Robert Fripp, the only original member of prog-rock band King Crimson, recently granted a rare interview with UK Financial Times in which he stated, “…I made the choice to give up my career as a musician in the frontline to deal with the business.” He continues, saying, “My life as a professional musician is a joyless exercise in futility.” The full interview can be read here.

Part of this stems from Kanye West‘s sampling of “21st Century Schizoid Man” in his song “Power”, which was done without Fripp’s approval. As a matter of fact, the song had racked up over 1 million views before he was even approached regarding its use. This is one of many grievances that Fripp has with the music industry and with Universal Music Group, the largest record label in the world, whom Fripp has been embroiled in a dispute with for over five years.

I’ve been a huge fan of King Crimson for many years, have seen them live, and even flew out to San Francisco to see Robert Fripp do his Soundscapes as an opening for Porcupine Tree. So, as you can probably imagine, this is a pretty big blow for me. I know that original Fripp releases were becoming increasingly rarer and rarer but there was always hope in my heart that new music would come out. Below are some of my favorite Crimson songs that I’ll be listening to throughout the day.

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