King Crimson

There have been three incarnations of King Crimson, each of them exploring the boundaries of music and further cementing their reputation as a foundation stone of progressive rock. The brainchild of influential guitarist Robert Fripp, they evolved from the trio Giles, Giles And Fripp, although most of their early material - including the title track of their first album In The Court Of The Crimson King - was written by Ian McDonald and Pete Sinfield. The band's big breakthrough came when they appeared on the bill of the free Rolling Stones concert at London's Hyde Park, creating great interest in their debut album, particularly the stand-out track 21st Century Schizoid Man. With strong allusions to classical melodies and intense, complex arrangements, they sounded like no other band around at the time and second album In The Wake Of Poseidon enhanced their reputation and paved the way for others (despite internal disputes and regular personnel changes). They split in 1974, allowing Fripp to record solo and with League Of Gentlemen, but in 1981 he reassembled King Crimson with a new line-up featuring Adrian Belew on vocals and Bill Bruford on drums, announcing their comeback with an acclaimed new album, Discipline. Two more albums Beat and Three Of A Perfect Pair followed, but Fripp split the band for a second time in 1985. After further experiments with other outfits, he launched another new King Crimson in 1995 with the album Thrak. Their partly-improvised jazz and progressive rock fusions continued anew with The ConstruKction Of Light (2000) and The Power To Believe (2003).