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So, Who Exactly is a Member of the Big Six?
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Hercules View Drop Down
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Why do we need a Big Six? What mythical power does the idea have over this site?
If you want to rank bands by their influence and importance - fine. Most will be inevitably be 70s bands due to that being the heyday of prog.
There's a group that were undeniably the most influential and commercially successful:
Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull and possibly ELP and Rush, 
There's a small group that were extremely influential but somewhat less commercially successful, probably epitomised mainly by King Crimson.
There's a group which were below the top tier in terms of influence and sales, but still had a large fanbase and had albums in the UK and US charts, like Manfred Mann's Earthband, Camel, Strawbs, Renaissance, Uriah Heep, Barclay James Harvest and Focus.
Then there's the cult bands who never really achieved major sales or chart success like Gryphon, Gentle Giant, Caravan and VDGG, though the latter seem much more popular now than in the 70s, where they were a fairly minor band. (Despite being at university right through the 70s and being heavily into prog, I never met anyone who, to my knowledge, owned a VDGG album and they were never discussed as being particularly significant, having never had a top 40 UK album. Now they seem to have many more fans than then).
Each can have his/her own "Big Six" if they wish. I'm simply not bothered. I have my own favourites and which bands others think are the "biggest" is of no consequence to me.




Edited by Hercules - September 09 2020 at 11:25
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  1. Yes
  2. King Crimson
  3. ELP
  4. Genesis
  5. Gentle Giant
  6. VDGG

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Why does Pink Floyd always worm it's way into this discussion.
They were a Psychedelic and then a Pop rock or maybe a Symphonic rock band, not a progressive band.
I guess I equate Prog Rock more with the Classical and Jazz influenced stuff than just the freaky stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I love Floyd, but never considered then a prog rock band.
Like the Nice, maybe they did things differently in their approach than most bands at the time which might be argued that made them progressive. I find that a bit of a stretch.
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The Big Six are actually The Big Five plus a sixth one of your choosing. This allows everyone to think that their favourite band is part of The Big Six...


Edited by suitkees - September 07 2020 at 07:18

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Originally posted by Hercules Hercules wrote:

Why do we need a Big Six? What mythical power does the idea have over this site?
If you want to rank bands by their influence and importance - fine. Most will be inevitably be 70s bands due to that being the heyday of prog.
There's a group that were undeniably the most influential and commercially successful:
Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull and possibly ELP and Rush, 
There's a small group that were extremely influential but somewhat less commercially successful, probably epitomised mainly by King Crimson.
There's a group which were below the top tier in terms of influence and sales, but still had a large fanbase and had albums in the UK and US charts, like Manfred Mann's Earthband, Camel, Strawbs, Uriah Heep, Barclay James Harvest and Focus.
Then there's the cult bands who never really achieved major sales or chart success like Gryphon, Gentle Giant, Caravan and VDGG, though the latter seem much more popular now than in the 70s, where they were a fairly minor band. (Despite being at university right through the 70s and being heavily into prog, I never met anyone who, to my knowledge, owned a VDGG album and they were never discussed as being particularly significant, having never had a top 40 UK album. Now they seem to have many more fans than then).
Each can have his/her own "Big Six" if they wish. I'm simply not bothered. I have my own favourites and which bands others think are the "biggest" is of no consequence to me.

I look at these band lists as the one's that influenced more than anything, and continue to influence today. A definitive list is tough because you get everyone's favs that are usually obscure, cult type bands that really were never global. I really like Hercules post BTW! Clap.
I think people list these bands to be "different".....that's all. The one band not mentioned that IMO gets a lot of reference even today is CAN, to me they should be one of these big 6, but its tough to list them....For sure they are part of the Big Seven! And I agree bands like VdGG are not only obscure but also obscure as an influence to much bands past 1980.....I don't think bands like them in the 70's influenced anybody at that time.
 
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1. Genesis
2. Rush
3. Pink Floyd
4. Yes
5. King Crimson
6. ELP
These are the bands I used in these threads on the most famous/most successful bands threads I posted a while ago, which you might be interested in. 
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=123405
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=123705


Edited by FatherChristmas - September 07 2020 at 11:46
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in no specific order:

Van der Graaf Generator
Magma
Gong
Amon Düül II
Embryo
Can


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Very good post by Hercules.
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for me the big six are not the most influential ones but the most interesting ones


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Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

Interesting. When I see the Big Six mentioned I have no doubt about what people mean. ELP, KC, PF, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, in no particular order. I'm not saying that's my choice (although I'm by and large fine with it, even if there's only one overlap with my personal Big Five), and neither am I saying it should be like this, but I'm pretty sure that's the one and only Big Six for those in the know. (If you don't want it to be these by the way, there is no reason to make it six, or to fix any number at all.) 


That's my understanding too. When I hear the Big Six, those are the six I assume people mean. Again, not a matter of personal preferences, I've just assumed those are the six we mean.


Edited by questionsneverknown - September 07 2020 at 11:43
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Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

Very good post by Hercules.

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Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

in no specific order:

Van der Graaf Generator
Magma
Gong
Amon Düül II
Embryo
Can

You could make a fairly convincing argument on the influence VDGG had on a pile of artists, some pretty successful. As for the rest, they strike me as being your favourites, which is not the question being asked. The remaining 5 were influential in their own, pretty small, circle. As far as the outside world was concerned, they were as influential as my wiping my arse of a morning.
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The question of who are the big six raises a lot of other questions with regards to who influenced the creation of Progressive Rock the most, which started in the late 1960s.

If you might consider that Progressive Rock started from Psychedelia in the UK, then you could perhaps name the following as amongst the most influential:

The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Who
The Kinks
Pink Floyd
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For early Progressive Rock, hence most influential in the creation of this genre, you then might have the following 6:

The Moody Blues
Deep Purple
Pink Floyd
Procol Harum
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The Nice

Member of the big 10 might be more appropriate as there are for sure several other names that could be added.
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Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

in no specific order:

Van der Graaf Generator
Magma
Gong
Amon Düül II
Embryo
Can



You could make a fairly convincing argument on the influence VDGG had on a pile of artists, some pretty successful. As for the rest, they strike me as being your favourites, which is not the question being asked. The remaining 5 were influential in their own, pretty small, circle. As far as the outside world was concerned, they were as influential as my wiping my arse of a morning.


Well u could argue that Magma inspired its own genre (zeuhl), Gong are one of the originators of Space Rock, CAN and Amon Duul II were at the forefront of the German psyche moment. All have been influential just not in mainstream prog.
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Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

for me the big six are not the most influential ones but the most interesting ones

Same, and I can't imagine a "Big" anything without Tangerine Dream.
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For me the big 6 is very clear, though I wouldn't know in which order to put them objectively, so I will try to put them in my own preference:
1. Pink Floyd.
2. Yes.
3. King Crimson.
4. Genesis.
5. Jethro Tull.
6. ELP.

   To make it easier to choose these artists, I narrow it to UK (the most prominent prog country) and the 70's (the most prominent prog decade). However, even though I do love every one of these bands, it isn't my favourite ones. In that case, I have my own favourite 5:
1. Pink Floyd.
2. Yes.
3. Rick Wakeman.
4. Mike Oldfield.
5. Dream Theater.

And then, I can think that Rush would be missing on any BIG list, if it isn't narrowed to Britain. And then, there's the big 3 from RPI (PFM, Banco, and Le Orme). And then, the next tier, which for me would be VdGG, Gentle Giant, Camel, and Renaissance. But then, those are the ones I know, and I think I'm missing things like The Strawbs, Caravan, Soft Machine, Hawkwind. And then, other bands I know that I wouldn't know in which Big list to include, like Focus, Harmonium, The Moody Blues... or some newer ones like Porcupine Tree, etc. So, in the end, to keep it simple, I just go with the 70's British Big 6 I listed first.
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I guess this. I don't want to spend too much time thinking about it. There are many variables to consider.

1. Genesis
2. Pink Floyd
3. Yes
4. King Crimson
5. Rush
6. ELP

I do think it would be interesting to poll actual musicians in prog to list their top [insert whatever number] bands or artists that have influenced their music. I suspect that "big six" might be a better clue on which bands have been the most influential.
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Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

in no specific order:

Van der Graaf Generator
Magma
Gong
Amon Düül II
Embryo
Can



You could make a fairly convincing argument on the influence VDGG had on a pile of artists, some pretty successful. As for the rest, they strike me as being your favourites, which is not the question being asked. The remaining 5 were influential in their own, pretty small, circle. As far as the outside world was concerned, they were as influential as my wiping my arse of a morning.


Well u could argue that Magma inspired its own genre (zeuhl), Gong are one of the originators of Space Rock, CAN and Amon Duul II were at the forefront of the German psyche moment. All have been influential just not in mainstream prog.

and Embryo were more or less the inventors of World Music


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Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

in no specific order:

Van der Graaf Generator
Magma
Gong
Amon Düül II
Embryo
Can

You could make a fairly convincing argument on the influence VDGG had on a pile of artists, some pretty successful. As for the rest, they strike me as being your favourites, which is not the question being asked. The remaining 5 were influential in their own, pretty small, circle. As far as the outside world was concerned, they were as influential as my wiping my arse of a morning.


Well u could argue that Magma inspired its own genre (zeuhl), Gong are one of the originators of Space Rock, CAN and Amon Duul II were at the forefront of the German psyche moment. All have been influential just not in mainstream prog.
 
But even so, those groups do not compare to Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, King Crimson as far as THE Big Six are concerned.
 
 
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Originally posted by I prophesy disaster I prophesy disaster wrote:

But even so, those groups do not compare to Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, King Crimson as far as THE Big Six are concerned.
 
So, my answer to the OP's question of who THE Big Six are, without regard to my own personal preferences, is:
 
1. Pink Floyd
2. Genesis
3. Yes
4. ELP
5. Jethro Tull
6. King Crimson
 
 
 
No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man.
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