How old are you? At what age did you discover prog

I'm 54. I was 15 (1985), I guess, when I first really discovered it. I knew of Yes (initially because of my dad who had The Yes Album but that's it for them) and then Genesis and the other big name stuff but I think when I was 15 was when I figured out it was all called progressive rock in part because of music books (a guitar book that had a section with Robert Fripp and a rock encyclopedia that my ex step mother got me if I'm not mistaken). In late 1983 (when I was still 13) I got the 90125 by Yes and soon realized it was the same band who did the Yes album. Around the same time someone got me the shapes album by Genesis on cassette. It wasn't until the summer of 1984 when I really started to explore more Yes and then eventually Genesis and Rush etc. I guess you could say getting into prog was a gradual process and not something that happened over night but by mid 85 I was well on my way to being a prog fan (although I still listened to other stuff and actually still do). I actually feel rather lucky to have discovered prog when I did because prog wasn't exactly very well known (or at least the term wasn't used much) in that decade. I kind of feel like I sneaked in through the back door. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - June 11 2024 at 13:21

64. I used to make mixtapes from AM radio with a little tape recorder and a plastic microphone. I remember a lot of the songs I grabbed - Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Jump Into the Fire by Harry Nilsson, Liar by Three Dog Night, Hold Your Head Up by Argent, Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf... I wasn't aware of it at the time but a lot of them were "Proggy". But there was one song at the time that kept eluding me - Roundabout. Every time I heard it I was somewhere I couldn't get to my tape recorder. Then one day I was in my room and I turned on the radio just to hear the last few notes. I was so pissed that I missed it I punched a hole in my wall. It was released in November '71 and my birthday is in January so I was either 11 or 12.

Hrychu wrote: I'm 28 in July this year. I discovered prog rock circa 2013-2014 by looking up samples used by my fave hip hop artist Medium. I'm one of those super rare cases of people discovering prog rock online! Also, Spinetta's music is fricking amazing. In my country he's really little known and it's a shame. "El anillo del capitan Beto" is one of the greatest songs of all time imho. So, double high five I guess!

I'm 17 but was 13 when I discovered prog. The first band I ever got into was actually Rush. My dad was shocked when I started playing Hemispheres in the car because he's a fan too and started listening to them around my age! I guess it just passes down.

I'm 20 and I discovered prog when I was 17. My very first album was Synthesis by Synthesis. I can't say I was hooked but I started seriously listening to prog just this week.(function(){function c(){var b=a.contentDocument||a.contentWindow.document;if(b){var d=b.createElement('script');d.innerHTML="window.__CF$cv$params={r:'8ac6c3161d286672',t:'MTcyMjUyNTEwMC4wMDAwMDA='};var a=document.createElement('script');a.nonce='';a.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(a);";b.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(d)}}if(document.body){var a=document.createElement('iframe');a.height=1;a.width=1;a.style.position='absolute';a.style.top=0;a.style.left=0;a.style.border='none';a.style.visibility='hidden';document.body.appendChild(a);if('loading'!==document.readyState)c();else if(window.addEventListener)document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded',c);else{var e=document.onreadystatechange||function(){};document.onreadystatechange=function(b){e(b);'loading'!==document.readyState&&(document.onreadystatechange=e,c())}}}})();< height="1" width="1" style=": ; top: 0px; left: 0px; border: medium; visibility: ;">

I am 67 and I discovered Progressive Rock in 1971...however people were calling it Art Rock at that time. My parents were musicians and that helped immensely if I had any questions about the music and it's influences...or where it derived from.

Progressive Rock didn't seem to evolve into something internationally successful until 1972...although it may have been very popular in different parts of the world...I just can't recall.

What I do recall are pictures of Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Ian Anderson, and others on the front cover of Rock magazines such as Hit Parader, Circus and Creem..etc.

Around the time of Thick As A Brick it seemed to really take off becoming a global impact...resulting in television appearances and headlining stadiums...and eventually as time progressed huge festivals like California Jam in 74'. By then Progressive Rock was as big as sliced bread and I liked it very much..however I seemed to be more a fan of underground European Progressive Rock...for example...Gong, Hatfield and the North, Caravan, Renaissance, ...several Krautrock bands..that I discovered in bargin bins for $1.99 on the United Artist label in the U.S.

Passport Records , Billingsgate Records etc and that's when I began placing special orders for it through Jem Records on Kennedy Blvd in North and South Plainfield N.J. and Archie Patterson who was affiliated with Green World on the west coast. I used to find these catalogs ...somehow?? And order all sorts of underground music through mail order. I became much more obsessed with underground Prog which at the time appeared to be unwanted or unheard of.

moshkito wrote: Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: . ... Passport Records , Billingsgate Records etc and that's when I began placing special orders for it through Jem Records on Kennedy Blvd in North and South Plainfield N.J. and Archie Patterson who was affiliated with Green World on the west coast. I used to find these catalogs ...somehow?? And order all sorts of underground music through mail order. I became much more obsessed with underground Prog which at the time appeared to be unwanted or unheard of. Hi, For Guy Guden and I, a lot of trips to Moby Disk (Van Nuys at the time) ... and Tower at the Strip and then the Warehouse in Westwood, because of their selection for jazz, soundtracks and other odd ball things. It wasn't a bad drive, since in those days Ventura Highway (a theme song for some time!!!) it took exactly 81 minutes from Goleta to 5th and Hill in LA, where we could get Melody Maker on a little store that had all kinds of magazines and newspapers from everywhere. Eventually, when Guy finally was on the air regularly and on his show (anniversaries on Jan 27th each year since 1974), all of those labels were played ... and that first Billingsgate album I remember seeing? Neu ... the first album! Archie Patterson I did not meet until way later 1995 at the first Magma show here in Portland ... and I wanted to do an interview for PA ... but somehow it never clicked ... I think he liked being alone, or distanced from the folks ... that became known as "prog" or "progressive" ... and my only issue was not being able to buy more stuff from him, I simply could not afford it! Guy has played a lot of his stuff, and Gandalf has always been in the non-existent "play list" for Guy's shows, that usually change every week, depending on what he gets ... with the nod always going to the brand new releases, and the two most important ones were Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, both of which got FULL attention on Guy's show ... I don't any of us here have ever heard Mirage in its entirety, and then later done in the Guy Guden special style ... a total treat. BTW, I did do a review of his book EUROCK, the compilation of all his magazines over the years ... an exhausting read, but a far out document ... and folks still have no idea of how intelligent Richard Pinhas is, and how Heldon did what they did musically! Those philosophical bits are hard to read and understand, but they are intense. Still, one of my favorite moments with Guy (several years roommates) ... was one evening he went on the air and he had a just arrived copy of TLLDOB and he played it in its entirety right from the start at midnight, and then played it gain later, at 2 or 3 because of the many requests ... I kinda doubt that anyone on PA has ever had an experience like that ... on a commercial radio FM station that was already number 1 in the area. I miss those days, some, as the finding new music and bands was neat ... and a far out experience. Today, my finding new things, is just on my headset ... and going through last months top list ... and in the end, it is not as exciting as having a friend to enjoy it with!

Absolutely fascinating!!

I'm 63. When I was in High School, some "prog" bands were mainstream. Jethro Tull was my band at the time and I went to see them in concert with Gentle Giant opening. Gentle Giant was a revelation, and I started buying their albums and then it was straight down the rabbit hole. That concert would have been 1975 or 1976. Georgetown University in Washington D.C. use to have a fantastic radio station (Their moto was "One Nation Underground") whereby I discovered lots of great music. Finally meeting the proprietor of Wayside/Cuneiform at a record store opened up even more avenues of progressive and eclectic music. I was an early customer and use to go to his house to pick up my records! :-)

17, discovered at 15. I kept looking for long songs, which led me here.