Prog doc on BBC 4

[Stuart McHugh]

>Once again the great Radio One 'Rock' DJ airs his self promoting
>arrogant and ignorant opinion of so called prog rock.He doesnt like
>it

<snip>
It seems that our friend above is  the only person that's seen this 
programme*, so it's hard to say if Peelie was being really scathing 
about prog. I find that unlikely; after all, his show is based on 
underground music, and right up until 1976 this was a large part of 
it. When punk arrived Peel championed it but since the show is about 
stuff that gets no airplay elsewhere, it was fortunate that Alan 
Freeman was giving the likes of ELP plenty of airplay. Tommy Vance's 
metal show which ate into the Peel schedule arrived just after this 
time and often crossed the line between 'rock' and 'prog'.
I can't recall if Peel played  much prog after 1976, it would have 
sat rather uncomfortably with the masses of punk records, and I 
suspect that he was as bored with it as the punks were - but played 
it because there was little else being produced. These days of course 
the show incorporates probably every genre of music imaginable and 
prog will turn up occasionally,usually in the form of an old Pink 
Floyd record.
I should imagine* that whatever Peel said about prog, it was 
tongue-in-cheek, probably poking fun at the bands' haircuts or 
trousers. Regular listeners should know Peelie's sense of humour by 
now.

Stuart
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