Comments on: Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy: The Progressive Rock connection

By: Adam Wright

Adam Wright — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 07:39:01 +0000

I’ve been following Cinema Suicide for a while now, and this has to be one of my favorite posts yet. A big thumbs up for including Univers Zero in this list; their music is some of the creepiest, darkest, most terrifying prog ever. Some other recommendations that fit into this horror/fantasy/prog connection are Magma and Shub Niggurath, both dark French prog bands from the 70′s that were involved in the strange “Zheul” prog scene that had some overt fantastic overtones. Shub Niggurath in particular is fearsome stuff that even outdoes UZ in the skincrawl department.

By: Bryan White

Bryan White — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:58:39 +0000

Dude. ELO was another one I struggled with. I mostly blame my unfamiliarity with them apart from the singles. Anything that didn’t make the list here is mostly due to ignorance. I got a grilling earlier for not talking Magma’s ‘De Futura’.

So I’m officially inviting everyone to offer their own favorites. If you love some prog that I left off this admittedly short list, put in this space.

By: Troy Z

Troy Z — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:30:32 +0000

Let’s not overlook progrock definitives Electric Light Orchestra’s android paean “Yours Truly, 2095,” from the album “Time,” a concept album about time travel (that’s this article’s trifecta right there).

Lyricsproof:

“…I drive the very latest Hover car / I don’t know where you are / But I miss you so much till then / I met someone who looks a lot like you / She does the things you do / But she is an IBM…
“She’s only programmed to be very nice / But she’s as cold as ice / Whenever I get too near /She tells me that she likes me very much / But when I try to touch / She makes it all too clear / She is the latest in technology / Almost mythology / But she has a heart of stone / She has an I.Q. of one thousand and one / She has a jump suit on / And she’s also a telephone…
“I realize that it must seem to strange / That time has rearranged / But time has the final word / She knows I think of you, she reads my mind / She tries to be unkind / She knows nothing of your world / Although her memory banks overflow / No one would ever know / For all she says is “Is that what you want?” / Maybe one day I’ll feel her cold embrace / And kiss her interface / Until then I’ll leave her alone”

By: Bryan White

Bryan White — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:11:11 +0000

I gave a lot of consideration to including The Wall on this list but it always struck me as more of a biography with scary touches than anything else. I also wanted to address Lisztomania, the Ken Russell flick because Rick Wakeman followed up King Arthur with the score to that movie but that’s more about the cult of celebrity than anything else. There are so many examples to cite. The genre is just exploding with spooks and cheese and when other rock bands got theatrical, they took on aspects of progressive rock. It’s hard to figure out where to draw the line at times.

By: craig61

craig61 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:07:02 +0000

A well made connection of media genres, especially from a sci-fi/fantasy POV. Just look at all those Yes album covers by renown album cover illustrator Roger Dean. Full of futuristic and Lord of the Rings-esque imagery. And Rick Wakeman’s keyboard flutters made their sound all the more otherworldly.

And there are the seminal Pink Floyd concept albums full of psychological horror, sound effects and a welcome to a dystopian reality (Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm in particular) that all painted a picture down the road to madness. Granted their Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall albums were in part about Pink Floyd’s original singer/songwriter Syd Barrett (who tripped on LSD too much and went bonkers).

One questionable band, they were never labeled as a progressive band but their concept albums had progressive qualities, were The Who. Their classic album Tommy certainly contains some horrific imagery with religious fanatics, child abuse, substance abuse and social deprivation. Ken Russell’s cinematic version certainly exploited themes.

The Who’s follow up album, Who’s Next, was originally slated to be called Lifehouse. A futuristic story of an environmentally damaged world where people all live in life pods, their only connection with other people is through a vast network known as the grid (a foreshadowing of the internet and Facebook for sure). And Pete Townshend’s use of synthesizers was as daring at the time as anything ELP had done.

The Who’s next album, Quadrophenia, certainly delved into the madness of schizophrenia through the hell of adolescence. And while that might sound bleak, its my favorite by the band.

The connection between prog-rock and horror films wouldn’t be complete (not that this small bit I’ve added is anywhere near the full picture of the prog-rock bands) without the mention of Welcome To My Nightmare, the concept album by Alice Cooper. Hell, Alice Cooper practically invented the genre of horror rock with his theatrical stage shows alone. Whether staging beheadings, garish costumes & makeup or in at least one instance the evisceration of a live chicken with the interaction of his audience.

I guess it could be noted that Brian DePalma’s Phantom of the Paradise (a rock version of the Phantom of the Opera) was a possible response to all the prog-rock horror going on back in the 1970s. Scary stuff indeed.