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Thread: Progressive punk?

  1. #1

    Progressive punk?

    Is there such a thing? I always considered Nomeansno to have a prog edge- some of their songs have weird time changes and they are adept musicians, What more do you want from your prog?

    My favorite Nomeansno disc would have to be Wrong. Check it out on YouTube and let me know what you think.

  2. #2
    Wire is the band to go for.
    I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.

  3. #3
    Member Since: 3/27/2002 MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER's Avatar
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    The Minutemen
    Bad Brains

    are two excellent Punk bands who were cutting edge (aka progressive) musically
    Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?

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    Member rickawakeman's Avatar
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    League of Gentlemen?
    Stranglers?
    Early XTC?
    early Joe jackson?

  5. #5
    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Cardiacs.

    Duh.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

  6. #6

  7. #7
    All good recs so far. As long as we are naming our favorite punk bands who also use keyboards and weird time signatures, let me say The Stranglers.
    I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.

  8. #8

  9. #9
    I don’t know if we can even call them “punk,” really, but Magazine and early Ultravox would top my list (alongside some already-mentioned bands like Wire and the Stranglers). Possibly also the Doctors of Madness, even though they kind of pre-dated “punk.” Like the above, they can appeal to [open-minded] fans of both genres.
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    Member davis's Avatar
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    Me First and the Gimme Gimmes?

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    Outraged bystander markwoll's Avatar
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  12. #12
    Cookie Monster Guitarist Onomatopoeic's Avatar
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    First of all, "progressive" is not the really best word to use -- in this case.

    A better word would be "artrock" meets punk / new wave.

    XTC, Wire, Magazine, Stranglers, and PiL would be easy choices. How about The Residents? Maybe Joy Division, maybe even Siouxsie And The Banshees.

    Some of these bands could easily, as well, be pigeonholed as "experimental."

  13. #13
    Check out the band All (I recommend Mass Nerder and or the live album Live Plus One)....

    ALL is one of the few bands from my youth that as a prog fan I still like!

  14. #14
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    Some Porcupine Tree tracks would qualify: This Long Silence, This Is No Rehearsal, The Creator Has a Mastertape.

  15. #15
    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Onomatopoeic View Post
    A better word would be "artrock" meets punk / new wave.
    If you're going to use that criteria then I'd add early Devo to the list. They were one of the very earliest in fact.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

  16. #16
    Try the album Tao of the Dead by ...and you will know us by the trail of the dead.

    Great aggressive Prog/punk that includes a 16 minute epic!!

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Finch Platte View Post
    Is there such a thing? I always considered Nomeansno to have a prog edge- some of their songs have weird time changes and they are adept musicians
    I'm sure that if you search the PE archives, you'll discover the fact that this very topic resurfaces about every six months or so. Although I suppose some contributors are getting a bit tired of having to repeat the same song over and over again, I'm sure some of them will pop up here eventually.

    The term "art-punk" was in circulation already by 1980, denoting avant-garde rock groups with a distinct "punk" edge to at least some of their material. This Heat, The Work and quite a few others consisted of musicians with a past in experimental progressive rock. These were intriguing and sometimes rather inaccessible bands, but their musicianship were beyond reproach. On the other hand, a group like the Pork Dukes played straight-off punk rock but had several members from Gnidrolog in their ranks.

    Prominent "art-punk" bands from the late 70s/early 80s would include Magazine, Virgin Prunes, Durutti Column, PiL, Gang of Four, Wire and The Stranglers (as noted).

    Then there's the so-called "Pronk" phenomenon; a more or less direct infusion of some noteworthy 'prog rock' antics into a rather concise punk environment. Most of these artists were European, some of them from the Eastern bloc, where actual punk arrived later and thus merged with established formulas of rock expression. Cardiacs and the Dog Faced Hermans (UK), The Ex and Dull Schicksal (both the Netherlands), The Stickmen and Orthotonics (both US), PEST (Austria), Expander des Fortschritts (GDR) - these are just a few recognizable names. Of particular note is a series of names from the quite radical scene in Czechoslowakia, where the two most important early progressive bands (Plastic People of the Universe and Flamengo) were both in time described as "proto-punk". During the 80s, there were three subtantial bands with a very orginal "prog" twist to their post-punk vision, namely Prazsky Vyber, MCH Band and Uz Jsme Doma - all of which still exist and the last two of which tour around Europe and sometimes even the US on a more or less regular basis. These three groups are all quite famous in their homeland.

    "Punk-infusion" has been the rule rather than the exception for the majority of significant contemporary bands I would deem truly progressive these past 15 years or so. And why wouldn't it? Isn't it an essential virtue to progressive rock music to accumulate its current musical environment? The US label Skin Graft, for instance, have a huge catalog of such bands - Yowie, US Maple, Melt Banana, Ruins, Dazzling Killmen, Colossamite - which are ALL staples of the "alternative hardcore" scene and have been for some 20+ years.

    A band constantly mentioned here in PE, Cheer-Accident, are rooted in pure post-punk and released their debut album in 1988. It does NOT sound like It Bites or Marillion, I can tell you as much. Their whole artistic concept is one of the most confusing but ultimately intriguing and stimulating you'll come across nowadays (try their 2009 album Fear Draws Misfortune for starters). At their most musically intricate, Cheer-Accident do stuff that few if any of the UK 70s progressive groups would ever have been able to. Then again they'll might do some distorted sludge right afterwards.

    Cheer-Accident were denominators in what was called "Brutal-prog" from sometime late 90s, named so by drummer/multi-instrumentalist/composer Weasel Walter, whose own band The Flying Luttenbachers married hardcore punk, free jazz and the uppermost extremes of progressive rock. Other such "brutalists" are Hella, Touchdown, Upsilon Acrux, Trephine, Hyrrokkin, Dysrhythmia, Many Arms, Orthrelm, Stinking Lizaveta, Mute Socialite, Zs, Ron Anderson's PAK, Inzinzac and two of my fave progressive groups feom the past decade, Time of Orchids and Kayo Dot. There are dozens and dozens of further such names to be mentioned; needless to say, they exist as a completely separate genre in that you would rarely have your 'conventional' "prog fan" get down into the deep of it.

    NoMeansNo have been namechecked as an influence by many of these groups, as have Shudder to Think, Slint, Magma, Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt and King Crimson. But typically they stay away from referencing the most "obvious" progressive rock giants, seeing these as somewhat culturally tainted I suppose. And something tells me most of these bands wouldn't particularly appreciate the main bulk of the 'Prog Mag' version of what makes current conditions for "rock progression".
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  18. #18
    Lots of excellent music mentioned in this thread, HOWEVER, the correct answer is Cardiacs. CardiacsCardiacsCardiacs

    Nomeansno come second for me. Wrong is amazing, but i like most of their other albums too.





  19. #19
    Mr Scissors great post up there has just reminded me about Uz Jsme Doma and The Ex. Both excellent bands that fit the term Prog Punk very well. Highly recommended if you already like NMN in particular.

  20. #20
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    Don't think anyone has mentioned this group yet:

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  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by markwoll View Post
    PIL
    Tiny Desk Unit ( DC band )
    Talking Heads earlier stuff
    NYC No Wave scene
    Joy Division
    Chrome
    Yes! Dig the hell out of PIL, as with All, as someone else mentioned, XTC, too.

    Some interesting suggestions!

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