Prog Rock, Politics, and the Pathos of Distance: Is Progressive Music Elitist or Revolutionary?

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What does it mean that the music most associated with wizards, capes, and sixteen keyboards also harbored some of the most radical left politics in rock history? In this episode, Emma and Sereptie are joined by writer, bassist, and WFMU radio DJ Dave Mandl for a deep dive into the origins, aesthetics, and political contradictions of progressive rock. From the egalitarian aristocracy of prog's classical pretensions to the outright communism of Henry Cow and the Art Bears, we trace the fault lines between individualism, elitism, and genuine aesthetic liberation. Along the way we ask whether the charge of bourgeois excess ever really stuck — and what prog's capacious, boundary-pushing spirit might still have to offer a left politics in search of new forms.

Dave Mandl

• davidmandl.com
• WFMU — It's Complicated: wfmu.org/playlists/GX
• LA Review of Books: lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/dave-mandl
• Elevated Landscapes (photo book): roman-nvmerals.myshopify.com/products/vol-cdxl-elevated-landscapes-by-dave-mandl

His Bands

• Emergency Group: emergencygroup.bandcamp.com
• Time Trout: otoroku.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-like-jane-austen

Sereptie's Prog Metal Band — eENIK

• Bandcamp: eenik.bandcamp.com/track/hints-of-mercury
• Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/2nQkBlBJuzhxo0fNDRtbRP

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