Was prog actually popular in the 70s??

... became somewhat forbidden ... is how I would say it, but other bands in other parts of the world didn't care about the Anglo-American business rules and continued. No one was going to tell them how to play it, and what to play.

 

 

It is possible, and likely, that Frank Zappa was a large influence, however, I think it was more about the freedom of the music than anything else. It was different and many times totally off the rocker, and still it rocked on and took you away with it, despite any lyrics. He might have not exactly been an influence in his words, but his actions and very obvious European enjoyment of his music, was for a long time quite far ahead and valuable than the American scene, which was still too commercial for him, and he wasted no opportunity to trash it. Not many folks, in the music business had that great an inner constitution to stand up and be counted and just do it. And I think that many Europeans took to this directly, and forgot about anything else. BUT, don't forget, the Europeans have a massive musical history, so ignoring ideas and thoughts and this and that, and just doing what they want and how they want is usually the result. This is something that the Anglo-American audiences have a hard time with, as they have become so media controlled that attention span has diminished because of it. We won't see that here, but you can see the reviews of people commenting about meandering and wasting time with filler in the longer pieces, and no musician thinks of their piece in that way for the most part. It means something to them, even if it is disguised by the solo, or the part that we think is over done. 

I call it a "soundtrack", not a song!

KC I like a lot, but, for example, compared to Djam Karet's first 5 albums, it is not as free form as we think, although it is very obviously exceedingly well rehearsed and played like it. It does not diminish the importance of their work, when its time was so important, but it gives you an idea that not many bands learned to stick to the music and forget all the outside influences and forces, and this is something that a lot of progressive bands went on to do, and still do, though they might not be as much appreciated as they should. Dream Theater comes to mind as a good example of this. When you look back, that's one heck of a massive catalog of work, and they continued doing their own ideas, and not fall into the mainstream that went metal, or this or that.

I think, you have to have a very strong inner character and desire. Almost nothing else can describe it so strongly and well. Another band that also fits here is Marillion. Might not be the very best, but by the time you look at their catalog, it's really hard to say that is not major or very good, though I would prefer a few less small "songs", but those don't bother me as much anymore. 

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The story that Frank Zappa told ...regarding the cigar choppin guys (record executives), hiring a hippie to make important decisions was a obvious reality to virtually unknown musicians. That was the moment in time when the decision to no longer invest in Prog began. A great many people were let down by the realization that the hippie culture had somehow gave society more freedom in the arts and here they were forcing musicians to write 3 minute songs. Also the freedom to record a 20 minute epic was forbidden.

All those things do not necessarily establish the level of popularity you implied by pointing to DSOTM's aggregate sales.  That is all I am saying.  Nobody is disputing that prog was popular.  But even among yearwise album charts, prog doesn't seem to figure among the top 10 albums in UK.  And I repeat, an album charting in the top 10 for a few weeks by no means assures it would finish among the top selling albums of the year, or all time.

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30751&highlight=1970s

I have also checked out the US listings and they also point to the same.  Needless to say, the results don't change if we look at Billboard Top 10 singles rather than albums.  These corroborate the aggregate artist albums sales figures I posted earlier.  But the album you picked, Dark Side of the Moon, was the only prog album, other than The Wall, that broke through to  the list of all time best selling albums.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States

The topic is about being popular, not about being the most popular.  There's nothing wrong with not being first (Dark Side Of The Moon has never been a UK Number 1 album,for example)

And that's two albums, not one. TFTOis one album, and BSS is another album.  The week I linked to was a randomly selected week (exactly forty years ago.) I didn't trawl the site in search of a week when the top 2 were both prog albums.

You can search it y'self,and see plenty of other examples, by plenty of other bands.