Progressive rock

Progressive rock
King Crimson, one of the most important and influential progressive rock bands
Stylistic origins	Rock pop progressive proto-prog psychedelic rock acid rock jazz folk classical
Cultural origins	Mid to late 1960s, United Kingdom and United States
Derivative forms	Krautrock symphonic pop new-age music
Subgenres
Canterbury scene neo-progressive rock Rock in Opposition
Fusion genres
Avant-prog progressive metal
Regional scenes
Italy Mexico
Other topics
Arena rock art rock art music concept album experimental rock hard rock new wave progressive pop post-progressive rock opera

Progressive rock (shortened as prog; sometimes art rock, classical rock or symphonic rock) is a broad subgenre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid to late 1960s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening, not dancing.

Prog is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism. Due to its historical reception, prog's scope is sometimes limited to a stereotype of long solos, overlong albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While the genre is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture, few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only a handful of groups purposely emulated or referenced classical music.

The genre coincided with the mid 1960s economic boom that allowed record labels to allocate more creative control to their artists, as well as the new journalistic division between "pop" and "rock" that lent generic significance to both terms. Prog saw a high level of popularity in the mid 1970s, but faded soon after. Conventional wisdom holds that the rise of punk rock caused this, although in reality a number of factors contributed to the decline. Music critics, who often labelled the concepts as "pretentious" and the sounds as "pompous" and "overblown", tended to be hostile towards the genre or to completely ignore it. After the late 1970s, progressive rock fragmented in numerous forms; some bands achieved commercial success well into the 1980s, albeit with changed lineups and more compact song structures, and some crossed into symphonic pop, arena rock, or new wave.