rock in opposition!!!
fight the people!!! rock in opposition (or rio) was a musical movement where a bunch of prog nerds in the 1970s were like "yo this prog shit aint dumb and wanky enough lmao" so some dudes from england and belgium and europe and shit went and weirded prog up with extra prog yeah yeah yeah heres some really proggy albums to check out so when someone disparagingly asks "you listen to prog?" you can say "im so sorry" |
| 1 |  | Henry Cow
Leg End
the whole rio shtick happened because of these fuckers. henry cow were like "ayyyyy lets get some other prog nerds from around europe to do a festival with us" thinking that anyone would show up to a prog festival lol, long story short in 1978 they held the rock in opposition festival and the lineup was fuckin stacked dude like we are talking: |
| 2 |  | Univers Zero
Heresie
univers focken zero my dudes, my personal favourite rio band because im a hive mind cretin who'd rather have my taste dictated for me by people who actually listen to prog, belgium's finest, |
| 3 |  | Samla Mammas Manna
Snorungarnas Symfoni (Symphony of the Brats)
samla mammas manna the gods, some overbloated hyper nerd shit from the land of vikings and multiculturalism, almost progg but too kvlt to fully commit, |
| 4 |  | Stormy Six
L'apprendista
stormy six, the three man pasta power platter throwing down some extra linguine folk jams that'll make you thank the lord you unironically enjoy prog, |
| 5 |  | Etron Fou Leloublan
Batelages
and etron fou leloublan, a bunch of wanky french bastards who seem to have no idea what the fuck they are doing and are just around for the ride hahaha yo pass the baguettes |
| 6 |  | Henry Cow
In Praise of Learning
as if the festival wasnt intellectual enough, the hype generated from it was enough to coerce these bands into turning rock in opposition into rock in opposition 2: retribution; the festival name was used as a banner under which a bunch of musicians would be elected into the rio ranks as a sort of premium club for wank elites with limited entry |
| 7 |  | Art Zoyd
Symphonie pour le jour ou bruleront les cites
art zoyd were elected and went on to make 10 too many albums but damn they got the rio formula so right in their earlier output |
| 8 |  | Aksak Maboul
Un Peu de L'âme des Bandits
aksak maboul were elected and went on to make 10 albums too few because hot damn wtf, a follow up band to henry cow, |
| 9 |  | Art Bears
Winter Songs
and art bears as the final elected, also being a follow up band to henry cow after henry was like "yea fuck off prog is actually shit yea haha" (even if the band is just the same members but dont tell them that) |
| 10 |  | Univers Zero
Crawling Wind
and then the movement kinda died because no one knew how to organise festivals properly and people werent willing to agree on what rio as a movement even was lmao, prog nerds are silly |
| 11 |  | Present
Triskaidekaphobie
hoWEVER!! no real and tangible and emotional fleshy french man will ever forget an era of peak wank and so rio's influence in musical spheres across europe did make for some bloody good shit in the years directly following the original movement's conclusion. most notably, present, an extremely sick bunch of belgium lads who made some top quality shit for the entirety of their career yea yea yea get on it get on it |
| 12 |  | Koenjihyakkei
Hundred Sights of Koenji
its pretty hard to distinguish where rio ends and prog begins and vice versa looking at any bands who werent directly involved in the initial festivals because while the early output of rio is very clearly defined (given only eight bands were officially elected as rio), few bands held onto it (understandable given the "progressive" bit in "progressive rock" doesnt necessarily mean using only the lowest two strings on an electric guitar) and so a lot of bands dubbed rio in years to follow were more rio by association with original rio acts, such as koenji hyakkei here. koenji fits solidly within zeuhl, another subgenre of avant prog alongside rio, but i need to beef up this list somehow yeah cut me some slack |
| 13 |  | Aranis
Aranis II
rio hasnt been completely abandoned in recent years with groups like aranis popping up and riding with the old masters and its kinda understandable given how stupidly excessive the genre kinda is which leads me onto some pros and cons because honestly idek what this list is anymore and we're only at entry 13 lets go |
| 14 |  | Art Zoyd
Generation sans futur
aight pro #1 production. like damn kid, i swear every rio album is produced way too well for anyone involved in prog in the 70s to have budget for. disgustingly dynamic and detailed recordings with passages often involving dozens of instruments at any given moment. the genre blending so much shit from free form jazz to noise to german yelling, im so happy all the key recordings were captured with such attention to detail yea |
| 15 |  | Birds And Buildings
Bantam To Behemoth
con #1 consistency. this is probably more a historical issue than anything. the movement was born as, well, an opposition to general rock structuring at the time. thus, albums often kinda just throw shit at the wall and hope something sticks. a lot of the genre's enjoyment is predicated on the listener finding instrumental wizardry and constantly morphing soundscapes to not be fatiguing after an hour or two which leads into |
| 16 |  | Present
Barbaro
con #2 long ass albums yea. this goes double for rio vs general prog rock or prog metal because of the aforementioned lack of consistency or cohesiveness. its perplexing how well albums flow from one segment into another, something a lot of contemporary prog could learn from, but simultaneously, there's nothing to latch onto over the course of a record's run time unless you plan on relistening to it more than just a few times |
| 17 |  | Ukandanz
Awo
pro #2 location location location. i feel like the nature of the genre being bound by not being bound by rock tropes gave more reason for musicians to adopt ideas from anyone and anywhere. and boy did they run with this. particularly in implementation of folk instrumentation, with there often being noticeable differences in folk tendencies from one country to another. while the movement was opposed to rock structuring, it did (as a necessary evil, ofc) cause rio to become homogenous in regards to the whole throwing shit at the wall shtick, and so a main way bands could distinguish themselves would be through the sounds of their hometown/city/country/planet/etc. ukadanz are a recent band who've kinda floored me due to infusing rio with ethiopian melodicism and vocal performances and man it is all sorts of fuck yeah |
| 18 |  | Dustman Dilemma
On Second Thought
con #3 overblown. ive kinda mentioned already how rio is generally long and musically taxing but there's also a good deal of rio bands who take their positions as talented musicians to be synonymous with being arbiters of elitism and its a bit silly. i mean, that attitude killed your movement dude. chill |
| 19 |  | Het
Let's Het
pro #3 iq brownie points. nothing says stage 7 super atheist like owning rio albums on vinyl. |
| 20 |  | Detieti
Frogressive Punk
but yea rio is sick. if you wanna give it a shot, try any of the eight elected acts. all of them have stellar shit. everything else on this list probably leans heavier on zeuhl or general avant prog but ive tried to keep it to bands who showcase somewhat obvious influence by the rio movement. like this frogressive punk record which feels like it came straight out of the birth of the movement, still being pretty strongly cornered by rock tendencies but having a lot of jazzy proggy nerd charm thatll make you go "wow!" |
| 21 |  | Artus
Ors
pretty heavy, a little straightforward, probably a good starting point for this sort of stuff if the idea of listening to an album released in 1978 scares you, stupidly addictive riffs on this fucker |
| 22 |  | Miriodor
3rd Warning / 3e Avertissement
consistent band, been releasing top notch shit since the 70s and even have a pretty damn fine one from last year if once again, old stuff is a big boo |
| 23 |  | Guapo
Black Oni
some english dorks who've been around since the 90s and do some good shit. took them a bit to get into the swing of things but much of their mid career discog slaps. |
| 24 |  | Gong
Camembert Electrique
ayyy an aussie!!! gong was some australian nonce and his french buddies putting the psych in rock in opp(psych)osition. really inventive band, did a lot of new shit for the style and have a sick name too whats good |
| 25 |  | Cassiber
Man or Monkey
not really rio at all but chris cutler is drumming so its probably still worth a listen. pretty demented shit. arriba! |
| 26 |  | Cosa Brava
Ragged Atlas
fred from henry cow's folk project thinger. strongly influenced by rio but a lovely pick if you want an intro to the style more through melodicism and gentler instrumentation. really pretty!!! |
| 27 |  | Alec K. Redfearn and The Eyesores
The Smother Party
more in line with trad rio but a little cuter. feels like the result of someone who lived through the rio era and made an album based on warm memories of decades prior. |
| 28 |  | Leticia Garcia
Magamaquiavérica em canturbano
one of my favourite avant prog records ever, a hectic amalgamation of jazz, samba, and a strong rio bent. very vocally driven and incredibly dynamic. i think the samba elements amp up the cheese a bit but if you can get past some good ol cheddar, its a good time! |
| 29 |  | ZWOYLD
ZGOND
kinda like hyper wtf elevator music, kinda reminds me of psudoku if they dropped the grind |
| 30 |  | Psudoku
Planetarisk Sudoku
not a rio band at all. but zwoyld made me think of them and if you arent listening to psudoku idk why ur still alive lmao |
| 31 |  | Art Zoyd
Haxan
disclaimer!!! art zoyd has too many good albums! i also probably underrated this one good call farm boy |
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