Progressive Rock reached its zenith during the early 1970s, a period often celebrated as the genre's golden age. This era of Prog Rock has inspired intense opinions—both positive and negative—that rival those of any other rock movement or genre throughout music history.

Fans of Progressive Rock are known for their passionate dedication.

On the flip side, critics, including renowned voices like Lester Bangs, Robert Christgau, and Robert Hilburn, were notoriously dismissive of Progressive Rock. Despite their often harsh criticisms, we believe that time has proven them wrong.

Our perspective has evolved, and we now view the best of 70s Progressive Rock as a genre with substantial depth and intellectual substance. The music from this era isn't just enjoyable; it’s some of the most significant work of the 20th century.

Not all Prog Rock from this period hit the mark—there were certainly moments of excessive self-indulgence. However, the Prog bands and songs that have stood the test of time are truly exceptional and worth celebrating.

Producer and Host: Christian Swain

Head Writer: Richard Evans

Sound Designer: Jerry Danielsen

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Welcome back to the second half of our big chapter telling the big story of a big year in Rock. If you haven’t done so already, we highly recommend you listen to Episode 18 before you delve into this one! 

We tell the story of 1969 by telling the story of four concerts: The Beatles on the Roof, The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park was the first part. Part Two will take us to the peak, to the apotheosis of Woodstock...and to the abyss at Altamont. And we’ll go to some other places in between too. 

1969 is the year Rock N Roll goes global, and we’ll get into that a little, and set up later discussions of great topics like Rock behind the Iron Curtain and the growing influence of Reggae and World Beat. 

Then we’ll take you to Woodstock, and call off the roster, with lots of great music and commentary.  

The first mythical Rock tour--the Rolling Stones ‘69 tour of America, is up next. That will take us to the final show of the tour, on a dark December night in California, where everything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and the consequences will be tragic. 

We close out with some thoughts on the year and on the decade we’ve just completed, and on what comes next.

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We’re putting down a marker with this episode, and the follow-up: the highest highs and the lowest lows of the entire Rock Era occurred in 1969. It’s a year so big, we had to cut it in two, in order to serve it up properly. 

We start in January, with The Beatles on The Roof, a 42-minute outdoor concert that definitely warmed up the neighborhood of Mayfair, London, England. Then we catch up with their friends and rivals, The Rolling Stones.  

The Stones broke out HUGE in 68 and 69, the beginning of an incredible five-year run: from Beggars Banquet on through to Exile On Main Street. Peak Stones, the sweet spot for the World’s Greatest Rock N Roll Band. 

Brian Jones is out, Mick Taylor is in. We talk about how that happened, and how it impacted the Stones’ sound and attitude. Another influence starts seeping in: American Country Music, thanks to Keith’s new best buddy, Gram Parsons. 

Brian’s tragic--and still unexplained--demise changes the Hyde Park Concert from a coming-out party into a memorial service. Emotion and conviction carry the day, and Hyde Park sets a very high and hopeful bar; it’s an early example of How To Successfully Pull Off A Really Big Concert. 

During that “Moon-Crazy Summer” of 1969, NASA pulls off something really big. It’s the single greatest feat--so far--of human exploration: The Apollo 11 mission to the moon and back. We look at the moon landing through the Rock N Roll lens; we’ll talk about space travel, science fiction, and fantasy...in books, film, television, and most of all, in Rock Music. 

Then David Bowie, with his lifelong knack for being ahead of his time, said take your protein pills and put your helmet on. 

And we did. 

And in just a short time we got used to it, became a little jaded about it. 

That comes later. Here and now in the summer of 1969; stardust, golden, billion year old carbon...got to get ourselves back to the garden. 

We’ll open Part Two at Yasgur’s Farm in upstate New York, and we’ll light a candle in the rain.

Head over to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/RNRAP ⁠for full show notes.

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In 1985, a group of powerful "Washington Wives" led by Tipper Gore formed the PMRC to clean up rock and roll, sparking a culture war that culminated in a dramatic Senate hearing.

This episode of ⁠Rock N Roll Archaeology⁠, "The Three-Body Problem," performs a forensic autopsy on that manufactured moral panic. We explore how the unlikely, chaotic alliance of John Denver, Dee Snider, and Frank Zappa dismantled the PMRC's case piece by piece.

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Explore the power of myth with Drive-By Truckers' landmark album, Southern Rock Opera. This

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Synopsis

The fuse was lit in 1966. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Keith Moon came together to record a proto-metal classic. After the session an offhand quip from Keith Moon sticks with Jimmy Page.

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Rock N Roll as the First Draft Of History. We begin in the midwest college town of Kent, Ohio, in the late spring of 1970. We’ll meet three future rockers--students at Kent State University, barely out of their teens--who will be changed forever by what they witness.

We’ll check in on Motown, where the fluffy pop “Sound of Young America” is still alive, but there's a big change coming, a movement towards a tougher, more topical sound. We’ll foreshadow that just a little--lots more to come in a later chapter.

Rock N Roll is now Rock, and it is mainstreamed now, big and getting bigger. It set out to subvert the dominant paradigm, now it is the dominant paradigm. It can be downright paradoxical at times; defined by its own contradictions.

We come back to the campus for the shattering events of May 4th. They inspire a unique musical response, something we really haven’t seen since then.

Written by Richard Evans and Christian Swain

Hosted and Produced by Christian Swain

Sound Design by Jerry Danielsen

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For nearly 30 years, Randy Newman has been the musical voice behind Pixar’s most beloved films—Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Cars, and more—earning multiple awards and generations of fans. But beyond these nostalgic soundtracks lies a body of work that’s often overlooked. Newman’s solo career is a masterclass in sharp, literate satire, tackling America’s deepest flaws with a deceptively laid-back style. From Sail Away to I Love L.A., his songs blend humor with biting social commentary. In this Rock N Roll Archaeology Short, we explore Newman’s 1970s-era music and the new biography A Few Words in Defense of Our Country by legendary rock critic Robert Hilburn. Join us for a deep dive into the genius of Randy Newman!

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