The Most Influential

Genesis have the illusion of being more influential than other bands because they had a sound that was easier to imitate(easier to imitate than say Yes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson or VDGG for example).

richardh wrote: Prog_Traveller wrote: Genesis have the illusion of being more influential than other bands because they had a sound that was easier to imitate(easier to imitate than say Yes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson or VDGG for example). what makes it easier?

I'll take a stab at that Richard

not everyone can be Squire, nor Emerson, nor Bruford. Musicians whose immense talent their bands revolved around.  Genesis had for lack of a better word, a bit of a generic, perhaps a better word for it is an understated sound that unlike many of their peers did not emphasize stellar chops and scream virtuosity.  They emphasized a group sound more than being built around talents that very few could really emulate.  It is one thing to learn to play one's music, to copy a group's sound, many keyboardists can Emerson's stuff. The first thing I learned on bass was something by Rush.  The brilliance with them and those musicians (thus the groups) is not the actual talent and how they played but what they played ..the ability to use that talent and create music to stand the test of time. That is why in particular Emerson and ELP is highly regarded and influential... so infrequently emulated as the singular lead of a group. You have to have MAJOR stones and talent to carry that off. Not everyone can do that. Genesis though..  much easier I suppose to emulate in sound. It is .. well... just there. Very non disinct.

Roxy Music should be in the poll, as they are quite influencial, in the 80s, and also some prog and glam bands vere inspired by them, even David Bowie!

Edited by Icarium - October 28 2014 at 10:03

The soundscapes with those deep and heavy riffs often in combination with gloomy melancholic washes of mellotron that we hear in King Crimson 1973-74 (Red in particular) is one of the most distinctly recoginzable sounds or effects we hear in prog since the genre had its revival in the early 90's with Anglagard/Anekdoten and on. This can also be found in plenty of modern rockoriented jazz. 

I do however agree that an awful amount of bad progvocalists ruins plenty of potentially great albums doing their Peter Gabriel-with-a-serious-constipation-problem-soundalike singing (especially among the second tier RPI-groups).

Edited by Saperlipopette! - October 28 2014 at 14:30

^All the artists in the poll are on PA so it felt like the proper place for it. But I thought it more interesting to discuss those artists influence in general rather than who's to blame for Neo-Prog. 

I couldn't decide on what basis to judge influence. Zappa has always been influential on various musical levels, and in bringing forth and training a whole host of talented musicians. Few bands I can think of that try to capture an overall Zappa sound, though. King Crimson motivated a lot of bands to pursue Symphonic Prog in a very general sense, but in the end, the only thing that sounds like ITCOCK is In the Wake of Poseidon. Jethro Tull sparked the pairing of flute with crunchy guitar early on with Focus and Jade Warrior, but that influence continues to be felt nowadays only here at PA. I don't have any idea who Pink Floyd influenced. Maybe there's a good answer in one of the posts that I frankly haven't read (I've been short on time lately). I voted for Genesis based on it's influence on Marillion, TFK, Big Big Train, and so on. Also based on its large number of tribute bands. I don't know that this is the best answer.

All artists here are influential, but I'll vote for King Crimson.