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The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock

David Weigel

3.49 · Rating details · 864 ratings · 184 reviews

The Show That Never Ends is the definitive story of the extraordinary rise and fall of progressive (“prog”) rock. Epitomized by such classic, chart-topping bands as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Emerson Lake Palmer, along with such successors as Rush, Marillion, Asia, Styx, and Porcupine Tree, prog sold hundreds of millions of records. It brought into the main ...more

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Paperback, 368 pages

Published June 5th 2018 by W. W. Norton Company

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Aug 07, 2017 Matthew Budman rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I both wanted and expected to love this book: Have been a fan of Dave Weigel's political writing for years, and he has been entirely engaging on the subject of progressive rock in both online posts and in-person talks. But The Show… is an incoherent wreck, an insular book that feels almost unedited, failing to put its material in a context that helps us understand why England and America fell in and out of love with prog—why people were drawn to its ambition and scale, and why they got bored.

Yes I both wanted and expected to love this book: Have been a fan of Dave Weigel's political writing for years, and he has been entirely engaging on the subject of progressive rock in both online posts and in-person talks. But The Show… is an incoherent wreck, an insular book that feels almost unedited, failing to put its material in a context that helps us understand why England and America fell in and out of love with prog—why people were drawn to its ambition and scale, and why they got bored.

Yes, many of us have long defended prog rock—at least the high spots—and will read all the way to the book's end to pick up any scraps of information. And Weigel clearly enjoyed spending time in the archives of '70s music magazines, chatting with musicians about their glory days, and hanging out on Cruise to the Edge. But he fails at the most basic task: explaining not only how prog broke with the prevailing musical trends of the time but why audiences responded. By the conclusion, we still don't understand why millions filed into sold-out stadiums to endure ELP concerts, and why, a few years later, they stopped buying tickets. (Were fans the same people who bought Joni Mitchell and James Taylor albums? Led Zeppelin albums? Classical albums? Jazz albums? Shouldn't we get some sense of that?) The view here is nearly all from the inside, usually in musicians' quotes from magazine interviews, with careers often reduced to a single anecdote or issue, including bits of silliness (Greg Lake's backstage groupies, Rick Wakeman's onstage boredom) and, for a handful of tracks, second-by-second breakdowns of chord names and sound effects that somehow fail to capture what the songs sound like, or why they're good or bad or significant or insignificant.

In places, the prose reads like a Deuteronomy of music writing, with endless who-begat-whoms, only less systematic. We closely follow the obscure solo careers of the former members of Soft Machine—an oft-cited but seldom heard '60s psychedelic band—without learning why Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers are worth the space. We get a lengthy chronicle of the making of Mike Oldfield's one-off Tubular Bells and way too many pages on the quirky life and fringe career of experimental guitarist Robert Fripp. We stick with Genesis, album by album, long after the band went pop but drop its contemporaries that stayed both popular and more prog. We learn about every time a member of Yes joined and left and rejoined the band but not what made its three 1971-72 albums the best that progressive rock produced. It all feels almost random, and the egregious typos—one every several pages—don't add much confidence that Weigel is in control of his material.

It's a massive missed opportunity. There are countless books on punk and R&B, each covering much of the same material, but I don't have high hopes that we'll ever get another attempt at an overview of the prog years. ...more

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Apr 26, 2017 Dave rated it liked it · review of another edition

Since this was an ARC, I am giving it the benefit of the doubt--that the orphans, inexact paragraphing, references in shorthand to people not mentioned before and the like will be fixed prior to publication. If so, this will still be a junk store of interviews and incomplete history, with far too much talk about Robert Fripp and ELP and far too little about Brian Eno and Can.

Yes of course I ate it up.

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Apr 09, 2018 Jason Pettus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: npr-worthy, personal-favorite, hipster, smart-nerdy, contemporary, history, nonfiction

A super-great history of 1970s progressive rock, aka "prog rock," in fact perhaps the most exhaustive look at the subject in literary history. This gave me a great appreciation for something I never understood before, of why the origins of heavy metal in the early '70s is so closely associated with such un-metal bands like Pink Floyd, Yes and Jethro Tull (short answer -- because both genres essentially started from the same primordial soup of dissatisfied former '60s hippies, only separating int ...more

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Jul 17, 2017 Stephen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

in depth look at the progressive music scene from the mid 1960's to the present day taking from personal interviews , press cuttings, music newspapers and how it changed after punk and adapted. ...more

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Sep 25, 2017 Stewart Tame rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I've been a fan of various prog groups--and the style in general--for a long time. I didn't even know what it was called, just that bands like Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd and Rush played amazing music, complex songs featuring formidable musicianship and jaw-dropping solos. In time, I started drifting into goth and punk and industrial and all manner of other varieties, but never forgot my prog roots. So I was excited to hear about this book.

Prog tends to be sneered at by rock cr ...more

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Apr 24, 2019 Cody rated it liked it

Interesting to those with only the most passing familiarity of Prog. Serves well as a primer, but that’s about it. I was hoping to get turned on to some obscure nazz beneath my radar; 20-pages in I began shitting in the other hand. The writing is fine for the broad scope, but I want minutia!

Fripp, Bruford, and Wakeman are three funny bastards, though. Ho hum (in 15/9 time).

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Jul 01, 2017 Swjohnson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I grew up in the pre-Internet age of music journalism, which included the Rolling Stone Record Guides (remember the red and blue rock volumes and notorious yellow jazz guide?) with their narrow, doctrinaire spectrum of acceptable taste. Those books expended an enormous amount of critical invective on disco, soft rock, hard rock, and jazz fusion, rejecting anything that demonstrated “empty virtuosity” or committed the cardinal sin of being "over-produced." Punk, new wave, classic jazz, soul and t I grew up in the pre-Internet age of music journalism, which included the Rolling Stone Record Guides (remember the red and blue rock volumes and notorious yellow jazz guide?) with their narrow, doctrinaire spectrum of acceptable taste. Those books expended an enormous amount of critical invective on disco, soft rock, hard rock, and jazz fusion, rejecting anything that demonstrated “empty virtuosity” or committed the cardinal sin of being "over-produced." Punk, new wave, classic jazz, soul and the 60's rock canon generally received the best reviews, canonical lines of critical thinking that remained more or less untouched for decades. Inevitably, there’s been recent change. Critical obsessions have shifted away from forgotten sub-genres, and monolithic taste-makers like Greil Marcus or Lester Bangs have been replaced by splintered Internet reviewers. One could even argue that rock itself has nearly vanished as a cultural interest.

That makes it a good time to reevaluate, or at least revisit progressive ("prog") rock, the popular 70’s sub-genre that emphasized virtuoso instrumental technique, abstract lyrics written in defiant answer to pop's simplicity, and extended forms that owed more to jazz and classical. Enough time has passed since the chart-topping Nixon- through Carter-era achievements of Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Genesis to ensure that any affront to culture or taste have vanished like the smoke bombs at a Gentle Giant concert. Prog is now tied to a distant, evocative cultural moment.

Where did it begin? Prog laid roots as soon as bands like the Beatles and Beach Boys began to experiment with classical instrumentation, oblique lyrics and unconventional song structures. Those initial forays quickly splintered into innumerable ambitious and over-ambitious musical efforts: psychedelia, orchestral rock, and a range of albums made in the dubious name of "art." As Weigel points out, prog's key architects found their musical direction almost by chance; most came of age in the 1950s, where they were as likely to be exposed to jazz, classical and Anglican hymns as Chuck Berry. Those with natural virtuosity, such as keyboard star Keith Emerson, followed an instrumental, as opposed to song-based, path to stardom.

So why is prog maligned? Or is it really? On examination, it's as much a curate's egg as any genre, with respected masterpieces from Pink Floyd and King Crimson, works of eccentric and brilliant virtuosity from Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Yes, and offbeat instrumental blockbusters such as Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells." Prog also encompassed cult "art" music that was more Terry Riley than Rolling Stones: Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, the progressive jazz of Soft Machine and its numerous interrelated projects of the Canterbury scene. Prog offered some towering musical successes and as many failures, both fueled by a sense of ambitious overreach.

Fortunately, Weiss does not have a precise critical agenda, and “The Show That Never Ends” is more cultural history than apologia. Genre titans like ELP and Yes loom large, but so does Robert Fripp, whose protean career with various incarnations of King Crimson and a body of solo work illustrates how a musician at the edge of the movement could thrive by adapting even the most oblique musical visions to changing times. Similarly, “The Show That Never Ends” is a chronicle of shifting tastes and a commentary on the protean nature of pop culture. Prog’s solos may have been longer and its ideas more floridly ambitious, but this could be the story of any trend that burns brightly and dies a natural death at the whims of a restless public. ...more

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Mar 25, 2019 Janet rated it liked it

OK, I can't imagine anyone reading this who is not a fan of progressive rock, but it really is for fans only (which I am). The author does no hand holding; from the start you are barraged by names of musicians and bands with the assumption that you know exactly who he is talking about (and I usually did, though some of them barely made a dent in the US market). This is (again to the fans) exactly what the title says, and though he gives too much attention to Rush (not in my mind a true progressi ...more

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Jun 19, 2017 Christopher Hellstrom rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Audible Audio version. This book was fun to read and obviously written with love for the much maligned, prog rock. It focused on King Crimson, Rush, Yes, Early Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer but also other lesser known bands that tried to carry on the prog tradition (Porcupine Tree). I don't care...I like prog rock. I got a fever and the only cure is more moog synthesizer ...more

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Jun 16, 2017 Tim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, music

All right, I owned or own six Emerson Lake and Palmer LPs, six Yes LPs, King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King , three (yes, three!!) Rick Wakeman solo albums and a handful of other progressive rock albums. There's probably a half dozen or more such albums on my iPod right now. Caught up in the midst of the prog rock movement, I also admit I'm one of those who bailed when, by the end of the 1970s, it was derided and ridiculed.

Where prog rock came from, its decline and what it left be ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Todd rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Wow, what a major disappointment. I won't be able to write a better review than - Matthew Budman - so see his review. Don't waste your time on this book. ...more

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Jan 07, 2018 Mike rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: music, biography

It's good, not great. I enjoy Weigel's clear and enthusiastic writing, however the book itself is something of a mess in terms of structure and aim. It is essentially a summary of the big hits of progressive rock, starting with the mid-sixties and ostensibly, the present day (although the bulk of the narrative ends at the eighties). However in casting so wide a net we end up with a pretty shallow book that fails to do much else than package anecdotes and tales in a chronology.

Weigel's backgroun It's good, not great. I enjoy Weigel's clear and enthusiastic writing, however the book itself is something of a mess in terms of structure and aim. It is essentially a summary of the big hits of progressive rock, starting with the mid-sixties and ostensibly, the present day (although the bulk of the narrative ends at the eighties). However in casting so wide a net we end up with a pretty shallow book that fails to do much else than package anecdotes and tales in a chronology.

Weigel's background in political reporting is clear. He is focused on shifts in power and dynamic like lineup changes, royalty disputes, rivalries, industry maneuvering, and so forth. But, when it comes to the music, it is rote and vague, as though he were describing the sheet music to you. You read a lot about a song's time signatures, when players dip in and out, the length of the songs, but very little of the experience one has listening to songs about cyborg armadillos and sewer monsters covered in genitalia. One does not glean that there's much joy or excitement in the music, rather than the vicarious thrill of listening to thinking-peoples' music.

The reader is treated to a long string of anecdotes, many of them quite fanciful. There is a tale of Procol Harum walking into a furniture shop in London to find the Beatles - all of them - gathered around a piano singing "Whiter Shade of Pale." Yes, and then the entire classroom gave a standing ovation, I am sure. Such stories are presented with no skepticism, insight, or critique, but just that they were alleged to happen and such is the mythology of the sound. Thus, in a book that purports to argue for prog rock, we are treated to the antics of self-absorbed twits like Greg Lake, Chris Squire, and Robert Fripp running around wondering why more people don't realize what geniuses they are.

Despite its aims, the book is surprisingly shallow and limited in scope. We hear a lot about King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, and ELP, with some asides for Mike Oldfield, Rush, and Soft Machine. We do get a chapter about Marillion, which is great, I suppose, but even then half of it is preoccupied on endlessly reminding us that Genesis got commercial, and so did Yes, and everyone was pretty upset about punk music and whatnot. He spends very brief periods of time on other bands, other sounds, and anything going on outside of prog is essentially ignored. Instead, we get to hear about how mad the ELP boys are at each other, over and over again.

Ultimately, this lack of context is the book's biggest flaw. So much goes uncontested, primarily the very racist undertones of "trying to replace the American influences of pop music with European ones," that it almost feels like Weigel assumes that prog rock is something that, if you just listen to it and take it seriously, you'll see what it's so great. There is no attempt to make a case for the importance of prog music in the modern landscape, no comparison or contrast between them and the experimentation going on elsewhere in music. It's not going to change anyone's mind or expand anyone's thinking, for sure. ...more

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Feb 26, 2019 Gordon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listened

Quite enjoyable walk through the history of progressive rock. Just to be clear, the author basically begins this era with King Crimson, pinnacles at ELP, and is in awe of early Yes. There is then the ongoing saga of second and third wave of progressive rock against a background of the intertwining destinies of the creatives who took part in the inception - wending their way through band breakups, reunions, punk and commercialism.

I listened to the audio book, and there were a few gaffs, maybe mi ...more

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Aug 04, 2017 Jeff rated it liked it · review of another edition

While THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS gives a decent summation of the history and development of prog rock (starting with King Crimson's debut album in 1969 and continuing with more modern bands such as Dream Theater) Weigel still tends to gloss over certain spots which makes the narrative feel a bit choppy. He spends a lot of time detailing the careers of Genesis, Robert Fripp (King Crimson's founder), Yes and ELP (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), but he seems to leave out things. For example, Weigel gives ...more

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Dec 30, 2017 Kelly Sedinger rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-reads, music

This is...OK. It's not a bad book, by any means, and if you're interested in prog rock, I do recommend it. But I was still a bit disappointed by it, because there's not a lot of flare in the writing, and not a whole lot that conveys the idea that for author Weigel writing this book was a labor of love. The book is a straightforward, journalistic recounting of the basic history of one particular genre of rock music. As such it's a decent read that left me wanting more personal interjection and re ...more

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Sep 16, 2018 Rob Epler rated it really liked it

As you might imagine, this is really for fans of progressive rock, though one not need be deeply into it. All the usual suspects are here, of course--Yes, King Crimson, Rush, ELP--but we get a tour of the genre's beginnings with less well-known names (Daevid Allen, Mike Oldfield), as well as some maybe surprising personalities (like Richard Branson). All in all worthwhile for prog fans, or even those interested in the history of music. Best tidbit (IMO): Crowdfunding, so commonplace now, was sta ...more

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Aug 26, 2017 Jesse Young rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A great primer on an unfairly-maligned genre. The book's principal weakness is its obsessive thoroughness -- too much recitation of band line-up changes, album releases, recording dates, and so forth. It's far too dry for long stretches. In his effort to convey the sweep of the genre, Weigel spends too little time contextualizing the music's broader place in the culture. His entire thesis is reserved for the book's final pages -- I wish he'd brought that editorial voice into more of the book's b ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A good history of Progressive Rock, but my main complaint is that the book tails off sharply by the mid-80's after Marillion is introduced. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since "rise and fall" is in the title, but I still would have liked more than passing mention of the bands that have come forth since that are keeping the Prog Rock flag flying. ...more

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Mar 01, 2018 Mark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A concise, sympathetic (but not sentimental) history of a musical movement that still resists packaging into any definable shape. Now that some of the primary actors in prog rock are dying, it seems time for some less petulant reassessments, and this one is a good start.

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Oct 29, 2019 Benjamin Glaser rated it liked it

This book is basically a really long Wikipedia article.

But like a wiki piece I learned a lot of info, just no real why questions answered.

Also did Moody Blues die in 1967? Because they get almost no mention after that.

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Oct 03, 2019 Emma added it · review of another edition

so good, I know nothing about music but I know everything about king crimson now

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Oct 05, 2017 B.M.B. Johnson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Show that never ends, the name based on a the lyrics of a ELP song (that is, Emerson, Lake and Palmer for those not in the know), was good for introducing Progressive Rock bands to an ear whom had never once heard of them. However, I found that the author was a tad too King Crimson-centric for my tastes. Also, he tended to skip around too much, sometimes to the point of confusion.

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Jul 14, 2017 Dean Madonia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is a must for progressive rock fans. Lots of little details that you may have been unaware of, no matter how big a fan boy that you are.
Interestingly captures the very beginning of a movement that never defined itself as "progressive rock." Just people who were experimenting with music.
Being a progressive rock artist myself, I don't appreciate a lot of the negative comments that people have made over the years about the genre. I realize that some of the bands went a little too far out, ...more

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Jul 17, 2017 Becks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: know-the-author

Exhaustively reported book on prog's legacy, evolution, and influence. So refreshing to read a book like this that is so steeped in facts and research, rather than only musical criticism. Listened to the audiobook and enjoyed flipping between the book and Spotify to listen to the songs and bands being referenced. ...more

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Dec 26, 2020 Bradthad Codgeroger rated it liked it

Shelves: pop-rocks

A “history” of prog rock that almost ignores two of its biggest and best bands (Floyd and Tull). But he makes up for it with plenty of characteristic bombast.

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Nov 28, 2017 Andy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Fun book! Insightful, accessible look at an under-appreciated genre. Traces the origins of prog rock all the way back from composer Franz Liszt. Balanced insight on well-known groups such as Yes, ELP and Jethro Tull along with lesser-known bands like Marillion, Camel and Porcupine Tree. If you're a music geek this is a must read. ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Eric Sbar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Progressive rock often struck me a pompous and cold when I was younger. I couldn’t handle the silly, spacey lyrics and endless jams. As I got older I appreciate the skill and musicianship these groups possessed. Frankly, they are more interesting than the bands who know three chords. This book was a fun romp through the history of select prog bands, mostly Yes, Genesis, the Soft Machine, King Crimson, and ELP. It is sad to see how high they flew and how hard they crashed. Also, it is sad how so ...more

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Apr 07, 2020 Christoffer Smedaas rated it really liked it

Many a great story and quotes from the world of progressive rock, spanning over several decades. You probably need to have some love for progressive rock to fully appreciate this book, but if that is the case it's a no-brainer. Read it! ...more

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Jul 08, 2017 Robert Jenson rated it liked it · review of another edition

I wanted to love this book, and while I enjoyed it, I'm still not quite sure what audience it was intended for.
As a now ancient 'earnest spotted young man', I did learn quite a bit about the early prog scene and of a few bands that I wasn't as infatuated with as others. Weigel's love for the genre comes across, and his annoyance at the music press in their unreasoning hatred of the music is well defended. I hear ya, man.
But I found my eyes glazing over at way too many time signature descriptions ...more

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Mar 09, 2018 Sabin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is kind of a mixed bag for me. I honestly did not know what to expect because the only other book of music reportage I read was Alex Ross' The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, which deals with the mutations undergone by music in the 20th century, from a decidedly classic repertoire to the diverse universe of pop which we see today, from a point of view grounded in classical music education. And he does a great job at explaining trends and developments.

Weigel's job as This book is kind of a mixed bag for me. I honestly did not know what to expect because the only other book of music reportage I read was Alex Ross' The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, which deals with the mutations undergone by music in the 20th century, from a decidedly classic repertoire to the diverse universe of pop which we see today, from a point of view grounded in classical music education. And he does a great job at explaining trends and developments.

Weigel's job as a reporter is covering politics and that alone should start ringing some alarm bells. Not knowing this until after the fact, I plunged right in his lengthy book armed only with my own experience of prog rock.

The author thinks no introduction is necessary for any of the bands that he writes about, and thus the book dives right in a mix of band names and album names. He does make some pertinent and interesting observations in the introduction and the coda, how somehow prog's audience is mostly white males who usually have a receding hairline or grey hairs (just like all of the surviving musicians of the first wave). Somehow he doesn't feel the need to follow up with some insider speculation as to how that happened. How maybe prog is the white man's revolution, or counter-revolution, and why not then try to make connections to voices like Trump's. Well ok, it was mostly the UK, and after a few years all the bands which were still performing were under the strict direction of their labels. I have a feeling that this idea of political undercurrents in music would make for a good book. (read “better book” if you will)

Weigel also doesn't bother to structure his book based on any kind of current ranking or statistic. His disproportionate coverage of mediocre albums, and outright refusal to discuss the influence of bands like Pink Floyd, seems very unprofessional. The only discussion of their albums begins and ends with Dark Side of the Moon, while Oldfield takes the spotlight at least three times throughout the book. And I seriously doubt Weigel's numbers*.

The sense of half-baked research pervades the book. It would have been fairer to the reader to call it a selective history of Prog Rock, based on the musicians' availability for interviews, if not the author's personal preference.

* According to him, Oldfield's Tubular Bells sold around 17 million, while Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon sold only 15 million. Wikipedia confirms Pink Floyd's certified sales in the USA. However, industry sources suggest three times that much worldwide. Oldfield's Tubular Bells is certified muck lower (2.6 million in the UK and about 4 million worldwide), with industry estimates of more than 15 million. Weigel unsurprisingly compares apples with oranges here. ...more

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