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Another way to put this is that, if I dealt with this music only from the standpoint of history or musicology done from a purely academic perspective, or as a mere nostalgia trip—“warm fuzzies” and nothing more—then there wouldn’t be much point, as far as I’m concerned, in attempting to deepen our understanding of this music. Instead, I’d just put on Thick as a Brick or Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, and sit around with my friends and say, “Man, that is really something, that is really cool!” Of course, it is really something, it is really cool (in the pre-jaded sense of “cool,” that is), and it is good to just sit back and listen from time to time, without too much of an agenda as to what one will make of the experience. But my perspective is that there are two central issues here that are deeply linked. First, there is something about progressive rock that is not only to be enjoyed on the surface, but also to be understood and appreciated in depth. This depth appreciation is not unassociated with enjoyment, but here we would be interested in moving beyond surface pleasures and more into the realm of what speaks to the possibilities of human flourishing. Second, I would argue that, if we break with formalism (which, again, doesn’t mean absolving ourselves of the need for analysis of musical structure), then our perspective on the aforementioned understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment must be an engaged perspective. That is, we accept that, although “music” (or art more generally) and “life” do not at every point describe the same thing or activity, neither is there a way to strictly separate the two. This would go even more for the kinds of music that one could get very seriously involved in, “wrap one’s life around”—and, of course, I hold that progressive rock is one such kind of music. (In this connection, I can’t help but think about the title of Valerie Wilmer’s book on four major jazz innovators, including Cecil Taylor: As Serious As Your Life.) Therefore, a commitment to the importance of a kind of music that goes beyond surface enjoyment, toward that which speaks to the human spirit and the possibilities of human flourishing (and even a cosmic co-flourishing), must be understood, on reflection, to also entail a commitment to working those changes in the world that will enable this flourishing.
This is to ask a great deal of music and of any one kind of music. And yet, I imagine that the kinds of people who are deeply interested in progressive rock will be able, upon reflection, to follow out these claims and to grapple with them. After all, we are interested in progressive rock because it is a thoughtful music.
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