# 前卫摇滚Progressive Rock

前卫摇滚（Progressive rock），有时简称为prog rock，是在1960年晚期兴起的摇滚乐分支之一，它的内涵十分复杂并且吸纳众多其他乐派精神，因此并不能明确地定义出其精确范围。

前卫摇滚最热门最颠峰的时期是在1970年代的早期，并继续流传至今日。前卫摇滚起源自英国，大多数的团体多出现于欧洲大陆，只有少数几支乐团是来自于美国加拿大的。此种乐风通常结合了爵士乐、古典音乐、民间音乐和世界音乐等元素，不同于美国摇滚是受到R\&B以及乡村音乐的影响。经由多年累积的发展，在前卫摇滚中也出现了像是：交响摇滚、艺术摇滚、数学摇滚以及前卫金属等类型。

前卫摇滚乐手意图摆脱流行音乐的公式化及束缚，并亟力提升自身的音乐成就另外一种音乐类型，即便时常令人嗅到不小的古典与爵士影响。前卫摇滚最独特的地方便是“复杂”而不只是技术的出众，因为在流行音乐中技巧十分出众但却演奏单调乐章的乐手亦大有人在。

前卫摇滚并无绝对定义，名团克里逊王的领袖Robert Fripp就十分厌恶这个音乐分类上的术语。而构筑出前卫摇滚的作品多集中在1970年代，像是：Jethro Tull，Yes，创世纪合唱团，平克·弗洛伊德，爱默生、雷克与帕玛，匆促乐团，皇后乐队与克里逊王等等，音乐各有不同特色，无法同一而论。

这些乐手与乐评家们（如：Bill Martin）对自身是否真的属于前卫摇滚感到疑问（不过在此我们必须要做如此假设，至少是70年代的他们）。同时也有人在争辩像是：Frank Zappa，深紫，Phish，电台司令，和Tool这类活跃于其他乐种的乐手是否隶属于前卫摇滚之下。

Progressive rock, also known as prog rock or prog, is a rock music subgenre that originated in the United Kingdom, with further developments in Germany, Italy, and France, throughout the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s. It developed from psychedelic rock and originated, similarly to art rock, as an attempt to give greater artistic weight and credibility to rock music.&#x20;

Bands abandoned the short pop single in favor of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz or classical music in an effort to give rock music the same level of musical sophistication and critical respect. Songs were replaced by musical suites that often stretched to 20 or 40 minutes in length and contained symphonic influences, extended musical themes, fantasy-like ambiance and lyrics, and complex orchestrations.&#x20;

Music critics, who often labeled the concepts as "pretentious" and the sounds as "pompous" and "overblown," tended to be hostile toward the genre or to completely ignore it. Progressive rock saw a high level of popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in the middle of the decade. Bands such as Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) were the genre's most influential groups and were among the most popular acts of the era, although there were many other, often highly influential, bands who experienced a lesser degree of commercial success.&#x20;

The genre faded in popularity during the second half of the decade. Conventional wisdom holds that the rise of punk rock caused this, although in reality a number of factors contributed to this decline. Progressive rock bands achieved commercial success well into the 1980s, albeit with changed lineups and more compact song structures. The genre grew out of the 1960s space rock of Pink Floyd and the classical rock experiments of bands like The Moody Blues, Procol Harum and The Nice.

&#x20;Most of the prominent bands from the genre's 1970s heyday fall into the "symphonic prog" category, in which classical orchestrations and compositional techniques are melded with rock music. Other subgenres exist, including the more accessible neo-progressive rock of the 1980s, the jazz-influenced Canterbury sound of the 1960s and 1970s, and the more political and experimental Rock in Opposition movement of the late 1970s and onward.&#x20;

Progressive rock has influenced genres such as krautrock and post-punk, and it has fused with other forms of rock music to create such sub-genres as neo-classical metal and progressive metal. A revival, often known as new prog, occurred at the turn of the 21st century and has since enjoyed a cult following.
