# Earliest use of progressive/psychedelic rock word..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806 "2016-08-24T12:56:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/1 "2016-08-24T12:56:12Z")
…in the media, on record jackets, or on concert posters,etc. Please: It has to be “progressive” in the sense of the GENRE, the MOVEMENT. Not as an adjective. For instance you could have a musique concrete lp from the 50s saying that the music is “progressive” - that is unacceptable for this thread. We are talking the genre, Progressive Rock here. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/2 "2016-08-24T13:50:33Z")
Acid rock? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/3 "2016-08-24T14:00:29Z")
Ah, nevermind. I see you’re looking for the earliest known date. Haven’t had my coffee yet… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/4 "2016-08-24T14:30:01Z")
[Freak freely.](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=progressive+rock%2Cpsychedelic+rock&year_start=1950&year_end=1970&corpus=15&smoothing=0&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cprogressive%20rock%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cpsychedelic%20rock%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cprogressive%20rock%3B%2Cc1%3B.t1%3B%2Cpsychedelic%20rock%3B%2Cc0) And [here](“psychedelic rock”)…1957, looks like (that same publication, “Broadcasting”, mentions progressive-rock as well. ) but I’m suspicious of that date, I think the actual publication probably covers several years, but can’t check inside it. [1967](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22progressive%20rock%22&tbm=bks&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1961,cd_max:1968&lr=lang_en) looks like more definite hits. But the date links from that Google engram page should help you out. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/5 "2016-08-24T14:47:56Z")
Google gets its scans from university libraries, where magazines are normally bound together into volumes. Sometimes the information on the name of the volume is taken from the entry in the catalog that refers to [Magazine] holdings from [date] until [date or present]. So if the first Billboard magazine in the library’s collection is 1957, Google will list all hits as 1957, no matter what the date of the individual page is. Yes, it drives everybody crazy. And it’s ngrams. Engrams are [a whole 'nother thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engram_(Dianetics)). ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/6 "2016-08-24T15:54:15Z")
Here are two that don’t count: [http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/Prog\_02\_zpsb5tvbvsc.jpg](http://s151.photobucket.com/user/baggra/media/Bitco/psych/Prog_02_zpsb5tvbvsc.jpg.html) [http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/Prog\_01\_zpsmzxfe9p6.jpg](http://s151.photobucket.com/user/baggra/media/Bitco/psych/Prog_01_zpsmzxfe9p6.jpg.html) ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/7 "2016-08-24T20:01:54Z")
Progressive rock as a genre CANNOT be earlier than the date that “Court of the Crimson King” came out, since that lp is considered by most everyone to be the first fully, clearly prog lp. So picking earlier dates when prog wasn’t even around, is adjective, not genre. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/8 "2016-08-24T21:17:43Z")
The earliest use I can find of the word “psychedelic” in a rock context is in the January 21, 1967 issue of Billboard, reviewing the 13th Floor Elevators album: “Psychedelic sounds abound in this powerful rock LP, which serves as a debut for the new group.” Three weeks later in the February 11, 1967 issue a review of the first Doors album opened with this: “A hit LP from the first note. It has everything the teens are digging these days - blues-rock, hard rock, and psychedelic music.” Use of the term “progressive rock” is trickier to nail down because starting in October '67 and throughout '68, Billboard has various references to radio stations playing “progressive rock” but doesn’t seem to ever explain quite what the term means. ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/9 "2016-08-24T21:41:34Z")
uK magazines of the time all used “progressive” as a descriptor. You would have things like the review of Cream “Fresh Cream” being progressive rock when it was, of course, bluesrock. They meant it is a progression on standard rock forms. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/10 "2016-08-24T23:32:43Z")
Yeah, that sounds about right. Searching the old UK papers, that adjective got big around the middle of ‘66 when the tag “progressive pop” was attached to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album. During '67-'68 the NME used “progressive” as an adjective for some of the stuff that bands including the Beatles, Small Faces and Traffic were doing. 1969 was the year that Melody Maker first used the exact term “progressive rock”, applying it to bands like Spirit and Blodywn Pig. The Who’s Tommy album was also given the tag, and that kinda feels like the first one that maybe fits what the OP is asking for. ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/11 "2016-08-25T00:28:03Z")
I have an original mono of 13 Floor Elevators lp. The back cover has “The psychedelic sounds of…” But, I believe, The Deep “Psychedelic Moods” is the earliest. Maybe by just a month or two. I have to look up the pressing dates. This might take a while. ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/12 "2016-08-25T00:38:33Z")
Okay. Here it is. And its a fine line: 13 Floor Elevators 'psychedelic sounds" lp released November '66 The Deep lp released October '66. (Also released Oct '66 was BLUES MAGOOS “Psychedelic Lollypop” lp. But I dont count this music as being psych at all. Nor do I like the lp.) ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/13 "2016-08-25T01:26:07Z")
The first use of “psychedelic” in a song was the Holy Modal Rounders’ version of Hesitation Blues from 1964, in which they changed some lyrics to “Got my psychedelic feet in my psychedelic shoes I believe, lordy mama, got the psychedelic blues”. They were a folk band, and it was a lyric rather than a description, but they were definitely part of the counterculture that lead to psychedelic rock ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/14 "2016-08-25T02:28:24Z")
Another early psych-ish lp (but not where the word is mentioned) is PAT KILROY “Light of Day” (or something like that.) It was released in '66 on Elektra. Even though its a common label, I’ve never seen another copy - and I highly-regret trading off my copy back in the day. There are 3 or 4 tracks on there where he is going into different territory from the normal folk/contemporary. Eastern moves - not ragafolk like , say Spikedrivers (another early one), but … SOMETHING was there. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/15 "2016-08-25T08:23:39Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And it’s ngrams. Engrams are [a whole 'nother thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engram_(Dianetics)). :smack: I knew that… ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/16 "2016-08-25T09:46:50Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The first use of “psychedelic” in a song was the Holy Modal Rounders’ version of Hesitation Blues from 1964, in which they changed some lyrics to “Got my psychedelic feet in my psychedelic shoes > I believe, lordy mama, got the psychedelic blues”. They were a folk band, and it was a lyric rather than a description, but they were definitely part of the counterculture that lead to psychedelic rock Indeed. “Hesitation Blues” is an old standard but the Rounders added the word–which they pronounced “[psycho-delic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzZ2q0NUEZQ).” Their vision of Old Timey music (revealed on their first two albums) is truer to the originals than the beautiful “purity” of artistes like Joan Baez. Then they began to get [weird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FKPjiIr3ys). Stampfel & Weber also contributed their musical talents to the original version of the Village Fugs… As far as psychedelic “rock” goes, I’d give the award to hometown heroes, the 13th Floor Elevators. As explained at great length in Paul Drummond’s _[Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound](https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Mind-Erickson-Elevators-Psychedelic-ebook/dp/B003YCPD8K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472117372&sr=1-1&keywords=thirteenth+floor+elevators)_. > [@](#): > > The 13th Floor Elevators cannot be compared to any other group in musical history. While the band were formed in Texas and existed from late 1965 to mid-1969, they were never truly members of the hippie culture, remaining strange anomalies and, ultimately, outsiders. Their story is a drama of the division between mind and body—the evolution of ideas and the development of music. The extent of their adhesion to a self-imposed, quasi-religious doctrine based around hallucinogens was remarkable, as was their unfaltering belief that they would discover new paths to enlightenment and a clearer understanding of the divine fabric of matter itself. While their story is a familiar progression—the struggle for initial success, the momentary fruition and the inevitable downfall—it is more interestingly the true secret history of psychedelia in America… ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/17 "2016-08-25T13:29:25Z")
Yes,earliest prog is more difficult to pin down than psych. I will now give you my submission for earliest lp to use the word “progressive” as genre… Please feel free to find one that beats it. But, before I do, this is my logic: 1/ it would have to be UK since UK was where it flourished first (albiet not necessarily where it necessarily started - we will get to that.) 2/ it would have to be AFTER OCTOBER 1969 (Court of Crimson King) 3/ one would think that since we are talking genre, best bet would be THE EARLIEST COMPILATION to feature such bands. 4/ best bet would also be a largish label This leads me to the various artists sampler lp put out by Decca’s progressive and underground sub-label , ‘Deram’ : WOWIE ZOWIE: WORLD OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC Okay, granted it says “music” not specific “rock” but half of this lp IS earliest prog bands: Moody Blues,Procol Harum, Genesis from the first lp, etc (look it up on Rate Your Music) Harvest,Island and Charisma would have been other samplers to look at only that THESE ALL CAME AFTER THE DECCA ONE. Another stronger contender - but one which I could not find a sampler lp for - was the other Decca offshoot, Nova . They were even more prog rarefied (Egg,Aardvark,etc) Now I said it would have to be UK. There is one strange exception: although Court of Crimson King is BY FAR considered to be the Rossetta stone of prog, some do like to bring up the US band TOUCH and their lp which preceeded ITCOTCK by a short whiles.( I however consider it proto-prog) The strange thing is that the Wowie Zowie sampler lp STARTS OFF with a Touch track! ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/18 "2016-08-25T13:51:52Z")
Here is the front cover: [http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/baggra/Bitco/psych/cover\_3352233052011\_r\_zpsbgzdmxtj.jpg](http://s151.photobucket.com/user/baggra/media/Bitco/psych/cover_3352233052011_r_zpsbgzdmxtj.jpg.html) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/19 "2016-08-25T13:53:19Z")
There is usage of the phrase before King Crimson [like in this 1968 Billboard magazine](https://books.google.com/books?id=xwoEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22progressive+rock%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvz_GZ29zOAhVDwGMKHaxrBvc4ChDoAQgwMAU#v=onepage&q=%22progressive%20rock%22&f=false), but from what I can find, it seems that “progressive rock” stations means non-Top 40 rock, so maybe what would more closely be associated with alternative rock today? That may be what’s causing some confusion and making it difficult to figure out. And I agree that when In The Court of the Crimson King came out is a lower bound for the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Baggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Baggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806/20 "2016-08-25T14:05:02Z")
Yes, here in my Leutonia the “hip” FM radio station also used the word “underground”. (Peter Hammill considers his group VDGG to be underground music, not prog.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-use-of-progressive-psychedelic-rock-word/763806.md?page=2)