When punk rose up in England around 1976-78, one of its
purposes was to slay the grandiose, out-of-touch, silly beast that progressive
rock had become. I’m not so sure that punk killed prog (it was never anywhere
near the level of commercial force as prog, especially in the states), but the
fact of the matter is that punk endured while prog went into an extended
hibernation. A few bands such as Porcupine Tree attempted to revive the
disgraced genre in the ‘90s, with mixed success.
Then, around the turn of the century, prog became a little
less uncool. Critics started reevaluating bands like Yes and Gentle Giant. The
post-hardcore powerhouse At the Drive-In morphed into The Mars Volta,[1]
a band that redefined musical excess for the twenty-first century, releasing
between one and three great albums in the process, depending on who you ask.[2]
Suddenly it was acceptable for punks to admit that they liked King Crimson or
Hawkwind.
