Line #33 Music/InTheCourtOfTheCrimsonKing


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1_in_the_court_of_the_crimson_king_light.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Death seed, blind man's greed/Poets' starving children bleed/Nothing he's got he really needs/21st century schizoid man!"'']]
3
4	''In the Court of the Crimson King'' is the debut studio album by Music/KingCrimson, released in 1969 through Creator/IslandRecords in the UK and Creator/AtlanticRecords in the US. The album is generally seen as the kick-starter for the ProgressiveRock genre. The album never generated any hits, but nevertheless managed to become a CultClassic, inspiring countless rock bands to change their sounds and move towards ProgressiveRock instead.
5
6	----
7	!! Tracklist:
8
9	[[AC: Side One]]
10
11	# "21st Century Schizoid Man" (7:24)
12	** "Mirrors" (2:06-5:47)
13	# "I Talk to the Wind" (6:04)
14	# "Epitaph" (8:49)
15	** "March for No Reason" (3:58-5:17)
16	** "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (6:58-8:49)
17
18	[[AC: Side Two]]
19
20	# "Moonchild" (12:13)
21	## "The Dream" (2:26)
22	## "The Illusion" (9:47)
23	# "The Court of the Crimson King" (9:26)
24	** "The Return of the Fire Witch" (4:16-5:53)
25	** "The Dance of the Puppets" (7:20-9:26)
26
27	----
28	!!Principal Members:
29
30	* Music/RobertFripp: guitar
31	* Michael Giles: drums, percussion, vocals, timpani
32	* [[Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer Greg Lake]]: lead vocals, bass
33	* [[Music/ForeignerBand Ian McDonald]]: saxophone, mellotron, vocals, harpsichord, piano, organ, clarinet, bass clarinet, vibraphone
34
35	----
36	!! ''21st Century Schizoid Tropes'':
37
38	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "The Court of the Crimson King" mentions how "The '''p'''urple '''p'''iper '''p'''lays his tune."
39	* AlbumTitleDrop: "The Court of the Crimson King".
40	--> ''"The purple piper plays his tune,''
41	--> ''The choir softly sing;''
42	--> ''Three lullabies in an ancient tongue,''
43	--> ''For the court of the crimson king."''
44	* AlliterativeTitle: ''In the '''C'''ourt of the '''C'''rimson '''K'''ing''.
45	* BigRockEnding: The title track is an epic jam, which clocks in at 9:26.
46	** It appears to end with a hi-hat ringing out, but that then segues into "The Dance of the Puppets", a reprise of the main riff before simply turning into [[LastNoteNightmare a cacophony of drums and organ]] [[NoEnding before abruptly ending.]]
47	** "21st Century Schizoid Man" also does two LastNoteNightmare variants of this.
48	* BreatherEpisode[=/=]MoodWhiplash: After the shockwave of "21st Century Schizoid Man" is the soft, gentle "I Talk to the Wind".
49	* BrokenRecord:
50	--> "''In the court of the Crimson Kiiiiiiiiiing ahhhhhhhhhhhhh... kiiiiiiiiiing ahhhhhhhhhhh...''"
51	** From "Tomorrow and Tomorrow":
52	--> "''Crying... crying... crying...''"
53	* ColorMotif: "The Court of the Crimson King" is full of this, with almost every character given at least one color
54	* CrapsackWorld: "21st Century Schizoid Man" and "Epitaph" both describe this kind of world. See {{Dystopia}} below.
55	* CreepyCircusMusic: One section of the TitleTrack give off this vibe (the organ/mellotron solo section subtitled "The Dance of the Puppets", for the curious).
56	* DarkerAndEdgier: [=AllMusic's=] review of the album uses the trope by name to describe it.
57	* DecadentCourt: There's a very sinister air about the title track that implies the eponymous Court to be this.
58	* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The iconic album cover was illustrated by Barry Godber, a computer programmer. This would be his only cover too, as he died in 1970 of a heart attack. Robert Fripp on the cover art:
59	-->''"The face on the outside is the Schizoid Man, and on the inside it's the Crimson King. If you cover the smiling face, the eyes reveal an incredible sadness. What can one add? It reflects the music."''
60	* DigitalDestruction: All CD releases of the album prior to 2004 were sourced from multigeneration tapes as a result of the masters being lost, resulting in them having audibly strong tape hiss and requiring various equalization tricks to work around the quality loss. The master tapes were eventually recovered from Creator/VirginRecords' archives in 2004, allowing for all reissues from the aptly-titled Original Master Edition onward to use the first-generation audio. While these in turn were criticized as overly bright, they ended up being favored over pre-2004 [=CDs=] in blind listening tests.
61	* DramaticTimpani: The intro to "Epitaph".
62	* {{Dystopia}}: The general theme of the album is man's feeling of stress, anxiety and paranoia in the 21st century, which was still four decades ahead at the time when this album was released. "Epitaph" isn't particularly optimistic:
63	--> ''"Knowledge is a deadly fiend''
64	--> ''If no one sets the rules''
65	--> ''The fate of all mankind I see''
66	--> ''Is in the hands of fools"''
67	* EpicRocking: All tracks are over six minutes in length, with "Moonchild" being the longest at 12:13. (Note that Music/StevenWilson's remix of the album shortens "Moonchild" by around three minutes, which is regarded by some fans as an improvement).
68	* FakeOutFadeOut: "The Court of the Crimson King" does this, briefly fading out before fading back into a quiet recorder solo.
69	* GrossUpCloseUp: The album cover shows a screaming man in close-up, so we can literally look inside his opened mouth (and up his nostrils too).
70	* HeavyMithril: The album is well known for Peter Sinfield's abstract, fantasy-based lyrics.
71	* ImaginaryFriend: "I Talk to the Wind"
72	--> ''"I talk to the wind''
73	--> ''My words are all carried away''
74	--> ''I talk to the wind''
75	--> ''The wind does not hear''
76	--> ''The wind cannot hear"''
77	* {{Instrumentals}}: "Mirrors", "March for No Reason", "The Illusion", "The Return of the Fire Witch", "The Dance of the Puppets".
78	* LastNoteNightmare: The conclusion of "21st Century Schizoid Man".
79	** Also, the ending of the album.
80	* MysteriousWaif: The title character in "Moonchild".
81	* NightmareFace: The creepy face on the cover.
82	* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: The album cover is unnerving enough, but take a gander at the lyrics of "21st Century Schizoid Man":
83	--> ''"Blood rack, barbed wire''
84	--> ''Politicians' funeral pyre''
85	--> ''Innocents raped with napalm fire''
86	--> ''21st Century Schizoid Man"''
87	* OneManSong: "21st Century Schizoid Man".
88	* OneWordTitle: "Epitaph", "Moonchild".
89	* ProgressiveRock: This album practically [[GenrePopularizer popularized the genre]]. It's also arguably the most important TropeCodifier.
90	** ProgressiveMetal: With "21st Century Schizoid Man", they provided an arguable UrExample of the genre. It's been a staple of many progressive metal bands' playlists ever since progressive metal was a thing.
91	*** The use of jazz fusion has also made it pretty much the [[UrExample earliest example of]] what would become AvantGardeMetal, in part thanks to the genre itself originating from progressive metal.
92	* ProperlyParanoid: "21st Century Schizoid Man".
93	--> ''"At paranoia's poison door''
94	--> ''21st century schizoid man"''
95	* ProtestSong: "21st Century Schizoid Man" protests UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar:
96	--> ''"Innocents raped with napalm fire"''
97	* PsychedelicRock: This album is generally seen as a bridge between psychedelic and progressive rock.
98	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: "21st Century Schizoid Man" references UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar in the lyric "innocents raped with napalm fire".
99	* SelfTitledAlbum: The band's name is mentioned in the title.
100	* ShoutOut: The opening lyrics to "Epitaph" reference Music/SimonAndGarfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence". Or just a reference to Literature/TheBible. Same with the Simon & Garfunkel song.
101	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: One section of "Epitaph" is called "[[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Tomorrow and Tomorrow]]", which is fitting since the song is about death and despair.
102	* SolarAndLunar: The moonchild in "Moonchild" is "waiting for the smile from a sun child". Also, the first lines of the title track are "the rusted chains of prison moons/are shattered by the sun"
103	* TextlessAlbumCover: The album cover shows no title, nor the band's name.
104	* TitleTrack: Played with. The official name for the album's closing track is "The Court of the Crimson King", excluding the "In" at the start. However, various other releases of the song, such as the French and Japanese single releases, a UK 7" test pressing, and a 1993 Spanish promo CD, bill it as "'''In''' the Court of the Crimson King", making it a true title track in the process.
105	* TropeCodifier: For ProgressiveRock. While they didn't invent the genre (Music/TheMoodyBlues, Music/ProcolHarum, Music/TheNice, Music/{{Spirit}}, Music/{{Family}} and others had already been playing it since '67), they both solidified it (and many of its associated tropes) in the public eye and helped to separate it from PsychedelicRock (the other bands were much more rooted in Psychedelia). It's often called the most influential prog rock album of all time. It's also one of the most critically acclaimed examples of the genre and frequently makes lists of the greatest albums of all time.
106	* WarIsHell: "21st Century Schizoid Man" mentions this in the second verse, as part of its protest against the Vietnam War. "Epitaph" alludes to nuclear weapons with its mention of "instruments of death" as well.
107	* WorldOfSymbolism: The eponymous "Court of the Crimson King." The imagery throughout the song is surreal and dream-like, and there have been many different political interpretations of what the song is truly meant to represent.

Context Music / InTheCourtOfTheCrimsonKing