The Langdon Auger Show

January 25th 2026 Prog Rock part 2

Featured Artists: Flash And The Pan, David Bowie, Brand X

Started of our second part of our Progressive Rock special and kind of had to do Flash And The Pan to start because it seems like the perfect start to that. Progressive Rock was officially launched as a category by the album The Moody Blues The Days Of Futures Passed. It has been along road for Progressive rock which now there is so many albums/artist considered in that category. In the song Hey St. Peter “Billy” serves as the narrator’s alter ego or a representative character trying to find success in the cutthroat music and entertainment industry. He deals with the desperation of wasted time, lack of money, and trying to stay relevant, and that was the start of progressive rock. Most prog rock songs are usually over 10 minutes long so they did not get a lot of radio play. David Bowies song Station to Station recorded in 1975 in Los Angeles, the album was created during a period where Bowie was consuming massive amounts of cocaine and reportedly barely remembers making it. The lyrics capture a snapshot of a paranoid, drug-induced psychosis, characterized by feelings of “phony emotion.” The Thin White Duke passionately sings about love and European philosophy, yet his expression feels hollow and manufactured, mirroring Bowie’s own detached state. The song is a heavy mix of esoteric references and literary nods. In the famous line, “Here are we, one magical movement / From Kether to Malkuth,” Bowie directly references the Kabbalah. “Kether” represents the unknowable, unconscious divine crown, while “Malkuth” represents the physical world. The song is effectively a plea for Bowie to leave behind the dark, drug-fueled occultism of Los Angeles and “come back to Europe” to rebuild his life. Also was used in a movie named Christiane F, The main character, 13-year-old Christiane, attends a David Bowie concert in West Berlin with her friends. It is a pivotal moment in the movie, as it depicts her first experimentation with heroin in the crowd. “Why Should I Lend You Mine (When You’ve Broken Yours Off Already)” is a jazz-fusion track by the band Brand X, featured on their 1977 album Moroccan Roll. The title is a quintessential example of the band’s playful, satirical, and non sensical approach to naming instrumental pieces. Composed by drummer Phil Collins, the song functions purely as an inside joke and a creative play on words rather than having a deeper conceptual meaning. The sprawling, 11-minute track is celebrated in progressive jazz circles for its complex funk rhythms and spacey jams.