Scandinavian Prog Rock Over The Years

By Christa Jarvis


Over the years of rock music, one sub genre has been known to have gained a lot of fans due to its complex style. This style is known as progressive rock and was actually created in the United Kingdom and then spread to other regions. Scandinavia especially loved this sub genre and adapted it into what is now known as the style called Scandinavian prog rock.

Now for those who do not know, progressive music is the type of music that uses all kinds of beats and music sounds that are not in ordinary music. Now this type of music is usually known for its sudden shifts in tempo as well as sudden shifts in beat and rhythm. Songs in these genres are known to give listeners variety so that the listeners can enjoy different shifts in the rhythm and beats.

Of course this genre became a big hit in the region of Scandinavia which can be located somewhere in the European region. Now the main countries that would make up this region would be Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Now some of the secondary countries in this region would also include Iceland, Holland, and of course Finland.

The country that was really one of the pioneers of this sub genre was none other than Denmark. Danish progressive became quite famous in the late sixties because of bands like Steppeulvene, Alrune Rod, Ache, Blue sun, and many more. Of course they would sing their songs in their native language which is Dutch which made their music even more authentic.

One of the very big bands in this music scene was of course the Dutch band Burnin Red Ivanhoe which became popular sometime in 1969. Now they had a rather unique sound in which they combined many genres like rock, jazz, and even rhythm and blues. They were also very known for their heavy use of organs and harmonicas.

Now the Swedish also had their own bands that they could be proud of. Now one thing to take note of is that prog rock did not become that popular among the Swedish unlike around the Dutch. This type of music only became extremely popular in the nineties when many artists and bands emerged from the underground.

Holland was also very known for their prog rock scene which really boomed in the start of year 2000. They combined both elements of rock and roll as well as elements from folk music too. The bands from this country made a lot of melodic songs that had very slow and then very quick tempos and disjointed rhythms.

So as one can see, the progressive scene in Scandinavia actually started from the sixties but is still going strong today. Now even though the United Kingdom was the pioneer of this type of genre, the Scandinavians took that genre and made it into something better. It is because of this that the Scandinavian progressive scene became extremely popular among music fans and is still growing rapidly.




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