King Crimson are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist and leader Fripp has remained the only constant member throughout the band's long history. The band drew inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, blues, industrial, electronic, and experimental music. They also exerted a strong influence on the early 1970s progressive rock movement, including on contemporaries such as Yes and Genesis, and continue to inspire subsequent generations of artists across multiple genres. The band has earned a large cult following, especially in the 21st century.
The band's debut album, "In the Court of the Crimson King" (1969), remains their most commercially successful and influential release. The next two albums, "In the Wake of Poseidon" and "Lizard" (both 1970), were recorded during a period of instability in the band's line-up, before a stable group with Fripp, Sinfield, Mel Collins, Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace recorded "Islands" in 1971. In mid-1972, Fripp disbanded this line-up, recruited new members Bill Bruford (formerly of Yes), John Wetton (formerly of Family), David Cross and Jamie Muir, and changed the group's musical approach, drawing from European free improvisation and modernist classical music and developing ever more complex compositions. The band released three more albums, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" (1973), "Starless and Bible Black" (1974) and "Red" (1974), before Fripp disbanded the group at the end of 1974.
After seven years of inactivity, King Crimson was recreated in 1981 with Fripp, Bruford and new American members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin.
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