Exactly. By the late 70s, prog and music in general was looking increasingly long-winded, overindulgent and overblown. Disco came out and for all its mindless simplicity it at least had a upbeat new energy about it. Punk I hated and still do, but it had a raw energy too.
I love 70s prog. I wish it never went away, and I still listen to that stuff more than anything else.
But even I can see how after a while, bands like Genesis, Moody Blues, and Yes were like...you know what...we've already done these gigantic symphonic epics...let's see if we can write a catchy pop song. Or a ballad. Which is actually more challenging than it looks.
I totally get the reaction of older guys who, say, got heavy into Journey from 1974-1977 and then completely tuned out when Steve Perry joined. But us slightly younger folk grew up loving the hits first and were then led back to the early stuff in amazement.
If you hear the interviews of the guys back then, in many cases they were quite ready to make a change from extended guitar solos and try something Motown-inspired with a horn section.
And of course the raw talent of the musicians means that their pop hits aren't exactly as simple as they seem. Escape and Invisible Touch are two absolutely killer albums that I personally think have stood the test of time.
“That’s All” may be a pop song, but it’s a damn good one.