On Air

Epoch

Progressive
This program is currently unscheduled.

A musical journey of epic proportions. This show is a bit of a throwback to the old Progressive Rock radio format of the late 60s and 70s, except that the music I play is not limited to rock. You might also hear jazz, classical, electronic, metal and whatever else I feel like playing from pretty much any genre out there. I also play local music from Long Island and NYC artists. If I have guests, then you'll probably hear stuff they like, and perhaps a bit of talk. Chances are you'll hear something familiar as well as some stuff you've never heard before.

What is Progressive Rock?

Progressive rock isn't really a genre, it's more of a mixing of genres. It was first coined in 1966 by a rock journalist in reference to British psychedelic and Acid Rock bands that played underground dance clubs like the UFO club - which often booked bands like The Pink Floyd Sound, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Jeff Beck, Procol Harum, The Soft Machine, The Nice, and Tomorrow. In the article, he said that progressive rock bands attempted to challenge the limitations of the 3 minute pop song by borrowing aspects of jazz, folk, and classical music. Songs got longer as jams got longer, more experimental, and they developed more into composed "pieces of music". It often crossed over with Jazz Fusion and Heavy Metal.

Bands and artists like Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground and The Moody Blues popularized and set the groundwork for the sound in the late 60s, but British bands like King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Genesis and Emerson Lake & Palmer defined the sound in 70s. It sort of fell out of fashion in the mid seventies when Punk became popular, but it's still around.

I would argue that Alternative Rock, Indy Rock, Post Rock and New Wave Rock can also be considered Progressive Rock, albeit it is Progressive Rock of a different era. Though alternative, Indy and Post Rock may be associated with different sounds, they still have the same sort of genre challenging artistic attitude behind them. And many of the signature progressive rock artists of the 70s adopted the popular new wave sound of the late 70s and early 80s.

Nowadays Progressive Rock is a bit of misnomer because a lot of what we consider "modern prog" can hardly be considered "rock". Indeed as electronic and hip hop have changed the scope of modern pop music and video game soundtracks and chip-tunes have become more mainstream, "rock music" has certainly taken a back seat in terms of popular music. But progressive attitudes towards music have not changed and there will always be people eager to mix and combine genres to create new and interesting "bitches brews".