History Music / KingCrimson

* RevolvingDoorBand: King Crimson's lineup changes so frequently that only two albums in their discography (''Music/{{Beat}}'' and ''Music/ThreeOfAPerfectPair'') feature the exact same personnel as a previous record. In fact, by their ''second'' album, Music/RobertFripp was the only founding member left. The amount of people who've been in and out of the band is so great that Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_King_Crimson_members an entire article]] dedicated to the subject.

* RevolvingDoorBand: See above.

[[caption-width-right:350:The ''Starless and Bible Black'' lineup: (L-R) [[Music/{{Asia}} John Wetton]], David Cross, Robert Fripp, and Music/BillBruford.]]

The only constant member of the band is guitarist and mastermind Robert Fripp. The band's most commercially successful period in 1968–74 was plagued by constantly shifting lineups. Crimson settled into some stability between 1981 and 1984, where they toured as a four-piece performing music influenced by gamelan and New Wave. From 1994 to 1998 Crimson toured as a "double-trio" format, introducing some industrial and grunge sounds. A quartet around 2000 leaned heavily into ProgressiveMetal elements. The most recent iteration was a seven-piece band formed in 2013 with three (!) drummers. It contained two new members along with five previous members, including Mel Collins, who'd hadn't played with the band for nearly 30 years. This incarnation toured almost continuously through 2021, mostly playing reworked versions of the 1970s-vintage Crimson music as well as their signature improvisations.

* [[IAmTheBand Robert Fripp]] (1968–): guitar, guitar synthesizer, etc.

* ''In the Wake of Poseidon'' (LP, 1970) - "Pictures of a City", "Cat Food", "The Devil's Triangle"

King Crimson is a band that began in 1968 in London, from the first generation of ProgressiveRock groups. They've pretty much existed ever since, despite some pretty regular break-ups and reformations (1968–74, 1981–84, 1994–2004, 2007–08, 2013–).

The only constant member of the band is guitarist and mastermind Robert Fripp, and indeed the band's 1968–74 period was plagued by constantly shifting lineups. Its most stable lineup was between 1981 and 1984, where they toured as a four-piece, and from 1994 to 1998, when that same four-piece took on two additional members. The band was revived in 2013 as a seven-piece band that contained two new members, along with five previous members, including one (Mel Collins) who'd hadn't played with the band for nearly 30 years.

Not counting any [=ProjeKcts=] -- side albums from various subsets of the band, used as "research and development", according to Fripp -- King Crimson had been on another hiatus since 2009. And in August 2012, Fripp announced his retirement from live performance, seemingly disbanding the group.

However, in September 2013 [[TenMinuteRetirement he announced the new seven-piece lineup]] (which included ''three'' drummers) which began touring in 2014. It initially was billed by Fripp as a 'farewell' tour, but then the seven-piece line-up also toured in 2015 and 2016, and then toured as an eight-piece in 2017 and 2018, and then went back to a seven-piece for a 2019 tour. But, as Fripp is in his seventies and his dissatisfaction with the state of the music industry [[https://www.dgmlive.com/pages/about-dgm is well documented]], each re-formation or line-up change could someday be the last depending on his mood. In a begrudging nod to current media consumption tastes, Fripp announced in 2019 that King Crimson's studio records would finally be available on streaming services starting in May.

Fripp has had a strident policy of no photography or recording since the band's inception. However, he has acquiesced (slightly) to the smartphone age, allowing for photographs when himself and Tony Levin (an accomplished photographer as well as bassist) take out their cameras at the end of the show. [[note]]Levin keeps a photo diary on his personal [[https://tonylevin.com/road-diary website]]. [[/note]]

Has spawned two bands, 21st Century Schizoid Band and [[https://www.facebook.com/thecrimsonprojekct/ The Crimson ProjeKCt]], comprised of former and current members who also play the band's repertoire. Four of the current septet band are in these units as well, putting the status of both effectively on hold. While Fripp for the most part gives his blessing to these groups, his reaction to them is mixed depending on how well they represent the band's aesthetic. [[note]]An [[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/king-crimson-robert-fripp-press-conference-819254/ underwhelming]] Crimson [=ProjeKCt=] show Fripp attended in 2014 almost prompted him to retire the band again.[[/note]]

* Chris Gibson (2017) : keyboards [[note]]Recruited when Bill Rieflin was unable to take part in the Fall 2017 tour.
[[/note]]
* Theo Travis (2019-present): keyboards [[note]]Was briefly set to play during the 2019 tours as Bill Rieflin takes another sabbatical to take care of family matters. However, after one day of rehearsal, the band decided to instead perform as a seven-piece for the tour, with no musician taking Rieflin's place.[[/note]]

* ''The [=ContruKction=] of Light'' (LP, 2000) - "[=FraKctured=]", "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part IV"

** Don't forget [[Music/RevolverBeatlesAlbum "Tomorrow Never Knows"]]!
** Early setlists include Pharoah Sanders' "The Creator Has a Master Plan".

* GratuitousPanning: The studio version of "VROOOM" from the ''THRAK'' album is mixed with with half of the band members (Fripp, Gunn, and Bruford) on the left channel and the other half (Belew, Levin, Mastelotto) on the right channel.
* HaveAGayOldTime: "Faggot" in "The Great Deceiver" is intended to refer to a skinny person (the "stick" definition of the word), not as a gay slur. Richard Palmer-James was apparently pretty embarrassed when he remembered the word's alternate meaning (which was not commonly used in the United Kingdom at the time, so this could also be an example of DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch or SeparatedByACommonLanguage).

** From beloved ("Asbury Park", "Trio") to almost universally despised by fans (the Coda to "Moonchild"). A curious example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxEbFxwed3M "The Deception of the Thrush"]], an improvisation featured on many King Crimson live albums. Each iteration follows the same basic structure, but with wild variations in actual content.

* LeadBassist: The band has a history of this. Greg Lake, Boz Burrell and John Wetton are good examples, but although Tony Levin only sings backing vocals he's still more of a showman than Fripp. In the 2014- lineup of the band, Jakko Jakszyk is the lead singer and he, too, is less of a showman than Levin.

* MetalScream: Lake uses a type 4 throughout "21st Century Schizoid Man", made even more unsettling because his vocals are processed through a distortion filter.

* ''Larks' Tongues in Aspic'' (LP, 1973) - "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One", "Easy Money", "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two"

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The intro to "Easy Money" features some... rather ''squishy'' percussion from Jamie Muir, which is likely boots worn on his hands plunging into mud or a similar substance. As the song is already about [[IntercourseWithYou sex]], this may have been the intention; that's at least what the perverted mind wants to think.

* EverythingIsAnInstrument: Jamie Muir, an experimental percussionist, had a knack for this. A far-reaching selection of items from bells, wooden blocks, scrap metal, children's toys, and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira thumb piano]] were used to record "Larks' Tongues in Aspic".

* LastNoteNightmare: "21st Century Schizoid Man" is probably the best known example, but the band use this trope pretty often. It's especially commonplace during live improvisations.
** The screechy bike horns at the climax of "The Talking Drum" can easily scare someone. That they come right before the very hard-rocking "Larks' Tongues in Aespic, Part II" doesn't help things--and they also fall off the beat which makes it even easier to catch the listener off guard.

** The band's reliance on this trope is likely why King Crimson is one of the few ProgressiveRock bands apart from Music/PinkFloyd that critics will admit to liking.

* UncommonTime: All over the place. Possibly the TropeCodifier for this trend in ProgressiveRock. ''Discipline'' really takes this UpToEleven with some almost impossible-to-follow polyrhythms on tracks like "Frame by Frame", "Thela Hun Ginjeet" and "Discipline". It's probably not possible to express in concise terms just how mind-boggling the last of these gets, so [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline_(instrumental) have a Wikipedia article]].

** For the longest time, Fripp was not a huge fan of digital distribution of King Crimson music—aside from the usual concerns with "DigitalPiracyIsEvil", the fallout from the EG Records bankruptcy and subsequent sale of KC's pre-1990s catalog left control of distribution and publishing rights out of his hands (or any other band members) for over ''two decades''. A very public row with now-defunct peer-to-peer sharing site Grooveshark did not help matters much. Starting in 2019, however, Fripp has apparently been satisfied with the state of the market to allow King Crimson music to be hosted on Spotify and YouTube, at least.

Has spawned two bands, 21st Century Schizoid Band and [[https://www.facebook.com/thecrimsonprojekct/ The Crimson ProjeKCt]], comprised of former and current members who also play the band's repertoire. Four of the current septet band are in these units as well, putting the status of both effectively on hold. While Fripp for the most part gives his blessing to these groups, his reaction to them is mixed depending on how well they represent the band's aesthetic. An [[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/king-crimson-robert-fripp-press-conference-819254/ underwhelming]] Crimson [=ProjeKCt=] show Fripp attended in 2014 almost prompted him to retire the band again.

* [[Music/{{Foreigner}} Ian McDonald]] (1968–69; died 2022): saxophone, flute, Mellotron [[note]]Session musician in 1974[[/note]]

** They do this in their improvs as well; one is called "Sharks' Lungs in Lemsip".

* CreepyJazzMusic: Despite not usually being classified as a jazz band, they have recorded songs in this style, especially "21st Century Schizoid Man", and "One More Red Nightmare".

** Fripp absolutely ''despises'' [[NewMediaAreEvil the current age of technology and the way the internet has progressed]], heavily enforcing that it "takes away" from the music. The result is not having any of King Crimson's music for stream and immediate removal of Youtube. He also is heavily against [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil internet downloading/distributing]] and won't hesitate to find ways to remove the music from streaming/download. This ''hasn't'' bode well for current fans in the digital age, although Fripp ''seemed'' to have a change of heart considering in 2019, he announced the band's ''entire music catalog'' would be put on Spotify.

* ''Beat'' (LP, 1982) - "Heartbeat", "Sartori in Tangier"

* [[Music/{{Foreigner}} Ian McDonald]] (1968–69;died 2022): saxophone, flute, Mellotron [[note]]Session musician in 1974[[/note]]

* [[Music/{{Foreigner}} Ian McDonald]] (1968–69): saxophone, flute, Mellotron [[note]]Session musician in 1974[[/note]]

King Crimson is a band that began in 1968 in London, from the first generation of ProgressiveRock groups. They've pretty much existed ever since, despite some pretty regular break-ups and reformations (1968–74, 1981–84, 1994–2004, 2007–08, 2013–). Also debatably proof that time travel is real.

* BaldOfAwesome: Tony Levin since he first joined the band, and also Robert Fripp in his older years.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: From 1 to 7, depending on the era and the song. For their time, they probably qualified as an 11 on some songs (particularly "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two", and "Red"), though. A circa-1975 interview with Robert Fripp mentions the difference in the public's perception of the band, depending on the country: In America, they were seen almost as something one would put on a suit and tie to go see, while they were considered elsewhere to be some kind of killer metal.

* {{Improv}}: From beloved ("Asbury Park", "Trio") to almost universally despised by fans (the Coda to "Moonchild"). A curious example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxEbFxwed3M "The Deception of the Thrush"]], an improvisation featured on many King Crimson live albums. Each iteration follows the same basic structure, but with wild variations in actual content.

** Don't forget [[Music/{{Revolver}} "Tomorrow Never Knows"]]!

* [[Music/FrankZappa Adrian]] [[Music/TalkingHeads Belew]] (1981–2013): guitar, vocals [[note]]The door has been [[https://www.dgmlive.com/news/Belew%20now%209th%20Man left open]] for Belew to rejoin the band if an opportunity arises.[[/note]]

* ''Discipline'' (LP, 1981) - "Elephant Talk", "Matte Kudasai", "Thela Hun Ginjeet"