Editing King Crimson (section)

=== 1968–1970: Original lineup and ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' ===
The first incarnation of King Crimson—Fripp, Michael Giles, Lake, McDonald and Sinfield—was formed on 30 November 1968 with rehearsals beginning on 13 January 1969.<ref name=AMGBIO /><ref name=epitaph>{{cite AV media notes |title=Epitaph |title-link=Epitaph (King Crimson album) |others=King Crimson |year=1997|type=CD |publisher=Discipline Global Mobile }}</ref> Sinfield coined the band's name in "a moment of pressured panic". Sinfield had already used the term "crimson king" in a set of lyrics before his involvement with Giles, Giles and Fripp. Sinfield insisted that the name wasn't [[Beelzebub]], prince of demons, and that a "crimson king" was any ruler during whose reign there were "societal rumblings" and "sort of the dark forces of the world".<ref name="uncut kc6974">{{cite magazine |author=Rob Young |date=2014-09-05 |title=King Crimson: "Without friction you don't get heat!" |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/king-crimson-without-friction-you-don-t-get-heat-4513/ |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |access-date=2022-04-29 |archive-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701130655/https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/king-crimson-without-friction-you-don-t-get-heat-4513/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Sinfield q&a1">{{cite interview |date=2001 |url=https://www.songsouponsea.com/q%26a1.html |title=King Crimson - Enclosures of the word kind |first=Peter |last=Sinfield |interviewer1=Jon Green |interviewer2=Jon Swinghammer |interviewer3=Sid Smith |interviewer4=Andrew Keeling |interviewer5=Agulló Xavier |website=songsouponsea.com |quote=Sinfield: ...any ruler who presided over an intense period of learning, yearning and burning and apparently benificial &#91;sic&#93; progress (HA) towards the elevation of mankind - Since [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Fred2]] is a such a suitable archytype for said societal rumblings (allegoricaly speaking) -It would be churlish of me to quibble!<br />Green: Judging from your response to Jon Swinghammer, you consciously conceived the Crimson King as a composite of several historical figures.<br />Sinfield:"Ok - It was that ... and a game of archetypes, symbols, and purposefully 'vulgar' colours. ([[The Magus (novel)|The Magus]]/[[Gormenghast (series)|Gormenghast]]/[[The Lord of the Rings]]/[[The Prince]]/[[The Hidden Persuaders]], some [[Robert A. Heinlein|Heinlein]]...) It may amuse /confuse you to know that I wrote the whole song words and v. dodgy "Dylanesque" tune many months before I became with involved GG&F who became King Crimson.<br />Keeling: Is the name King Crimson really a synonym for Beelzebub?<br />Sinfield: Despite the possibility that I may have flippantly (an 'r' is optional) have stated it to be so... it is not. Granted that the name was taken from In the Court of the Crimson King in a moment of pressured panic. |access-date=10 Feb 2021 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130081523/http://songsouponsea.com/q%26a1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Fripp, King Crimson is a [[synonym]] for [[Beelzebub]], which is an [[English language|anglicised]] form of the [[Arabic]] phrase "B'il Sabab", meaning "the man with an aim", to which he related.<ref name="vrvr fripp">{{cite web |url=https://www.dgmlive.com/in-depth/the-double-trio-robert-fripp |title=The Double Trio - Robert Fripp |first=Robert |last=Fripp |date=2001 |website=dgmlive.com |access-date=31 December 2021 |archive-date=31 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231110630/https://www.dgmlive.com/in-depth/the-double-trio-robert-fripp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AIM">{{cite web|url=http://www.songsouponsea.com/Promenade/Metaphysical.html|title=Robert Fripp on the King Crimson name|access-date=29 August 2007|publisher=Song Soup on Sea – Peter Sinfield's website (songsouponsea.com)|archive-date=8 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808222328/http://www.songsouponsea.com/Promenade/Metaphysical.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

At this early point, McDonald was the primary composer, with vital contributions from Fripp and Lake, while Sinfield wrote all the lyrics on his own, and also designed and operated the band's unique stage lighting, being credited with "words and illumination" on the album sleeve. Inspired by [[the Moody Blues]], McDonald suggested the group purchase a [[Mellotron]] keyboard, and this became a key component of the early Crimson sound.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN8PXIPmTAY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/vN8PXIPmTAY| archive-date=2021-10-29|title=Ian McDonald Conversation on Mellotrons: Pt. 1 of 8| website=[[YouTube]]| date=24 August 2008|access-date=17 June 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Sinfield described the original Crimson thus: "If it sounded at all popular, it was out. So it had to be complicated, it had to be more expansive chords, it had to have strange influences. If it sounded, like, too simple, we'd make it more complicated, we'd play it in 7/8 or 5/8, just to show off".<ref name="BBC Prog Rock">{{Cite AV media|title="Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements"|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g8tfv|access-date=13 May 2012|publisher=BBC|date=2 January 2009|archive-date=16 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316220816/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g8tfv|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{listen|filename=King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King.ogg|title="The Court of the Crimson King" (1969)|description=37-second sample from King Crimson's "The Court of the Crimson King", demonstrating the sound of the first incarnation of the band, with its classically influenced style and use of the Mellotron instrument.}}
King Crimson's first live performance was at [[the Speakeasy Club]] in [[London]] on 9 April 1969 (with [[Yes (band)|Yes]] guitarist [[Peter Banks]] among the audience).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dgmlive.com/in-depth/king-crimson-1969-from-the-guitarist|title=King Crimson 1969|date=7 November 2016 }}</ref> Their big breakthrough came on 5 July 1969 by playing as a support act at [[the Rolling Stones]]' [[Stones in the Park|free concert]] in [[Hyde Park, London]] before an estimated 500,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-in-hyde-park-july-5-1969-mw0001270851 |title=King Crimson - Live in Hyde Park: July 5, 1969 |first=Lindsay |last=Planer |access-date=10 Mar 2021 |website=allmusic.com |archive-date=3 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203000520/https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-in-hyde-park-july-5-1969-mw0001270851 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=AMGBIO />

The debut album, ''[[In the Court of the Crimson King]]'', was released in October 1969 on [[Island Records]]. Fripp would later describe it as having been "an instant smash" and "New York's [[LSD|acid]] album of 1970" (notwithstanding Fripp and Giles' assertion that the band never used psychedelic drugs).<ref name=epitaph /> [[The Who|Who]] guitarist and composer [[Pete Townshend]] called the album "an uncanny masterpiece."<ref name="sandiegouniontribune kc2017" /> The album contains Sinfield's [[Gothic fiction|gothic lyrics]] and its sound was described as having "dark and doom-laden visions".<ref name="AMGCOURT">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000252242|title=In the Court of the Crimson King|access-date=29 August 2007|website=AllMusic|last=Eder|first=Bruce|archive-date=9 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109175201/http://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000252242|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/03/20/king-crimson-reign-of-wagnerian-rock/5ed4da72-e5bf-4e50-8ffb-62e50eef0165/ |title=King Crimson: Reign Of Wagnerian Rock |first=Richard |last=Harrington |date=1992-03-20 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=2022-07-27 |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709202312/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/03/20/king-crimson-reign-of-wagnerian-rock/5ed4da72-e5bf-4e50-8ffb-62e50eef0165/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Its opening track "[[21st Century Schizoid Man]]" was described as "[[proto-metal]]" and the song's lyrics criticise [[Vietnam War|the military involvement of the United States in Southeast Asia]].<ref name="rollingstone schizoid">{{cite magazine |first=Hank |last=Shteamer |date=1 October 2019 |title=King Crimson's '21st Century Schizoid Man': Inside Prog's Big Bang |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/king-crimson-interview-writing-21st-century-schizoid-man-891600/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=7 February 2021 |archive-date=6 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206232621/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/king-crimson-interview-writing-21st-century-schizoid-man-891600/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Pitchfork itcotck">{{cite web|last=Reed|first=Ryan|date=11 November 2019|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/king-crimson-in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king-50th-anniversary/|title=King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King (50th Anniversary)|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=7 February 2021|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127003357/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/king-crimson-in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king-50th-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref> In contrast to the blues-based hard rock of the contemporary British and American scenes, King Crimson presented a more Europeanised approach that blended antiquity and modernity.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.courant.com/ctnow/music/hc-greg-lake-2012-interview-20161208-story.html |title=In Memoriam: An Interview With Greg Lake From 2012 |first=Michael |last=Hamad |date=8 December 2016 |work=Hartford Courant |access-date=7 February 2021 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203185610/https://www.courant.com/ctnow/music/hc-greg-lake-2012-interview-20161208-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="fosters kc2017">{{cite news |first=Jim |last=Farber |date=9 November 2017 |title=King Crimson talks ever-changing band, music |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202134535/https://www.fosters.com/news/20171109/king-crimson-talks-ever-changing-band-music |url=https://www.fosters.com/news/20171109/king-crimson-talks-ever-changing-band-music |work=[[Foster's Daily Democrat]] |archivedate=2 Feb 2021 |access-date=7 February 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The band's music drew on a wide range of influences provided by all five group members. These elements included classical music, the psychedelic rock spearheaded by [[Jimi Hendrix]], [[folk music|folk]], [[jazz]], military music (partially inspired by McDonald's stint as an army musician) and [[free improvisation]].<ref name="rollingstone schizoid" /><ref name="Pitchfork itcotck" /><ref name="fosters kc2017" /><ref name="sandiegouniontribune kc2017" />

After playing shows across England, the band toured the US with various pop and rock acts. Their first show was at [[Goddard College]] in [[Plainfield, Vermont]]. While the band found success and critical acclaim,<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s)--> |date=17 April 2019 |title=Greg Lake estate auction coming in May |url=https://www.goldminemag.com/news/greg-lake-estate-auction-coming-in-may |magazine=[[Goldmine (magazine)|Goldmine]] |access-date=7 February 2021 |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127233147/https://www.goldminemag.com/news/greg-lake-estate-auction-coming-in-may |url-status=live }}</ref> creative tensions were already developing.<ref name=AMGBIO /> Giles and McDonald, still striving to cope with King Crimson's rapid success and the realities of touring life, became uneasy with their musical direction. Although he was neither the dominant composer nor the frontman, Fripp was very much the group's driving force and spokesman, leading them into progressively darker and more intense musical areas. McDonald and Giles, now favouring a lighter and more nuanced romantic style, became increasingly uncomfortable with their position and resigned after the conclusion of the US tour in January 1970.<ref name="InTheCourtOfKingCrimson" /> To keep the band together, Fripp offered to resign himself, but McDonald declared that King Crimson was "more (him) than them" and that he and Giles should therefore be the ones to leave.{{sfn|Tamm|1990|p=36}} McDonald later said he "was probably not emotionally mature enough to handle it" and made a "rash decision to leave without consulting anyone".<ref name="rs mcdonald obit"/> The original lineup played their last show at the [[Fillmore West]] in San Francisco on 14 December 1969, a little over one year after forming.<ref name=epitaph /> Live recordings of the band from 1969 were released in 1997 on ''[[Epitaph (King Crimson album)|Epitaph]]'' and in 2010 on the ''[[In the Court of the Crimson King (box set)|In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)]]'' box set.