The Beatles, Prog Rock And America

There has been some talk lately of the 40th anniversary of "Revolver". This is a masterpiece, by the way, and is almost universally recognized as such, almost. There are those who say that is only the Beatles hadn't gone all freaky with "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper" than rock music would have never been infected with pretension, and the world would never have had to suffer through Man O' War's 35 minute heavy metal version of the Illiad. This is simply unfair.

True, The Beatles had their place in the development of Prog-Rock, but they are not wholly responsible for, and certainly not guilty of, its worst excesses. Don't forget about the Who. (A Quick One While He's Away, Tommy) and don't forget about the power of culture.

Notice how most of the earliest art-rock bands (Yes, Emerson-Lake-and Palmer, Pink Floyd) were British. British children experience a more "classical" education than Americans do, complete with Mozart, Verdi, and Beethoven. Any Englishman who picks up an instrument feels more pressure to make "serious" music than a Yankee does. This also somewhat applies to Canada (Rush) which has always been; culturally and politically, more loyal to daddy than the U.S.
Keep in mind that Rock'nRoll is our music, descended from our own blue-collar folk music traditions. It's funny how we are more conservative than our old European oppressors about so many things, yet populist to the point of anarchist when it comes to art and culture. The idea that an artist should try as hard as he/she can to show how much he/she is just like everyone else is uniquely American. From this perspective than, European prog-rock acted as a sort of nationalism. An attempt by alums of the Queen's art shools to seperate themselves from American crudity.

One should also avoid the reverse snobbery of dismissing all art-rock out of hand. Proggers who covered traditional anti-authoritarian rock themes (Pink Floyd) made some truly great music. For the best proof that brainy rock music has its place, look no further than post-punk. Punk music was supposed to clense rock music of the 15 minute drug songs of the 70's, and this was necessary to a point. Yet as soon as Punk gained a place in society; we had Television and the Talking Heads, getting all artsy and smart-ass on us.

The populist ethos of rock can reach a point where it itself becomes oppressive. We all love to brag. Some people like to brag about how often they get laid, or how poor they are. Others like to brag about how smart they are, or how far they can drag out a gutar riff. It's the same thing. We can emphesize the blue-collar roots of rock music all we want. We can launch as many reform movements and purges against heretical nerds that we want. But the fact is that Rock is music, and therefore it is art; and any form of art will always attract people who want to show off their brains. Just think how much poorer the world would be if "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was the most ambitious thing rock'n roll had ever done.