ABSTRACT
Progressive rock and the counter-culture are often perceived as inseparable. Recognised as a social force, music was thought to say things of cultural and political significance, to have a message. Orientated towards a collective experience, rock appeared to provide the means whereby young people could explore the politics of consciousness, ‘love, loneliness, depersonalisation, the search for the truth of the person and the attempt to set up an alternative life style’2. The question that arises is why there should have been this emphasis on a ‘hip and relevant popular music’. Was it, as Richard Neville wrote at the time, just symptomatic of an ‘intense, spontaneous internationalism’?3 ‘From Berlin to Berkeley, from Zurich to Notting Hill, Movement members exchange a gut solidarity, sharing common aspirations, inspirations, strategy, style, mood and vocabulary. Long hair is their declaration of independence, pop music their esperanto and they puff pot in their peace pipe.’4
