Another music question for the mavens amongst the readership (since the last one did so well):
Is the 17-minute version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida heavy metal or prog rock? Or is it some unholy spawn of the two?
Listen and pay attention to the hallmarks of over-the-top prog rock:
- a 17 minute song
- a three-minute drum solo
- pretentious yet meaningless lyrics
- three keyboard solos, including one that’s built around a passage from a Christmas carol (that’d be the keyboard solo after the drum solo)
- general self-indulgence in the instrumental solos
- and did I mention that it’s 17 minutes long?
Points against it being prog rock:
- entirely lacking in ‘concept’
- band name (“Iron Butterfly”) entirely lacking in nuance, metaphorical meaning, and/or pretension (Genesis/Yes/ELP)
- No exotic instrumentation (e.g. flutes, third-world drums with unpronounceable names)
- radio edit of song (which cuts out pretty much all the prog hallmarks) was actually a big hit
So, what do you guys think?
Answer: neither. It's "psychedelic" or "acid" rock. No question it was influential for both the heavy metal bands and prog rock bands that showed up shortly thereafter.
I clicked to comment and basically write what Martin already has.
In my personal music classification, I'd file it under "crap".
It is somewere in between.
But then where are the dividing lines?
I totally remember listening to my Dad's vinyl album of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida! I thought the song totally rocked! I bought on cassette (thanks Mom and Dad!) as a kid and then later on CD as an adult. My Dad has it on vinyl, 8-track, cassette, and CD!!
Just for the record, the RIAA created the Platinum Album award BECAUSE of this album. Just so you know.