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Artist
Thinking Plague
12+ albums
Progressive rockAvant-ProgAvant-GardeexperimentalRIO
about
Thinking Plague are a United States avant-garde rock group founded in 1982 by guitarist/composer, Mike Johnson, and bass guitarist/drummer Bob Drake. Based in Denver, Colorado, the band was active on and off since 1982, taking on a number of musicians over the years. They made six studio albums since 1984 with the latest being released in 2012, and released one live album recorded at NEARfest in 2000. Their music is a mix of rock, folk, jazz and 20th Century Classical music. Music.com remarked that "...Thinking Plague stand out as a shining example of avant-garde music blended with just enough rock for it to be called progressive rock..." Music.com apparently has a system for measuring such things. While never directly related to Rock in Opposition (RIO), Thinking Plague was strongly influenced by this late-1970s movement, particularly Henry Cow and Art Bears. In spite of Johnson's dislike of the term, the band has often been categorized as a "RIO" band. Mike Johnson and Bob Drake first met in 1978 and played in several cover bands. They began experimenting with basement recordings in 1980 and by 1982 they had enough song material to attempt a few live performances. For these shows they enlisted the services of classically trained vocalist Sharon Bradford, luthier Harry Fleishman on keyboards, and Rick Arsenault on drums. This ensemble became the first incarnation of Thinking Plague. They played at a few venues around Denver in 1983 but their complicated music was not wel
