2881
@@andreborges2881 everything they did from A (yet another prog project that began life as a different name but the gradual rebandification of the sessioneers necessitated a rebrand) through 'crest of a knave' was as radical a change as rush's was in the 1980s via the heavy use of synths, and even anderson's lyrics moving away from familiar bucolic themes to songs about skyscrapers, motorcars, and femme fatale cold war spies.
@@andreborges2881 one of the most notable (probably meant as an underhanded compliment at the time) critique about under wraps that 'if you took out ian's voice, you'd have ultravox'
nailed it... "it should be contemptible, but it's infectious. dammit." nice coverage. that comment re: genesis, who never recovered. crimson did some great work in that era and went on to do more under-covered stuff... last couple of albums are amazing, and the recent live shows with 3 drummers have been utterly epic. I've seen 3 of them. oh, and Peter Gabriel just released a new album at age 73 and it's pretty good. if I'm still eating solid food at 73 I'll be happy.
Rush handled the 80's the best of all these groups IMO. Genesis and Rush are my two favourite bands of all time, but I struggle with post Duke Genesis, with the exception of a few songs here and there. Rush didn't strip the music down like Genesis did, they just evolved their sound while maintaining the complexity and the cerebral nature of the music.
After Gabriel left, Genesis turned into a pop band, IMO. A lot of good music post Gabriel but not prog at that point.
@@66limelight No they didn't. Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering era Genesis are still prog. It was after Hackett left that they became poppier.
@@66limelightLol, One For The Vine and Burning Rope both have something like 40 modulations, I'm very confident more than any of the Gabriel era songs, even the overrated Supper's Ready.
@@66limelight Have you heard A Trick of the Tail, Wind & Wuthering & And then there were three?? They are all prog rock albums. It's starting to slip by ATTWT obviously, but for a relatively short time the band were probably at their peak in terms of musicianship and composition in the two years after Gabriel left and before Hackett went.
I think that Genesis became completely pop after Duke. From Abacab onwards you can definitely tell some prog elements, but they are too diluted and don't really stand out that much. Still there are some really good songs like Mama IMO
My uncle is a singer,and had a cd box set of a Time Life Best of the 1980s."Learning to Fly " from Pink Floyd was one of my favorite songs on it as a kid
For Rush, I would have made many points about "Grace Under Pressure" REALLY showing the New Wave influence, with guitarists such as "Paul Reynolds" (Flock of Seagulls), "The Edge" (U2) and "Midge Ure" (Ultravox) for Alex Lifeson and his deep reverb & echo added to his signature guitar tone.
Also lets not forget (though many would want to) *Kansas* and their 2nd an last album with vocalist John Elefante; "Drastic Measures" which is VERY New Wave/Prog (except for "Mainstream"), with a 80's Pop quality but with the Kansas sound by a thread. It was Kerry Livgren that said "The album that should not have been called Kansas", but I actually enjoy it.
Their next 2 albums would be Pop influenced but they also had some standout proggier tunes with "Steve Morse" on guitar (with Rich Williams respectively) and new member "Billy Greer" would be their longest running Bassist.
*Asia* is another, but I guess not-so "New Wave" affiliated but an 80's pop sound to their type of Prog Rock, much like Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", both I quite enjoyed. I especially liked "Yet Another Movie" and "One Slip".
*Saga* the Canadian Neo-Progressive Rock band started getting that New Wave vibe on "Heads or Tales" (1983) and then went full 80's Prog Pop with a touch of New Wave on "Behaviour" (1985), "Wildest Dreams" (1987), "A Beginners Guide to Throwing Shapes" (1989) and 2 more albums until going FULL Prog with their excellent conceptual album "Generation 13" (1995).
*Jethro Tull* and albums; "A" (1980), "The Broadsword and the Beast" (1982), "Under Wraps" (1984) either had a few tracks or all out New Wave or 80's Pop influences.
*Premiata Forneria Marconi* (PFM)" had; "Come ti va in riva alla città" (1981), "PFM? PFM!" (1984), "Miss Baker" (1987) with New Wave/80's Prog-Pop.
*Eloy* albums; "Performance" (1983), "Metromania" (1984) very much influenced by New Wave (and may have lost its many fans).
*Crack the Sky* and; "White Music" (1980), "Photoflamingo" (1981) with its Punk/New Wave inspirations, "World in Motion 1" (1982), "Raw" (1986), "From the Greenhouse" (1989) Prog-Pop/New Wave.
*3* (Keith Emerson, Robert Berry, Carl Palmer); "To the Power of Three" (1988) with its touches of New Wave and Prog-Pop, though "Desde la Vida" is probably the Proggiest of tracks (the standout track for me, and the single "Talkin' About").
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush were creating their own versions of "New Wave". And if it wasn't for the Ensemble Comedy show "Fridays", I would have not dived into King Crimson, but their appearance on the program blew my socks off. I vaguely knew about them (but knew Bill Bruford), and proceeded to buy the 3 "Primary Color Albums" and then went backwards into their catalogue.
Genesis after "ABACAB" was hit or miss with me, though I do enjoy the self-titled album.
Yes was re-vitalized with Trevor Rabin, and it would be my 1st time to see them on the "90125" Tour, and for "Big Generator" and then finally going backwards fully into their catalogue. But "Talk" (1994) is on my Top 5 Yes albums along with "Drama" (1980) which was my 1st real exposure to the band (even though hearing their famous tracks on AOR Radio), and I _thought_ the vocals were Jon Anderson at that time.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that our weird sub-set of Proggies are particularly keen to bang out self-referential videos, there’s so much about prog on CZcams. But this is an absolute banger of a mini-doc. Awesome piece of work, thanks Man.
I saw Floyd on the MLoR tour at Manchester Maine Road in '88. Definitely in my all time top five of live bands I've seen. Others are The Who at the NEC, Pearl Jam at the Bercy in Paris, Elbow at Wolves Civic, and The Robben Ford Band at Ronnie Scotts.
Although lesser known at first, Split Enz started off as an art rock/prog band but by about 1978 or '79 embraced a much more streamlined pop band with a lot of cool quirks.
Saw them on Solid Gold, for I Got You.
@@robertmccoy9901 Another highlight was seeing them perform "I Hope I Never" on Fridays. Their level of musicianship was always at a very high level. ♥️♥️♥️👍👍👍
Mental Notes is AMAZING! They lost their edge when they lost Phil Judd.
Another fantastic video from you. Thank you for making these, I truly enjoy your explorations of lesser discussed eras in music.
Thank you! I truly appreciate that.
12:14 Perfect editing that made me chuckle. I love how your script acknowledges and makes the most of the footage you're using at the time. It's a little detail a lot of channels don't bother with. Good attention to detail: how prog of you.
I love this bit too!
amazing video! your writing is super informative yet absolutely personal and honest. happy to hear your pov is very pro-pop and praising these very different albums and what makes them special. also respect for using whole clips with audio o7
Dude your channel is awesome. I've gone back thru all your older videos, and as I have a damaged brain, I love your particular brand of sonic discourse. Keep up the good work.
The ending made me laugh 😂
The 80’s had some of the best entries of these band’s discographies. Great video!
Love that you mentioned Missing Persons in connection with Rush. Cool, friend.
Just binged the whole playlist and subscribed. Love this kind of content.
Thanks for putting this together and saying some thing I've been thinking. Such a unique time for prog with many overlooked bangers
80s King Crimson is so good I actually think I like it more than their 70s output
Genesis in the 80s was still pretty good. Duke is still one of the band's top albums, and it started their pop/80s area. It gets too much hate. And Genesis is probably my favorite prog band
Duke is unique for its synthesizer sounds. No other album like it, not even by Genesis.
Turn it ooooonnnn.... turn it on again...
Ill say it since nobody else will. Signals and power windows are incrediblely underrated rush albums that deserve way more recognition
This mostly-overlooked topic is great. When putting together a playlist in YT Music called The Sounds of Science, I noticed how much mid 80s danceable music was created by former 70s prog rockers.
I thought you brought a great balanced approach to this, and your script was excellent.
My nomination for additonal mini-chapter would be Asia, qualifying as a veteran prog supergroup standing in for ELP.
No band was better at taking complex music and making it accessible for people that weren’t even into Prog as Rush was. Even an album like Hold Your Fire where most of it sounds extremely poppy, there’s just so much going on underneath it all. If you were a long time fan of them, what a journey it was from album to album. Not too many bands changed their sound as much as they did while still sounding like no other band. They were just so damn unique, I love it all.
Great video. Love all these bands …cheers from Rio 🎊🥰
Hey, i wanted to say thanks for the video! Ive never been a prog rock fan or of most 80s stuff, but i really enjoy hearing people breakdown the music they’ve listened to.
Thanks so much for this. Brings back MANY MANY memories.
I always felt like rush by the virtue of being a bit younger than a lot of other prog bands where a lot more open to this. There's a reoccuring trope where alex lifeson will go from playing an agressive riff to suddenly sounding like Jonny Marr and it always works.
Yes! I definitely hear Johnny Marr in some of his playing, but you're the first person I've seen actually mention that.
Always been a huge Rush fan, today I learned about Johnny Marr!
I prefer 70's prog, epic, shrieking Geddy Lee, epic solo Rush to anything else but I will say that Power Windows is a masterpiece. And one of my all time favorites. Every song on that record is a banger.
This was really well put together. Kudos!
Thanks for making this video. I've been thinking about this very subject a lot recently, so it came along at the perfect time for me!
I feel like Jethro Tull should also be included, but I guess you need to draw a line somewhere.
Feel free to make a series of videos about each of these individual bands... maybe even ALL about their '80s output!
It never fails to capture me- 80s King Crimson still holds up amazingly, especially for how little it ever receives airtime. I still prefer 70s, nothing beats LTiA and Red, but still...
I loved the sound of Red, checked it out after discovering the 80s lineup. Only thing 'wrong' with Red, is I wish there were more tracks.
@@ThomB1031Larks Tongues in Aspic has more of the raw "Red" sound. LTiA pt II is honestly one of my favourite KC songs. Amazing live, especially the concert in Frejus that's on Bruford's CZcams channel.
@@cherrypepsi2815 agreed. I believe both versions 2 and 3 are in the 'Absent Lovers' concert cd.
“Started counting to 4…” OMG, That’s hilarious!!!
Thrilled to be in the company of such fine weirdos. Cheers, folks.
Also, no one ever seems to talk about Hold Your Fire, but I love that album. Thanks for talking about it.
Brilliant video, man! Great narrative. Whimsical musings. Astute observations. Loved this video!!
How can you leave out Asia (not a 70s Prog band, but formed from them) or Emerson Lake and Powell (not Palmer)? More importantly, there's The Fixx. They have always been viewed as a New Wave band, but put aside the 4/4 time and short songs, and you'll see all of the elements of Prog: the philosophical lyrics, the deeper meanings, the highly technical playing. It's all there, they just arrived too late for the 1970s.
Yeah, ELPo's "Touch and Go" was a definite jump into the 80s. Forgotten track.
The Fixx were deeply influential on Rush, or at least Alex Lifeson, in the 80s. To the extent that Rush hired The Fixx's producer Rupert Hine for Presto. (Rupert is possibly best known for producing and playing most of the instruments on Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me", which he also included members of The Fixx on).
@@ischmidt And several Chris de Burgh albums, among others.
And the soundtrack for the hilarious John Cusack film, "Better Off Dead".
Wow. I can’t believe your subscription count is where it is. It should be much much higher.
You have made a video worthy of historical music study. This is a trend in music that always intrigued me. My personal favorite Yes album is Big Generator, but the majority of songs they made that I like are before that actual album. Nicely done.
Great video. I haven't heard any of these LPs, just a few songs, and you've made me want to check them out.
I think Rush constantly improved and did some of their best work in the 80's. Their albums were more mature and consistent and they cut out some of their more weird tendencies from the 1970's, like concept albums and sci-fi/fantasy stuff and 25 minute songs. They were much tighter in the 80's.
Neil's lyrics were far more real and relatable in the 80s. I turned 50 not long ago and Time Stand Still hits harder than a freight train, whereas I have no immediate plans to fly any ships into black holes a la Cygnus X-1. And the playing's not only tighter on the 80s records, but it feels more effortless. Geddy's craziest basslines are all on Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire. I don't understand how it's physically possible to play and sing "Turn The Page" or "The Enemy Within" at the same time and I've seen him do it live multiple times.
Whats wrong with concept albums or sci fi or fantasy themes ? its " immature " for you ?
Interesting and cool video
I would have possibly made space for including Asia in it. I understand why you didn't (them not being a 70s prog band, but an 80s supergroup full of 70s prog musicians)
Excellent insights and some bits I wasn't familiar with that will make me go back and relisten to some things, particularly Rush (and not so much Genesis). Thanks.
Power Windows is Rush's most artistically salient piece of work imho, delicious
This video has a *really* great vocal mix. The voiceover sounds warm and intimate, like a conversation in the lounge with a beer. Whatever equipment / settings you're using (or not using) it sounds great. Thumbs up 👍
how prog of him
Pretty awesome video! Wished you could’ve tackled ELP as they are just as quintessentially 70’s prog as these others but still enjoyed this.
Fantastic video. Enjoyed every second of it. Thanks for posting.
Loved this ..and love your style and substance..how very prog of you 😊
Great video! I think Asia would’ve been worth covering too
Drama is actually my favorite Yes album, it retains the prog but also has the new wave tinge and even some metal influence.
I love how Crimson trying to go new wave/80s pop is still weird af
King Crimson didn't purposely "go new wave" and certainly not pop. By 1980 Fripp was exploring all new electronic sounds, worked with Eno, Peter Gabriel etc. Then he meets Belew who had the Talking Heads influences. When you put it all together, the old more symphonic orchestral but also harder edged Crimson naturally morphs into a more electronic slightly more accessible Crimson. They weren't trying to be Flock of Seagulls or the Human League.
for someone who's always loved 70s prog and has now been obsessively rediscovering 80s new wave pop, this is one of the best videos I've ever seen
would love to see a similar breakdown on 70s punk going into 80s post-punk/goth
That would make a great video
that's insane how you perfectly timed your script to start at the beginning of Vital Signs and then cut to the reggae groove. great video