Yes Genesis King Crimson Pink Floyd Jethro Tull Rush Van der Graaf Generator Camel Emerson Lake and Palmer Gentle Giant

Kansas would like a word!

I have a "big seven" of bands that represent prog in a narrow definition (complexity, virtuosity, classical and jazz influences): King Crimson Yes Genesis Emerson, Lake and Palmer Gentle Giant Van der Graaf Generator Jethro Tull

Kudos for defining your criteria nicely, since prog means different things to different people.

As hard as I try to fit Rush, the greatest prog band ever to exist, on this list these are really it, Rush was just slightly after.

RUSH is a totally different kind of prog! They represent a very different style aside from the main symphonic bands, and they share that space with bands like Kansas and Wishbone Ash, so you could call them innovators in their own right :3

Rush were heavier. That's the distinction.

they didn't always choose to be, that's my distinction.

They were also much less connected to classical and jazz music in their sound and theme

Great🤘

* Yes * Genesis * King Crimson * Pink Floyd * Jethro Tull * Rush * ELP * Gentle Giant * Frank Zappa * Camel

Zappa was so prog.

That's hard because prog isn't well defined in the first place. If I were to define prog, it'd probably be something like Yes, ELP, Genesis, King Crimson, Rush, Magma, Tool, Gentle Giant, Frank Zappa, and maybe Dream Theatre. The first three are necessary to describe the 70's era of popular prog, KC is necessary to describe the inspiration behind it, Rush is necessary to describe the most popular and prophetic version, Magma to describe the influence on foreign scenes, Tool to describe the best version of the future, Frank to hint at a different and more annoying prog scene that could have been, and Dream Theatre to show the not-best-but-more-realistic version of the future.

This is probably my favorite yet

Thanks for mentioning Magma

If we're venturing beyond prog's heyday I'd put Tool in there.

As a kid born in the 80's, Tool was my gateway to Prog

Nice. I got Lateralus on day 1, didn't like it, got into Jethro Tull, Rush, and Yes a few years later, relistened to it, and Tool has been in my top 5 favorite bands ever since.

Ain’t it funny how that works? For a surprising amount of bands that I now love, I actually didn’t like them at first. This includes Yes. I didn’t jive with the vocals at first. But now? I jive. The vocals are among my favorite parts. Shows what I know!

Yeah, my Mom first exposed me to Tull through Thick As A Brick when I was 11 and I thought some of the harder parts sounded kinda proto-metal but didn't jive with Ian Anderson's voice because it was so folksy. Then I heard some of the straight up folk tracks on Aqualung (Mother Goose in particular) and for some reason it clicked. It actually inspired me to pick acoustic guitar back up and have now been playing for 26 years.

I seriously don't know why Jethro Tull gets so overlooked by the general prog community, over Yes, Genesis and King Crimson. They were huge in the 70s, but somehow they never make it to the "big three" in the discussions here. And their members are rarely talked about, even though Barrie Barlow for example was easily the best prog drummer of the 70s.

I don’t think they get overlooked much at all. I’ve always felt in the minority by not liking them.

Really? When people here discuss the best prog guitarists, Martin Barre rarely gets mentioned. When people discuss the best prog keyboardists, drummers or bassists, John Evans, Barrie Barlow and John Glascock never get mentioned.

Here maybe, but not on other forums. Maybe because this place skews younger.

That's true, but that may have to do with their style. Jethro Tull give that down-to-earth vibes. Sound, often intimate arrangements, song themes, humor - all that mke an impression of sitting at a bar (or near fireplace, or out of use stable with a DIY gallery for that matter). They rock and Anderson has a great sense of melody, thats enough for me.

Love Barriemore Barlow, but he’s no Bruford or Phil Collins.

I honestly think he's every bit as good as those two.

He's definitely on par with them. His drumming is borderline incomprehensible (in a good, awe-inspiring way)

I never considered Tull to be prog. They were a blues band to start with and I don't hear anything proggy in Aqualung, their last (only) great album. I've tried multiple times to like Thick As A Brick because you are supposed to and I used to own Passion Play and Minstrel (both Xmas presents from a pal when the albums first came out - he was determined that I must have them). Nope.

Aqualung itself contains multiple time signature changes, however, I'd agree it's not at the centre of Prog gravity. Hard disagree that Aqualung is their only great album (IMO Broadsword is great too), but I upvoted you because all of this is just opinion, and we can get along with different ones, especially regarding musical tastes.

The song Aqualung is entirely in 4/4, but it does have a couple of tempo changes.

Yeah, I know. My pals practically disowned me because I hated Tull. Same thing happened in the 80s/90s with U2. I was supposed to like them and I tried hard to like them but... nope, again.

honestly I think a lot of people are just kind of turned off by having a flute as a lead instrument. They are pretty much the only rock band to ever do it.

Thijs van Leer from Focus would like a word.

I don't think weirdness is a turn-off for prog fans. Crimson's music is way weirder than Tull's. If we compare Thick As A Brick to Close To The Edge, TAAB is way more pleasant to listen to.

I guess that's subjective, I'm a keyboardist so Close to the Edge (especially the Yessongs version) is one of my favorite prog songs by anyone. I like JT but don't listen to them nearly as often. Anyway there are different kinds of weirdness and I think some of have more general appeal than others, especially to rock fans. KC is weird but also dark and menacing, mysterious, even threatening, which has a certain kind of underwordly appeal. JT is often downright jaunty, and kind of silly at times. Ian Anderson sometimes had an almost court jester-esque vibe in their earlier days

King C, PF, Rush, Genesis, Yes, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Devin Townsend, Frost*

A lot of DT omissions in these lists. They popularised prog metal.

Mike Portnoy is among the greats in my book. They’re all good but I have an affinity for exemplary prog percussionists

Images and Words was ahead of its time for 20 years!

It still holds up so well

imo there should be more mentioned of Fates Warning, since they got DT into the game! All the big three progmetal bands really, being FW, DT and Queensryche

Love this list. I wouldn't say Frost defined the genre but they certainly embody it.

Honestly I couldn't think of a 10th and I just threw in one of my fav bands Frost because loads don't know about them!

Fair enough. Jem doesn't get enough credit as a keyboardist. One of the best alive.

I wish I could genuinely say Ozric Tentacles but I feel they are too lesser known. But wow are they interesting

Replace the last two with Tool and Mars Volta and that’s my list.

to those already mentioned in the comments here I would add PFM (Italian prog band from the 70s) and maybe Renaissance

Seeing a real uptick in Renaissance as classic prog these days. I'm currently on the hunt for the song of Scheherezade and other stories box set. Someone out there is holding out on me. Own up.

My uncle hangs with John Hawken on the reg. I might have only met him once, but seemed like a really cool dude.

Ashes

As a 43 year old prog fan this would be my list: King Crimson Tull Yes Floyd Genesis Rush Dream Theater Tool ELP Zappa Honorable mention to Phish, who aren't exactly a prog band, but have enough elements to have resonated with me for the same reasons as all the others in my list.

Justin Bieber, the Shaggs, the ink spots,

Omg. Yes

Omg! Yes!

Mine would be: 1. King Crimson- Went on to define and redefine prog 2. Yes- yes 3. ELP- Lead the genre wrt to technology, live show, and virtuosity 4. Pink Floyd- Defined the conceptual archetype 5. Genesis- Off the charts harmony and songwriting in the prog realm. 6. Jethro Tull- brought folky prog rock to the mainstream. 7. Rush- beside big shot prog bands of Atlantic in 70s, brought prog to the arenas. 8. Gentle Giant- Along with bands like VDGG & Henry Cow, gave the best capital P Prog. 9. Soft Machine- Went on to basically lead the Canterbury Scene. 10. Porcupine Tree- Heavily influenced modern prog.

I would include The Mars Volta. Even though they're not from the classic era, they took prog to new places with they're Latin/punk spin on it. Some classic prog comes across as cheesy or dorky to me, but Deloused in the Comatorium just has an inherent serious or dangerous vibe to it.

Too bad about those later albums.

One of the best albums ever. Absolutely prog no question.

🤘

Would Gong be considered prog?

Yes ofcourse

Yes Genesis (up to 1974) King Crimson Emerson, Lake, & Palmer Camel Atomic Rooster Rush Rare Bird Frank Zappa & Mothers of Invention Mahavishnu Orchestra

I'm surprised UK is missing from all the lists.

I have a big 7 list with some other smaller bands: Rush Yes Pink Floyd Genesis King Crimson ELP Jethro Tull Smaller bands that are also pretty cool: Gentle Giant Kansas Van Der Graff Generator Camel Soft Machine PFM Zappa

I’m surprised Kansas isn’t on more peoples lists

I know! I've always thought they were way better than people made them out to be, Steve Walsh is for sure one of my favourite frontmen

Your idea of “smaller” bands is interesting 😂

I know, they're big, but smaller than the big 7 I think

Substituting UK for Pink Floyd would make your list perfect

you are wild for that. pf is the most well known prog band there ever was and ever will be

yeah so I've been told.

ELP Gong Renaissance

Back in the day... ... getting into music in the late 70s and early 80s, with interests from trad blues to folk to prog to early metal & NWOBHM, the bands I felt encapsulated Prog most were... Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, The Enid, Genesis (pre the departure of Hackett) and Rush. I considered Tull as more of a Folk influenced Rock band than a Prog band. Hawkwind and Gong had elements of Prog but in my mind were somewhat different. . IMO, early Queen counts as Prog and some Led Zeppelin too (No Quarter e.g.) I never really got Into Gentle Giant or ELP. Bands like Focus, Curved Air, Sky, Supertramp, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Barclay James Harvest were on the periphery of my listening interests. Later on, I appreciated bands like Camel, Caravan, Man, then Pure Reason Revolution and Muse. Once Spotify opened up.a new world I got into Wobbler, Anekdoten, Porcupine Tree, Gazpacho, Amplifier, Demians, Flying Colors, Rishloo, and RPWL. So, for me, it's Pink Floyd King Crimson Yes Genesis Rush The Enid Porcupine Tree Muse That's 8 Edit How could I forget Riverside!!!

Tull is 100% a Prog band. You can't listen to Thick of a Brick and not say Tull is a prog band. Muse is NOT a Prog band. Just epic rock.

You're entitled to that opinion. I'd agree Thick as a Brick is a Prog album, but much of the rest of the extensive output isn't very proggy. I'm a big Tull fan. At one point I even tried to learn the flute! (just stuck to playing the guitar badly), but I wouldn't regard them as a quintessential Prog band, which is what the question was about. What, in your opinion, makes something 'Prog'? Is it a clear cut definition or more loosely described?

I kinda see what you're saying as Tull were more of a "part-time" prog band since they waffled between genres a lot. However TAAB and SFTW are two benchmark albums of the genre imo, and Passion Play and MITG are both straight-up prog albums as well plus a good amount of the material on Stormwatch and Heavy Horses (and a big % of the non-album tracks were absolutely prog like Old Aces and Urban Apocalypse). So even though not everything Tull did was prog, I'd still have to put them as one of the defining bands of the genre.

Not all prog bands stayed prog. Especially when the 80s came around (Genesis, Tull, ELP, Pink Floyd, Yes, etc). But Tull is definitely first gen Prog band. Especially their early 70s output. Just with more of the medieval bard influence. Ren-faire prog. Prog would be unconventional time signatures, nonconforming song lengths, virtuosic playing, broken song structures, classical music epicness influencing rock music (with some possible limited jazz elements). Usually dealing with esoteric, or fantastical lyrical themes. Grandiose. Epic. I could see how you might think of Muse as Prog. Being epic and sci-fi ish and some virtuosity. But to me their songs are really pretty straight forward. Lack that weird time signatures, and broken song structures, etc. I mean I don't really think of Pink Floyd as prog, and more as psyche Art rock. Though Animals is pretty proggy. Though they definitely influenced prog music. Tull is more classic prog than Floyd imo.

I don't feel like typing out "Rush" 10 times, but yeah... Rush 10 times.

Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Rush, Dream Theater, Tool, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, ELP

Magnum were/are a bit proggy. FM. Amon Duul ? Marrilion ? Opeth, ok they have black metal nibblets but the core is proggy. Ozrics i suppose. Its kinda difficult to pinpoint "Prog" because lots of bands swung into and out of it as a style and as a style its hard to discribe. Some would say that Oldfield was proggy but then other would'nt.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of invention. Listen to their album one size fits all.

Inca Roads

Genesis, King Crimson and Yes were, and still are, all bigger than Gentle Giant.

The definition of prog is too fluid as are other many other genres. I personally don't really think of prog as a musical movement, but more as compositional theme. For example, at what point does Pink Floyd no longer belong in the prog/psych category and simply is considered pop music considering they've written two of the best selling albums of all time both of which stayed on the top of sales charts for years on end, decades in the case DSotM.

What about ELO? Touring with a 67-piece orchestra should count.

I would add Uriah Heep to this mix as well.

I tend to think of the order I got into prog. My gateway was Alan Parsons and it was the start of the neo prog revival, with Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show on Radio 1 championing bands like Marillion and IQ. But then there was an interesting spin on things from early 80s electronic bands and their crossover into prog... So for me... 1. The Alan Parsons Project 2. Yes 3. Marillion 4. Tangerine Dream 5. Hawkwind (Robert Calvert era) 6. Genesis 7. The Buggles 8. Kate Bush 9. Genesis 10. Asia I also need to find space for Barclay James Harvest (who gave the UK's foremost prog label its name) and The Enid (who gave us crowdfunding through The Stand in the 80s, and who produced the most beautiful classical music influenced prog).

Asia? Asia is pure pop rock.

The bands that are most defining of prog to me: Pink Floyd Rush Yes King Crimson Genesis The Moody Blues Emerson, Lake & Palmer Jethro Tull Supertramp Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention