Most influential Prog Bands

brainstormer wrote: No one influenced King Crimson, I think that's what KC fans are saying.

The Moody Blues, Yes, and Jethro Tull may very well be the most influential bands. 1) The Moody Blues were among the first to incorporate orchestral instrumentation in an innovative, progressive fashion into the rock vein. Their fourth album On the Threshold of a Dream ( a personal favorite ), was released in 1969 even before King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. 2) Yes' sound I find to be particularly unique: A male lead singer with a soprano voice who blends his almost perfectly with the rough baritone of Peter Banks/Steve Howe, and the tenor of Chris Squire (who was a choir boy in his youth); in a related topic, there is also the matter of incredible simultaneous multiple-lyric/vocal polyphony such as Close to the Edge, And You and I, Wonderous Stories, I've Seen All Good People, etc; Virtuosity galore! Peter Banks was a great guitarist in his own right, and Steve Howe was voted by readers of Guitar Player magazine five years consecutively from 1977-81 as "Most Versatile Guitarist". Readers could no longer vote for him after this time because his popularity disqualified him; in recognition of his talents and work he was the first inductee into the "Guitar Player Hall of Fame", and to this day there are only two others; Chris Squire is one of the most dynamic and melodic bassists I have ever heard. Chris Squire is often described as a bassist writing counterpoints to the vocals and as a matter of fact was a source of much frustation to Bill Bruford because Mr. Squire did not necessarily consider himself to be part of the rhythm section. In certain Yes songs, such as Siberian Khatru, The Fish, Heart of the Sunrise, and On the Silent Wings of Freedom, Squire plays the bass in the capacity of a lead or solo instrument. His first solo album, Fish out of Water, has a number of tracks that feature this type of arrangement; Bill Bruford was extremely influential even in the early seventies: Phil Collins of Genesis has cited him as his favorite percussionist, and Neil Peart of Rush (considered by some to be the greatest rock drummer, thought not by me) has also acknowledged elements of Bruford's playing to have been inspiring to him; Rick Wakeman's keyboard equipment was a remarkable spectacle in the seventies - really unlike anyone else's. And let's not neglect to discuss his playing style, which is usually fast-paced and convoluted (and far superior to Keith Emerson's, in my opinion). Besides Yes, Rick Wakeman has also played for other very influential artists such as David Bowie and Lou Reed. 3) What band other than Jethro Tull has done the most to highlight the flute in a rock context? Maybe Focus, or Genesis. And let's not just discuss unusual instrumentation for a rock group such as soprano saxophone, flute, and mandolin. Let's talk about the music. Jethro Tull released a monster of Progressive Rock symphonic poetry in Thick as a Brick, and then again in A Passion Play. How could their music be described? -Bluesy in albums like This Was and Benefit; jazzy in albums like A Passion Play, and Warchild; rocking and folky in albums like Aqualung and Thick as a Brick; metallic and medieval in albums like Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses, and Stormwatch. Such diversity of output!

dr wu23 wrote: silverpot wrote: dr wu23 wrote: silverpot wrote: maani wrote:     Interestingly, Crimson seems to have "sprung full-grown from the head of Zeus," with little if any direct Beatle influence.)   Peace. Crimson was heavily influenced by The Moody Blues, who in their turn were influenced by The Beatles. Just saying.    I seriously doubt that Crimson was strongly influenced by the Moodies per se........indeed they were in awe of Crimson from everything I have read and KC's music was ahead of what the Moodies were doing in many ways. Having said that I think all of the more interesting bands then were being influencing by  each other and Fripp has mentioned the Beatles as an influence himself.  BTW there was an interesting piece by Fripp about KC in Prog magazine a few months back.   Well, KC originally enlisted the Moodies producer to help them out with In the Court...and Ian McDonald has explicitly said that they were inspired and influenced by them. It also becomes obvious, listening to the record. I was a big MB fan at the time and instantly loved In the Court when it came out, just because it sounded like the Moodies.       Yes..and they quickly fired him because Clarke had no idea what KC was all about....so says the man himself, Fripp, who as far as I know has never said he was influenced by the Moodies. Maybe Ian is just being ...nice. What say you...?

Larree wrote: dr wu23 wrote: silverpot wrote: dr wu23 wrote: silverpot wrote: maani wrote:     Interestingly, Crimson seems to have "sprung full-grown from the head of Zeus," with little if any direct Beatle influence.)   Peace. Crimson was heavily influenced by The Moody Blues, who in their turn were influenced by The Beatles. Just saying.    I seriously doubt that Crimson was strongly influenced by the Moodies per se........indeed they were in awe of Crimson from everything I have read and KC's music was ahead of what the Moodies were doing in many ways. Having said that I think all of the more interesting bands then were being influencing by  each other and Fripp has mentioned the Beatles as an influence himself.  BTW there was an interesting piece by Fripp about KC in Prog magazine a few months back.   Well, KC originally enlisted the Moodies producer to help them out with In the Court...and Ian McDonald has explicitly said that they were inspired and influenced by them. It also becomes obvious, listening to the record. I was a big MB fan at the time and instantly loved In the Court when it came out, just because it sounded like the Moodies.       Yes..and they quickly fired him because Clarke had no idea what KC was all about....so says the man himself, Fripp, who as far as I know has never said he was influenced by the Moodies. Maybe Ian is just being ...nice. What say you...? Robert Fripp was in Back to the Future 0.0.1 the prequel.   Seriously, Fripp reminds me of the scene from Back to the Future 2 when M.J. Fox played the electric guitar at the sock hop and left the kids (and the band onstage) with their jaws on the floor.

There seems to be two type of progressive rock.  Progressive elements in the rock song structure (think Beatles, Moody Blues -- it has classical thrown in but the classical doesn't effect the song structure).  

dr wu23 wrote: silverpot wrote: dr wu23 wrote: silverpot wrote: maani wrote:     Interestingly, Crimson seems to have "sprung full-grown from the head of Zeus," with little if any direct Beatle influence.)   Peace. Crimson was heavily influenced by The Moody Blues, who in their turn were influenced by The Beatles. Just saying.    I seriously doubt that Crimson was strongly influenced by the Moodies per se........indeed they were in awe of Crimson from everything I have read and KC's music was ahead of what the Moodies were doing in many ways. Having said that I think all of the more interesting bands then were being influencing by  each other and Fripp has mentioned the Beatles as an influence himself.  BTW there was an interesting piece by Fripp about KC in Prog magazine a few months back.   Well, KC originally enlisted the Moodies producer to help them out with In the Court...and Ian McDonald has explicitly said that they were inspired and influenced by them. It also becomes obvious, listening to the record. I was a big MB fan at the time and instantly loved In the Court when it came out, just because it sounded like the Moodies.       Yes..and they quickly fired him because Clarke had no idea what KC was all about....so says the man himself, Fripp, who as far as I know has never said he was influenced by the Moodies. Maybe Ian is just being ...nice. What say you...?

I don't know but is Fripp really known for niceties towards his peers? 

Anyway, I can only speak from my own experience, when I first heard Epitaph I thought, great, it sounds like the Moodies. Didn't know a thing about prog back then and never thought that Fripp would become canonized and considered infallable.

Dean wrote: brainstormer wrote: There seems to be two type of progressive rock.  Progressive elements in the rock song structure (think Beatles, Moody Blues -- it has classical thrown in but the classical doesn't effect the song structure).   And Progressive Rock that is structurally different than rock music but has elements of rock.  This is why I think The Nice and the Electric Prunes were the first, with some Zappa.  The Moody Blues tunes are almost all simpler rock melodies, or MOR melodies from earlier 60's.   They did sing a little operatically but so did Dusty Springfield.   When did Dusty Springfield   "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" come out?  I think the true understanding of prog history hangs on this question. The element you are missing here is "Baroque Pop". wikipedia wrote: The genre was intended to be less "wild" than rock music at the time, and a less commercial, more serious and "mature" offshoot of the genre. Baroque pop may be distinguished from progressive rock, which also uses classical instrumentation, by its generally simpler song structures closer to standard pop song writing, and also by its more mainstream lyrical content as opposed to the generally conceptual lyrics associated with later progressive rock "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself", along with many other Bacharach songs, was a Torch Song.

Edited by brainstormer - April 03 2013 at 00:01

Forgive me, but I don't know what you folks are smoking! It's a fact that Procol Harum started the whole prog movement. This is history folks, not simply my opinion. Do some research and you'll come to the same conclusion.

Sure, had it not been Procol, some band would have done it. But, the fact is that THEY did it! End of story.

Edited by humor4u1959 - April 30 2013 at 01:20

This isn't about who was first, it's about who was most influential.  So it's possible that someone like Marillion having success at a time when prog was 'fading' was inspirational to other new prog kids on the block.  It didn't have to be old music by old players, it was possible for unknowns to start something new and still be prog.  So new that we've named it as a subgenre of its own (not that they called it that at the time, but hey)  Since there are seemingly many more prog bands in recent years than there were in the 70s, then maybe Marillion were more influential (or were influential on more new bands) than anyone of old.  Other neo prog bands may have been earlier than them, but Marillion were appearing on TV and getting heard by teenagers for whom Pink Floyd were that band that sang the "Hey teacher, leave them kids alone" song.

I'd argue that Black Sabbath are prog metal's fathers.

Edited by Stool Man - April 30 2013 at 03:47