King Crimson

A pretty decent argument can be mounted that progressive rock — or "prog" as we know it today — was born with the 1969 release of King Crimson's first album, In The Court Of The Crimson King.

The band's early fans included Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix, and it only took one listen for legendary music-exec Ahmet Ertegun to sign them to his Atlantic Records on the spot.

In The Court Of The Crimson King made its impact way back in 1969, by breaking the blues-rock mold of British rock at the time. The original album has only five tracks, and there is not a guitar solo amongst them (even though Crimson's Robert Fripp was and remains one of rock's most inventive guitarists).

Prog-rock bands from Genesis to Rush to Porcupine Tree (whose Steven Wilson is overseeing King Crimson's remastered albums) all adopted Crimson's blueprint in one form or another over the decades to come.

Interestingly the original King Crimson lineup only produced this one album, and broke up later that same year. Fripp would however keep the name and front several subsequent lineups — featuring at one time or another great musicians like Greg Lake, John Wetton, Adrian Belew, and Bill Bruford — for decades to come. You'll find bloggers talking about King Crimson at sites like Krimson News.

by Glen Boyd Are you a writer, passionate about this or any other topic? Join Blogcritics!

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “King Crimson”

• Discipline

  
  Red Tory v.3.0 — Authority: 480
  Brilliant video interpretation of a classic King Crimson song. There’s actually a long and convoluted back-story to this relating to the subversive theories of mechanistic hazard as a means of creative evolution put forward by the English philosopher and polymath J.G. Bennett (via Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and ...
  3 days ago

• King Crimson (Projekct X) 2009 - In The Court Of The Crimson King 2009 Edition

  
  Media-Club New Albums — Authority: 175
  2009 - In The Court Of The Crimson King 2009 Edition King Crimson (Projekct X) 10 tracks CD Album
  4 days ago

• Review: Behind The Sun - Behind The Sun

  
  Wildy's World — Authority: 138
  Behind The Sun - Behind The Sun 2009, Behind The Sun Straight Out of the Israeli badlands come Behind The Sun, a quartet with influences ranging from Progressive Rock to Metal to Grunge. Born on the edges of the Negev Desert, Behind The Sun bring the arid beauty and complexity of their homeland to their collective ...
  6 days ago

• King Crimson: Lizard 40th Anniversary Edition

  
  no treble — Authority: 143
  King Crimson’s Lizard is turning 40. In celebration, the band is releasing a new and expanded reissue of the 1970 album on January 12, 2010 (preorder). Steven Wilson remastered the CD in 5.1 Surround Sound from the original studio masters and the mix and release is approved by guitarist Robert Fripp. Three [...]
  1 week ago

• Starless & Bible Black

  
  Red Tory v.3.0 — Authority: 480
  I turned the big 5-0 today so forgive me for indulging in a little sentimental nostalgia… I’ve been digging through a lot of old “progressive” rock music by the usual suspects. I’m especially attached to this piece because it was one of the very first things I threw on the platter of my new stereo with great ...
  1 week ago

• King Crimson - Elephant Talk

  
  One Reality — Authority: 458
  King Crimson is one of my very favorite bands, on a short list with Yes, ELP, and of course, Rush. I played drums when I was a kid, and I was viscerally drawn to the intricate texture and rhythmic complexity of Robert Fripps imagination. The group evolved dramatically over time, but this tune is from my favorite ...
  1 week ago

• The Countdown to the Best Song of Alltime Continues

  
  Lucid Culture — Authority: 424
  This isn’t how we planned it – until the end of this past September, every day, we posted a new song from our Best 666 Songs of Alltime list , as a way to keep you in suspense (and to keep you coming back for more). Since then, while the site hasn’t exactly been idle (we promised you a new post every day, so by ...
  1 week ago

• Memorable Musical Moments Meme

  
  Between — Authority: 124
  I was tagged by Banksyboy for this meme : Think of eight memorable musical moments, not necessarily all time favourites, but those when, for example, you felt compelled to wait in the car when listening to this amazing song on the radio because you just had to know who it was by. Or the piece you heard on the tv ...
  1 week ago

• King Crimson Live Show Featuring Danny Released

  
  Fourth Eye — Authority: 127
  AcousticPhenomena emailed me today to let me know that DGM Live are releasing a King Crimson live show, recorded on the Tool/ King Crimson tour way back in 2001.  While there are no plans to release the Tool set, the King Crimson set does feature Danny Carey on the second half of Red. According to the ...
  1 week ago

• King Crimson - Park West - 2008

  
  Blog Stoned — Authority: 132
  Park West Chicago 08/07/2008 Mp3 - 192kbps - Soundboard Ótima gravação! 1. Introductory Soundscape 2. Drum Duet 3. The ConstruKction Of Light 4. Red 5. Frame By Frame 6. Neurotica 7. Three Of A Perfect Pair 8. The Talking Drum 9. Larks Tongues In Aspic Pt II 10. One Time 11. BBoom 12. Dinosaur 13. Level Five ...
  2 weeks ago

• Album Haiku #11

  
  My Thermos — Authority: 125
  Red - King Crimson its heavy prog grunge a trio that sounds like more certainly top ten
  2 weeks ago

• King Crimson - I Talk To The Wind

  
  Daily Cow — Authority: 163
  King Crimson - I Talk To The Wind
  2 weeks ago

• Emerson, Lake and Palmer – Toccata

  
  too sweet for rock and roll - music birthdays blogged daily — Authority: 152
  Greg Lake , Brit musician; King Crimson founding member and one-third of Emerson, Lake & Palmer Tagged: classic rock, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Greg Lake, King Crimson, November 10 birthdays, prog rock, progressive rock, rock
  2 weeks ago

• Cities of the Plain

  
  Icono-Curmudgeon-Clast - Loring Wirbel's Rants — Authority: 110
  Im with Cormac McCarthy - Those rare cities dispersed between the Mississippi and the Rockies have never gotten their due, and many of them hold a charm that will pull you into repeated visits back to Omaha, Lawrence, Fargo... Bruce Springsteen also caught the flavor of the long-distance Plains drive in his ...
  3 weeks ago

• Devo fiercer than ever in back-to-back nights at the Fonda

  
  Soundcheck — Authority: 426
  ‘Tis definitely the season for artists performing albums in their entirety. Just since Labor Day we’ve seen Trent Reznor tear through Nine Inch Nails ‘ The Downward Spiral more than once while bidding farewell to the road … Echo & the Bunnymen poured themselves into Ocean Rain with symphonic ...
  3 weeks ago

• Movie review: Sci fi, scabs and some juice

  
  footprints... — Authority: 115
  Moon: Cinema has a sense of irony that has recently become predictable. It is simple mathematics, really. For example, Al Pacino x Robert Deniro = enough proof method acting does not age with grace or Catherine Zeta Jones + human/animal/plant/heavy machinery = awful. Thankfully, not all make you want to puke. One ...
  3 weeks ago

• Venture Bros. wrapup: “Perchance to Dean”

  
  The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit — Authority: 115
  Stupid real life is really putting a crimp in my ability to review this season of The Venture Bros .  As a result, you may have noticed that last week’s episode – “Handsome Ransom” – was skipped.  I’ll get around to it at some point, but suffice it to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit.  And now on to ...
  3 weeks ago

• Tilt Speak To BigDistraction

  
  BigDistraction — Authority: 134
  Last month BigDistraction became aware of Tilt for the first time. Upon receiving their debut EP, ‘Million dollar wound’, we were immediately blown away by the depth and quality of songwriting on offer from a band who’d only just come together. Featuring no less than three guest vocalists and utilising musicians ...
  3 weeks ago

• Mörglbl – Jazz For The Deaf

  
  Rock Music Report. The place for Rock and roll news. — Authority: 150
  Mörglbl are a three-piece progressive rock outfit from France whose strange name could be construed as an onomatopoeia for the band’s sound. Jazz For The Deaf is an absolutely killer collection of instrumentals fronted by guitar-god-in-waiting Christophe Godin. Remember the name. What’s Mörglbl like? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• Rise And Shine

  
  Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room — Authority: 125
  After feeling so ill in recent days it was wonderful to wake up this morning refreshed and raring to go. Up at 6.30 the morning routine of feeding the cats and making a pot of tea whilst listening to the radio was soon in full swing. An hour later I announced my presence to the Twitterverse... Its 7.30 a.m. & ...
  3 weeks ago

Comments about King Crimson