In the mid-1970s, progressive rock lost its luster, finding itself stuck in a straitjacket that no longer responded to the creative impulses that had propelled it a few years earlier. Fifty years later, young musicians freely take up the codes, but above all, the original spirit of the movement.
“The prog has lost some of its artistic credibility because it seems that people were forcing themselves to create something super elitist and complicated, rightly argues David Marchand, guitarist of the Quebec group zouz. It was losing its value and its scope, it just seemed to appeal to other musicians. The biggest trap is to plot to make a flat 9 or a 13 chorde, fuck that shit, man ! At worst, you notice it afterwards and it’s a nice surprise, but if you plan it, you take away all the magic and the surprise that makes it exciting for us as well as for the people who can listen to us. We must leave room for beautiful accidents. ”
“Progressive rock has experienced an aesthetic revolution that corresponded to a vision of the world, from the moment this motivation ceased to exist, the industry took charge, illustrates for his part the ethnomusicologist Gérald Côté, professor at Laval University. The disco then came to kill the prog; styles evolve like a pendulum, when you go too far to the left, it bounces off the right. “
Try dancing to some progressive music… the dance floors needed new music.
Gérald Côté, ethnomusicologist
Progressive rock experienced some ups and downs in the 1980s with the neo-prog wave worn by bands like Marillion and Saga, after which it picked up on the metal side with bands like Dream Theater and Voivod. It is at the turn of the new millennium that the popular successes of groups like Radiohead and Muse give the measure of a new phenomenon which is on the way to define the post-prog niche, which is asserting itself more and more, with less in fewer complexes.
“Today we have access to everything simultaneously, there is nothing dominant, we are now entering the Walmart of music, laughs Gérald Côté. Today, each musical point of view is a particular identity space. We all have musical personalities, that’s postmodern reality. Everything is accessible, there is no longer any major current, except what is supported by big industry. ”
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
The Québécois neo-prog group Mystery enjoys a great notoriety in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, where it recorded its album. live Caught in the Whirlwind of Time, launched in November 2020.
“Today, the public is much more accessible, lots of people tell us that they discovered us through Apple Music or Spotify, corroborates his side Michel St-Père, of the Quebec group Mystery. They listen to a couple of Genesis and Dream Theater tunes and then click on Mystery’s suggestion next to it. It certainly plays on the renewal of the progressive. We type “progressive rock” in our search engine and a whole new world opens up to us. ”
Post-prog
This is how groups like Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, Tool and The Mars Volta began to reclaim certain aspects of progressive rock by clearly displaying the desire to experiment in a wide sound spectrum, in the manner of the pioneers of the kind.
Founded in 1999, the independent record label KScope is dedicated to promoting artists from the contemporary progressive scene. “These groups have restored the desire to experiment with eclectic musical sources in order to produce something meaningful here and now,” said Johnny Wilks, director of artist recruitment at KScope. I also think there is less snobbery between musical genres, and music fans are more open to new music.
“Also, there are major magazines and radio shows that support the genre, whereas it was previously confined to a page or column in a monthly publication,” continues Johnny Wilks. The magazine Prog, for example, showcases great emerging artists from around the world. ”
Quebecer Alex Henry Foster is one of the artists who has been highlighted by the magazine Prog, who aired a live performance by the musician and his band The Long Shadows last May.
“We are not talking about a phenomenon as such, but there is indeed a scene that is being created,” says the Drummondville musician. For their part, fans are rediscovering new sensations, things they had forgotten, this is often done live given that the relationship to the record is less convincing today. All this brings a certain creative freedom to the fore; there are no more genres, no musical trends, we are suggested things that straddle the categories, there is a real democratization of genres. ”
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Francis Ledoux and David Marchand, of the Montreal group zouz, on tour in several cities of Quebec until mid-December
The young singer-songwriter himself has never dreamed of characterizing his own music, but he is comfortable with the fact that we integrate his post-rock riddled with long ethereal improvisations into the post-nebula. prog.
“People are slowly starting to reclaim the term ‘progressive,’ he argues. You never want to be associated with something very fixed, but the term has become more democratic, it has been cleared of customs. Now, young musicians want to share their music and it takes root in King Crimson or Genesis, even if it is sometimes unconscious. There is a new generation of kids arriving and discovering sensations without having to go back to their grandparents’ record collections. It’s after that that young people realize that Pink Floyd is not just a t-shirt at Walmart! ”