Music Sound

Flyer for the 1^st RIO festival, 12 March 1978, The New London Theatre, London. The ticket below the flyer reads: THE ROCK SHOWS THE RECORD COMPANIES DON'T WANT YOU TO HEAR.

Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of "progressive" bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by Henry Cow in March 1978 when they invited four European groups to come to London and perform in a festival called "Rock in Opposition". The groups that performed in the inaugural event were:

Henry Cow (England)
Stormy Six (Italy)
Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden)
Univers Zéro (Belgium)
Etron Fou Leloublan (France)

After the festival, RIO was formalised as an organisation with a charter whose aim was to represent and promote its members. Three more bands were also added to the collective: Art Bears, Art Zoyd and Aksak Maboul, and further festivals were held later in France, Italy and Sweden. Chris Cutler of Henry Cow established the ReR label in the UK, as a model for a non-profit music company.

RIO as a movement did not last long, but its legacy still persists. While RIO never referred to a type of music (the original RIO bands were quite diverse musically), it is still often used by listeners, musicians, and distributors to classify bands (generally bands that appeared at the RIO festivals or bands related to or derived from the RIO bands).

Bands familiarized with the RIO movement and genre today include: Thinking Plague (USA), Present (Belgium), Miriodor (Canada), Ahvak (Israel), Neblenest (France), 5uu's (USA), Guapo (UK) and U Totem (USA). The term "RIO" today is almost synonymous with Avant-progressive rock or Experimental Rock.

See also

• Avant-progressive rock

External links

• Squidco. Rock in Opposition.
• Interview with Chris Cutler Henry Cow drummer discussing RIO.