Talk of Heritage: Critical Benchmarks and DIY Preservationism in Progressive Rock

Abstract

This article examines the “benchmarks” that specialist critics offered when reviewing progressive rock recordings—the other bands and musicians that critics mentioned as points of reference in a given review. In analyzing 5,118 reviews from the Dutch Progressive Rock Page (2003–13), we show how these benchmarks have two roles. First, the more than 20,000 instances of benchmarks employed by these critics combined to form a musical hierarchy with a canon of past greats located at the top. Second, the extent to which critics applied benchmarks within reviews of 21st-century recordings were shaped by the esteem accorded to the band/musician under review, as well as by the band/musician's familiarity. Hence, benchmarks simultaneously served to construct progressive rock's heritage and to situate new recordings in the present.

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