Progtober has arrived, the month in which Yes does everything Fragile in concert, Genesis and Steve Hackett celebrate half a century of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadwaythe Musical Box are still around with singer Denis Gagné who transforms into Peter Gabriel complete with costume Foxtrot And reverse mohawk in the lead, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson announce a 50th anniversary tour of Rush dedicated to the memory of Neil Peart.
You can enjoy Progtober at home by putting on classics like Close to the Edge And 2112 or watching the new season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's series on Netflix Monster. At the center is the story of Ed Gein, the serial killer who inspired films like Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs And Don't open that door. The eighth and final episode contains a fantastic prog moment.
It happens when Gein (Charlie Hunnam) is admitted to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. It is 1984 and he is suffering from lung cancer (arrested in 1957, he was accused of first degree murder, but found not guilty due to insanity and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital). In the series, Gein has just helped FBI agents capture Ted Bundy (a curious, but made-up detail) and spends a good portion of his time reading books about death, watching other patients play ping pong, and staring at MTV transfixed on the couch. On TV there are Kiss screaming «I want my MTV!». Gein also wants MTV. The nurse tells him: «Put that garbage out. That MTV will boil your brain, Ed!” (I'd say it's a little late, ma'am, but ok).
Trevor Rabin's opening riff fills the room and the classic video of Owner of a Lonely Heart directed by Storm Thorgerson. Gein closes his eyes and is suddenly pushed around the hospital in a wheelchair, while the staff dances to the rhythm of the 1983 hit. He is accompanied by serial killers who, according to the series, were inspired by him: Charles Manson, Ed Kemper, Jerry Brudos, Richard Speck. “I hope to burn in hell with you one day,” Kemper tells him. When Gein is reunited with his mother, it is clear that he is in the afterlife. At the end of the episode he dies of respiratory failure.
Murphy has always used music in a brilliant way, just think of Milli Vanilli in Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendezbut this scene is spectacular: a murderer on his deathbed in front of the TV reaches the gates of heaven while Jon Anderson sings “always live without ever thinking about the future”. Sooner or later we all have to leave. Dying to the accompaniment of a song Trevor Rabin wrote while sitting on the toilet isn't so bad.
When it came out in October 1983 (another Progtober), Owner of a Lonely Heart it reached number one in the charts, the first Yes song to do so. He revived a band that at the time was considered a prog relic of the 70s. “It was the most amazing event of my life,” Jon Anderson said in 2016. “We were playing in front of thousands of people all over the world. Moments like that are never forgotten. It was a bit like in the period of Close to the Edge And Fragile. You never forget that incredible sense of camaraderie, harmony and friendship.”
Illustrating the history of the various Yes line-ups would take hours, much more time than it takes to listen to the fundamental progressive records one after the other. Suffice it to say that today Anderson is touring alone, separate from Yes (made up of Steve Howe on guitar, Jon Davison on vocals, Billy Sherwood on bass, Jay Schellen on drums and Geoff Downes on keyboards). The last time Anderson and Howe performed together was 2017, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Rabin, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and the late drummer Alan White. Guess what they played.
Curiously, Howe was on bass that night. It was the last time he did that piece live and the chances of him doing it again are slim. For Howe, Progtober does not mean Owner of a Lonely Heart. However, he is one of the authors of Heat of the Moment of Asia and who knows whether Murphy is keeping it aside for the next season of Monsterwhich will be dedicated to Lizzie Borden. Imagine the scene: Lizzie massacres the family while John Wetton sings “I never wanted to be mean to you.” It would be really prog-tastic.
Rolling Stone US.
