King Crimson

Beginnings

King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 and led by the guitarist Robert Fripp, the only member present throughout. Fripp had played in Giles, Giles and Fripp with the brothers Michael and Peter Giles. The group took on Ian McDonald on keyboards and woodwinds, and through him the lyricist Peter Sinfield, who gave the band its name. Fripp then brought in his old friend Greg Lake on bass and vocals. They first rehearsed on 13 January 1969 in a London cafe basement, and on 5 July they opened for the Rolling Stones at their free concert in Hyde Park.

Sessions with Tony Clarke, producer of the Moody Blues, did not work, so the band produced their debut themselves at Wessex Sound Studios in London. McDonald built its orchestral sound by overdubbing Mellotron and woodwinds. In the Court of the Crimson King came out on 10 October 1969 on Island Records and reached five in Britain and 28 in the United States. It opens with 21st Century Schizoid Man, passes through Epitaph and ends with The Court of the Crimson King. The original band played its last show at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on 14 December 1969, and the departures of McDonald and Giles were made official in January 1970.

Changing lineups

In the Wake of Poseidon (1970) reached four in Britain, Lizard (1970) 29 and Islands (1971) 30, and Sinfield was asked to leave after Islands. In 1972 Fripp recruited the drummer Bill Bruford, who left Yes, the bassist and singer John Wetton, who left Family, the violinist David Cross and the percussionist Jamie Muir. Richard Palmer-James wrote the lyrics and mailed them from Germany. They resumed touring on 13 October 1972 at the Zoom Club in Frankfurt, and recorded Larks' Tongues in Aspic in London in early 1973. It drew on Bartok, Stravinsky, Jimi Hendrix and free improvisation, reached 20 in Britain, and opened with Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One.

Muir left in February 1973. Starless and Bible Black (1974) was mostly recorded live on the late-1973 tour, then edited and overdubbed. Cross left after the 1974 tour, and Fripp, Wetton and Bruford recorded Red at Olympic Studios in London in July and August. Fripp ended the band in the autumn, about two weeks before the album came out on 6 October. It spent one week on the British chart, at 45, and closes with Starless, after the title track Red.

Discipline and after

After seven quiet years Fripp returned in 1981 with Bruford and two Americans, the guitarist and singer Adrian Belew and the bassist Tony Levin, who played the Chapman Stick. They began as Discipline and were King Crimson by October 1981. Discipline appeared in September, reached 41 in Britain, and followed Fripp's wish for a "rock gamelan" of interlocking guitars. Beat came in 1982 and Three of a Perfect Pair in 1984, after which Fripp dissolved the group.

In 1994 the band returned as a "Double Trio" with Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn, and Thrak followed in 1995. A "Double Duo" made The ConstruKction of Light in 2000 and The Power to Believe in 2003. In 2013 Fripp announced a septet with three drummers and the singer Jakko Jakszyk, which reworked older material on stage. Fripp formed the label Discipline Global Mobile with the producer David Singleton. The band ceased after a December 2021 tour of Japan, with Fripp saying it had "moved from sound to silence". The documentary In the Court of the Crimson King premiered at SXSW in March 2022.

Legacy

Pitchfork wrote in 2019 that "all roads branch out from the mighty Court." Edward Macan said the debut may be the most influential progressive rock album ever released, and Kurt Cobain named Red as an influence on In Utero. Kanye West sampled 21st Century Schizoid Man on "Power" in 2010. Fripp has called the band "a way of doing things", and Pitchfork observes that each record followed a different path as he swapped bandmates and shifted genres.