“Robert had a plan laid out that we would do three records in three years”: Adrian Belew on how King Crimson made an underrated prog classic in “this industrial musical junkyard we created”

Adrian Belew live onstage with King Crimson in 1984.

The definitive track from Three of a Perfect Pair, King Crimson’s underrated 10th LP, could be its deepest cut: Dig Me is three minutes of atonal avant-rock chaos interspersed with gleaming New Wave choruses – a combo that crystalizes the prog quartet’s evolved form by 1984. 

“I went into the studio one day and said, ‘[This piece] is going to be no set tempo or rhythms – very disconnected,’” says singer-guitarist Adrian Belew, describing an early session in England. “It was our way of combining this industrial approach with an actual song.”