By the end of 1981, prog rock was in deep trouble. Punk rock's offspring had traded in guitars for synthesizers and learned to write catchy pop songs. Prog pioneers who had redefined rock and roll's sound throughout the 70s, with their bold use of Moog and ARP synthesizers (Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, etc.), now stood on the sidelines scratching their heads as Adam Ant lookalikes scored hits with their own brand of synthesized music. The new wave had arrived and proggers were beached.
The only prog group that had managed to successfully make the jump to the 80s was Genesis. With Phil Collins out from behind the drums and singing love songs, the group scored hits with "Follow You, Follow Me," "Turn It On Again," and "Misunderstanding." Genesis wasn't new wave, but they had successfuly shed the odd time signatures and existential lyrics of the 70s and attracted a mainstream pop audience.
But Genesis was just the beginning. Following their path, John Wetton (former bassist and singer in King Crimson) who had not quite made the jump to pop music with his nouveau-prog group, U.K., took one last shot at surviving punk's aftermath. The new group, featuring Steve Howe (Yes), Carl Palmer (ELP) and Geoff Downes (Yes/Buggles) was going to be bigger than U.K. It was going to be as big as a continent: Asia.
Who would have guessed that this group of aging prog veterans (many of them in their 30s) would regain the spotlight and score a top ten hit in 1982, becoming a fixture on MTV? The press wasn't having it. Asia was royally derided by journalists. But that didn't matter, since video was killing the radio star and the masses were feeling the heat of the moment.
On the 1983 Astra tour, the band wasn't selling as many tickets as they expected. There was infighting. Wetton left the band, or was fired... maybe even over the phone. Unfortunately, the band had already inked a deal to play a televised Asia in Asia performance. With three weeks until the big show in Tokyo, the band brought in ELP singer, Greg Lake. Prog's survival was somewhat intact.
Imagine how confusing it must have been to show up for this performance.
"Is that John Wetton on vocals? He sounds drunker."
Imagine how confusing it must have been to show up for this performance.
"Is that John Wetton on vocals? He sounds drunker."
"No, that sounds like the guy from Karn Evil 9. Right?"
"Maybe. I dunno. These old prog dudes all look like Leif Garrett nowadays."
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