PRELUDE
Before you view my site, I would like you to know a little about me. I am not a middle-aged man reminiscing about my youth, as my taste in music would lead you to believe. I am a nineteen-year-old history major about to enter my second year of college. I have been listening to classic rock for about four years (since the first time "Whole Lotta Love" graced my ears). I'm a fan of hard rock and progressive rock from the 60's and 70's because, guite frankly, my standards are high; the bands that draw my attention have the lyrical prowess of proffesional writers and the musical expertise of classical composers. I need more than an outlet for adolescent woes; music which can move a listener and create a world inside their minds is the music that I choose to follow.
This site is primarilly an outlet for me to discuss classic rock (mostly hard rock and progressive rock)--the music I'm most passionate about. I will focus on the artists, I consider to be, the musical giants of the classic rock realm--and the music world in general. In my opinion, bands like Uriah Heep, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Rush all have seats at the great table in classic rock's Valhalla. I am an avid listener of many bands of this genre and a conisuer (for lack of a better word) of these bands in particular. I will give my opinion as to why these band's, and their musical peers, are far superior to anything that has come before and that will probably come after them. Along with an epilogue of my favorite bands and musicians, this site will include a review (of sorts)of my favorite albums and songs.
This site is also an outlet for me to flex my creative muscle; I will periodically display some of my own writing on this site (opening it to wanted critisism). The bands and musicians I hold in highest esteem are those which have the greatest lyrical astuteness; this is probably do to my english and history background. I will attempt to dissect, as well as merely discuss, lyrics and songwriting styles of song-weaving greats like Neal Peart of Rush and Jon Anderson of Yes. Lyricists of this intelligence and background often delve into historical, mystical, and fantastical literature for inspiration; I'm drawn to their music partly for that reason. I'm an avid reader of books that fall into the aforementioned categories. I will also be talking about and reviewing books of these genres
The last portion of this site will be devoted to my love and participation of the sport of distance running. Although running would be considered a seperate entity from music and literature, running plays a large role in my life; in that sense, all these things are on the same plane. I will try to stick to discussing running on a philospical level in an attempt to make it more accessable to non-runners.
I am basically pouring out my thoughts into this site, so enjoy!
THE GOLDEN AGE
The "golden age" I am referring to is the "golden age", or what I consider to be the "golden age", of hard rock and progressive rock--the apex of classic rock and music in general. This time period of musical excellence spanned from the late 60's to the mid 70's. If you are to completely agree with me, you must first recoginize classic rock as the supreme musical art form of our time. Furthermore, you must view hard rock and progressive rock as the pinnacle of classic rock. I have (in accordance with many other classic rock fans) come to the conclusion that this time period represented everything that is good in music; this bold evaluation has been made by weighing many different factors. One factor is band longevity--previlant in all the heavy hitters in this era. Another factor would be musical prowess--this factor is probably what makes this era and the best hard rock and progressive rock bands of this era, stand out most; no one can dispute the sheer virtuosity bands like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Yes pocessed. These bands and bands of this quality had skill which put them on a plane of exsistance where creatively, they had no boundaries. These bands had the skill and know- how to create music with intricate shifts in mood, tempo, and form; don't be fooled by the name hard rock; these bands may have often times played hard and crunchy music, but their music encompassed much more. There are other factors I think are very important, but are highly opinionated. I've always valued bands which did not choose to musically pigeon hole themselves. Bands like Uriah Heep, Rush, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Led Zeppelin--basically all the bands I've mentioned as being a conisuer of--all meld many different types of music. These band's eclectic songs meld and effortlessly transition between musical styles like the blues, blueglass, classical, jazz and folk music (English, Irish, American, Indian ect.) This gave these band's music a much richer quality than their more primitive counterparts.
The last factor I will mention and the one which is most opinionated, is mystique. For those that are not familiar with this term I will enlighten you. Mystique is an air of mystery or reverance. All the great bands of this time period,all the bands that I most cherish, have created a mystique around them. The type of mystique depends on the band and the type of song lyrics and musical styles they chose to delve 
into. For instance, Uriah Heep has made albums which focus largely on medevil mythology--songs about wizards, witches, demons ect. Emerson Lake and Palmer made many songs about Artherian chivalry--"Jerusalem" for example. Yes delved into the science fiction world, painting pictures of distant worlds and far off places. Led Zeppelin has placed celtic mythology at the center of many of their songs (i.e. Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven). Their fourth album was even nicknamed the "Runes Album" because of the Celtic Runes on the Album. All these bands were able to use songwriting to create a mystique, but only when coupled with the appropriate music to create the right affect--this is a feat no less than comendable.
I understand that many people would disagree with me when it comes to the superiority of hard rock and progressive rock and when it comes to the time period I have mentioned as being the "golden age" of music. I am only one person; I have not the musical estuteness to argue that I am well versed in all of the music that is contained within the world, nor the time to try and be. I do though, know the extreme musical merit of the bands I am discussing. Even though I consider these genres and this time period to be the best the music world has to offer, that does not mean I do not listen to music which falls outside of these genres and this time period (not much though) and recognize there merit.
I am not blind to the musical prowess of early classic rock bands which served as the hard rock/progressive rock platform. Nor am I blind to the skill and guality of bands from other classic rock genres. Hard rock and prgressive grandfathers like The Yardbirds, The Animals, and King Crimson made music that was completely ground breaking and ahead of their time.
These bands broke away from the superficial pop/rock of the time, turning towards folk (English and American), blues, and classical music for inspiration; as a result, the music they created became darker, moodier, and more musical than any that has come before. I am a huge admirer of folk rock of the mid 60's to mid 70's. Bands like Crosby, Stills, and Nash and artists like Neil Young and James Taylor were ground-breaking in their introspective lyrics and harmonic music style. These bands and artists do not fall into the hard rock/progressive rock genre, but never the less made great music. These bands may not have been very heavy, bombastic, or instrumentally acrobatic (qualities I value in music), but they're musical substance is undeniable.
Now that I have discussed the hard rock and progressive giants contained within and making up of-- what I consider to be--"the golden age" of music, I feel I should talk about the musical lanscape that existed at the time of "the golden age"--the musical lanscape which allowed these bands to become what they did. The time period which spanned from the late 60's to the mid 70's was a magical time in hard rock and progressive rock. It was a time of discovery and new beginnings. In fact, the term progressive rock had not even been coined yet. Bands who were creating what we today call hard rock and progressive rock, had no mold to go by if you disregard blues based English bands like The Yardbirds and The Animals or Proque-based bands like King Crimson. Although these early bands had some semblance of hard rock and progressive roots and made a good starting point, they can in no way be put into the classic hard rock/progressive rock category. The bands that created hard rock and progressive rock during the late 60's to mid 70's severed all ties from any popular music that came before them. This was possible because at this time record labels were not huge corporations which could control bands like puppet masters; they did not have the media resources that todays record labels exploit with such vigor. During this time of innocence you could go five years without even seeing the faces of your favorite band's members. As a result of this lack of exposure, bands became famous gradually and only through much touring (i.e. the blue-collar way).
This type of atmosphere was a perfect breeding ground for the hard rock and progressive brain childs;when these musicians started out they had free range so-to-speak. They did not have the temptation of simply ripping off the style of other hard rock and progressive bands that came before--there were'nt any. They did not have pressure to make a certain type of music, music that might may have been populat at the time--these bands were basically under the radar. The hard rock and progressive rock pioneers probably did'nt set out to make the music they did. The music they made could be looked at as a collage. The music they made is extremelly diverse, but there is one thing which solidifies it into a singular entity--the musicians who created it. These bands, these musicians, all chose to turn away from the sappy and musically crude music that was previlant at the time and make something with more substance--music which could take a proud place in the anals of music. These bands wanted to make music with depth and sophistication and they had the technical proficiency and musical backgrounds to do so. Since they could not look toward earlier popular music for these grandiose qualities, they had to reach deeper--down to the roots of music. Progressive rock bands like Yes, Uriah Heep, Rush, and Emerson Lake and Palmer(Led Zeppelin did this as well, but not to the same extent) were largely influenced by classical music, as evident by the elaborate, technically equisite songs they created. They even went as far as to created their own style of classical movenments, where a song shifts numerous times--lyrically and instrumentally--from different moods, pace and structure. The deep emotions previlant in these genres can also be traced to classical music (mainly Progue-based classical music), but also from the blues and folk balads from England and Ireland. Lyrically, the vivid story telling and subject matter is also fom European folklore and folk music (not just English and Irish). Elements of jazz in bands like Uriah Heep and Yes can be seen through their frenetic changes in song tempo as well as in their indulgance of long instrumental solos and jams.
With such a grab-bag of musical influences and the skill to utilize them, it is no wonder the hard rock and progressive rock royalty of this time had such dynamic songs. In almost any given hard rock/progressive rock song created in "the golden age", you will find a dizzying assortement of instruments and musical styles, from all over the world, being implented; hard rock and progressive rock was nothing like it is today, it had such a richer quality. The bands that fall into this genre today are hollow shells of what used to be; they have niether the musical sophistication nor vision to create anything as heavy or mind bending. Just because a band plays loud and aggressive music, that does'nt mean their playing hard rock. Just because a band uses liguid synth sounds in their music, that does'nt mean their playing progressive rock; that's something to remember next time turn on "MTV". Hard rock and progressive rock of the late 60's to mid 70's was an idea, a glimpse into what music could be. Pioneers of "the golden age" had the vision to make music that was exciting and mysterious, while at the same time injecting a philosophy and vibrant story-telling into their music.
Links to Ascension
Page 2 of Paul's Keys to Ascension
Yes Web Ring
Yes Web Directory
Official Uriah Heep Homepage
Official Led Zeppelin Homepage
Great Rush Fanpage
Official Emerson Lake and Palmer Homepage
J.R.R. Tolkien Society
Checkers A.C. (My Running Club)
Amazon
