Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture by Edward Macan (Assistant Professor of Music, Assistant Professor of Music, College of the Redwoods, California)
This is the first authoritative study of the music and history of progressive rock, a genre praised for its virtuoso instrumental solos and gargantuan stage shows, but also criticized for its privileged, upper-middle class roots. By using an interdisciplinary approach that draws together cultural theory, musicology, and music criticism, Macan illuminates how progressive rock - which includes bands such as King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, Genesis, the Moody Blues, and Pink Floyd - served as a vital cultural expression of the counterculture of the late 1960s and 1970s in England.