King Crimson

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King Crimson are a musical group founded by guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Michael Giles in 1969. King Crimson's style has typically been categorized as progressive rock, although it also has diverse influences from jazz, classical, experimental, psychedelic, New Wave, heavy metal, gamelan and folk music. Although King Crimson has garnered little radio or music video airplay, King Crimson have a devoted following. King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, is widely regarded as a landmark in the history of the progressive rock genre; King Crimson's later excursions into even more unconventional territory have been influential on many contemporary musical artists.

In the late 1960s King Crimson were very influential in popularising a previously unknown mellotron rock style; throughout the early 1970s King Crimson's membership fluctuated with forays into jazz and funk at times before becoming a more stable unit in the mid 1970s, developing an improvisational sound influenced by heavy metal before breaking up. King Crimson reformed in the early 1980s for three years, with a New Wave and gamelan-influenced sound, before breaking up again for around a decade. The 1990s saw King Crimson meld aspects of their 1980s and 1970s sound, which has continued into the 2000s, during which time several splinter groups of King Crimson known as "ProjeKcts" appeared.

Though King Crimson membership has fluctuated considerably throughout its existence, King Crimson continues to perform and record music. The only constant member of King Crimson has been Fripp, who has arranged several disparate lineups of King Crimson, often working in different genres. However, he has stated that he does not necessarily consider himself King Crimson's 's leader, describing King Crimson as "a way of doing things", and noting that he never originally intended to be seen as the head of King Crimson.

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