Best Prog Band Ever!!

I came up with the idea to this post when I inquired of myself, which group I felt was truly the best progressive rock band. I could not for the life of me pick one band that epitomized the essence of prog rock. So I have put the burden on my fellow prog rock enthusiasts. I have made a list of what I feel in my opinion is the big SEVEN of progressive rock.

YES

King Crimson

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

Genesis

Jethro Tull

Gentle Giant

Pink Floyd

Out of these bands, who would you categorize as the "best" band? Now the only thing is you MUST stick with these bands...I know that I am leaving out alot of other great bands but I think it might be best to limit our choices. I too am sometimes guilty of the "wait you forgot, but what about him / this band" syndrome, but lets stick with the seven. Ahhh what the hell....lets make it eight........Van Der Graaf Generator.....oh, and I'm purposely keeping it to British bands. This helps me to get some insight on what others think of these bands and why they believe that a particular band is the best.......I normally don't approve of a "whose better" competition, but like I said it's just for me to gain the thoughts of others.

So once again here are your choices...YES, King Crimson, ELP, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Van Der Graaf Generator.

Well I have to say that your subject title is a bit deceiving considering you want to know what we consider the best band out of the ones that you have presented; not to know what band is the best prog band.

Though to pick from your list I'd have to say King Crimson is the best from that list. It is a very tough choice to pick from all of them. Though I'd say King Crimson is the best because of how their sound evolved and changed over the course of the existence of Fripp's band.

They are quite progressive, and from what I hear, technically good as well. So I think I'd pick them as the best because they epitomize what I call "progressive".

I think Genesis is my favorite,

but Yes was the best, and WAS THE  prog rock band (if you know what I mean),

and Gentle Giant is probably the proggiest, most innovative and complex (yet listenable) band ever.

Tull and ELP are great, but on the next level after those 3 giants

Then Floyd, King Crimson, and Renaissance (I know, I know, not on the list) on the next level

VdGG does not belong on this list in my opinion, to monotonous. Camel is on their level though IMO.

Edited by NetsNJFan

RUM26 wrote:  Well i have so many favourites i cant just say this is the best so i will have to give a list. i'm not sure if these are all progs either 1. Dire straights 2.Rainbow 3.Deep purple 4.Ledzepplin 5.Iron maiden

wow none of them are 'officialy' prog rock bands

Why the &%*@ isn't RUSH on that list?!?!

Plus, as good as ELP and GENTLE GIANT are, I don't feel they belong on the same level as KC, YES, GENESIS, TULL and FLOYD.

My favourite Prog band: The FLOYD, naturally.

The "best" Prog band: A tie between YES and KING CRIMSON. Not only does their music constantly and most accurately personify Prog, so do their lineups, forever 'progressing'!

Yes

 Dire Straits except i don't know if there prog

Pink Floyd as my favorite but, the band that best fits your guidelines, Proglover, would be

King Crimson. No question about it.

Nice topic...

Not only the list is restricted to British groups, it is almost restricted to Symphonic bands! (with 2 exceptions being PF and JT accoridng to progarchives' classification, and King Crimson, IMHO belongs to no particular genre!)

Well, actually the list is quite rightful, because British groups represents prog best so far, and prog is more accurately embodied in Syphonic than any other genre. For instance, no matter how much you lke them, you cannot claim Can, TD, Eloy, Mah.Orch., Kansas or the like to be the best, or at least, the definitive prog band... (some guys set forth Rush, apparently these have no idea of what prog is about   no offense!). Focus could have easily entered the list,  believe their relatively short discography keeps them!

a remark about proglover's 14 item list: what era should you consider when assessing the quality of the bands??? For instance, everyone will agree Yes' and KC's '71-74 era is graeat, but especailly '80's are controversial. So, should we only consider the band's greatest period, or evaluate the whole musical timeline and see what the percentage of their good albums in their whole discography?!? (stage shows excluded for now). If we walk through the whole discographies, we must say Yes sucks, and VDGG and Gentle Giant rule!!! But if we consider the best era for one band, I can even say TD is the best prog group ever, considering their '70-'80 period! (and yes, I believe Cyclone to be their best album )

one thing about RUM26's list: while he's definitely wrong about Dire Straits, I believe Deep Purple is a prog band (though not listed in archives), but not good enough to be included in the "best" category! (Nevertheless, I believe they are the best hard-prog rock band!)

OK, we are then limited to British and (to a great extent) symphonic bands. So I pick up King Crimson. As I said, their music embodies every aspect of prog, from symphonic to fusion, from experimental to space, from electronic to heavy!!! (what keeps them from being a Krautrock band is the fact that they are not German! )They even have poppier tunes in the '80's, but without losing the "innovative" aspect, and the "rock" side of prog. I'm talking about the 3 '80's albums. The only weakness (if you may call) is that they don't have much "side long" suites, actually only one, and broken down into shorter segments. (two vocalists in one piece makes it sound like different songs)

sorry for the long post!

 

All righty... I'll try and answer this FAIRLY AND IRRESPECTIVE OF MY PERSONAL OPINIONS. Can't guarentee I'll manage it though. For those who don't know my personal opinions, my own ranking would be:

   1. Gentle Giant
   2. Yes/Jethro Tull
   3. King Crimson
   4. ELP
   5. Pink Floyd
   6. Genesis

(Note - There's a BIIIIIIIIIIIIG drop down from 3 to 4 in that list.) I should also point out that this is a stupid stupid question that neither CAN be answered nor needs to be. But looking at these criteria as objectively as possible...

Proglover wrote: Here are the things you guys should keep in mind. 1, Quality of composition - Gentle Giant/Yes/Tull/Genesis 2, Technical ability of the band members - Gentle Giant/Yes/Genesis 3, Historical and Musical Importance - All of them. 4, Is there a good balance between composition (writing technique), and virtuosity (technical playing) - Yes in the case of: Yes/GG/KC/Genesis 5, The most adventurous band: In other words, the "proggiest" band - GG/KC 6, The most cohesive band....do the band members form a tight unit - GG/Yes/KC/Tull/Floyd 7, Longevity - Yes, for sure. 8, The most intellectual / cerebral band - GG/KC/Tull 9, Best Stage Show - Genesis 10, Lyrical content - Tull 11, Best Frontman / leadsinger - Genesis 12, Does the band sound better live or on recordings - Weird one this... which would make them a better prog band? 13, The most EFFECTIVE band: what band achieves the most given their goal - King Crimson and Tull, as they're lead by people with a strong personal vision. 14, If you could be a member of any of the listed bands what band would it be and why - Gentle Giant!!!! Do I REALLY have to tell you why?

Results (discounting 12 and 14 'cause they're silly):

Gentle Giant - 6 points.
Yes - 6 points.
Jethro Tull - 6 points.
King Crimson - 6 points.
Genesis - 5 points.
Pink Floyd - 2 points!
ELP - 1 point (for historical value).

But really, having four joint first places just goes to show how silly this question is. There IS no "greatest prog band". It's not even a genre!