I pretend to be much more appreciative of Prog Rock than I actually am: I’ll take the New York Dolls any day, or my beloved Parliament-Funkadelic. Dennis Chambers drummed for P-Funk for a while, and he was just as proficient–technically speaking–as any of the progressive guys, but he didn’t feel the need to play in 11/8 all the time.

Keith Emerson has passed away; he played keyboards for Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, which was also the name of a law firm that only handles really complicated cases. I had their Greatest Hits, and I liked that one tune that everyone else likes, the one about the gypsy queen and the vaseline and whatever, plus the bit at the end of Lucky Man (WEEEEE-ooooo-WEEE-ooo); that was about it.

I don’t dance, and I don’t like dance music; I like music you can dance to, though. Music need not be enslaved by the steady beat: let the songs do whatever they want. But the good stuff makes you shake your ass.

The video is from the California Jam in ’74, and I need to warn you about the setlist: Intro (feat. Hot Air Balloon)>Drum Solo>Acoustic Guitar Ballad>Keyboard Solo >Keyboard Solo>Keyboard Solo>Drum Solo>I Stopped Watching.

Of note, though: they were the headliners (co-headliners with Deep Purple, to be precise), which leads to the inevitable question: how many drugs were teens on for this nonsense to be the headlining act?

RIP Keith Emerson. Maybe no more dead rock stars this year?