The article revisits The Nice’s 1968 instrumental version of ‘America’, arranged by Keith Emerson, as an early example of progressive rock being used for political protest. Its anti-Vietnam War message and confrontational performance style made the adaptation significant beyond music, anticipating punk’s willingness to use provocation and anger as political expression.

Based on Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s ‘West Side Story’ song, The Nice’s recording combined Emerson’s organ-led arrangement with passages from Dvořák’s ‘New World Symphony’. A spoken anti-war line, delivered by the three-year-old son of singer PP Arnold, closed the track; controversy deepened after Emerson burned a US flag onstage, and the single was not officially released in the United States.