Premiata Forneria Marconi
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group recorded five albums with English lyrics between 1973 and 1977. During this period they entered both the British and American charts. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on The Midnight Special, a popular national television program in the United States.
Premiata Forneria Marconi performing live during the "Notte Per Te" festival in August 2007
From left to right: Patrick Djivas, Franz Di Cioccio, Franco Mussida
Franz Di Cioccio (with Lucio Fabbri at left)
Patrick Djivas
Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an emergence of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing.
Pink Floyd performing The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), the best-selling album of the entire progressive rock period.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer were one of the most commercially successful progressive rock bands of the 1970s. They are seen here performing in 1992.
King Crimson's Robert Fripp believed that the prog movement had gone "tragically off course".
Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison (left) and David Byrne, late 1970s