Italian Progressive Rock
Created | Updated Sep 19, 2004
When finding yourself in a conversation regarding the country of Italy you will no doubt be given many references to its charming culture, delicious food and fine wine, its elegant theatre and commanding operatic figures, of romantic trips on the waters of Venice and of the magestic Roman countryside. However, you will find that not many people know that Italy sit in the upper echylons of a certain musical genre...Progressive Rock!!!
History
Progressive Rock - The word counjures up a thousand images. Men wearing silly costumes, long instrumental breaks, inexplicably long and confusing concept albums about other dimensions where demons and wizards fight for lofty but pointless goals. But look beyond this what appears is probably one of the more complex and exiting genres of music to rise to prominance.
Whereas most people are at least aware of the English Prog bands, beyond this they are not to sure. Rest assured that, Prog was not just an English sensation. All around the world, students donned their capes, dusted off their mellotrons, and became knights of prog. Most prominent of these was Italy
Behind England, Italy had the biggest prog audience, even helping the careers of some English bands If it hadn't have been for the Italian audiences, Genesis might have not lasted long enough to become as famous as they did), as well as developing their own bands. In fact, the evolution of the genre is almost identical in the two countries, with late 60s psychedelica/pop developing into prog in the early 70s before dying out by the end of the decade. However, despite this, there were quite a few differences between the Italian and English styles. Both concentrated on writing extended pieces.
