King Crimson
United Kingdom, 1968–now
English band led by Robert Fripp. In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) is a founding record of progressive rock, and later line-ups changed personnel and idiom repeatedly.
MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced King Crimson and 5 artists King Crimson influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced King Crimson?
- Gustav Holst — 'The Devil's Triangle' (In the Wake of Poseidon) is Crimson's adaptation of Holst's 'Mars' — they played it live as 'Mars' from their first tours.
- Béla Bartók — Fripp has named Bartók a core model — the string-quartet violence of Larks' Tongues in Aspic descends from him by Fripp's own account.
- Jimi Hendrix — Hendrix — who told Fripp 'shake my left hand, it's closer to my heart' after an early Crimson gig — was Fripp's declared benchmark of electric guitar.
Which artists did King Crimson influence?
- Guided by Voices — The dark, cerebral heaviness of early-1970s prog — King Crimson among them — runs beneath Pollard's pop.
- Genesis — In the Court of the Crimson King showed the Charterhouse schoolboys what rock could become — the documented turn from pop to prog on Trespass.
- Chicago — King Crimson's progressive ambition was, with Yes, a stated influence on Chicago's genre-blending jazz-rock.
- Opeth — King Crimson's dark, dynamic progressive rock is a core influence on Opeth's long, shifting compositions.
- Tool — One of the prog forebears behind Tool's technically complex approach, with Rush.