How did you find Prog?

My fathers are progheads, I think my first prog record was The dark side of the moon.

I was introduced to Prog Rock twenty-five years ago through a neighbor in our holiday home. He was into Saga and Camel. I loved Saga and was mildly interested in Camel.
I got to know Rush through Saga (bought the Hold Your Fire cassette) and fell for Rush. Rush is from the same town as Saga, as you all know. After that, I became a record label manager, went bankrupt on that and hated music. I did not listen to music for five years, being unemployed, homeless and bitter for a time.
I got tired with the metal scene and the music. I wanted to listen to progressive rock and started to collect prog rock through Prog Archives and other websites on a systematic manner five years ago. I have no regrets.

That's my story.
    

Back in 2003, I was looking in a music shop and decided I was gonna check out a new band. I saw Dream Theater and thought I'd check them out because I'd heard about them covering Master of Puppets (Metallica were my favourite band at the time).

Prog found me...

show off...

TGM: Orb wrote: Listened to ze parents' ELP best of. Loved it from the get go. Take that, people with wussy starter bands

And the tears of Dream Theater streamed down by-tor's face

How i found prog was really mundane. I had been playing bass for some years and needed to find something that was more challenging to play on a technical level when a friend recommended Dream Theater. Upon listening to them i discovered the wonders of prog and i then got into more diverse forms of prog and tech metal from that platform. 

I remember I used to hate polishing my school shoes!

I'd do it on Friday night, to make sure they were ready for Monday morning. My only solace was that I could sit and listen to The Friday Rock Show (hosted by the late Tommy Vance), whilst I readies myself for the scholastic week.

I had a leaning towards I guess what was called heavy rock at the time, and The Friday Rock Show really grabbed my attention, and brought new new rock bands to my attention.  There was also a radio show on Radio Wales called 'Rockpile' and I used to be a regular contributor by sending in letters asking for tracks to be played. I can remember asking for stuff like 'Don't Fear The Reaper' by Blue Oyster Cult, 'More Than A Feeling' by Boston, and other stuff.

I first got to hear Eloy on the Friday Rock show, and it must have had a big impact as they remain one of my favourite bands to this day.

I was a big Metal fan too, and remember going to see bands like Iron Maiden (Powerslave tour), Michael Schenker Group, Saxon, Budgie etc, whilst at school in Wales.  I was introduced to Jethro Tull by a friend at school, and I remember him having the newspaper fold out version of Thick As A Brick, and loved them (nobody else did amongst my friends (durinf the New Romantic movement).

I can remember the bizarre circumstances surrounding my induction to King Crimson....waiting in  aqueue in a fish and chip shop after the local disco, and seeing them on the tv. Can't remember what they were playing, as it was so long ago, and I'd had too much of the local fire water.

It was really at University (1984-1988) when I really go into prog in a big way, discovering bands like Rush, Yes, Marillion, Genesis, Camel, Floyd etc (and of course more Eloy). I loved Camel at the time, but it was mainly stuff like Stationary Traveller / Pressure Points etc, but I distinctly remember a few bootleg tape cassettes flying around whisch are now released as Camel live albums.

After University, there was something of a prog hiatus, where I think I got a bit disillusioned with the music scene during the early 90s, and for a few years, didn't listen to much.

Have been back with a vengeance for some time now, and really enjoying things at the moment!

I was into classic rock for a long time like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Pink Floyd, etc. and eventually I came across Emerson, Lake & Palmer. My mom told me that she hated them because they have a song about necrophelia (Still... You Turn Me On, which is tongue in cheek so it's fine ), so of course immediately I had to check them out. I think I heard the songs Trilogy and Tarkus first and wow, it was the weirdest thing I had ever heard, but it was kind of awesome, and eventually it was my favorite music by far. So then when I heard it was called progressive rock, I checked out all the other main bands, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant etc. and eventually found modern groups like Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, etc. and the rest is history.

I tripped over its dead body in 1983, when I first heard Abacab, Genesis and 90125.  All three of which were and to some extent are still favorites of mine, both because of nostalgia, and I don't care what anybody says, there are some great songs on all three albums.  Yeah, in hindsight, there are some duds among those three.  No one introduced me to these bands except for maybe the radio and MTV.  The first Genesis track I heard was Mama, and funny enough, when I first heard it, I didn't like it at all.  The next two songs I heard by them were Abacab and That's All.  And on the strength of those two songs, I purchased both albums, at the same time I purchased Yes' 90125.  Today, Mama is one of my favorite Genesis songs.  As for Yes, I heard Owner of course, as well as Leave It and Roundabout before picking up 90125.  Strange that at the time, I thought both bands were new.    But at least with Genesis' s/t album, it made sense that they were a new band.  When I went to the record store, I was shocked how many albums they both had, and found it odd that Abacab actually came before Genesis.