Most influential Prog Bands

I agree that Johnny Mac and Mahavishnu influenced many people.  Fripp has stated that he was so influenced by MO that he had to stop listening to them so he wouldn't up doing an imitation.  However, I don't really consider MO a progressive rock band - just a great jazz-rock band that influenced the prog rock movement and jazz movements.

^ Stanshall?

moshkito wrote: Hi,   Tough answer ... but if you listen to some of the really early Spanish bands, I would say that YES would be the largest influence -- but would that not be weird when all they are doing is eiother singing in Spanish or adding a spanish guitar? When you listen to the Italians, I would say Classical Music was more the influence than anything else. The English version is mixed. The Germans would tell you that they didn't care about history or style ... check out that massive special on "krautrock" and specially the words by Edgar Froese ... which are really important ... and will tell you more about the time and what eventually became "progressive" music than anything else ... also make a serious note about the time and place ... which is even more important.   The "influence" thing is funny, weird, frustrating ... so you're band wants to use a Hammond Organ, and all of a sudden you are compared to blues bands! If I want to use a Moog, you are considered Progressive, and if you use ... a Fender Guitar ... no one gives a dang? See the problem? ... it becomes about similarities in sound and not necessarily the music itself. I always thought it was funny that people thought that Triumvirat or Kayak were ELP clones, and these bands are really different and not even close to ELP. Or in more recent times, seeing Eric Norlander (Lana Lane and the Rocket Scientists) being given credit for being as good as Keith Emerson ... and while you may like Beethoven, I don't go around calling you Ludwig'ian because you have a drum set in your closet.   I, personally, prefer that we judge music by itself. That influences are more about the listener, a lot of times, than they are about the music itself.   Check this out ... let's try this game: If you were the keyboard player and had these three keyboards, and I played bass, and Dean played Guitar and Snow Dog played Vocals ... we would likely be playing what we want to put together in music, and I doubt that you would say ... I'm gonna play this like Keith did in blah and blah ... or that I'm going to bass this like Chris does or did, or that Snow Dog would say ... I'm gonna do this just like Vivian did ... and so on ... you can for a minute but after that you become you ... not that person ... and this is why I do not think that "influences" are that important.   Now let's look at Richard Wright in PF ... have you tried to separate his keyboard parts? ... how do you define the "influence" from most of that stuff? Yes ... there are a few bits and pieces that we call "jazz'y" ... but in the midst of this ocean of weirdness?  (You can do this, btw, in any DAW out there ... and listening to these keyboard parts is a trip ... an amazing trip and better than the albums btw!

Hi,

Edited by moshkito - April 03 2012 at 13:20

iamathousandapples wrote: OT Räihälä wrote: - leading the way to thematic rock albums Frank Sinatra did that a decade before The Beatles did

60's/70's The Nice, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, VDGG, Magma, Camel, Caravan, Gong, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Nektar, Procol Harum, PFM, Renaissance and probably a bunch of others as well. SOme more than others of course. Any big or even moderately well known band is going to have some kind of influence on the newer bands.

80's Saga, Marillion, IQ, Peter Gabriel(he was very popular in the eighties), Kate Bush, Rush. Seriously there aren't that many from the eighties unfortunately.

90's Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Radiohead

00's Transatlantic, Neal Morse, Mars Volta, Opeth, Porcupine Tree(I'll list them in this decade as well since this is when they really broke big).

In order for a band to be influential they have to have some significant degree of popularity(at least within the specific genre in this case prog).


Edited by Prog_Traveller - April 02 2012 at 23:53

ELP   ;70s
King Crimson   ;80s
Anglagard   ;90s

..and you're right, the 2000s are hard, Don Caballero had huge influence on Mathrock so in lieu of a better choice I'll go with them

Horizons wrote: Yea that list just doesn't seem right. Sorry.

u r welcome to improve upon it.

Yea that list just doesn't seem right. Sorry.

maani wrote: Influential....where?  And FROM where?  For example, there are non-English European prog bands who had quite a bit of influence on later groups.  (PFM comes to mind.)  And if we are talking influence ON non-English European bands, then Gentle Giant would have to be pretty close to the top of the list (along with Genesis, Yes, ELP and Floyd).   But it sounds like we are being U.S.-centric here, so...   I would question the "influence" of King Crimson: they were certainly among the progenitors of prog, and there are a few prog bands who exhibit some influence from them.  (Mars Volta is among the most obvious.)  But I would not say that their OVERALL influence was very large.  On the other hand, Rush probably influenced more neo-prog and especially prog-metal bands than almost anyone (as well as quite a few non-prog bands!).  (Though some of the most influential neo-prog bands - Marillion, Porcupine Tree, IQ, Spock's Beard et al - were influenced less by Rush than by Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, Floyd, ELP, Moody Blues et al.)   Ultimately, it is difficult to trace influence back "clearly" with any certainty in order to establish a "hierarchy" of influence, since there was quite a bit of "cross-influence" going on vis-a-vis the seminal prog bands (mid-60s to early 70s), and the supposed influence of later prog bands is itself based on the bands that influenced THEM.   However, it is clear that the Beatles, while not prog themselves, began almost all of the "experimentation" that led to prog, and influenced almost every seminal prog band to one degree or another.  (Floyd and Moody Blues are the two most direct, but Genesis, Yes, and even Gentle Giant show traces.  Interestingly, Crimson seems to have "sprung full-grown from the head of Zeus," with little if any direct Beatle influence.)   BTW, I'm surprised no one mentioned Zappa.  True, no one sounds exactly like him.  But perhaps second only to the Beatles, his influence can be heard pretty broadly throughout prog.   Peace.

Peace man ! Where have you been hiding?
I'm suprised that no one has mentioned The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Although a jazz rock hybrid Youcan't tell me that cats like Zappa weren't influenced by albums like Inner Mounting Flame and Birds Of Fire. Listen to how Zappa's ( and other guitar players ) playing changed after they heard these firebreathing frankensteins back in '72-73. Never mind guitar players everybody started playing in insane time signatures and tempos.