BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAINS
The Hit Western Series and 70s Music Repository

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​​At the beginning of BRCM 1, I showcased a couple bands I liked with music I felt was worth making people aware of, and have since made it a tradition of showcasing up to five artists/albums that perhaps deserve a little more recognition at the beginning of every BRCM. I'm a huge fan of 70s music - just about all the stuff I listen to is from that decade alone - although I particularly like prog. What is prog? Prog, or progressive rock, was a subgenre of rock music that had its heyday in the 70s, especially the early 70s. Long story very short, in the late 60s the music industry was getting pretty experimental - likely a reflection of the larger counterculture movement, if I had to take a guess - with prog evolving from genres like psychedelic rock and baroque pop and having particularly large influences from jazz and classical music; indeed, prog bands were big adopters of the Mellotron, which mimicked an orchestral sound, and many prog musicians were classically-trained (usually the keyboard players... go figure). It was a predominantly European, especially British, genre of music, Europe having been where most classical composers, i.e. the genre's biggest influences, were from. (The biggest examples from the other side of the pond were probably Kansas and Rush, the former following closely in that classical-music influence of the European bands, and the latter largely having their own unique Canadian strain of prog.) All this is to say, it's the kinda genre where you can find a literal fugue in the middle of a rock song.

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Three big tenets of prog include: long, multi-part songs; fantastical lyrics; and the use of unconventional time signatures. It's pretty normal for a prog album to have songs exceeding ten or even twenty minutes in length - heck, some albums have only twenty-minute songs on them, although it might be best to get weaned onto those albums first. Prog bands also weren't very interested in the standard "Hey baby, I wanna stick my dick in you" lyrical fare of most other bands of the day (*COUGH*LedZeppelin); instead, count on them to make songs about psychology concepts or medieval things or Einstein or whatever the hell "Close to the Edge" is about, which is another thing: sometimes prog lyrics are so "out there" that you might wanna consider putting the music first. (See: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and almost anything by Yes. Also, I forgot to mention: concept albums were a huge thing, though not all bands that made concept albums were "prog" bands; for example, the Who.) And, again, the use of unconventional time signatures was popular, though some bands used them more than others. (Pink Floyd, for example, didn't use them too much; "Money" and "Mother" are probably the best examples, in 7/4 and 5/4 respectively, but other than that they usually stuck to conventional meters. Perhaps this is a minor reason why they appeal more to the general public than other prog bands.)

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Of course, prog has always had its detractors, with many people back then (mostly critics) calling it pretentious, which it totally was. But it's a genre with some awesome, and often very beautiful, music to offer. All good things come to an end, though: by the time the 80s rolled around, genres like punk and new wave had captured the public ear and prog was cast aside; this was famously known as the "Defenestration of Prog," in which the genre was metaphorically "thrown out the window" in favor of these new, ̶i̶n̶f̶e̶r̶i̶o̶r̶ genres. (Prog is still around, now with subgenres like prog metal and post-prog, although the genre's "golden age" happened in the 70s.) Anyway, you can find out more about some prog or prog-adjacent artists at the beginning of every BRCM, and if you're already a proghead, then maybe my blurbs might amuse you anyway. (Or heck, maybe you'll even learn something new.)

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Over the course of these first few BRCMs, I also made a few playlists just for the heck of it. Don't know if I'll keep them on this website going forward, but here they are for now:

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MOSTLY 70S

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C6Qz5FXeCar7uCYGGwTKRLlYLNQ_otnuaiyjlzIbbFo/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0​

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I HATE IT WHEN I JAZZ PREMATURELY

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C6Qz5FXeCar7uCYGGwTKRLlYLNQ_otnuaiyjlzIbbFo/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0​

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DOPE-ASS BASSLINES AND SOLOS (MY PERSONAL FAVORITE)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C6Qz5FXeCar7uCYGGwTKRLlYLNQ_otnuaiyjlzIbbFo/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0​

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"YOU FOOL! YOU POOR, FOOLISH FOOL! DON'T YOU SEE YOUR COMING HERE WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN ALLOWING THE REST OF MY PLAN TO COME TO FRUITION?" A SHORT, DISGUSTING FIGURE EMERGED FROM THE SHADOWS OF THE LAIR AND SNATCHED THE KEY FROM AROUND JOHNNY'S NECK; JOHNNY WORKED AGAINST THE SLIME HOLDING HIM DOWN, BUT IT WAS NO USE. "YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY WITH THIS, DR. TRIVAGO! I WILL AVENGE MY FAMILY AND SAVE THIS CITY, JUST YOU WAIT!" "POOR, SIMPLE BOY... CAN'T YOU SEE MY ACTIONS ARE A CLEANSING? I'M RESTORING GLORY TO THIS ONCE PROUD-" DR. TRIVAGO WAS ABOUT TO INSERT THE KEY INTO THE CONSOLE BEFORE, IN WHAT WAS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD, THE EXONERATOR CAME CRASHING DOWN THROUGH THE CEILING OF THE LAIR AND LANDED RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM, USING HIS EYES TO LASER DR. TRIVAGO RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE, ALL THE DR.'S BLOOD AND GUTS  ̶S̶P̶I̶L̶L̶I̶N̶G̶ ̶O̶U̶T̶ ̶A̶L̶L̶ ̶O̶V̶E̶R̶ ̶T̶H̶E̶ ̶F̶L̶O̶O̶R̶ STAYING INSIDE HIS BODY DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF CAUTERIZATION. (I GUESS YOU COULD SAY THE DR. WAS HALF THE MAN HE USED TO BE!) TRIVAGO'S GOONS IMMEDIATELY SURROUNDED THE EXONERATOR AND BEGAN DUMPING LEAD INTO HIM, BUT ALL THEIR BULLETS MERELY RICOCHETED OFF HIS CHISELED ROCK-HARD ABS AND JAWLINE BEFORE THE EXONERATOR LASERED ALL OF THEM IN A SWEEPING MOTION. AS THE LAST GUNSHOTS ECHOED THROUGH THE LAIR AND THE SMELL OF BURNT FLESH PERMEATED THE AIR, THE EXONERATOR WALKED OVER AND EFFORTLESSLY SNAPPED APART JOHNNY'S BONDS. "I'M GLAD I DIDN'T HIT YOU WITH MY LASERS BACK THERE, KID, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WERE RIGHT IN THE LINE OF FIRE." "WELL, YOU SEE, MR. EXONERATOR... I'M WEARING ARMOR." JOHNNY LIFTED HIS SHIRT TO REVEAL A KEVLAR VEST WITH THE WORD "PLOT" SCRAWLED ON IT. THE DOOMSDAY WEAPON DISARMED AND THE DAY SAVED, THE TWO OF THEM CELEBRATED BY FREEING ALL THE HOT, SCANTILY-CLAD BABES LOCKED IN TRIVAGO'S BASEMENT AND TOOK THEM BACK TO THE LAIR FOR A MASSIVE ORGY FILLED WITH THE HOTTEST, JUICIEST, SEXIEST SEX AS THE-

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C6Qz5FXeCar7uCYGGwTKRLlYLNQ_otnuaiyjlzIbbFo/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0​​

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WHILE YOU WERE BUSY SLIDING INTO HER DMS, SHE WAS BUSY SLIDING INTO MINE. WE ARE NOT THE SAME.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C6Qz5FXeCar7uCYGGwTKRLlYLNQ_otnuaiyjlzIbbFo/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0​​

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